NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF CONSERVATIVE INCLINED THERMALS USING κ-ε TURBULENCE MODEL

The numerical analysis of conservative inclined thermals using the κ-ε turbulence model is carried out. The basic differentical equations are discretized by the SIMPLE method. The standard values of the constants in the κ-ε turbulence model are used. The variations of the travel speed, the maximum height and the maximum concentration of a thermal are obtained from numerical solusions. The agreement of numerical results and expereimental ones for the travel speed and the maximum height is generally well. The maximum concentration in a thermal normalized by the initial concentration shows a similar variation in the travel direction. The contours of salinity concentration and velocity vectors of an inclined thermal for three cases are also obtained and show the flow mechanism in a inclined thermal clearly.