Performance Assessment of Turbulence Models for the Prediction of Tip Leakage Flow in an Axial-flow Turbomachinery

축류형 유체 기계에서 팁 누설 유동 해석을 위한 난류 모델 성능 비교

It is well-known that high anisotropic characteristic of turbulent flow field is dominant inside tip leakage vortex. This anisotropic nature of turbulence invalidates the use of the conventional isotropic eddy viscosity turbulence model based on the Boussinesq assumption. In this study, to check whether an anisotropic turbulence model is superior to the isotropic ones or not, the results obtained from steady-state Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes simulations based on the RNG ${\kappa}-{\varepsilon}$ and the Reynolds stress model in two test cases, such as a linear compressor cascade and a forward-swept axial-flow fan, are compared with experimental data. Through the comparative study of turbulence models, it is clearly shown that the Reynolds stress model, which can express the production term and body-force term induced by system rotation without any modeling, should be used to predict the complex tip leakage flow, including the locus of tip leakage vortex center, quantitatively.