The k-ε turbulence model to simulate the two-phase flows of fluids in flumes using C++ open source code computational fluid dynamic software

Abstract

The governing equations of two-phase flows based on the k-ε turbulence model were developed using open source computational fluid dynamic codes and open field operation and manipulation (OpenFOAM) software to simulate water flows in a flume. The water surface was modeled using the volume of fluid method with a turbulence model. The PISO (pressure implicit with splitting of operator) algorithm was used to solve the pressure-velocity coupling in the two-phase flows. The solutions of the simulations were validated using the experimental results as free surface profiles on the wall of the laboratory flume in transient and steady time periods. The transient time period started from when the water was distributed into the flume until it began to overflow the top of the weirs. The steady time period accounted for the water overflowing the weirs and the surface profiles did not change. It was found that the average error of the surface profiles in the transient and steady time periods obtained from the simulations was 8.94% and 8.06%, respectively.