Numerical Investigation of Turbulent Flow in a T-Junction

In the present study, a large eddy simulation, at conditions of experiments by Vattenfall, was performed in order to investigate the phenomenon of turbulent mixing affecting the thermal fatigue in a T-junction. Mean velocity and turbulence intensity from the simulation are compared against those measured in the Vattenfall experiment, and the observed agreement is good. Based on the numerical results from the LES, the energy spectra were examined because they have been regarded as being of primary importance in the study on the thermal fatigue according to previous studies. The energy spectra showed the dominant frequency of around St = 0.5 agrees with the value reported in experiments. Also, near the T-junction the frequency characteristics are shown to depend on the azimuthal angle. However, this dependency of the frequency characteristics on the azimuthal angle is disappeared in downstream because the turbulence in the T-junction eventually approaches the fully-developed turbulent pipe flow. On the other hand, although not shown here, the dominant frequency near the wall is different from that reported at the centerline (St∼1), meaning that the thermal fatigue may not result from the wake structure, and is affected by the vertical structures existing near the wall. This result is consistent with one stated by [1] that the frequency characteristics are closely associated with arched vortices.