Influence of turbulence models on the performance prediction of flow through curved vane demisters

Two dimensional computational analyses with different turbulence models is carried out for the flow of single phase fluid (air) through curved vane demisters, as used in desalination plants. Computations are performed on a demister geometry, on which experiments were conducted and reported earlier. The experimental data contains local variations of velocity components measured, along chosen lines within the flow domain. Computational fluid dynamics results along these lines for 15 different turbulence models, using Ansys Fluent, were compared with experimental data. Present results indicated that the higher order wall treatment options, like enhanced wall treatment and non-equilibrium wall functions do not yield good predictions for the geometry currently studied. Few turbulence models were found to show better agreement levels, other than the Reynolds stress transport model, which is reported best for this type of geometry. It was found that Spalart-Almaras (SA) model and few variations of k-ε model showed better prediction than other models like k-ω. Considering the merits of accuracy in predicting local flow features in most of the locations, the SA model is recommended for analysis involving curved demister. Similar analysis can be extended for two phase flow through curved vane demisters, to understand the performance and suitability.