Comparison of different cfd software performances in the case of an incompressible air flow through a straight conical diffuser

Abstract

Numerical flow simulations have been carried out in order to analyze the possibilities of numerical prediction of a steady-state incompressible air flow through a conical diffuser named Azad diffuser. The spreading angle of this diffuser is 8 degrees and it has cylindrical parts of the constant diameter in the inlet and outlet flow zones. Numerical analysis has been performed by the use of the standard k-epsilon turbulence model. The simulations have been performed using the Ansys CFX and the OpenFOAM software for cases of 2-D and 3-D computational domains. In both cases a Ally developed turbulent flow at the inlet section of diffuser is present. The numerical flow simulation in a 2-D computational domain has been performed under the assumption of an axisymmetric flow in the diffuser. Numerically obtained results have been compared with experimental data. Results obtained with these two softwares have also been mutually compared. At the end the results obtained by CFD for the cases of 2-D and 3-D computational domains have been mutually compared, and the advantages and disadvantages of performing numerical simulations under the assumption of an axisymmetric flow in the diffuser have been analyzed.