TY - JOUR TI - Numerical simulation of different turbulence models aiming at perdicting the flow and temperature separation in a Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube AU - Azizi Seied Hossein AU - Saleh Seied Reza AU - Kahrom Mohsen AU - Andalibi Mahmoud Reza JN - Thermal Science PY - 2014 VL - 18 IS - 4 SP - 1159 EP - 1171 PT - Article AB - A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is used to compare the effect of different Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) based turbulence models in predicting the temperature separation and power separation in a Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube. Three first order turbulence models (standard k-ε, Renormalized group RNG and shear stress transport (SST) K-ω model) together with a second order numerical scheme are surveyed in the present work. The simulations are done in 2D steady, axisymetric with high swirl flow model. The performance curves (hot and cold outlet temperatures and power separation versus hot outlet mass fraction) obtained by using these turbulence models are compared with the experimental results in different cold mass fractions. The aim is to select an appropriate turbulence model for the simulation of the flow phenomena. Because of large discrepancy between 2D and experiment, validation in 3D model is also considered. The performance analysis shows that among all the turbulence models investigated in this study, temperature separation predicted by the Renormalized group RNG model is closer to the experimental results.