Several modifications are introduced to the Elliptic Blending Differential Flux Model proposed by Shin et al. (2008) to account for the influence of wall blockage on the turbulent heat flux. These modifications are introduced in order to reproduce, in association with the most recent version of the EB-RSM, the full range of regimes, from forced to natural convection, without any case-specific modification. The interest of the new model is demonstrated using analytical arguments, a priori tests and computations in channel flows in the different convection regimes, as well as in a differentially heated cavity.

The present paper focuses on the application of the elliptic blending approach to the modeling of turbulent heat fluxes, in order to account for the influence of solid boundaries. The analytical justification of the extension to the temperature-pressure gradient correlation term of this approach, originally applied to the velocity-pressure gradient, is given. The assumption of weak equilibrium enables the derivation of two new algebraic flux models valid down to the wall. It is shown, with both a priori tests and computations in forced and mixed convection regimes, that the predictions of the streamwise heat-flux and the temperature variance are significantly improved by the use of elliptic blending. A particular attention is devoted to the issue of the modeling of the correlation length scale involved in the elliptic blending for the heat fluxes, which is shown to have a significant influence on the predictions.