Three-dimensional simulation of wind tunnel diffuser to study the effects of different divergence angles on speed uniform distribution, pressure in outlet, and eddy flows formation in the corners

Abstract

Despite the widespread use of diffusers in various industries, there is no comprehensive research so far. This is expressive on how the flow diffuses throughout the diffuser geometry, the amount of non-uniformity of speed distribution at the outlet, and the rate of eddy flows at the corners. The present study simulated a three-dimensional diffuser with a square geometry at different divergence angles in order to obtain a better understanding of the flow diffusion across the geometry, velocity distribution at the outlet, and reverse flow. Moreover, the aspect ratio and the Reynolds number were considered constant in all cases. The turbulence model was used along with a high-resolution discretization and a root-mean-square convergence criterion to solve this problem. The speed was substantially reduced to nearly zero at corners of the diffuser with a square cross section. Reverse flow and eddy currents were also observed in the same regions. By increasing the divergence angle, this effect was further intensified, and in addition to the corners, flow separation and eddy currents were formed in the regions close to the wall due to the adverse pressure gradient. The maximum velocity and flow distribution at the outlet cross section was located in the central region, which was intensified by increasing the divergence angle. The deviation of the average velocity at the diffuser outlet with a divergence angle of 5°, with a completely uniform velocity distribution at the outlet, was observed to be 15.3%. This deviation grew with an increase in divergence angle and reached 128.9% at a divergence angle of 30°.