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The work submits new release of the FlowVision software designed for automation of engineering calculations in computational fluid dynamics: FlowVision 3.09.05. The FlowVision software is used for solving different industrial problems. Its popularity is based on the capability to solve complex non-tradition problems involving different physical processes. The paradigm of complete automation of labor-intensive and time-taking processes like grid generation makes FlowVision attractive for many engineers. FlowVision is completely developer-independent software. It includes an advanced graphical interface, the system for specifying a computational project as well as the system for flow visualization on planes, on curvilinear surfaces and in volume by means of different methods: plots, color contours, iso-lines, iso-surfaces, vector fields. Besides that, FlowVision provides tools for calculation of integral characteristics on surfaces and in volumetric regions.

The software is based on the finite-volume approach to approximation of the partial differential equations describing fluid motion and accompanying physical processes. It provides explicit and implicit methods for time integration of these equations. The software includes automated generator of unstructured grid with capability of its local dynamic adaptation. The solver involves two-level parallelism which allows calculations on computers with distributed and shared memory (coexisting in the same hardware). FlowVision incorporates a wide spectrum of physical models: different turbulence models, models for mass transfer accounting for chemical reactions and radioactive decay, several combustion models, a dispersed phase model, an electro-hydrodynamic model, an original VOF model for tracking moving interfaces. It should be noted that turbulence can be simulated within URANS, LES, and ILES approaches. FlowVision simulates fluid motion with velocities corresponding to all possible flow regimes: from incompressible to hypersonic. This is achieved by using an original all-speed velocity-pressure split algorithm for integration of the Navier-Stokes equations.

FlowVision enables solving multi-physic problems with use of different modeling tools. For instance, one can simulate multi-phase flows with use of the VOF method, flows past bodies moving across a stationary grid (within Euler approach), flows in rotary machines with use of the technology of sliding grid. Besides that, the software solves fluid-structure interaction problems using the technology of two-way coupling of FlowVision with finite-element codes. Two examples of solving challenging problems in the FlowVision software are demonstrated in the given article. The first one is splashdown of a spacecraft after deceleration by means of jet engines. This problem is characterized by presence of moving bodies and contact surface between the air and the water in the computational domain. The supersonic jets interact with the air-water interphase. The second problem is simulation of the work of a human heart with artificial and natural valves designed on the basis of tomographic investigations with use of a finite-element model of the heart. This problem is characterized by two-way coupling between the “liquid” computational domain and the finite-element model of the hart muscles.

When a supersonic air flow interacts with a transverse secondary jet injected into this flow through an orifice on a flat wall, a special flow structure is formed. This flow takes place during fuel injection into combustion chambers of supersonic aircraft engines; therefore, in recent years, various approaches to intensifying gas mixing in this type of flow have been proposed and studied in several countries. The approach proposed in this work implies using spark discharges for pulsed heating of the gas and generating the instabilities in the shear layer at the boundary of the secondary jet. Using simulation in the software package FlowVision 3.13, the characteristics of this flow were obtained in the absence and presence of pulsed-periodic local heat release on the wall on the windward side of the injector opening. A comparison was made of local characteristics at different periodicities of pulsed heating (corresponding to the values of the Strouhal number 0.25 and 0.31). It is shown that pulsed heating can stimulate the formation of perturbations in the shear layer at the jet boundary. For the case of the absence of heating and for two modes of pulsed heating, the values of an integral criterion for mixing efficiency were calculated. It is shown that pulsed heating can lead both to a decrease in the average mixing efficiency and to its increase (up to 9% in the considered heating mode). The calculation method used (unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier – Stokes equations with a modified $k-\varepsilon$ turbulence model) was validated by considering a typical case of the secondary transverse jet interaction with a supersonic flow, which was studied by several independent research groups and well documented in the literature. The grid convergence was shown for the simulation of this typical case in FlowVision. A quantitative comparison was made of the results obtained from FlowVision calculations with experimental data and calculations in other programs. The results of this study can be useful for specialists dealing with the problems of gas mixing and combustion in a supersonic flow, as well as the development of engines for supersonic aviation.

The possibility to study temperature fluctuations using URANS approach is studied. The results of numerical simulation of mixing processes for triple-jet sodium at different temperatures are presented. The processes were simulated using FlowVision software system and LMS model for turbulent heat transfer. The analysis and experiment data are compared. Validated was the possibility to determine the energy-carrying frequencies of temperature fluctuations using URANS approach and LMS model when mixing triple-jet sodium at different temperatures.

Numerical investigation of mixing non-isothermal streams of sodium coolant in a T-branch is carried out in the FlowVision CFD software. This study is aimed at argumentation of applicability of different approaches to prediction of oscillating behavior of the flow in the mixing zone and simulation of temperature pulsations. The following approaches are considered: URANS (Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokers), LES (Large Eddy Simulation) and quasi-DNS (Direct Numerical Simulation). One of the main tasks of the work is detection of the advantages and drawbacks of the aforementioned approaches.

Numerical investigation of temperature pulsations, arising in the liquid and T-branch walls from the mixing of non-isothermal streams of sodium coolant was carried out within a mathematical model assuming that the flow is turbulent, the fluid density does not depend on pressure, and that heat exchange proceeds between the coolant and T-branch walls. Model LMS designed for modeling turbulent heat transfer was used in the calculations within URANS approach. The model allows calculation of the Prandtl number distribution over the computational domain.

Preliminary study was dedicated to estimation of the influence of computational grid on the development of oscillating flow and character of temperature pulsation within the aforementioned approaches. The study resulted in formulation of criteria for grid generation for each approach.

Then, calculations of three flow regimes have been carried out. The regimes differ by the ratios of the sodium mass flow rates and temperatures at the T-branch inlets. Each regime was calculated with use of the URANS, LES and quasi-DNS approaches.

At the final stage of the work analytical comparison of numerical and experimental data was performed. Advantages and drawbacks of each approach to simulation of mixing non-isothermal streams of sodium coolant in the T-branch are revealed and formulated.

It is shown that the URANS approach predicts the mean temperature distribution with a reasonable accuracy. It requires essentially less computational and time resources compared to the LES and DNS approaches. The drawback of this approach is that it does not reproduce pulsations of velocity, pressure and temperature.

The LES and DNS approaches also predict the mean temperature with a reasonable accuracy. They provide oscillating solutions. The obtained amplitudes of the temperature pulsations exceed the experimental ones. The spectral power densities in the check points inside the sodium flow agree well with the experimental data. However, the expenses of the computational and time resources essentially exceed those for the URANS approach in the performed numerical experiments: 350 times for LES and 1500 times for ·DNS.