Comparative Studies of Solvers on Compressible Axisymmetric Jet Using OpenFOAM®

Abstract

The competency, simplicity, and robustness of the open-source code written in C++ language; OpenFOAM® has gained the researcher's attention to explore and contribute to the same for producing quality outcomes. The availability of several steady and unsteady solvers working on different algorithms calls for the correct selection among them for simulating the test case. The present work focuses to simulate the two-dimensional compressible axisymmetric jet issuing out of a circular nozzle using three transient solvers available in OpenFoam® version 7; rhoCentralFoam, rhoPimpleFoam, and SonicFoam. The time-averaged values of pressure, velocity, temperature, and density were plotted over the centreline of the axisymmetric domain and a comparison was drawn to assess the capability of each solver to predict the outcomes as close to the experimental data. The advantages and disadvantages of these solvers will be inferred and the best among them will be selected for capturing extensive flow details of the compressible jet.