A Discrete Immersed Boundary Method for the numerical simulation of heat transfer in compressible flows

TL;DR

This paper introduces a discrete immersed boundary method integrated with OpenFOAM for simulating heat transfer in high-speed compressible flows, validated through benchmark and complex 3D cases.

Contribution

It develops a novel discrete forcing IBM tailored for high Mach number flows with heat exchange, incorporating source terms into the Navier-Stokes equations.

Findings

Accurately simulates heat transfer in high-speed flows.

Validated against benchmark forced convection problems.

Effectively models 3D high Mach flows around heated objects.

Abstract

In the present study, a discrete forcing Immersed Boundary Method (IBM) is proposed for the numerical simulation of high-speed flow problems including heat exchange. The flow field is governed by the compressible Navier-Stokes equations, which are resolved by using the open source library OpenFOAM. The numerical solver is modified to include source terms in the momentum equation and in the energy equation, which account for the presence of the immersed body. The method is validated on some benchmark test cases dealing with forced convection problems and moving immersed bodies. The results obtained are in very good agreement with data provided in the literature. The method is further assessed by investigating three-dimensional high Mach flows around a heated sphere with different wall temperature. Even for this more complex test case, the method provides an accurate representation of both thermal and velocity fields.