Predicting lift-off of major self-heating releases under the influence of a building

Turbulent flow around a bluff body poses many problems with respect to both numerical and turbulence modelling. The review of numerical studies made indicates the need for refined numerical treatment such as use of higher order differencing schemes. The 2-D predictions made in the present study represent preparatory work aimed in this direction. The 2-D solution procedure described employs a differencing scheme which simultaneously satisfies the requirements of low numerical diffusion and positivity of coefficients. The effects of turbulence are modelled by a variant of the k-epsilon turbulence model incorporating curvature corrections. The governing equations are solved by an efficient pressure-implicit split-operator algorithm known as PISO. Predictions have been compared with experimental data and previous calculations