Large-Eddy Simulation of Turbulent Flow in an Unbaffled Stirred Tank Driven by a Rushton Turbine

The turbulent flow fieldgeneratedin an unbaffledstirredtank by a Rushton turbine was computedby large-eddy simulation (LES). The Smagorinsky model was used to model the unresolved, or sub-grid, scales. A general purpose CFD code was appropriately modified in order to allow the computation of the sub-gridviscosity andto perform statistics on the computedresults. The numerical predictions were comparedwith the literature results for comparable configurations andwith experimental data obtainedusing particle image velocimetry. A very goodagreement was foundas regards both time-averagedresolv edfield s andturb ulence quantities. 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.