In aero-engine bearing chambers, the modelling of shear-driven oil films with the Volume of Fluid method poses significant challenges linked with the need to accurately capture the gas-liquid interaction at the free surface. Typically, the modelling of the latter relies on a dedicated scalable source term, which is activated locally at the interface between the phases. Our latest published work focused on the application of a popular term of this kind known as turbulence damping, and raised some questions on the suitability of the choice of a high value for its scaling factor. In this paper, a lower turbulence damping factor value is proposed. The new results are evaluated against both the reference bearing chamber experimental data and the previously published numerical data. The results highlight that a transition from shear-driven to gravity-driven flow conditions takes place once the damping factor value is decreased. Considering the impact this may have on the accuracy of the numerical predictions, a strategy is proposed towards a better-informed choice of the turbulence damping factor, in particular when the expected flow conditions are unknown.
展开▼
