doi: 10.52899/24141437_2026_01_123
UDK: 62-144.3

Effect of Turbulence Models on Computational Accuracy of Thermo- and Gasdynamic Properties of Air Flow in Marine Engines

Галиев И. Р., Тхет Х. М.
Article language:
Citation Link: Galiev IR, Thet HM. Effect of Turbulence Models on Computational Accuracy of Thermo- and Gasdynamic Properties of Air Flow in Marine Engines. Transactions of the Saint Petersburg State Marine Technical University. 2026;5(1):123–132. DOI: https://doi.org/10.52899/24141437_2026_01_123 EDN: JTRFXR

Annotation

BACKGROUND: Today, computational fluid dynamics methods are widely used in the marine engine designs and their improvement. The review of national and international publications presented in this paper showed that turbulence models may have a pronounced effect on calculations of thermodynamic (pressure and temperature) and gasdynamic (average and fluctuation velocity) properties of air flow in the cylinder of a conventional marine engine. Thus, the selection of an optimal turbulence model is an important step of numerical modeling. AIM: To conduct a numerical study of the effect of turbulence models on the thermodynamic and gasdynamic properties of air flow in the cylinder of a conventional marine engine. METHODS: The study used computational fluid dynamics methods implemented in software. The paper studied the effect of most common engineering turbulence models (k-ω SST, k-ε Standard, k-ε RNG, and k-ε Realizable) on numerical models. RESULTS: The authors obtained and analyzed vector fields of average and fluctuation velocity, pressure, temperature, and volumetric efficiency in relation to the engine crankshaft rotation angle and the turbulence model. CONCLUSION: The study showed that the k-ω SST turbulence model provides the most accurate gasdynamic properties of the air flow (average and fluctuation velocity) in the cylinder of a marine engine. It is emphasized that all turbulence models analyzed in the paper enable a highly accurate calculation of thermodynamic properties of the flow in the engine. A comparative analysis of the design and experimental values showed a difference of less than 3% for pressure and less than 6% for the average temperature in the engine combustion chamber. Analysis of the engine volumetric efficiency revealed that the k-ω SST turbulence model provides the highest computational accuracy with the error of less than 4%. For the k-ε Standard, k-ε RNG and k-ε Realizable turbulence models, the volumetric efficiency error was 13%. Keywords: marine piston engines; computational fluid dynamics; turbulence models; volumetric efficiency; swirl ratio; k-ω SST; k-ε Standard; k-ε RNG; k-ε Realizable.

Bibliography

1. Pan J, Ma J, Li J. Influence of Intake Port Structure on the Performance of a Spark-Ignited Natural Gas Engine. Energies. 2022;15(22):8545. Availaible from: https://doi.org/10.3390/en15228545 (In Engl.) doi: 10.3390/en15228545 EDN: SAJIAM
2. Abdulmouti H. Particle imaging velocimetry (PIV) technique: Principles and applications, review. Yanbu Journal of Engineering and Science. 2021;1:35-65.
3. Mahboub B. Computational Fluid Dynamics — Analysis, Simulations, and Applications. 2024. 244 p. doi:10.5772/intechopen.1003390.
4. Galiev IR, Kalinin FP. Influence of intake port shape on the characteristics of the air intake process in a marine engine cylinder. Proceedings of St. Petersburg State Marine Technical University. 2024;4:45–52. (In Russ.) EDN: VZVHVX
5. Posch S, Gobnitzer C, Lang M, et al. Turbulent combustion modeling for internal combustion engine CFD: A review. Progress in Energy and Combustion Science. 2025;106. Article 101200. URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pecs.2024.101200 (In Engl.) doi: 10.1016/j.pecs.2024.101200 EDN: TRAYWL
6. Davidson L. An Introduction to Turbulence Models. Chalmers University of technology. 2022. 50 p. Availaible from: URL: https://cfd-sweden.se/lada/
postscript_files/kompendium_turb.pdf (In Engl.)
7. Menter FR, Kuntz M, Langtry R. Ten years of industrial experience with the SST turbulence model. Heat and Mass Transfer. 2003;4:8.
8. Johansson B, Olsson K. Combustion Chambers for Natural Gas SI Engines. Part I. Fluid Flow and Combustion. SAE Technical papers.1995;950469:1–12. doi: https://doi.org/10.4271/950469.
9. Galiev IR. Fundamentals of CFD modeling of heat transfer in internal combustion engine design. St. Petersburg: SPbGMTU, 2024. 99 p. (In Russ.) EDN: DQYXLF
10. Kaplan M. Numerical Investigation of the Effects of Intake Port Geometry on In-Cylinder Motion and Combustion in Diesel Engine. The International Journal of Engineering and Science (IJES). 2018;6:16–26. doi: 10.9790/1813-0706021626 (In Engl.)
11. Galiev IR, Maksimov DS. Influence of inlet valve shape on air vortex characteristics in a marine engine cylinder. Research Bulletin by Russian Maritime Register of Shipping. 2024;1(76):96-105. (In Russ.)
12. Theodorakakos A. Numerical Simulation and Comparison of Different Steady-State Tumble Measuring Configurations for Internal Combustion
Engines. Computation. 2024;12:14. Availaible from: https://doi.org/10.3390/ computation12070138 (In Engl.). doi: 10.3390/computation12070138 EDN: BDKZUQ