On low-dimensional Galerkin modeling of confined twin-jet flow and heat transfer

The two-dimensional incompressible non-isothermal confined twin-jet flow has been numerically studied in the transitional flow regime by a finite volume technique. Results have been obtained for the velocity and temperature distributions close to the onset of temporal oscillations. Next, the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) is applied to the instantaneous flow and temperature data to obtain POD-based basis functions for both velocity and temperature fields. These basis functions are capable to identify the coherent structures in the velocity and temperature fields. The low-dimensional Galerkin models of the full Navier-Stokes and energy equations are constructed by the Galerkin projection onto basis functions. Since the low-dimensional Galerkin models are much easier to analyze than the full governing equations, basic insights into important mechanisms of dynamically complex flow and heat transfer (e.g. flow instabilities) can be easily studied by these models. The numerical implications, the validity of the models and their performance characteristics are discussed.