The impact of turbulence models on the simulation of residence time distribution in a multichamber ozone contactor

The flow and tracer transport in an ozone contactor is simulated by using computational fluid dynamics. The standard k- model, RNG k- model, realizable k- model and SST k- model are used to describe turbulence. A step change method is used to simulate the residence time distribution. The residence time and cumulative residence time are compared with laboratory experiments. All turbulence models can capture the feature of the residence time distribution and cumulative residence time distribution. The residence time distribution in the initial period is sensitive to the used turbulence model, which can affect the value of Morrill dispersion index. The standard k- model behaves better among four turbulence models.