Chemical Engineering Science 80 (2012) 342348

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Chemical Engineering Science

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ces

Inuence of Laval nozzles on the air ow eld in melt blowing apparatus

Dawud H. Tan a, Peter K. Herman b, Arun Janakiraman b, Frank S. Bates a,n,
Satish Kumar a, Christopher W. Macosko a,n
a
b

Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, United States
Cummins Filtration, 1801 US Hwy 51/138, Stoughton, WI 53589, United States

H I G H L I G H T S
c
c
c

Raising air pressure results in supersonic air ow and compression waves formation.
Addition of Laval nozzles accelerates air ow and eliminates compression waves.
Good agreement between computational uid dynamics and Schlieren visualization.

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 4 January 2012
Received in revised form
29 May 2012
Accepted 13 June 2012
Available online 27 June 2012

Melt blowing combines extrusion of molten polymer through small orices with stretching of the hot
extrudate by hot air jets to create long, small diameter, bers. Simulations and experiments were
performed to examine: (1) the inuence of increasing air pressure inside the melt blowing die (Pinlet) on
the air jet in a typical melt blowing process and (2) the inuence of a Laval nozzle (a converging
diverging nozzle) on the air jet. The baseline case without a nozzle was simulated and examined based
on the y-component of the air velocity prole, vy(y), at the centerline as a function of Pinlet. As Pinlet
increases: (1) the air ow goes from subsonic to supersonic and (2) the maximum value of vy(y)
increases with increasing Pinlet, then starts to oscillate with the formation of compression waves in the
supersonic region, Pinlet Z 15 psig. Simulation also showed that a Laval nozzle inuences the air ow
eld by increasing the maximum value of vy(y) and eliminating the compression wave at a predictable
value of Pinlet. Actual density oscillations in the supersonic ow eld exiting a melt blowing die, with
and without a Laval nozzle, were captured using a Schlieren visualization technique. In both limits the
experimental results are in good agreement with the density oscillation in the supersonic ow eld of
the air jet anticipated by the simulations.
& 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Melt blowing
Laval nozzle
Supersonic
Air ow
CFD
Schlieren

1. Introduction
A nonwoven is a web of randomly oriented bers bonded by
physical entanglements or adhesion but not woven or knitted
(Hutten, 2007). Nonwoven applications range from disposable
wipes to medical apparel to ltration media (Russell, 2007). The
future growth of the nonwoven industry relies on the capability of
producing bers with an average diameter less than 1 mm,
commonly called nanobers. Various techniques, such as electrospinning (Reneker and Chun, 1996; Frenot and Chronakis, 2003;
Huang et al., 2003; Li and Xia, 2004), melt blowing (Wente, 1956),
jet blowing (Borkar et al., 2006), centrifugal spinning (Sarkar
et al., 2010), and laser-assisted supersonic drawing (Suzuki and

Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: bates001@umn.edu (F.S. Bates),
macosko@umn.edu (C.W. Macosko).
0009-2509/$ - see front matter & 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2012.06.020

Aoki, 2008) can produce nanobers, but melt blowing is of

particular interest because it is solvent-free; this translates into
a more economical process, higher production rate, and higher
compatibility with many types of polymers. In short, the melt
blowing process extrudes a molten polymer lament through a
die and provided jets of hot air to rapidly extend the lament
along its length and reduce its diameter. A signicant amount of
ambient air is entrained by the hot jet leading to rapid solidication of the ber.
Ellison et al. (2007) used a custom-built melt blowing
equipment that mimics its industrial counterpart to generate
nanobers. They used higher air ow rates and lower polymer
ow rates, which resulted in a greater attenuation force than
what have been reported with industrial equipment. Ellison
et al.s method will allow nanober production with minimal
modication on current industrial melt blowing equipment.
However, reducing the polymer ow rate makes it industrially
undesirable. Moreover, increasing the air ow rate (by increasing

D.H. Tan et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 80 (2012) 342348

the air pressure in the melt blowing die, Pinlet) will cause the
meltblown bers to break and produce loose and uncollected
bers (commonly called ies in industry) (Breese and Qureshi,
2002; Buntin et al., 1972; Harding et al., 1972; Herman et al.,
2008). These ies can aggregate and land on the ber collector to
form defects in the nonwoven.
Herman et al. (2008) showed with numerical simulations that
the air ow in the melt blowing process will become compressible and supersonic with increasing Pinlet ( Z15 psig). A compressible ow is one with large enough pressure gradient such
that the change in density is no longer negligible. A supersonic
ow is one in which the ow velocity is faster than the speed of
sound (341 m/s at STP) (Anderson, 2003). Herman et al. (2008)
suggest that the compression wave observed in supersonic ows
will produce an unstable air ow eld in the melt blowing process
and thus will be responsible for the y generation. They propose
that the inclusion of a Laval nozzle in the melt blowing process
will magnify the velocity and eliminate the instability in the air
ow eld, thus reducing the average ber diameter and suppressing y generation.
A Laval nozzle is a convergentdivergent nozzle, invented by
Gustav Patrik de Laval in 1888 for steam engine applications (de
Laval, 1894), which can produce a supersonic ow in the divergent
section, directly following the choked and sonic ow condition at
the narrowest point in the nozzle. Both the scientic (Gerking,
2005) and patent (Gerking, 2004; Johnson et al., 2009; Nyssen
et al., 1992; Reneker, 2002; Sodemann and Voges, 2008) literature
have described the application of a Laval nozzle in melt blowing
including various speculations regarding the production of nanobers. Reneker (2002) and Johnson et al. (2009) claimed that
polymer melt brillation within a Laval nozzle produces nanobers, while Gerking (2004) and Sodemann and Voges (2008)
suggested that the spontaneous burst of a molten polymer produces multiple nanobers. Gerkings (2005) photographic evidence
of the spontaneous bursting process is inconclusive since the image
could also be interpreted as ber whipping. Moreover, spontaneous
bursting, an unexpected event for viscoelastic materials, should
lead to irregularly shaped bers, which is not found; Gerking
(2005) noted that all the produced bers have a regular cylindrical
shape. Laval nozzles have also been studied in the context of
particle coating (Lee et al., 2011; Park et al., 2011).
In this paper, we present numerical simulations of the air ow
eld associated with the melt blowing process (in the absence of
meltblown bers) with increasing Pinlet. The air ow eld exiting a
melt blowing die has been characterized experimentally with and
without a Laval nozzle using a Schlieren visualization technique.
To the best of our knowledge this represents the rst experimental corroboration of simulated air ow in the melt blowing
process.

343

employed with CFD simulations performed at the UMN Supercomputing Institute is shown in Fig. 1; system boundaries are identied
as air inlets (a and b), walls (ch), and air outlets (ik). Simulations
were constrained by the following boundary conditions: (i) specied
temperature and pressure for the air inlet (Tinlet and Pinlet); (ii) no slip
and zero heat ux at the wall; and (iii) ambient temperature and
pressure (25 1C and 1 atm) for the air outlet. Numerical simulations
were run using the default iterative scheme until the following
convergence (residual) criteria were satised: continuityo10  3,
x-velocity (vx) and y-velocity (vy)o10  6, energyo10  6, turbulent
model parameters ko10  4 and o o10  5. Fig. 2(a) shows schematically the location of the simulated 2D area with respect to the actual
melt blowing die (illustrated in 3D).
CFD simulation was used to investigate two different Laval
nozzles that are illustrated in Fig. 3(a) and (b). The dimensions of
the Laval nozzles were determined using software developed by
NASA (Benson, 2011) that is based on the compressible ow
principle (Anderson, 2003) and summarized in Table 1. Overexpanded nozzle dimensions were chosen to generate supersonic
ow within the nozzle, with a normal-shock located roughly at the
nozzle exit for a designated Pinlet. For supersonic ow through a
Laval nozzle, a perfect expansion is achieved when the ow starts
with a Pinlet value higher than the ambient pressure, steadily
accelerates through the nozzle, and exits the nozzle at ambient
pressure (Anderson, 2003). Eq. (1) shows that for any given
Pinlet and Pexit value, an area ratio of the nozzle exit to its
throat (Aex/Ath) that provides perfect expansion can be calculated
simply based on the isentropic expansion factor of the gas
(kCp/Cv 1.4 for air) that ows through the nozzle (Sutton 1967):
( 

1=k1 
 "
k1=k )#1=2
Ath
k 1
P exit 1=k k 1
P
1 exit

2
k1
Aex
Pinlet
Pinlet

2. Simulation

Fig. 1. An example of a 2D control area used in the simulation. The boundary

types are: air inlets (a and b), walls (ch), and air outlets (ik). The arrows just
below the die tip show the xy coordinates used in the simulation.

Two dimensional (2D) numerical simulations of the air ow eld

in the melt blowing process were performed using computational
uid dynamics (CFD) software (Fluent ANSYS 12). The turbulent
nature of the air ow was accounted for by applying the familiar SST
ko turbulence model (Menter, 1994; Wilcox, 1988), with default
(Fluent 13) parameter settings. This is a popular two-equation eddyviscosity model that combines ko model in the near-wall region
and reverts to ke in the free-stream, via a blending function. It is
often recommended and used for simulating separating ow and
adverse pressure gradients, as found in the Laval nozzles reported in
this work. Different 2D meshes were created to mimic the dimension
of the actual melt blowing die described in other publications (Ellison
et al., 2007; Tan et al., 2010). An illustration of the 2D control area

Fig. 2. Schematics of the 2D plane in which the air density prole is: (a) Simulated
with CFD. (b) Measured with Schlieren visualization. The dotted line in the 2D
plane is the centerline location at which the comparison is made.

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D.H. Tan et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 80 (2012) 342348

Fig. 3. Schematics showing the cross sections of: (a)(b) Laval nozzles 1 and 2
(See Table 1 for dimensions). (c) Top-view pictures showing the ease with which
Laval nozzle 1 is attached onto the existing melt blowing die. In image (c), the tube
above the air exit slot of the existing melt blowing die is an outlet for Pinlet
measurement.

Table 1
Laval nozzle design.
Nozzle

1
2

Fig. 4. A schematic of the Schlieren visualization setup.

which Laval nozzle 1 is attached onto the bottom of the melt

blowing die where the air exit slot is located.
3.2. Optical visualization

Expansion

Shape

Length (mm)

Angle (1)

Aex/Ath

1.0
4.0
3.0

27
5

1.9
2.5
2.5

Two expansion zones

Bell-shaped expansion

a
Final expanded area, Aex, to initial throat area, Ath. These area ratios, 1.9 and
2.5, produce perfectly expanded ows when Pinlet is set to 130 and 215 psig,
respectively.

For our industrial melt blowing application, Pinlet is practically

limited to  45 psig due to the exponentially increasing cost of air
compression (Nyssen et al., 1992). The corresponding area ratio
for perfect expansion at Pinlet  50 psig calculated from Eq. (1)
would be relatively small (  1.3). Thus, the ow through the
nozzle was substantially over-expanded by intentionally choosing
area ratios in the 2 2.5 range, thereby creating high supersonic
velocities in the nozzle followed by an abrupt shock positioned
near the nozzle exit. In this study, the Pinlet values were set
between 15 and 45 psig since the effect of compressible ow does
not appear until Pinlet Z15 psig (i.e., exceeding critical pressure
ratio for air with discharge to atmospheric pressure) and achieving Pinlet Z45 psig is not industrially feasible due to the exponential increase in the cost of air compression (Nyssen et al., 1992).

3. Experiment
3.1. Melt blowing equipment and Laval nozzle
The melt blowing die and related equipment discussed in the
previous publications (Ellison et al., 2007; Tan et al., 2010) were
used in this work. The air ow eld in the melt blowing process
was examined as a function of Pinlet at Tinlet 25 1C in the absence
of meltblown bers. Based on the CFD simulations two Laval
nozzles were fabricated out of 316-stainless steel, designed so
they could be attached directly to the existing melt blowing die
with minimal modication. Table 1 lists the different dimensions
of the two nozzles, i.e., different expansion length, expansion
angle, and area expansion ratio (ratio of the nal expanded area to
the initial throat area). Fig. 3(c) highlights the simplicity with

A Schlieren technique (Settles, 2001) was developed to visualize

the air ow eld in the melt blowing process. In short, the
Schlieren technique uses the principle of light deection associated
with refractive index gradients to visualize density differences in
uids, including those found in compressible supersonic ows.
Fig. 4 illustrates the Schlieren visualization equipment used in this
work. A 15 cm diameter concave mirror with a 150 cm focal length
(Edmund Optics) was used to direct light from a high intensity
lamp (Volpi Intralux 6000-1) onto a digital camera (Canon PowerShot SD 1100 IS). The mirror was separated from the light source
and camera (detector) by 300 cm, twice the focal length of the
mirror. A razor blade, placed in front of the camera lens at the focal
point acts as a Schlieren stop (Settles, 2001), partially blocking the
incident light. The melt blowing die was positioned in the box
labeled Schlieren eld of view in Fig. 4 and the air jet images
were acquired with the room completely darkened with the
exception of the Schlieren optical source. Schlieren images were
calibrated based on the known dimensions of the die assembly.
Fig. 5(a) shows an image recorded under ambient light with no
air ow. The diameter of the bottom piece of the melt blowing die
(40 mm) was used to calibrate the camera. Fig. 5(b) was recorded
with air owing at a steady rate through the apparatus (and the
room completely dark) revealing a periodic, oscillating pattern
emanating from the exit of the melt blowing die. Image analysis
software (NIH ImageJ) was employed to convert the variations in
light intensity recorded by the camera along the centerline (identied by the white line) into relative brightness versus axial position y
(see Fig. 1). The resulting normalized brightness is plotted in
Fig. 5(c), along with a damped sinusoidal function (solid curve),
which provides an accurate representation of the maxima and
minima and the wavelength of the underlying compression waves.

4. Results and discussion

4.1. CFD simulation
Computational uid dynamics simulations were employed to
model the air ow eld at the exit of a conventional melt blowing
die (i.e., no Laval nozzle) in the absence of bers. The inuence of
Pinlet on the y-component of the air velocity (vy), air density (r),
and air temperature (T) was investigated at constant Tinlet 25 1C.

D.H. Tan et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 80 (2012) 342348

345

Fig. 5. (a) An image that provides a reference length (white arrow). (b) An image of the compression wave at Tinlet 25 1C and Pinlet 56 psig. Fig. 2(b) shows the 2D plane
at which images (a) and (b) were recorded in relation to the 3D location of the die. (c) A normalized brightness prole of the white line in (b) measured with ImageJ and
tted with a damped sinusoidal function.

The air velocity maybe represented in terms of Mach number,

which is calculated locally by Fluent as a function of local
temperature condition based on the equation for the speed of
sound, c (c (Cp/Cv  R  T) ^ (1/2); Cp/Cv 1.4 for air). Ideal gas
properties were used for compressibility characteristics,
which are adequate to simulate the dry air conditions that were
typically used in test conditions and practice for MB nozzles.
Fig. 6(a) shows a representative simulation result for vy in the
form of a 2D contour plot, from which the centerline vy(y) prole
(x0) was extracted. Fig. 6(b) illustrates how vy(y) reaches a
nearly constant level beyond the die exit for 1oyo10 mm and
how the centerline air velocity increases with increasing Pinlet.
Signicantly, vy(y) begins to oscillate when Pinlet Z17 psig, indicating compression waves that can be characterized by an
amplitude and wavelength of oscillation. Comparing the vy(y)
proles at Pinlet 17 and 20 psig in Fig. 6(b) reveals that both the
amplitude and wavelength of the compression waves increase
with increasing Pinlet. One of the authors has shown elsewhere
that these oscillations in centerline air velocity are accompanied
by oscillations in density, r(y), and temperature, T(y), all characterized by a common wavelength (Tan, 2011). Also, simulations
at Tinlet 265 1C, representative of actual melt blowing conditions,
demonstrate that the absolute values of vy(y), r(y), and T(y)
change but do not alter the amplitude and wavelength of the
compression wave (Tan, 2011).
Laval nozzles 1 and 2 were simulated in the absence of bers at
xed Pinlet 20 psig and Tinlet 265 1C. The resulting centerline vy
(y) proles were compared with the baseline case, i.e., no Laval
nozzle. The goal was to determine the ability of the nozzle to
produce a higher maximum vy and reduce wave compression in
the air ow eld after the exit of the melt blowing die. Fig. 7
demonstrates that both Laval nozzles (see Table 1) increase the
maximum vy above the baseline value (reaching E2.52.9 Mach)
and appear to suppress oscillation to some extent, although these
benets are accompanied by a near discontinuity in ow velocity
between 2 and 4 mm from the die exit. The effect of the nozzle
geometry on ow stability has been addressed elsewhere (Tan,
2011). For example, two expansion zones (nozzle 1) induce chaotic
ow separation from the nozzle wall for Pinlet r40 psig, but this
effect is suppressed with a single bell-shaped expansion zone
(nozzle 2) (Tan, 2011).
4.2. Schlieren visualization
Air owing from the melt blowing die was visualized in the
absence of bers at various inlet pressures, with and without the

Fig. 6. CFD simulation results of the air ow eld without a Laval nozzle, i.e.,
baseline. (a) An example of a contour plot of the y-component of the air velocity
(vy, in unit of Mach) at Pinlet 20 psig and Tinlet 25 1C. (b) The effect of Pinlet on
vy(y) at the centerline, x 0, when Tinlet 25 1C.

Laval nozzle, using the Schlieren technique. Fig. 8 shows results

obtained without the Laval nozzle at Tinlet 25 1C when Pinlet was
increased from 25 psig, where compression waves rst appear, to
56 psig. Dark and light bands in the Schlieren images, corresponding to regions of higher and lower gas densities, respectively, are
in qualitative agreement with the simulated results shown in
Fig. 6(a). Clearly, increasing the inlet pressure increases the
spacing between the compression waves as anticipated by the
numerical calculations (Fig. 6(b)). Similar results were obtained

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D.H. Tan et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 80 (2012) 342348

formation of compression waves with similar wavelength to that

of the unmodied (baseline) die (this is sometimes referred to as
nozzle stall; cf. Fig. 12). Fig. 10 (d) shows that at Pinlet E40 psig
the normal shock is generated right at the exit of nozzle 2 and the
compression wave formation appears to be suppressed completely. Fig. 10 (e)(g) shows that increasing the pressure further
leads to the re-appearance of compression waves but with
different characteristics than the compression waves produced
without a Laval nozzle because the normal shock is now generated outside of nozzle 2.
4.3. Comparison of simulation and Schlieren visualization
Fig. 7. Simulations of the inuence of Laval nozzles 1 and 2 on vy(y) at the
centerline (x 0) in comparison to the case without nozzle, i.e., baseline. The
simulations were done for Pinlet 20 psig and Tinlet 265 1C.

Fig. 8. Schlieren images of air ow recorded at Tinlet 25 1C and various Pinlet.

Fig. 9. (a)(g) Schlieren images of air ow with Laval nozzle 1 at Tinlet 25 1C and
various Pinlet.

Fig. 10. (a)(g) Schlieren images of air ow with Laval nozzle 2 at Tinlet 25 1C and
various Pinlet.

while visualizing: (1) the air ow in the absence of bers at

Tinlet 265 1C as anticipated by the CFD simulations and (2) the air
ow at Tinlet 25 1C in the presence of bers; these results are
presented elsewhere (Tan, 2011).
Attaching a Laval nozzle to the melt blowing die produces
dramatic changes in the Schlieren images as shown in Figs. 9 and
10 (recorded with Tinlet 25 1C). Fig. 9 shows that nozzle 1
(Table 1) appears to damp the formation of compression waves
up to inlet pressure of 40 psig due to ow separation (see above).
Compression waves rst appear at 45 psig and grow in magnitude
and wavelength as Pinlet is raised. Careful inspection of these
pictures reveals certain qualitative differences in the form of the
ow eld relative to the baseline case (Fig. 8).
Visual images obtained while operating nozzle 2, which contains a more idealized expansion zone (see Fig. 3), are presented
in Fig. 10. Based on the area ratio (Aex/Ath) of nozzle 2, Eq. (1)
establishes that the air ow is always over expanded at all the
Pinlet values investigated in this study (Sutton, 1967; Anderson,
2003). Fig. 10(a)(c) shows that between 25 and 35 psig, the
normal shock is generated inside nozzle 2 and it is displaying the

As illustrated in Fig. 2, the CFD simulations and Schlieren

experiments access orthogonal planes in the 3D air ow eld
beyond the melt blowing die. Nevertheless, these projections
share a common centerline, coincident with the y direction in
Fig. 6, which is used in comparing the theory and visualization
experiments. A single damped sinusoidal function characterized
by wavelength lcw can be extracted from the Schlieren
experiments (Fig. 5) and from the simulated centerline air ow
proles (Fig. 6) both at Tinlet 25 1C and various Pinlet. The
numerical and experimental results for lcw are remarkably
similar as shown in Fig. 11. Although the simulated lcw values
are all slightly larger than the experimental data, within the
uncertainties in the calculations and measurements, the experimental trend in lcw versus Pinlet is exactly accounted for by the
CFD calculations.
Fig. 12 provides a direct comparison of Schlieren images and
simulated ow elds obtained with nozzle 2 for various values of
Pinlet. Here we note that a point of reference is provided by the
dashed white line in the rst panel, which identies the edge of
the die. When Pinlet o40 psig, the normal shock is generated
inside nozzle 2 and the experiment and simulation both show
compression waves with characteristics similar to those seen
without a Laval nozzle, i.e., the compression waves grow with
increasing Pinlet and the simulation overestimates the experiment.
At Pinlet E40 psig, the normal shock is generated right at the
nozzle exit and suppression of the compression waves is evident
in both the simulation and experiment. When Pinlet 440 psig, the
normal shock is generated outside nozzle 2 and the experiment
and simulation both show re-appearance of compression waves
with characteristics that differ from the compression waves

Fig. 11. The wavelength of compression wave (lcw) as a function of Pinlet from
simulation in comparison to that measured from Schlieren visualization. In all
cases, Tinlet 25 1C and no Laval nozzle is used.

D.H. Tan et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 80 (2012) 342348

seen without the Laval nozzle. Quantitative comparison of lcw at

these elevated pressures is complicated by the fact that the
maximum simulated air ow proles no longer occur along the

347

centerline, obviating direct comparison with the centerline

brightness data.

5. Conclusion
Computational uid dynamics simulations were used to model
the air ow eld in the melt blowing process in the absence of
meltblown bers. The baseline case (without a nozzle) was
investigated based on the y-component of the air velocity prole,
vy(y), at the centerline as a function of inlet air pressure (Pinlet),
ranging from subsonic to supersonic ows. The maximum value
of vy(y) increases with increasing Pinlet, then begins to oscillate
accompanied by the formation of compression waves in the
supersonic region, Pinlet Z15 psig. Simulation demonstrates that
a Laval nozzle inuences the air ow eld by increasing the
maximum value of vy(y) and eliminating the compression waves
at a specic predictable value of Pinlet. Performance of an actual
melt blowing die was characterized using Schlieren visualization
experiments, which revealed density oscillation in the air ow
eld as a function of Pinlet. The results of the simulations and
experiments are in excellent agreement.

Acknowledgments
This work is funded by Cummins Filtration. Parts of this work
were also carried out using computing resources at the University
of Minnesota Supercomputing Institute.

Appendix A. Supplementary information

Fig. 12. Wavelength of compression wave (lcw) predicted by simulation and

measured with Schlieren visualization as a function of Pinlet at Tinlet 25 1C when
Laval nozzle 2 is used. Black and white arrows in CFD result (top left) indicate the
area that is invisible and visible, respectively in Schlieren visualization.

We compared the results from different turbulence models

(ke, realizable ke, RSM, etc.) and found a non-negligible variation in the nature/onset of lower pressure stall where the ow
detaches from the nozzle wall. Upon consultation with experts at
Fluent, it was suggested that the SST ko model was widely used
in this specic eld/application (rocket nozzle type ows), and is

Fig. A1. Observation of non-negligible variation in the CFD simulation results when two different turbulent models, ke versus SST ko, were used.

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D.H. Tan et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 80 (2012) 342348

Fig. A2. Simulation results obtained with two different ambient air temperatures,
25 and 1001 C, highlighting the negligible effect of ambient air temperature on the
centerline velocity.

more conservative in predicting stall onset (which we observed/

conrmed in several nozzle congurations, once we switched to
SST ko from realizable ke or RSM). The stall condition appeared
to be qualitatively conrmed in physical testing/imaging. The
comparison in Fig. A1 shows an example (same conditions) for
realizable ke versus SST ko (all results in this paper were from
the SST ko model).
The effect of ambient air temperature in our study can be
safely ignored because it does not substantively affect the parameters of interest in the near-die ber attenuation zone (velocity
and temperature). To illustrate this, we simulated two cases
where the local ambient air temperature was set to 251 and
1001 C and it is clear in Fig. A2 that there is no effect of ambient
air temperature on the parameters of interest (centerline air
velocity is shown here).
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