Abstract The high energy consumes have generated the need of developing higher efficiency devices, in this sense flameless combustion is a great alternative. The design of flameless combustion systems by means of Computational Flow Dynamics simulation is an alternative value to reduce costs, however it required an adequate model selection. In the present study a capability evaluation of standard and realizable versions of k-e turbulence model was carried out. Experimental measurements of temperature and chemical species were performed in combustion chamber of a regenerative furnace in order to compare this with numerical data and in this way determinate the performance and the incidence of the selected models. The realizable version shows better results regarding at changes of flow direction and recirculation patterns inside the furnace.