Direct Numerical Simulation of Turbulent Pipe Flow at Moderately High Reynolds Numbers

Fully resolved direct numerical simulations (DNSs) have been performed with a high-order spectral element method to study the flow of an incompressible viscous fluid in a smooth circular pipe of radius R and axial length 25R in the turbulent flow regime at four different friction Reynolds numbers Re _τ ?=?180, 360, 550 and $1\text{,}000$ . The new set of data is put into perspective with other simulation data sets, obtained in pipe, channel and boundary layer geometry. In particular, differences between different pipe DNS are highlighted. It turns out that the pressure is the variable which differs the most between pipes, channels and boundary layers, leading to significantly different mean and pressure fluctuations, potentially linked to a stronger wake region. In the buffer layer, the variation with Reynolds number of the inner peak of axial velocity fluctuation intensity is similar between channel and boundary layer flows, but lower for the pipe, while the inner peak of the pressure fluctuations show negligible differences between pipe and channel flows but is clearly lower than that for the boundary layer, which is the same behaviour as for the fluctuating wall shear stress. Finally, turbulent kinetic energy budgets are almost indistinguishable between the canonical flows close to the wall (up to y ^?+??≈?100), while substantial differences are observed in production and dissipation in the outer layer. A clear Reynolds number dependency is documented for the three flow configurations.     

Numerical study of effects of pulsatile amplitude for transitional turbulent pulsatile flow in pipes with ring‐type constrictions

The effects of pulsatile amplitude on sinusoidal transitional turbulent flows through a rigid pipe in the vicinity of a sharp‐edged mechanical ring‐type constriction have been studied numerically. Pulsatile flows were studied for transitional turbulent flow with Reynolds number (Re) of the order of 10⁴, Womersley number (Nw) of the order of 50 with a corresponding Strouhal number (St) of the order of 0.04. The pulsatile flow considered is a sinusoidal flow with dimensionless amplitudes varying from 0.0 to 1.0. Transitional laminar and turbulent flow characteristics in an alternative manner within the pulsatile flow fields were observed and studied numerically. The flow characteristics were studied through the pulsatile contours of streamlines, vorticity, shear stress and isobars. It was observed that fluid accelerations tend to suppress the development of flow disturbances. All the instantaneous maximum values of turbulent kinetic energy, turbulent viscosity, turbulent shear stress are smaller during the acceleration phase when compared with those during deceleration period. Various parametric equations within a pulsatile cycle have also been formulated through numerical experimentations with different pulsatile amplitudes. In the vicinity of constrictions, the empirical relationships were obtained for the instantaneous flow rate (Q), the pressure gradient (dp/dz), the pressure loss (P_loss), the maximum velocity (V_max), the maximum vorticity (ζ_max), the maximum wall vorticity (ζ_w,max), the maximum shear stress (τ_max) and the maximum wall shear stress (τ_w,max). Elliptic relation was observed between flow rate and pressure gradient. Quadratic relations were observed between flow rate and the pressure loss, the maximum values of shear stress, wall shear stress, turbulent kinematic energy and the turbulent viscosity. Linear relationships exist between the instantaneous flow rate and the maximum values of vorticity, wall vorticity and velocity. The time‐average axial pressure gradient and the time average pressure loss across the constriction were observed to increase linearly with the pulsatile amplitude. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Direct numerical simulation of low Reynolds number flows in an open‐channel with sidewalls

A direct numerical simulation of low Reynolds number turbulent flows in an open‐channel with sidewalls is presented. Mean flow and turbulence structures are described and compared with both simulated and measured data available from the literature. The simulation results show that secondary flows are generated near the walls and free surface. In particular, at the upper corner of the channel, a small vortex called inner secondary flows is simulated. The results show that the inner secondary flows, counter‐rotating to outer secondary flows away from the sidewall, increase the shear velocity near the free surface. The secondary flows observed in turbulent open‐channel flows are related to the production of Reynolds shear stress. A quadrant analysis shows that sweeps and ejections are dominant in the regions where secondary flows rush in toward the wall and eject from the wall, respectively. A conditional quadrant analysis also reveals that the production of Reynolds shear stress and the secondary flow patterns are determined by the directional tendency of the dominant coherent structures. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Statistical properties of wall shear stress fluctuations in turbulent channel flows

Instantaneous velocity and wall shear stress measurements are conducted in a turbulent channel flow in the Kármán number range of Re_τ = 74–400. A one-dimensional LDA system is used to measure the streamwise velocity fluctuations, and an electrochemical technique is utilized to measure the instantaneous wall shear stress. For the latter, frequency response and nonuniform correction methods are used to provide an accurate, well-resolved wall statistics database. The Reynolds number dependency of the statistical wall quantities is carefully investigated. The corrected relative wall shear stress fluctuations fit well with the best DNS data available and meet the need for clarification of the small discrepancy observed in the literature between the experimental and numerical results of such quantities. Higher-order statistics of the wall shear stress, spectra, and the turbulence kinetic energy budget at the wall are also investigated. The present paper shows that the electrochemical technique is a powerful experimental method for hydrodynamic studies involving highly unsteady flows. The study brings with it important consequences, especially in the context of the current debate regarding the appropriate scaling as well as the validation of new predictive models of near-wall turbulence.     

NUMERICAL STUDIES OF TRANSITIONAL TURBULENT PULSATILE FLOW IN PIPES WITH RING–TYPE CONSTRICTIONS

Pulsatile flows in the vicinity of mechanical ring-type constrictions in pipes were studied for transitional turbulent flow with a Reynolds number (Re) of the order of 10⁴. The Womersley number (Nw) is in the range 30–50, with a corresponding Strouhal number (St) range of 0·0143–0·0398. The pulsatile flows considered are a pure sinusoidal flow, a physiological flow and an experimental pulsatile flow profile for mechanical aortic valve flow simulations. Transitional laminar and turbulent flow characteristics in an alternating manner within the pulsatile flow fields were studied numerically. It was observed that fluid accelerations tend to suppress the development of flow disturbances. All the instantaneous maximum values of turbulent kinetic energy, turbulent viscosity and turbulent shear stress are smaller during the acceleration phase than during the deceleration period. Various parametric equations have been formulated through numerical experimentation to better describe the relationships between the instantaneous flow rate (Q), the pressure loss (ΔP), the maximum velocity (V_max), the maximum vorticity (ζ_max), the maximum wall vorticity (ζ_w,max), the maximum shear stress (τ_max) and the maximum wall shear stress (τ_w,max) for turbulent pulsatile flow in the vicinity of constrictions in the vascular tube. An elliptic relationship has been found to exist between the instantaneous flow rate and the instantaneous pressure gradient. Other linear and quadratic relations between various flow parameters were also obtained.     

Influence of a wavy boundary on turbulence.

Measurements of turbulence with laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) are compared for turbulent flows over a flat surface and a surface with sinusoidal waves of small wavelength. The wavy boundary was highly rough in that the flow separated. The Reynolds number based on the half-height of the channel and the bulk velocity was 46,000. The wavelength was 5 mm and the height to wavelength ratio was 0.1. The root-mean-squares of the velocity fluctuations are approximately equal if normalized with the friction velocity. This can be explained as a consequence of the approximate equality of the correlation coefficients of the Reynolds shear stress. Calculations with a direct numerical simulation (DNS) are used to show that the fluid interacts with the wall in quite different ways for flat and wavy surfaces. They show similarity in that large quadrant 2 events in the outer flow, for both cases, are associated with plumes that emerge from the wall region and extend over large distances. Measurements of skewness of the streamwise and wall-normal velocity fluctuations and quadrant analyses of the Reynolds shear stresses are qualitatively similar for flat and wavy surfaces. However, the skewness magnitudes and the ratio of the quadrant 2 to quadrant 4 contributions are larger for the wavy surface. Thus, there is evidence that turbulent structures are universal in the outer flow and for quantitative differences in the statistics that reflect differences in the way in which the fluid interacts with the wall.     

A qualitative assessment of the role of a viscosity depending on the third invariant of the rate-of-deformation tensor upon turbulent non-Newtonian flow

The numerical simulation of some non-Newtonian effects in wall and wall-free turbulent flows, such as drag reduction in pipe flows or the decrease in transverse normal Reynolds stresses, has been attempted in the past with a limited degree of success on the basis of modified wall functions applied to traditional turbulence models (k–ε), rather than through more realistic rheological constitutive equations. In this work, it is qualitatively shown that if the viscosity function of a generalised Newtonian fluid is assumed to depend on the third invariant of the rate of deformation tensor, there is an increase of the viscous diffusion terms, but especially, of the dissipation of turbulence kinetic energy by a factor equal to the Trouton ratio of the fluid, divided by the Trouton ratio of the solvent, thus indicating a possible way to improve rheological–turbulence modelling.     

Modeling the turbulent heat and momentum transfer in flows under different thermal conditions

Two-equation turbulence models for velocity and temperature (scalar) fields are developed to calculate wall shear flows under various flow conditions and related turbulent heat transfer under various wall thermal conditions. In the present models, we make the modified dissipation rates of both turbulent energy and temperature variance zero at a wall, though the wall limiting behavior of velocity and temperature fluctuations is reproduced exactly. Thus, the models assure computational expediency and convergence. Also, the present k- model is construted using a new type of expression for the Reynolds stress proposed by Abe et al. [Trans. JSME B 61 (1995) 1714–1721], whose essential feature lies in introducing the explicit algebraic stress model concept into the nonlinear k- formulation, and the present two-equation heat transfer model is constructed to properly take into account the effects of wall thermal conditions on the eddy diffusivity for heat. The models are tested with five typical velocity fields and four typical thermal fields. Agreement with experiment and direct simulation data is quite satisfactory.     

Numerical investigation of fully developed turbulent fluid flow and heat transfer in a square duct

Three-dimensional fully developed turbulent fluid flow and heat transfer in a square duct are numerically investigated with the author's anisotropic low-Reynolds-number k-ε turbulence model. Special attenton has been given to the regions close to the wall and the corner, which are known to influence the characteristics of secondary flow a great deal. Hence, instead of the common wall function approach, the no-slip boundary condition at the wall is directly used. Velocity and temperature profiles are predicted for fully developed turbulent flows with constant wall temperature. The predicted variations of both local wall shear stress and local wall heat flux are shown to be in close agreement with available experimental data. The present paper also presents the budget of turbulent kinetic energy equation and the systematic evaluation for existing wall function forms. The commonly adopted wall function forms that are valid for two-dimensional flows are found to be inadequate for three-dimensional turbulent flows in a square duct.     

Calculation of complex near-wall turbulent flows with a low-Reynolds-number k-ϵ model

An improved low-Reynolds-number k-? model has been formulated and tested against a range of DNS (direct numerical simulation) and experimental data for channel and complex shear layer flows. The model utilizes a new form of damping function adopted to account for both wall proximity effects and viscosity influences and a more flexible damping argument based on the gradient of the turbulent kinetic energy on the wall. Additionally, the extra production of the inhomogeneous part of the viscous dissipation near a wall has been added to the dissipation equation with significantly improved results. The proposed model was successfully applied to the calculation of a range of wall shear layers in zero, adverse and favourable pressure gradients as well as backward-facing-step separated flows.     

Numerical prediction of turbulent boundary layer noise from a sharp-edged flat plate

An efficient hybrid uncorrelated wall plane waves–boundary element method (UWPW-BEM) technique is proposed to predict the flow-induced noise from a structure in low Mach number turbulent flow. Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations are used to estimate the turbulent boundary layer parameters such as convective velocity, boundary layer thickness, and wall shear stress over the surface of the structure. The spectrum of the wall pressure fluctuations is evaluated from the turbulent boundary layer parameters and by using semi-empirical models from literature. The wall pressure field underneath the turbulent boundary layer is synthesized by realizations of uncorrelated wall plane waves (UWPW). An acoustic BEM solver is then employed to compute the acoustic pressure scattered by the structure from the synthesized wall pressure field. Finally, the acoustic response of the structure in turbulent flow is obtained as an ensemble average of the acoustic pressures due to all realizations of uncorrelated plane waves. To demonstrate the hybrid UWPW-BEM approach, the self-noise generated by a flat plate in turbulent flow with Reynolds number based on chord Re_c = 4.9 × 10⁵ is predicted. The results are compared with those obtained from a large eddy simulation (LES)-BEM technique as well as with experimental data from literature.     

Near-wall scaling for turbulent boundary layers with adverse pressure gradient

A new extended inner scaling is proposed for the wall layer of wall-bounded flows under the influence of both wall shear stress and streamwise pressure gradient. This scaling avoids problems of the classical wall coordinates close to flow separation and reattachment. Based on the proposed extended velocity and length scales a universal nondimensional family of velocity profiles is derived for the viscous region in the vicinity of a wall that depend on wall distance and a parameter α quantifying the importance of the streamwise pressure gradient with respect to the wall shear stress in the momentum balance. The performance of the proposed extended scaling is investigated in two different flow fields, a separating and reattaching turbulent boundary layer and a turbulent flow over a periodic arrangement of smoothly contoured hills. Both flows are results of highly resolved direct numerical simulation (DNS). The results show that the viscous assumptions are valid up to about two extended wall units. If the profiles are scaled by the extended inner coordinates, they seem to behave in a universal way. This gives rise to the hope that a universal behavior of velocity profiles can be found in the proposed extended inner coordinates even beyond the validity of the extended viscous law of the wall.      

The turbulent/non-turbulent interface at the outer boundary of a self-similar turbulent jet

The flow at the outer boundary of a submerged self-similar turbulent jet at Re=2᎒³ is investigated experimentally by means of combined particle image velocimetry (PIV) laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) measurements. The jet fluid contains a fluorescent dye so that the LIF data can be used to discriminate between the jet fluid and the ambient fluid. The axial velocity, Reynolds stress, and vorticity are determined relative to the jet boundary. The results are compared against the conventional profiles, and the results of a direct numerical simulation of the turbulent far-wake behind a flat plate. The results show a sharp transition between rotational and irrotational fluid at the fluid interface, and the existence of a layer of irrotational velocity fluctuations outside the turbulent region.     

Time-dependent drag reduction and ageing in aqueous solutions of a cationic surfactant

The turbulent pipe flow of a highly dilute aqueous cationic surfactant solution is investigated by means of a pulsed ultrasound Doppler method with special emphasis on the wall boundary layer. The velocity profiles are recorded for several Reynolds numbers at varying ages of the solution. The wall shear stress velocities u _τ used for the normalization of the velocity profiles are determined by fitting the measured profiles to the universal linear velocity profile in the viscous sublayer. The theoretical pressure loss is then calculated from the numerical values of u _τ and compared to the experimental values. Two different scaling methods are discussed for the velocity fluctuations concerning the correlation of the root-mean square values with the effect and the amount of drag reduction. It is shown that outer scaling with the mean velocity is appropriate for the detection of drag reduction in surfactant solutions, rather than inner scaling with the wall shear stress velocity, which is common practice in investigations of 'usual' turbulent flows.     

Near-wall damping in model predictions of separated flows

Different near-wall scalings are reviewed by the use of data from direct numerical simulations (DNS) of attached and separated adverse pressure gradient turbulent boundary layers. The turbulent boundary layer equation is analysed in order to extend the validity of existing wall damping functions to turbulent boundary layers under severe adverse pressure gradients. A proposed near-wall scaling is based on local quantities and the wall distance, which makes it applicable for general computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods. It was found to have a similar behaviour as the pressure-gradient corrected analytical y^* scaling and avoids the inconsistencies present in the y⁺ scaling. The performance of the model is illustrated by model computations using explicit algebraic Reynolds stress models with near-wall damping based on different scalings.     

A comment on the “linear” law of the wall for fully developed turbulent channel flow

 In fully developed turbulent channel or pipe flows, the validity of a viscous sublayer with a quadratic mean velocity profile strictly requires the gradient of the Reynolds shear stress to be negligible compared to the gradient of the viscous shear stress. Direct numerical simulations suggest that this requirement is satisfied only in the limit y ⁺→0. The use of a quartic, instead of quadratic, profile represents the available numerical and experimental mean velocity data satisfactorily in the region y ⁺<10. Received: 28 July 1997 / Accepted: 6 February 1998     

Compound wall treatment with low‐Re turbulence model

A generalized treatment for the wall boundary conditions relating to turbulent flows is developed that blends the integration to a solid wall with wall functions. The blending function ensures a smooth transition between the viscous and turbulent regions. An improved low Reynolds number k?ε model is coupled with the proposed compound wall treatment to determine the turbulence field. The eddy viscosity formulation maintains the positivity of normal Reynolds stresses and Schwarz' inequality for turbulent shear stresses. The model coefficients/functions preserve the anisotropic characteristics of turbulence. Computations with fine and coarse meshes of a few flow cases yield appreciably good agreement with the direct numerical simulation and experimental data. The method is recommended for computing the complex flows where computational grids cannot satisfy a priori the prerequisites of viscous/turbulence regions. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Laminar,transitional and turbulent annular flow of drag-reducing polymer solutions

Mean and rms axial velocity-profile data obtained using laser Doppler anemometry are presented together with pressure-drop data for the flow through a concentric annulus (radius ratio κ = 0.506) of a Newtonian (a glycerine–water mixture) and non-Newtonian fluids—a semi-rigid shear-thinning polymer (a xanthan gum) and a polymer known to exhibit a yield stress (carbopol). A wider range of Reynolds numbers for the transitional flow regime is observed for the more shear-thinning fluids. In marked contrast to the Newtonian fluid, the higher shear stress on the inner wall compared to the outer wall does not lead to earlier transition for the non-Newtonian fluids where more turbulent activity is observed in the outer wall region. The mean axial velocity profiles show a slight shift (～5%) of the location of the maximum velocity towards the outer pipe wall within the transitional regime only for the Newtonian fluid.     

Three dimensional flow motions in the viscous sublayer

We employ novel digital Fresnel reflection holography to capture the 3 D flows within the viscous sublayer of a smooth-wall turbulent channel flow at Re τ= 400. The measurements reveal unsteady and diverse flow patterns in the sublayer including nearly uniform high and low speed flows and strong small-scale(on the order of viscous wall units) spanwise meandering motions. The probability density functions(PDFs) of wall shear stresses show a clear discrepancy in high stress range with those from direct numerical simulation(DNS), which is attributed to the unresolved streamwise and spanwise motions by DNS. Moreover,the PDF of Lagrangian particle accelerations yields a stretched exponential shape like that in homogenous isotropic turbulence, indicating strong intermittency in the sublayer. We find a significant fraction of high accelerations is associated with the small-scale meandering motions. Our study helps explain the effect of sublayer-scale roughness on reducing drag and flow separation reported in the literature.