An explicit algebraic Reynolds stress model in turbulence

A new algebraic Reynold stress model is constructed with recourse to the realizability constraints. Model coefficients are made a function of strain and vorticity invariants through calibration by reference to homogeneous shear flow data. The anisotropic production in near‐wall regions is accounted for substantially by modifying the model constants C_{ε(1, 2)} and adding a secondary source term in the ε equation. Hence, it reduces the kinetic energy and length scale magnitudes to improve prediction of adverse pressure gradient flows, involving flow separation and reattachment. To facilitate the evaluation of the turbulence model, some extensively used benchmark cases in the turbulence modelling are convoked. The comparisons demonstrate that the new model maintains qualitatively good agreement with the direct numerical simulation (DNS) and experimental data. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Turbulence Modelling of Unsteady Turbulent Flows Using the Stress Strain Lag Model

This paper reports the application of a recently developed turbulence modelling scheme known as the C _as model. This model was specifically developed to capture the effects of stress-strain misalignment observed in turbulent flows with mean unsteadiness. Earlier work has reported the approach applied within a linear k-ε modelling framework, and some initial testing of it within the k-ω SST model of Menter (AIAA J 32:1598–1605, 1994). The resulting k-ε-C _as and SST-C _as models have been shown to result in some of the advantages of a full Reynolds Stress transport Model (RSM), whilst retaining the computational efficiency and stability benefits of a eddy viscosity model (EVM). Here, the development of the the high-Reynolds-number version of the C _as model is outlined, with some example applications to steady and unsteady homogeneous shear flows. The SST-C _as form of the model is then applied to further, more challenging cases of 2-D flow around a NACA0012 aerofoil beyond stall and the 3-D flow around a circular cylinder in a square duct, both being flows which exhibit large, unsteady, separated flow regions. The predictions returned by a range of other common turbulence modelling schemes are included for comparison and the SST-C _as scheme is shown to return generally good results, comparable in some respects to those obtainable from far more complex schemes, for only moderate computing resource requirements.     

Turbulence properties in the cylinder wake at high Reynolds numbers

The present contribution analyses the turbulence properties in unsteady flows around bluff body wakes and provides a database for improvement and validation of turbulence models, concerning the present class of nonequilibrium flows. The flow around a circular cylinder with a low aspect ratio and a high blockage coefficient is investigated. This confined environment is used in order to allow direct comparisons with realisable 3-D Navier–Stokes computations avoiding ‘infinite’ conditions. The flow is investigated in the beginning of the critical regime at Reynolds number 140 000. The analysis is carried out by means of 2-D PIV, of 3-C PIV and of high-frequency 2-D PIV. The experimental analysis contributes to confirm the validity of advanced statistical turbulence modelling for unsteady flows around bodies.     

A volume-agglomeration multirate time advancing for high Reynolds number flow simulation

A frequent configuration in computational fluid mechanics combines an explicit time advancing scheme for accuracy purposes and a computational grid with a very small portion of much smaller elements than in the remaining mesh. Two examples of such situations are the travel of a discontinuity followed by a moving mesh, and the large eddy simulation of high Reynolds number flows around bluff bodies where together very thin boundary layers and vortices of much more important size need to be captured. For such configurations, multistage explicit time advancing schemes with global time stepping are very accurate but very CPU consuming. In order to reduce this problem, the multirate (MR) time stepping approach represents an interesting improvement. The objective of such schemes, which allow to use different time steps in the computational domain, is to avoid penalizing the computational cost of the time advancement of unsteady solutions that would become large due to the use of small global time steps imposed by the smallest elements such as those constituting the boundary layers. In the present work, a new MR scheme based on control volume agglomeration is proposed for the solution of the compressible Navier-Stokes equations equipped with turbulence models. The method relies on a prediction step where large time steps are performed with an evaluation of the fluxes on macrocells for the smaller elements for stability purpose and a correction step in which small time steps are employed. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method are evaluated on several benchmarks flows: the problem of a moving contact discontinuity (inviscid flow), the computation with a hybrid turbulence model of flows around bluff bodies like a flow around a space probe model at Reynolds number 10⁶, a circular cylinder at Reynolds number 8.4 × 10⁶, and two tandem cylinders at Reynolds number 1.66 × 10⁵ and 1.4 × 10⁵.     

The analysis of the channel flow sensitivity to the parameters of the k–ε method

This paper deals with the problem of using sensitivity analysis for fluid mechanics solutions to the constants of the standard k–ε method for 2D, incompressible and steady flows. The problem is described and analysed on the basis of a channel flow. Sensitivity coefficients of the following properties were determined: a pressure, two components of a velocity, a turbulence kinetic energy, a dissipation rate of turbulence kinetic energy and a turbulence dynamic viscosity. The calculated property values depend on five model constants that are parameters of the sensitivity analysis in this paper. Sensitivity coefficients are derivatives of the above properties, for individual parameters. In this paper these coefficients are determined using a finite difference approximation to the sensitivities coefficients. The author of this paper compares three models of the boundary layer with regard to the sensitivity of properties to the parameters. Irrespective of the boundary layer model used here, the analysis of sensitivity coefficients for the channel flow properties shows that the most sensitive property is the turbulence dissipation rate. Next properties of consequence, although of significantly smaller values of sensitivity coefficients, are the turbulence viscosity and the turbulence kinetic energy. All flow properties are mostly sensitive to the C_µ parameter. One of the final conclusions in this paper is that the analysis of sensitivity coefficient fields allows the reliable checking of results and indicates those areas most prone to calculation difficulties. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Monolithic Newton‐multigrid solution techniques for incompressible nonlinear flow models

We present special Newton‐multigrid techniques for stationary incompressible nonlinear flow models discretized by the high order LBB‐stable Q₂P₁ element pair. We treat the resulting nonlinear and the corresponding linear discrete systems by a fully coupled monolithic approach to maintain high accuracy and robustness, particularly with respect to different rheological behaviors and also regarding different problem sizes and types of nonlinearity. Here, local pressure Schur complement techniques are presented as a generalization of the classical Vanka smoother. The discussed methodology is implemented for the well‐known flow around cylinder benchmark configuration for generalized Newtonian as well as non‐Newtonian flows including non‐isothermal, shear/pressure dependent and viscoelastic effects.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An immersed boundary finite difference method for LES of flow around bluff shapes

A three‐dimensional numerical model using large eddy simulation (LES) technique and incorporating the immersed boundary (IMB) concept has been developed to compute flow around bluff shapes. A fractional step finite differences method with rectilinear non‐uniform collocated grid is employed to solve the governing equations. Bluff shapes are treated in the IMB method by introducing artificial force terms into the momentum equations. Second‐order accurate interpolation schemes for all sorts of grid points adjacent to the immersed boundary have been developed to determine the velocities and pressure at these points. To enforce continuity, the methods of imposition of pressure boundary condition and addition of mass source/sink terms are tested. It has been found that imposing suitable pressure boundary condition (zero normal gradient) can effectively reproduce the correct pressure distribution and enforce mass conservation around a bluff shape. The present model has been verified and applied to simulate flow around bluff shapes: (1) a square cylinder and (2) the Tsing Ma suspension bridge deck section model. Complex flow phenomena such as flow separation and vortex shedding are reproduced and the drag coefficient, lift coefficient, and pressure coefficient are calculated and analyzed. Good agreement between the numerical results and the experimental data are obtained. The model is proven to be an efficient tool for flow simulation around bluff bodies in time varying flows. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implicit preconditioned high‐order compact scheme for the simulation of the three‐dimensional incompressible Navier–Stokes equations with pseudo‐compressibility method

This paper combines the pseudo‐compressibility procedure, the preconditioning technique for accelerating the time marching for stiff hyperbolic equations, and high‐order accurate central compact scheme to establish the code for efficiently and accurately solving incompressible flows numerically based on the finite difference discretization. The spatial scheme consists of the sixth‐order compact scheme and 10th‐order numerical filter operator for guaranteeing computational stability. The preconditioned pseudo‐compressible Navier–Stokes equations are marched temporally using the implicit lower–upper symmetric Gauss–Seidel time integration method, and the time accuracy is improved by the dual‐time step method for the unsteady problems. The efficiency and reliability of the present procedure are demonstrated by applications to Taylor decaying vortices phenomena, double periodic shear layer rolling‐up problem, laminar flow over a flat plate, low Reynolds number unsteady flow around a circular cylinder at Re = 200, high Reynolds number turbulence flow past the S809 airfoil, and the three‐dimensional flows through two 90°curved ducts of square and circular cross sections, respectively. It is found that the numerical results of the present algorithm are in good agreement with theoretical solutions or experimental data. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Large eddy simulation using a dynamic mixing length subgrid‐scale model

A novel dynamic mixing length (DML) subgrid‐scale model for large eddy simulations is proposed in this work to improve the cutoff length of the Smagorinsky model. The characteristic mixing length (or the characteristic wave number) is dynamically estimated for the subgrid‐scale fluctuation of turbulence by the cutoff wave‐number, k_c, and the dissipation wave‐number, k_d. The dissipation wave number is derived from the kinetic energy spectrum equation and the dissipation spectrum equation. To prove the promise of the DML model, this model is used to simulate the lid‐driven cubical cavity with max‐velocity‐based Reynolds numbers 8850 and 12,000, the channel flows with friction‐velocity‐based Reynolds numbers 180, 395, 590, and 950, and the turbulent flow past a square cylinder at the higher Reynolds number 21,400, respectively, compared with the Smagorinsky model and Germano et al.'s dynamic Smagorinsky model. Different numerical experiments with different Reynolds numbers show that the DML model can be used in simulations of flows with a wide range of Reynolds numbers without the occurrence of singular values. The DML model can alleviate the dissipation of the Smagorinsky model without the loss of its robustness. The DML model shows some advantages over Germano et al.'s dynamic Smagorinsky model in its high stability and simplicity of calculation because the coefficient of the DML model always stays positive. The characteristic mixing length in the DML model reflects the subgrid‐scale fluctuation of turbulence in nature and thus the characteristic mixing length has a spatial and temporal distribution in turbulent flow. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Boundary discretization for high‐order discontinuous Galerkin computations of tidal flows around shallow water islands

In this paper some preliminary results concerning the application of the high‐order discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method for the resolution of realistic problems of tidal flows around shallow water islands are presented. In particular, tidal flows are computed around the Rattray island located in the Great Barrier Reef. This island is a standard benchmark problem well documented in the literature providing useful in situ measurements for validation of the model. Realistic elements of the simulation are a tidal flow forcing, a variable bathymetry and a non‐trivial coastline. The computation of tidal flows in shallow water around an island is very similar to the simulation of the Euler equations around bluff bodies in quasi‐steady flows. The main difference lies in the high irregularity of islands' shapes and in the fact that, in the framework of large‐scale ocean models, the number of elements to represent an island is drastically limited compared with classical engineering computations. We observe that the high‐order DG method applied to shallow water flows around bluff bodies with poor linear boundary representations produces oscillations and spurious eddies. Surprisingly those eddies may have the right size and intensity but may be generated by numerical diffusion and are not always mathematically relevant. Although not interested in solving accurately the boundary layers of an island, we show that a high‐order boundary representation is mandatory to avoid non‐physical eddies and spurious oscillations. It is then possible to parametrize accurately the subgrid‐scale processes to introduce the correct amount of diffusion in the model. The DG results around the Rattray island are eventually compared with current measurements and reveal good agreement. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parallel large eddy simulation of turbulent flow around MIRA model using linear equal‐order finite element method

A parallel large eddy simulation code that adopts domain decomposition method has been developed for large‐scale computation of turbulent flows around an arbitrarily shaped body. For the temporal integration of the unsteady incompressible Navier–Stokes equation, fractional 4‐step splitting algorithm is adopted, and for the modelling of small eddies in turbulent flows, the Smagorinsky model is used. For the parallelization of the code, METIS and Message Passing Interface Libraries are used, respectively, to partition the computational domain and to communicate data between processors. To validate the parallel architecture and to estimate its performance, a three‐dimensional laminar driven cavity flow inside a cubical enclosure has been solved. To validate the turbulence calculation, the turbulent channel flows at Re_τ = 180 and 1050 are simulated and compared with previous results. Then, a backward facing step flow is solved and compared with a DNS result for overall code validation. Finally, the turbulent flow around MIRA model at Re = 2.6 × 10⁶ is simulated by using approximately 6.7 million nodes. Scalability curve obtained from this simulation shows that scalable results are obtained. The calculated drag coefficient agrees better with the experimental result than those previously obtained by using two‐equation turbulence models. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Two‐dimensional prediction of time dependent,turbulent flow around a square cylinder confined in a channel

This paper presents two‐dimensional and unsteady RANS computations of time dependent, periodic, turbulent flow around a square block. Two turbulence models are used: the Launder–Sharma low‐Reynolds number k–ε model and a non‐linear extension sensitive to the anisotropy of turbulence. The Reynolds number based on the free stream velocity and obstacle side is Re=2.2×10⁴. The present numerical results have been obtained using a finite volume code that solves the governing equations in a vertical plane, located at the lateral mid‐point of the channel. The pressure field is obtained with the SIMPLE algorithm. A bounded version of the third‐order QUICK scheme is used for the convective terms. Comparisons of the numerical results with the experimental data indicate that a preliminary steady solution of the governing equations using the linear k–ε does not lead to correct flow field predictions in the wake region downstream of the square cylinder. Consequently, the time derivatives of dependent variables are included in the transport equations and are discretized using the second‐order Crank–Nicolson scheme. The unsteady computations using the linear and non‐linear k–ε models significantly improve the velocity field predictions. However, the linear k–ε shows a number of predictive deficiencies, even in unsteady flow computations, especially in the prediction of the turbulence field. The introduction of a non‐linear k–ε model brings the two‐dimensional unsteady predictions of the time‐averaged velocity and turbulence fields and also the predicted values of the global parameters such as the Strouhal number and the drag coefficient to close agreement with the data. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Turbulence in a skewed three‐dimensional wall‐bounded shear flow: effect of mean vorticity on structure modification

Mean‐flow three‐dimensionalities affect both the turbulence level and the coherent flow structures in wall‐bounded shear flows. A tailor‐made flow configuration was designed to enable a thorough investigation of moderately and severely skewed channel flows. A unidirectional shear‐driven plane Couette flow was skewed by means of an imposed spanwise pressure gradient. Three different cases with 8°, 34°and 52°skewing were simulated numerically and the results compared with data from a purely two‐dimensional plane Couette flow. The resulting three‐dimensional flow field became statistically stationary and homogeneous in the streamwise and spanwise directions while the mean velocity vector V and the mean vorticity vector Ω remained parallel with the walls. Mean flow profiles were presented together with all components of the Reynolds stress tensor. The mean shear rate in the core region gradually increased with increasing skewing whereas the velocity fluctuations were enhanced in the spanwise direction and reduced in the streamwise direction. The Reynolds shear stress is known to be closely related to the coherent flow structures in the near‐wall region. The instantaneous and ensemble‐averaged flow structures were turned by the skewed mean flow. We demonstrated for the medium‐skewed case that the coherent structures should be examined in a coordinate system aligned with V to enable a sound interpretation of 3D effects. The conventional symmetry between Case 1 and Case 2 vortices was broken and Case 1 vortices turned out to be stronger than Case 2. This observation is in conflict with the common understanding on the basis of the spanwise (secondary) mean shear rate. A refined model was proposed to interpret the structure modifications in three‐dimensional wall‐flows. What matters is the orientation of the mean vorticity vector Ω relative to the vortex vorticity vector ω _v, that is, the sign of Ω · ω _v. In the present situation, Ω · ω _v > 0 for the Case 1 vortices causing a strengthening relative to the Case 2 vortices. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

RAS one-equation turbulence model with non-singular eddy-viscosity coefficient

A simplified consistency formulation for P_k/ε (production to dissipation ratio) is devised to obtain a non-singular C_μ (coefficient of eddy-viscosity) in the explicit algebraic Reynolds stress model of Gatski and Speziale. The coefficient C_μ depends non-linearly on both rotational/irrotational strains and is used in the framework of an improved RAS (Rahman–Agarwal–Siikonen) one-equation turbulence model to calculate a few well-documented turbulent flows, yielding predictions in good agreement with the direct numerical simulation and experimental data. The strain-dependent C_μ assists the RAS model in constructing the coefficients and functions such as to benefit complex flows with non-equilibrium turbulence. Comparisons with the Spalart–Allmaras one-equation model and the shear stress transport k-ω model demonstrate that C_μ improves the response of RAS model to non-equilibrium effects.     

A simplified v2–f model for near‐wall turbulence

A simplified version of the v²–f model is proposed that accounts for the distinct effects of low‐Reynolds number and near‐wall turbulence. It incorporates modified C_ε(1,2) coefficients to amplify the level of dissipation in non‐equilibrium flow regions, thus reducing the kinetic energy and length scale magnitudes to improve prediction of adverse pressure gradient flows, involving flow separation and reattachment. Unlike the conventional v²–f, it requires one additional equation (i.e. the elliptic equation for the elliptic relaxation parameter f_µ) to be solved in conjunction with the k–ε model. The scaling is evaluated from k in collaboration with an anisotropic coefficient C_v and f_µ. Consequently, the model needs no boundary condition on and avoids free stream sensitivity. The model is validated against a few flow cases, yielding predictions in good agreement with the direct numerical simulation (DNS) and experimental data. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluation of one‐ and two‐equation low‐Re turbulence models. Part I—Axisymmetric separating and swirling flows

This first segment of the two‐part paper systematically examines several turbulence models in the context of three flows, namely a simple flat‐plate turbulent boundary layer, an axisymmetric separating flow, and a swirling flow. The test cases are chosen on the basis of availability of high‐quality and detailed experimental data. The tested turbulence models are integrated to solid surfaces and consist of: Rodi's two‐layer k–ε model, Chien's low‐Reynolds number k–ε model, Wilcox's k–ω model, Menter's two‐equation shear‐stress‐transport model, and the one‐equation model of Spalart and Allmaras. The objective of the study is to establish the prediction accuracy of these turbulence models with respect to axisymmetric separating flows, and flows of high streamline curvature. At the same time, the study establishes the minimum spatial resolution requirements for each of these turbulence closures, and identifies the proper low‐Mach‐number preconditioning and artificial diffusion settings of a Reynolds‐averaged Navier–Stokes algorithm for optimum rate of convergence and minimum adverse impact on prediction accuracy. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Transition from vortex to wall driven turbulence production in the Taylor–Couette system with a rotating inner cylinder

Axisymmetrically stable turbulent Taylor vortices between two concentric cylinders are studied with respect to the transition from vortex to wall driven turbulent production. The outer cylinder is stationary and the inner cylinder rotates. A low Reynolds number turbulence model using the k‐ω formulation, facilitates an analysis of the velocity gradients in the Taylor–Couette flow. For a fixed inner radius, three radius ratios 0.734, 0.941 and 0.985 are employed to identify the Reynolds number range at which this transition occurs. At relatively low Reynolds numbers, turbulent production is shown to be dominated by the outflowing boundary of the Taylor vortex. As the Reynolds number increases, shear driven turbulence (due to the rotating cylinder) becomes the dominating factor. For relatively small gaps turbulent flow is shown to occur at Taylor numbers lower than previously reported. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Large eddy simulation of turbulent shallow water flows using multi‐relaxation‐time lattice Boltzmann model

In this paper, the standard Smagorinsky's algorithm is embedded into the multiple relaxation time (MRT) lattice Boltzmann model (LBM) for large eddy simulation (LES) of turbulent shallow water flows (MRT‐LABSWE^TM). The model is based on the two‐dimensional nonlinear shallow water equations, giving the depth‐averaged features. It is verified by applying the model in three typical cases in engineering with turbulence: (i) the flow around a square cylinder, (ii) plane cavity flow, and (iii) flows in a junction of 90°. The results obtained by the MRT‐LABSWE^TM are compared with BGK‐LABSWE^TM results and experimental data. The objectives of this study are to validate the MRT‐LABSWE^TM in a turbulence simulation and perform a comparative analysis between the results of BGK‐LABSWE^TM and MRT‐LABSWE^TM. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fluid forces on a square cylinder in oscillating flows with non‐zero‐mean velocities

The unsteady forces on a square cylinder in sinusoidally oscillating flows with non‐zero‐mean velocities are investigated numerically by using a weakly compressible‐flow method with three‐dimensional large eddy simulations. The major parameters in the analysis are Keulegan–Carpenter number (KC) and the ratio between the amplitude and the mean velocities of the approaching flow (A_R). By varying the values of KC and A_R the resulting drag and lift of the cylinders are analyzed systematically at two selected approaching‐flow attack angles (0 and 22.5^°). In the case of the non‐zero attack angle, results show that both the drag and lift histories can be adequately described by Morison equations. However, Morison equations fail to correctly describing the lift history as the attack angle is zero. In addition, when the ratio of A_R/KC is near the Strouhal number of the bluff‐body flow, the resulting drag is promoted due to the occurrence of resonance. Based on the results of systematic analyses, finally, the mean and inertia force coefficients at the two selected attack angles are presented as functions of KC and A_R based on the Morison relationships. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An efficient ψ-v scheme for two-dimensional laminar flow past bluff bodies on compact nonuniform grids

We recently proposed a second-order accurate ψ-v formulation of the steady-state Navier-Stokes (N-S) equations on compact Cartesian nonuniform grids. In the current work, we extend the ideas of the aforesaid formulation and propose a second-order spatially compact, implicit, stable ψ-v formulation for the unsteady incompressible N-S equations. Contrary to the existing ψ-v finite difference formulations which use grid transformation, the proposed scheme is developed for nonuniform Cartesian grids without transformation specifically designed for two-dimensional laminar flow past bluff bodies. It has been implemented on problems of internal flows inside curved regions as well as those involving fluid-embedded body interaction. However, the robustness of the scheme is highlighted by the accurate resolution of a host of complex flows past bluff bodies with different physical set-ups and boundary conditions. It was seen to handle problems involving both uniform and accelerated flows across a wide range of structures of varied shape, namely, a flat plate, a circular cylinder, inclined square cylinder, and a wedge in channel hinged to the wall. Apart from elegantly capturing all the details of the shedded vortex structures under different circumstances, the scheme was also able to handle both Dirichlet and Neumann boundary with equal ease. In all the cases, our results are found to be extremely close to the available numerical and experimental results.