The effect of Reynolds number on boundary layer turbulence

A new facility for studying high Reynolds number incompressible turbulent boundary layer flows has been constructed. It consists of a moderately sized wind tunnel, completely enclosed by a pressure vessel, which can raise the ambient air pressure in and around the wind tunnel to 8 atmospheres. This results in a Reynolds number range of about 20:1, while maintaining incompressible flow. Results are presented for the zero pressure gradient flat plate boundary layer over a momentum thickness Reynolds number range 1500–15?000. Scaling issues for high Reynolds number non-equilibrium boundary layers are discussed, with data comparing the three-dimensional turbulent boundary layer flow over a swept bump at Reynolds numbers of 3800 and 8600. It is found that successful prediction of these types of flows must include length scales which do not scale on Reynolds number, but are inherent to the geometry of the flow.     

A thermal LBM-LES model in body-fitted coordinates: Flow and heat transfer around a circular cylinder in a wide Reynolds number range

In order to apply the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) for modeling passive heat transfer at high Reynolds numbers, a number of models were proposed by introducing the large eddy simulation (LES) into the LBM framework to improve numerical stability. Our study finds that the generalized form of interpolation-supplemented LBM (GILBM), likewise, can locally modify the dimensionless relaxation time, thus enhancing the numerical stability at high Reynolds numbers. Given additional advantages of the GILBM in dealing with complicated geometries and improving computing accuracy, a thermal LBM-LES model in body-fitted coordinates is established in this paper. Numerical validation is performed by investigating the flow and heat transfer around a circular cylinder over a wide range of Reynolds numbers. The obtained results agree well with both experimental and numerical data in the previous work. Meanwhile, the effects of Reynolds number and Prandtl number on thermodynamic features of flow past a circular cylinder are revealed. It is found out that when the Reynolds number exceeds the critical value, the local Nusselt number fluctuates rapidly in a specific region of the rear cylinder surface affected by the Prandtl number. In the near-wake region, the temperature field exhibits significant dependence on the Prandtl number at moderate Reynolds numbers, while such effects turn to be slight at high Reynolds numbers.     

A novel fully implicit finite volume method applied to the lid‐driven cavity problem—Part I: High Reynolds number flow calculations

A novel implicit cell‐vertex finite volume method is described for the solution of the Navier–Stokes equations at high Reynolds numbers. The key idea is the elimination of the pressure term from the momentum equation by multiplying the momentum equation with the unit normal vector to a control volume boundary and integrating thereafter around this boundary. The resulting equations are expressed solely in terms of the velocity components. Thus any difficulties with pressure or vorticity boundary conditions are circumvented and the number of primary variables that need to be determined equals the number of space dimensions. The method is applied to both the steady and unsteady two‐dimensional lid‐driven cavity problem at Reynolds numbers up to 10000. Results are compared with those in the literature and show excellent agreement. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The numerical solution of Stokes flow in a domain with re-entrant boundaries by the boundary element method

Numerical solutions are presented for two-dimensional low Reynolds number flow in a rotating tank with stationary barriers. The boundary element method is employed, assuming straight panels and quadratic source distribution. The feasibility of repositioning the nodes as a way to minimize the error is explored. A stretching parameter places smaller elements near the re-entrant regions. Elementary error analysis shows uniform improvement in the solution with stretching. The changing eddy pattern for different numbers and sizes of the barriers is compared with experimental results.     

A virtual boundary method with improved computational efficiency using a multi‐grid method

The flow around spherical, solid objects is considered. The boundary conditions on the solid boundaries have been applied by replacing the boundary with a surface force distribution on the surface, such that the required boundary conditions are satisfied. The velocity on the boundary is determined by extrapolation from the flow field. The source terms are determined iteratively, as part of the solution. They are then averaged and are smoothed out to nearby computational grid points. A multi‐grid scheme has been used to enhance the computational efficiency of the solution of the force equations. The method has been evaluated for flow around both moving and stationary spherical objects at very low and intermediate Reynolds numbers. The results shows a second order accuracy of the method both at creeping flow and at Re=100. The multi‐grid scheme is shown to enhance the convergence rate up to a factor 10 as compared to single grid approach. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

LES-based Study of the Roughness Effects on the Wake of a Circular Cylinder from Subcritical to Transcritical Reynolds Numbers

This paper investigates the effects of surface roughness on the flow past a circular cylinder at subcritical to transcritical Reynolds numbers. Large eddy simulations of the flow for sand grain roughness of size k/D = 0.02 are performed (D is the cylinder diameter). Results show that surface roughness triggers the transition to turbulence in the boundary layer at all Reynolds numbers, thus leading to an early separation caused by the increased momentum deficit, especially at transcritical Reynolds numbers. Even at subcritical Reynolds numbers, boundary layer instabilities are triggered in the roughness sublayer and eventually lead to the transition to turbulence. The early separation at transcritical Reynolds numbers leads to a wake topology similar to that of the subcritical regime, resulting in an increased drag coefficient and lower Strouhal number. Turbulent statistics in the wake are also affected by roughness; the Reynolds stresses are larger due to the increased turbulent kinetic energy production in the boundary layer and separated shear layers close to the cylinder shoulders.     

Viscous waves and wave-structure interaction in a tank using adapting quadtree grids

Viscous waves and waves over a submerged cylinder in a stationary tank are simulated using a volume-of-fluid numerical scheme on adaptive hierarchical grids. A high resolution interface-capturing method is used to advect the free surface interface and the Navier–Stokes equations are discretised using finite volumes with collocated primitive variables and solved using a Pressure Implicit with Splitting of Operators (PISO) algorithm. The cylinder is modelled by using the technique of Cartesian cut cells. Results of flow of a single fluid past a cylinder at Reynolds number Re=100 are presented and found to agree well with experimental and other numerical data. Viscous free surface waves in a tank are simulated using uniform and quadtree grids for Reynolds numbers in the range from 2 to 2000, and the results compared against analytical solutions where available. The quadtree-based results are of the same accuracy as those on the equivalent uniform grids, and retain a sharp interface at the free surface while leading to considerable savings in both storage and CPU requirements. The nonlinearity in the wave is investigated for a selection of initial wave amplitudes. A submerged cylinder is positioned in the tank and its influence on the waves as well as the hydrodynamic loading on the cylinder is investigated.     

Investigation of incompressible flow within ½ circular cavity using lattice Boltzmann method

A wall‐driven incompressible viscous flow in a ½ circular cavity is simulated, based on the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). The treatment of curved boundary with second‐order accuracy is used. The force evaluation is based on the momentum‐exchange method. The streamlines and vorticity contours and the velocity component along the central line of a semi‐circular cavity are obtained for different Reynolds numbers. The numerical results show that the LBM can capture the formation of primary, secondary and tertiary vortices exactly as the Reynolds number increases and has a great agreement with those of current literatures. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Extension of the Darcy�CForchheimer Law for Shear-Thinning Fluids and Validation via Pore-Scale Flow Simulations

Flow of non-Newtonian fluids through porous media at high Reynolds numbers is often encountered in chemical, pharmaceutical and food, as well as petroleum and groundwater engineering, and in many other industrial applications. Under the majority of operating conditions typically explored, the dependence of pressure drops on flow rate is non-linear and the development of models capable of describing accurately this dependence, in conjunction with non-trivial rheological behaviors, is of paramount importance. In this work, pore-scale single-phase flow simulations conducted on synthetic two-dimensional porous media are performed via computational fluid dynamics for both Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids and the results are used for the extension and validation of the Darcy?CForchheimer law, herein proposed for shear-thinning fluid models of Cross, Ellis and Carreau. The inertial parameter ?? is demonstrated to be independent of the viscous properties of the fluids. The results of flow simulations show the superposition of two contributions to pressure drops: one, strictly related to the non-Newtonian properties of the fluid, dominates at low Reynolds numbers, while a quadratic one, arising at higher Reynolds numbers, is dependent on the porous medium properties. The use of pore-scale flow simulations on limited portions of the porous medium is here proposed for the determination of the macroscale-averaged parameters (permeability K, inertial coefficient ?? and shift factor ??), which are required for the estimation of pressure drops via the extended Darcy?CForchheimer law. The method can be applied for those fluids which would lead to critical conditions (high pressures for low permeability media and/or high flow rates) in laboratory tests.     

A comparative study of GLS finite elements with velocity and pressure equally interpolated for solving incompressible viscous flows

A comparative study of the bi‐linear and bi‐quadratic quadrilateral elements and the quadratic triangular element for solving incompressible viscous flows is presented. These elements make use of the stabilized finite element formulation of the Galerkin/least‐squares method to simulate the flows, with the pressure and velocity fields interpolated with equal orders. The tangent matrices are explicitly derived and the Newton–Raphson algorithm is employed to solve the resulting nonlinear equations. The numerical solutions of the classical lid‐driven cavity flow problem are obtained for Reynolds numbers between 1000 and 20 000 and the accuracy and converging rate of the different elements are compared. The influence on the numerical solution of the least square of incompressible condition is also studied. The numerical example shows that the quadratic triangular element exhibits a better compromise between accuracy and converging rate than the other two elements. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Constructing solutions of the navier-stokes equations for a fluid layer between moving parallel plates at low and moderate reynolds numbers

In this paper, we study exact solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations for a layer between parallel plates, the distance between which varies according to an arbitrary power law and whose boundary has a no-slip condition, are under study. A solution in the form of a power series of the Reynolds number is obtained. Comparison with the exact solutions is performed, and high accuracy of expansions for Reynolds numbers Re = 1–10 is shown. An accurate estimate of the error of the Reynolds thin layer approximation is obtained.     

摆动水翼绕流的数值研究

鱼类经常采用垂直流向的摆动进行游动, 这种摆动可以用行进波来表示. 应用浸入边界方法模拟了低雷诺数条件下水翼NACA65-010在水中摆动时的流场,并研究了雷诺数对水生动物推进效率的影响. 结果表明:随着雷诺数的增大,推力系数和推进效率增大,而功率系数减小;在Re<20时,推力系数,推进效率和功率系数的变化尤为剧烈. 随雷诺数增加,由于水翼摆动诱导的流场变化也更加复杂,水翼后缘处的涡量场强度逐渐增强. 摆动诱导反卡门涡街产生推力.      

Application of a preconditioned high‐order accurate artificial compressibility‐based incompressible flow solver in wide range of Reynolds numbers

In the present study, the preconditioned incompressible Navier‐Stokes equations with the artificial compressibility method formulated in the generalized curvilinear coordinates are numerically solved by using a high‐order compact finite‐difference scheme for accurately and efficiently computing the incompressible flows in a wide range of Reynolds numbers. A fourth‐order compact finite‐difference scheme is utilized to accurately discretize the spatial derivative terms of the governing equations, and the time integration is carried out based on the dual time‐stepping method. The capability of the proposed solution methodology for the computations of the steady and unsteady incompressible viscous flows from very low to high Reynolds numbers is investigated through the simulation of different 2‐dimensional benchmark problems, and the results obtained are compared with the existing analytical, numerical, and experimental data. A sensitivity analysis is also performed to evaluate the effects of the size of the computational domain and other numerical parameters on the accuracy and performance of the solution algorithm. The present solution procedure is also extended to 3 dimensions and applied for computing the incompressible flow over a sphere. Indications are that the application of the preconditioning in the solution algorithm together with the high‐order discretization method in the generalized curvilinear coordinates provides an accurate and robust solution method for simulating the incompressible flows over practical geometries in a wide range of Reynolds numbers including the creeping flows.     

Flows through plane sudden‐expansions

A calculation method has been developed and used to represent flows downstream of plane symmetric expansions with dimensions and velocities encompassing laminar and turbulent flows. Except for very low Reynolds numbers, the flows are time‐dependent and asymmetric and the calculated results are appraised first in relation to published measurements of laminar flows and then to new measurements obtained at a Reynolds number of 26 500. The time‐dependent laminar simulations indicate that the critical Reynolds numbers are predicted with excellent accuracy for different expansion ratios and the details of the asymmetric velocity profiles are in good agreement with experimental measurements. The laminar flow calculations also show that increasing the thickness of the separating boundary layer leads to longer regions of separation and no dominant frequency for Reynolds numbers up to those at which the third separation region was observed. The turbulent flow simulations made use of the k–ε turbulence model and provided a satisfactory representation of measurements, except in regions close to the wall and within the recirculation regions. Also, the longer reattachment length was underestimated. Limitations are discussed in relation to these and higher‐order assumptions. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An innovative open boundary treatment for incompressible SPH

An innovative inflow/outflow boundary treatment has been proposed to be used in smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). Among other strategies, it involves the use of extended regions at open boundary sections and a procedure to enforce the mass continuity constraint, as well as to minimize outflow reflections. This methodology has been coupled with a modified ‘particle shifting’ algorithm, so that the robustness of the method could be ensured at high Reynolds number regimes. Confined flow around a square cylinder with an open outflow has been selected as the flow problem to analyze the performance of the new method. Detailed comparisons with data available in the literature for a variety of mesh‐based methods have been made for two different values of the blockage ratio β, namely for β = 1/4 and 1/8, and a range of supercritical Reynolds numbers. The results obtained with the present implementation of truly incompressible SPH have demonstrated numerical accuracy comparable with that of other methods, as well as the success of the open boundary treatment. A direct comparison with previously published SPH results for a distinct blockage ratio, namely for β = 1/5, has also revealed that a major improvement has been achieved by the use of the method described in this paper. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Validation of a novel very large eddy simulation method for simulation of turbulent separated flow

The paper describes the validation of a newly developed very LES (VLES) method for the simulation of turbulent separated flow. The new VLES method is a unified simulation approach that can change seamlessly from Reynolds‐averaged Navier–Stokes to DNS depending on the numerical resolution. Four complex test cases are selected to validate the performance of the new method, that is, the flow past a square cylinder at Re = 3000 confined in a channel (with a blockage ratio of 20%), the turbulent flow over a circular cylinder at Re = 3900 as well as Re = 140,000, and a turbulent backward‐facing step flow with a thick incoming boundary layer at Re = 40,000. The simulation results are compared with available experimental, LES, and detached eddy simulation‐type results. The new VLES model performs well overall, and the predictions are satisfactory compared with previous experimental and numerical results. It is observed that the new VLES method is quite efficient for the turbulent flow simulations; that is, good predictions can be obtained using a quite coarse mesh compared with the previous LES method. Discussions of the implementation of the present VLES modeling are also conducted on the basis of the simulations of turbulent channel flow up to high Reynolds number of Re_τ = 4000. The efficiency of the present VLES modeling is also observed in the channel flow simulation. From a practical point of view, this new method has considerable potential for more complex turbulent flow simulations at relative high Reynolds numbers. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Developing a physical influence upwind scheme for pressure-based cell-centered finite volume methods

In the framework of a cell-centered finite volume method (FVM), the advection scheme plays the most important role in developing FVMs to solve complicated fluid flow problems for a wide range of Reynolds numbers. Advection schemes have been widely developed for FVMs employing pressure-velocity coupling methodology in the incompressible flow limit. In this regard, the physical influence upwind scheme (PIS) is developed for a cell-centered finite volume coupled solver (FVCS) using a pressure-weighted interpolation method for linking the pressure and velocity fields. The well-known exponential differencing scheme and skew upwind differencing scheme are also deployed in the current FVCS and their numerical results are presented. The accuracy and convergence of the present PIS are evaluated solving flow in a lid-driven square cavity, a lid-driven skewed cavity, and over a backward-facing step (BFS). The flow within the lid-driven square cavity is numerically solved at Reynolds numbers from 400 to 10 000 on a relatively coarse mesh with respect to other reported solutions. The lid-driven skewed cavity test case at Reynolds number of 1000 demonstrates the numerical performance of the present PIS on nonorthogonal grids. The flow over a BFS at Reynolds number of 800 is numerically solved to examine capabilities of current FVCS employing the current PIS in inlet-outlet flow computations. The numerical results obtained by the current PIS are in excellent agreement with those of benchmark solutions of corresponding test cases. Incorporating implicit role of pressure terms in a pressure-weighted interpolation method and development of PIS provides satisfactory solution convergence alongside the numerical accuracy for the current FVCS. A particular numerical verification is performed for the V velocity calculation within the BFS flow field, which confirms the reliability of present PIS.     

Solution of three-dimensional viscous incompressible flows by a multi-grid method

The three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations for viscous incompressible fluids are discretized on staggered or non-staggered grids. The system of finite-difference equations is solved by a multi-grid method. The method and some possible sources of difficulties and their remedies are described. The numerical algorithm has been applied to the computations of flows in ducts for a range of Reynolds numbers up to 2000. As outflow boundary conditions, either the fully developed flow profile (Dirichlet condition) or parabolic conditions have been applied. The multi-grid method has a fast rate of convergence (with both types of boundary conditions), and it is not sensitive to the number of mesh points and the Reynolds number. The numerical solution, using parabolic boundary conditions, is insensitive to the location of the outflow boundary, even for large Reynolds numbers, in contrast to the solution with Dirichlet boundary conditions.     

Large eddy simulation of boundary layer flow under cnoidal waves

Water waves in coastal areas are generally nonlinear, exhibiting asymmetric velocity profiles with different amplitudes of crest and trough. The behaviors of the boundary layer under asymmetric waves are of great significance for sediment transport in natural circumstances. While previous studies have mainly focused on linear or symmetric waves, asymmetric wave-induced flows remain unclear, particularly in the flow regime with high Reynolds numbers.Taking cnoidal wave as a typical example of asymmetric waves, we propose to use an infinite immersed plate oscillating cnoidally in its own plane in quiescent water to simulate asymmetric wave boundary layer. A large eddy simulation approach with Smagorinsky subgrid model is adopted to investigate the flow characteristics of the boundary layer. It is verified that the model well reproduces experimental and theoretical results. Then a series of numerical experiments are carried out to study the boundary layer beneath cnoidal waves from laminar to fully developed turbulent regimes at high Reynolds numbers, larger than ever studied before.Results of velocity profile, wall shear stress, friction coefficient, phase lead between velocity and wall shear stress, and the boundary layer thickness are obtained. The dependencies of these boundary layer properties on the asymmetric degree and Reynolds number are discussed in detail.