Scale properties of turbulent transport and coherent structure in stably stratified flows

The empirical mode decomposition (EMD) is used to study the scale properties of turbulent transport and coherent structures based on velocity and temperature time series in stably stratified turbulence. The analysis is focused on the scale properties of intermittency and coherent structures in different modes and the contributions of energy-contained coherent structures to turbulent scalar counter-gradient transport (CGT). It is inferred that the velocity intermittency is scattered to more modes with the development of the stratified flow, and the intermittency is enhanced by the vertical stratification, especially in small scales. The anisotropy of the field is presented due to different time scales of coherent structures of streamwise and vertical velocities. There is global counter-gradient heat transport close to the turbulence-generated grid, and there is local counter-gradient heat transport at certain modes in different positions. Coherent structures play a principal role in the turbulent vertical transport of temperature.     

Mixing in a stably stratified medium by horizontal shear near vertical walls

Stratified environmental flows near boundaries can have a horizontal mean shear component, orthogonal to the vertical mean density gradient. Vertical transport, against the stabilizing force of gravity, is possible in such situations if three-dimensional turbulence is sustained by the mean shear. A model problem, water with a constant mean density gradient flowing in a channel between parallel vertical walls, is examined here using the technique of large eddy simulation (LES). It is found that, although the mean shear is horizontal, the fluctuating velocity field has significant vertical shear and horizontal vorticity, thereby causing small-scale vertical mixing of the density field. The vertical stirring is especially effective near the boundaries where the mean shear is large and, consequently, the gradient Richardson number is small. The mean stratification is systematically increased between cases in our study and, as expected, the buoyancy flux correspondingly decreases. Even so, horizontal mean shear is found to be more effective than the well-studied case of mean vertical shear in inducing vertical buoyancy transport as indicated by generally larger values of vertical eddy diffusivity and mixing efficiency.     

A structure-based model for transport in stably stratified homogeneous turbulent flows

We present an extension that allows a recently proposed structure-based model for turbulent scalar transport to account for buoyancy effects. The proposed model is based on a generalization of the Interactive Particle Representation Model (IPRM) and is accompanied by a four-equation transport model that provides the turbulence scales needed for the closure of the complete structure-based model (SBM). The structure tensors and their invariants are used to model the additional buoyancy terms that emerge in the four-equation transport equations. Model parameters are set by matching the asymptotic decay exponents in decaying turbulence. The validity of the model is considered for a large number of different types of stably stratified flows at different Richardson numbers (Ri), showing encouraging results. The complete structure-based model achieves fair agreement with LES and DNS predictions for vertical shear in the presence of vertical mean stratification, while the structure tensors are shown to be suitable for use as diagnostic tools for the morphology of highly anisotropic turbulent structures. Additionally, the proposed model is shown to be sensitive to the variation of the inclination angle θ between the direction of the mean velocity gradient and the orientation of the mean scalar gradient. Furthermore, the model correctly predicts that the evolution of the inverse shear parameter is insensitive to the choice of inclination angle, yielding a turbulent Prandtl number close to unity, in accordance with DNS results.     

Temporal large-eddy simulation of unstratified and stably stratified turbulent channel flows

Recently, Pruett et al. [Pruett, C.D., Gatski, T.B., Grosch, C.E., Thacker, W.D., 2003. The temporally filtered Navier–Stokes equations: properties of the residual stress. Phys. Fluids 15, 2127–2140] proposed an approach to large-eddy simulation (LES) based on time-domain filtering; their approach was termed temporal large-eddy simulation or TLES. In a continuation of their work, Pruett and collaborators tested their methodology by successfully performing TLES of unstratified turbulent channel flow up to Reynolds number of 590 (based on channel half-height and friction velocity) [Pruett, C.D., Thomas, B.C., Grosch, C.E., Gatski, T.B., 2006. A temporal approximate deconvolution model for LES. Phys. Fluids 18, 028104, 4p]. Here, we carefully analyze the TLES methodology in order to understand the role of its key components and in the process compare TLES to more traditional approaches of spatial LES. Furthermore, we extend the methodology to stably stratified turbulent channel flow.     

Large eddy simulation of fully developed turbulent flow in a curved channel

In this paper large eddy simulation of the fully developed turbulent flow in a curved channel is carried out. The computational results are presented and compared with the experimental results of Eskinazi and Yeh^[1]. It is shown that the numerical results of the present LES are reliable and the influence of the curvature on the turbulence feature is correctly revealed.     

Large eddy simulation of turbulent channel flow using an algebraic model

In this paper an algebraic model from the constitutive equations of the subgrid stresses has been developed. This model has an additional term in comparison with the mixed model, which represents the backscatter of energy explicitly. The proposed model thus provides independent modelling of the different energy transfer mechanisms, thereby capturing the effect of subgrid scales more accurately. The model is also found to depict the flow anisotropy better than the linear and mixed models. The energy transfer capability of the model is analysed for the isotropic decay and the forced isotropic turbulence. The turbulent plane channel flow simulation is performed over three Reynolds numbers, Re_τ=180, 395 and 590, and the results are compared with that of the dynamic model, Smagorinsky model, and the DNS data. Both the algebraic and dynamic models are in good agreement with the DNS data for the mean flow quantities. However, the algebraic model is found to be more accurate for the turbulence intensities and the higher‐order statistics. The capability of the algebraic model to represent backscatter is also demonstrated. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Large eddy simulation in a turbulent channel flow using exit boundary conditions

The influence of the exit boundary conditions on the vanishing first derivative of the velocity components and constant pressure on the large eddy simulation of the fully developed turbulent channel flow has been investigated for equidistant and stretched grids at the channel exit. Results show that the chosen exit boundary conditions introduce some small disturbances that are mostly damped by the grid stretching. The difference of rms values between the fully developed turbulent channel flow with periodicity conditions and the fully developed channel flow using inlet and the exit boundary conditions is less than 10% for the equidistant grids and less than 5% for the stretched grids. The chosen boundary conditions are of interest because they may be used in complex problems with back flow at the exit. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Large eddy simulation of turbulent premixed and stratified combustion using flame surface density model coupled with tabulation method

Large eddy simulations (LESs) are performed to investigate the Cambridge premixed and stratified flames, SwB1 and SwB5, respectively. The flame surface density (FSD) model incorporated with two different wrinkling factor models, i.e., the Muppala and Charlette2 wrinkling factor models, is used to describe combustion/turbulence interaction, and the flamelet generated manifolds (FGM) method is employed to determine major scalars. This coupled sub-grid scale (SGS) combustion model is named as the FSD-FGM model. The FGM method can provide the detailed species in the flame which cannot be obtained from the origin FSD model. The LES results show that the FSD-FGM model has the ability of describing flame propagation, especially for stratified flames. The Charlette2 wrinkling factor model performs better than the Muppala wrinkling factor model in predicting the flame surface area change by the turbulence. The combustion characteristics are analyzed in detail by the flame index and probability distributions of the equivalence ratio and the orientation angle, which confirms that for the investigated stratified flame, the dominant combustion modes in the upstream and downstream regions are the premixed mode and the back-supported mode, respectively.     

An investigation of thermally stratified turbulent channel flow with temperature oscillation on the bottom wall by large eddy simulation

Thermally stratified shear turbulent channel flow with temperature oscillation on the bottom wall of the channel is calculated to investigate the behavior of turbulent flow and heat transfer by use of large eddy simulation (LES) approach coupled with dynamic subgrid-scale (SGS) models. The objective of this study is to deal with the effect of the temperature oscillation on turbulent behavior of thermally stratified turbulent channel flow and to examine the effectiveness of the LES technique for predicting statistically unsteady turbulent flow driven by time-varying buoyancy force. To validate the present calculation, thermally stratified shear turbulent channel flow is computed and compared with available data obtained by direct numerical simulation (DNS), which confirm that the present approach can be used to predict thermally stratified turbulent channel flow satisfactorily. Further, to illustrate the effect of the temperature oscillation with different Richardson numbers and periods of the oscillation on turbulence characteristics, the phase-averaged mean value and fluctuation of the resolved velocities and temperature, and instantaneous velocity fluctuation structures are analyzed.     

Large eddy simulation in a fully developed turbulent flow in a channel and comparison of subgrid eddy viscosity models

The accuracy and computational efficiency are compared for a number of models of subgrid eddy viscosity (Smagorinsky model, renormalization group model, and dynamic and one-parameter models). Space-filtered Navier-Stokes equations are solved numerically by the control-volume approach on a nonuniform grid with the use of high-resolution schemes in time and space. The numerical data are compared with the results of a physical experiment and direct numerical simulation. __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 47, No. 3, pp. 31–42, May–June, 2006.     

稳定分层流动中湍流特性的研究综述

本文总结了近60 年来分层流动中湍流特性研究的成果. 主要从两个方面进行了综述:(1) 分层流动中湍流场的演变和混合. 在这方面主要分析稳定分层对湍流混合和湍流结构的影响, 以及混合层内湍流结构的特性和混合层的演化规律. (2) 分层流动中湍流的扩散和输运. 动量和标量的逆梯度输运特性是分层湍流研究的一个重要方向;分析分层对湍流扩散的影响. 并指出了一些值得今后进一步研究的方向.     

Large eddy simulation of complex turbulent flows: Physical aspects and research trends

In the current paper, we have primarily addressed one powerful simulation tool developed during the last decades—Large Eddy Simulation (LES), which is most suitable for unsteady three-dimensional complex turbulent flows in industry and natural environment. The main point in LES is that the large-scale motion is resolved while the small-scale motion is modeled or, in geophysical terminology, parameterized. With a view to devising a subgrid-scale(SGS) model of high quality, we have highlighted analyzing physical aspects in scale interaction and energy transfer such as dissipation, backscatter, local and non-local interaction, anisotropy and resolution requirement. They are the factors responsible for where the advantages and disadvantages in existing SGS models come from. A case study on LES of turbulence in vegetative canopy is presented to illustrate that LES model is more based on physical arguments. Then, varieties of challenging complex turbulent flows in both industry and geophysical fields in the near future are presented. In conclusion, we may say with confidence that new century shall see the flourish in the research of turbulence with the aid of LES combined with other approaches. The NSAF project supported by the NSFC and the Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics (10176032)     

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.     

Reynolds stress and vorticity in turbulent wall flows

Experimental measurements in a boundary layer and a large-eddy simulation of plane channel flow have been used to study the dynamics of vorticity and mass transport in the nearwall region. It was found that Reynolds stress generation occurs in the vicinity of quasi-streamwise vortices, and that smoke particles tend to be ejected from the wall near these vortical structures.     

On the eddy viscosity model of periodic turbulent shear flows

Physical argument shows that eddy viscosity is essentially different from molecular viscosity. By direct numerical simulation, it was shown that for periodic turbulent flows, there is phase difference between Reynolds stress and rate of strain. This finding posed great challenge to turbulence modeling, because most turbulence modeling, which use the idea of eddy viscosity, do not take this effect into account. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (19732005) and Liu Hui Center for Applied Mathematics of Nankai & Tianjin University     

Molecular transfer in turbulent flows

For modeling the molecular transfer of a passive scalar in a known turbulent field, the equations for the average scalar value and the correlation function for the scalar field are written in a form which makes it possible to examine the effect of molecular transfer on turbulent transfer and scalar dissipation. For the closure of the equation for the correlation function, the Prandtl hypothesis is used. The statistical reliability of this closure is demonstrated. The system proposed makes it possible to predict the dynamics of a decaying uniform scalar field and to explain why the effect of the real value of the molecular-transfer coefficient on the decaying scalar field is weak. Specific features of the transport process in a plane layer with prescribed scalar values on the layer boundaries are considered.     

Extension of the local domain-free discretization method to large eddy simulation of turbulent flows

In this work, an immersed boundary method, called the local domain-free discretization (DFD) method, is extended to large eddy simulation (LES) of turbulent flows. The discrete form of partial differential equations at an interior node may involve some nodes outside the solution domain. The flow variables at these exterior dependent nodes are evaluated via linear extrapolation along the direction normal to the wall. To alleviate the requirement of mesh resolution in the near-wall region, a wall model based on the turbulence boundary layer equations is introduced. The wall shear stress yielded by the wall model and the no-penetration condition are enforced at the immersed boundary to evaluate the velocity components at an exterior dependent node. For turbulence closure, a dynamic subgrid scale (SGS) model is adopted and the Lagrangian averaging procedure is used to compute the model coefficient. The SGS eddy viscosity at an exterior dependent node is set to be equal to that at the outer layer. To maintain the mass conservation near the immersed boundary, a mass source/sink term is added into the continuity equation. Numerical experiments on relatively coarse meshes with stationary or moving solid boundaries have been conducted to verify the ability of the present LES-DFD method. The predicted results agree well with the published experimental or numerical data.     

An unsteady incompressible Navier–Stokes solver for large eddy simulation of turbulent flows

An unsteady incompressible Navier–Stokes solver that uses a dual time stepping method combined with spatially high‐order‐accurate finite differences, is developed for large eddy simulation (LES) of turbulent flows. The present solver uses a primitive variable formulation that is based on the artificial compressibility method and various convergence–acceleration techniques are incorporated to efficiently simulate unsteady flows. A localized dynamic subgrid model, which is formulated using the subgrid kinetic energy, is employed for subgrid turbulence modeling. To evaluate the accuracy and the efficiency of the new solver, a posteriori tests for various turbulent flows are carried out and the resulting turbulence statistics are compared with existing experimental and direct numerical simulation (DNS) data. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Large eddy simulation and a simple wall model for turbulent flow calculation by a particle method

A turbulent channel flow and the flow around a cubic obstacle are calculated by the moving particle semi‐implicit method with the subparticle‐scale turbulent model and a wall model, which is based on the zero equation RANS (Reynolds Averaged Navier‐Stokes). The wall model is useful in practical problems that often involve high Reynolds numbers and wall turbulence, because it is difficult to keep high resolution in the near‐wall region in particle simulation. A turbulent channel flow is calculated by the present method to validate our wall model. The mean velocity distribution agrees with the log‐law velocity profile near the wall. Statistical values are also the same order and tendency as experimental results with emulating viscous layer by the wall model. We also investigated the influence of numerical oscillations on turbulence analysis in using the moving particle semi‐implicit method. Finally, the turbulent flow around a cubic obstacle is calculated by the present method to demonstrate capability of calculating practical turbulent flows. Three characteristic eddies appear in front of, over, and in the back of the cube both in our calculation and the experimental result that was obtained by Martinuzzi and Tropea. Mean velocity and turbulent intensity profiles are predicted in the same order and have similar tendency as the experimental result. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.