Large-eddy simulation of plane channel flow with Vreman's model

In this paper, large-eddy simulations of Vreman's model (VM) have been carried out to investigate its performances in a temporal transitional channel flow and in high Reynolds number turbulent channel flows. As a preliminary work, it is found that cubic root of the cell volume is the best choice of filter width for both VM and dynamic VM based on Germano identity (DVM), according to comparative studies and a-posteriori analyses at Re_τ = 590. VM and DVM are then used to simulate the temporal laminar–turbulent transitional channel flow, and the results turn out that VM and DVM are capable to simulate this temporal transient flow. In simulating high Reynolds number turbulent channel flows with a relatively coarse grid resolution, DVM itself shares the same weakness as the dynamic Smagorinsky model, while it can successfully predict the mean velocity profile and skin friction coefficient when it is coupled with the constrained large eddy simulation methodology. The coupling highly promotes the capability of Vreman's model, offering a new promising approach to simulate high Reynolds number wall-bounded turbulent flows.     

Inherent mechanism of breakdown in laminar-turbulent transition of plane channel flows

We will first list some known facts of transition and turbulence, and then analyze results from direct numerical simulations done for the transition of plane channel flows, thus revealing the key mechanism of breakdown. 1 Arguments based on known facts A superficial reason for the fact that the change of mean flow profile plays the key role in transition is that the mean flow profiles for laminar and turbulent flow are drasti- cally different. But this does not provide the inherent mechanism o…     

Evaluating the modulated gradient model in large eddy simulation of channel flow with OpenFOAM

Recently, a new family of subgrid-scale (SGS) models, termed as gradient-based models, has been introduced to calculate the SGS stresses in large eddy simulation (LES). In the present work, the modulated gradient model (MGM) was implemented in the OpenFOAM package, and the pimpleFoam solver was improved to be adopted with non-eddy viscosity models. The MGM is a new, nonlinear model that uses the local equilibrium hypothesis to assess the SGS kinetic energy and the velocity gradient tensor to calculate the relative weight of the different components of the SGS stress tensor. To evaluate the accuracy of the MGM along with the modified pimpleFoam solver, a turbulent channel flow was simulated at the three different frictional Reynolds numbers of 180, 395 and 590. Furthermore, the results were compared with direct numerical simulation data, as well as the numerical results obtained by the established SGS models such as the dynamic Smagorinsky model (DSM). A suitable accuracy for the first- and second-order turbulence parameters was reported. Moreover, it was demonstrated that MGM is computationally efficient compared to the DSM in treating channel flow.     

Finite element-based large eddy simulation using a combination of the variational multiscale method and the dynamic Smagorinsky model

A finite element-based large eddy simulation (LES) is proposed using a combination of the residual-based variational multiscale (RBVMS) approach and the dynamic Smagorinsky eddy-viscosity model. In this combined model, the cross-stress terms are modelled using the RBVMS approach while the eddy-viscosity model is used to represent the Reynolds stresses. The eddy-viscosity is computed dynamically in a local fashion for which a localized version of the variational Germano identity is developed. To improve the robustness of the local dynamic procedure, two types of averaging schemes are considered. The first type employs spatial averaging over homogeneous direction(s) which is only applicable to turbulent flows with statistical homogeneity in at least one direction. The second type is based on Lagrangian averaging over fluid pathtubes, which is applicable to inhomogeneous turbulent flows. The predictions from the combined model are compared to the direct numerical simulation or experimental data and also to the predictions from the RBVMS model. This is done for two cases: turbulent flow in a channel (Re_τ = 590) and flow over a cylinder (Re_D = 3, 900). For the turbulent channel flow, predictions are similar between the RBVMS model and the combined model. For flow over a cylinder, the combined model provides better predictions, specifically for fluctuations in the streamwise velocity and lift.     

On the effect of an anisotropy-resolving subgrid-scale model on large eddy simulation predictions of turbulent open channel flow with wall roughness

A large eddy simulation (LES) was conducted of turbulent flow in a channel with a rough wall on one side and a free surface on the other by adopting an anisotropy-resolving subgrid-scale (SGS) model. A shear Reynolds number of Re_τ = 395 was used based on the mean friction velocity and channel height. To investigate the grid dependency of the LES results caused by the SGS model, three grid resolutions were tested under the same definition of a roughness shape by using the immersed boundary method. The results obtained were compared with direct numerical simulation data with and without the wall roughness and those without the extra anisotropic term. The primary focus was on how the present anisotropic SGS model with coarser grid resolutions can properly provide the effects of roughness on the mean velocity and turbulent stresses, leading to a considerable reduction of the computational cost of LES.     

Large-eddy simulations of temporally accelerating turbulent channel flow

The unsteady turbulent channel flow subject to the temporal acceleration is considered in this study. Large-eddy simulations were performed to study the response of the turbulent flow to the temporal acceleration. The simulations were started with the fully developed turbulent channel flow at an initial Reynolds number of Re₀ = 3500 (based on the channel half-height and the bulk-mean velocity), and then a constant temporal acceleration was applied. During the acceleration, the Reynolds number of the channel flow increased linearly from the initial Reynolds number to the final Reynolds number of Re₁ = 22,600. The effect of grid resolution, domain size, time step size on the simulation results was assessed in a preliminary study using simulations of the accelerating turbulent flow as well as simulations of the steady turbulent channel flow at various Reynolds numbers. Simulation parameters were carefully chosen from the preliminary study to ascertain the accuracy of the simulation. From the accelerating turbulent flow simulations, the delays in the response of various flow properties to the temporal acceleration were measured. The distinctive features of the delays responsible for turbulence production, energy redistribution, and radial propagation were identified. Detailed turbulence statistics including the wall shear stress response during the acceleration were examined. The results reveal the changes in the near-wall structures during the acceleration. A self-sustaining mechanism of turbulence is proposed to explain the response of the turbulent flow to the temporal acceleration. Although the overall flow characteristics are similar between the channel and pipe flows, some differences were observed between the two flows.     

Vertical rotation effect on turbulence characteristics in an open channel flow

This paper solves the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equation by a fractional-step method with the Reynolds number Reτ=194 and the rotation number Nτ=0-0.12. When Nτ is less than 0.06, the turbulence statistics relevant to the spanwise velocity fluctuation are enhanced, but other statistics are suppressed. When Nτ is larger than 0.06, all the turbulence statistics decrease significantly. Reynolds stress budgets elucidate that turbulence kinetic energy in the vertical direction is transferred into the streamwise and spanwise directions. The flow structures exhibit that the bursting processes near the bottom wall are ejected toward the free surface. Evident change of near-surface streak structures of the velocity fluctuations are revealed.     

Orientation distribution of fibres in a channel flow of fibre suspension

The orientation and concentration distributions of fibres in laminar and turbulent channel flows are investigated numerically. The obtained results are in good agreement with the experimental data. In the laminar flow regime, more fibres orient to the flow direction as the Reynolds number increases. The shear rate of fluid around a fibre plays an important role in determining the orientation distribution of fibres, while the fibre density and the fibre aspect-ratio have marginal influence on the orientation distribution. In the turbulent regime, the orientation distribution of fibres becomes more homogeneous with the increase of Reynolds number, and the concentration profile is flatter than that in the laminar regime. The fluctuating intensity of fibre velocity in the downstream direction is larger than that in the lateral directions.     

Mechanism of controlling turbulent channel flow with the effect of spanwise Lorentz force distribution

A direct numerical simulation(DNS) is performed to investigate the control effect and mechanism of turbulent channel flow with the distribution of spanwise Lorentz force. A sinusoidal distribution of constant spanwise Lorentz force is selected, of which the control effects, such as flow characters, mean Reynolds stress, and drag reductions, at different parameters of amplitude A and wave number k_x are discussed. The results indicate that the control effects vary with the parameter A and k_x. With the increase of A, the drag reduction rate D_r first increases and then decreases rapidly at low k_x,and slowly at high k_x. The low drag reduction(or even drag increase) is due to a weak suppression or even the enhancements of the random velocity fluctuation and mean Reynolds stress. The efficient drag reduction is due to the quasi-streamwise vortex structure induced by Lorentz force, which contributes to suppressing the random velocity fluctuation and mean Reynolds stress, and the negative vorticity improves the distribution of streamwise velocity. Therefore, the optimal control effect with a drag reduction of up to 58% can be obtained.     

Structure of the channel flow behind a surface-mounted rib under conditions of laminar-turbulent transition

The PIV technique was used to measure the instantaneous vector fields of flow velocity and vorticity behind a thin cross-flow rib installed in a channel with laminar, transient, or turbulent flow. The data were treated statistically to determine the fields of mean longitudinal flow velocity and the correlations of pulsating velocity components 〈u′ν′〉 and 〈u′u′〉. Some features of the flow structure developing under conditions of laminar-turbulent transition behind the rib have been revealed.     

Proposed stochastic parameterisations of subgrid turbulence in large eddy simulations of turbulent channel flow

Stochastic and deterministic subgrid parameterisations are developed for the large eddy simulation (LES) of a turbulent channel flow with friction-velocity-based Reynolds number of Re_τ = 950 and centreline-based Reynolds number of Re₀ = 20,580. The subgrid model coefficients (eddy viscosities) are determined from the statistics of truncated reference direct numerical simulations (DNSs). The stochastic subgrid model consists of a mean-field shift, a drain eddy viscosity acting on the resolved field and a stochastic backscatter force of variance proportional to the backscatter eddy viscosity. The deterministic variant consists of a net eddy viscosity acting on the resolved field, which represents the net effect of the drain and backscatter. LES adopting the stochastic and deterministic models is shown to reproduce the time-averaged kinetic energy spectra of the DNS within the resolved scales.     

Particle transport behavior in air channel flow with multi-group Lagrangian tracking

The particle motions of dispersion and transport in air channel flow are investigated using a large eddy simulation(LES) and Lagrangian trajectory method. The mean and fluctuating velocities of the fluids and particles are obtained,and the results are in good agreement with the data in the literature. Particle clustering is observed in the near-wall and low-speed regions. To reveal the evolution process and mechanism of particle dispersion and transport in the turbulent boundary layer, a multi-group Lagrangian tracking is applied when the two-phase flow has become fully developed: the fluid fields are classified into four sub-regions based on the flow characteristics, and particles in the turbulent region are divided accordingly into four groups when the gas–particle flow is fully developed. The spatiotemporal transport of the four groups of particles is then tracked and analyzed. The detailed relationship between particle dispersion and turbulent motion is investigated and discussed.     

Coherent structure extraction in turbulent channel flow using boundary adapted wavelets

We introduce boundary adapted wavelets, which are orthogonal and have the same scale in the three spatial directions. The construction thus yields a multiresolution analysis. We analyse direct numerical simulation data of turbulent channel flow computed at a friction Reynolds number of 395, and investigate the role of coherent vorticity. Thresholding of the vorticity wavelet coefficients allows us to split the flow into two parts, coherent and incoherent flows. The coherent vorticity is reconstructed from its few intense wavelet coefficients and the coherent velocity is reconstructed using Biot–Savart's law. The statistics of the coherent flow, i.e. energy and enstrophy spectra, are close to the statistics of the total flow, and moreover, the nonlinear energy budgets of the total flow are very well preserved. The remaining incoherent part, represented by the large majority of the weak wavelet coefficients, corresponds to a structureless, i.e. noise-like, background flow whose energy is equidistributed.     

Hydrodynamic instability of premixed flame propagating in narrow planar channel in the presence of gas flow

The paper analyses the hydrodynamic instability of a flame propagating in the space between two parallel plates in the presence of gas flow. The linear analysis was performed in the framework of a two-dimensional model that describes the averaged gas flow in the space between the plates and the perturbations development of two-dimensional combustion wave. The model includes the parametric dependences of the flame front propagation velocity on its local curvature and on the combustible gas velocity averaged along the height of the channel. It is assumed that the viscous gas flow changes the surface area of the flame front and thereby affects the propagation velocity of the two-dimensional combustion wave. In the absence of the influence of the channel walls on the gas flow, the model transforms into the Darrieus–Landau model of flame hydrodynamic instability. The dependences of the instability growth rate on the wave vector of disturbances, the velocity of the unperturbed gas flow, the viscous friction coefficients and other parameters of the problem are obtained. It is shown that the viscous gas flow in the channel can lead, in some cases, to a significant increase in instability compared with a flame propagating in free space. In particular, the instability increment depends on the direction of the gas flow with respect direction of the flame propagation. In the case when the gas flow moves in the opposite direction to the direction of the flame propagation, the pulsating instability can appear.     

对称槽道涡波流场流动特征的POD分析

为深入分析层流状态下对称槽道内涡波流场的流动特性及其变化规律,对流场进行了二维粒子图像测速(2DPIV)测量获取瞬态速度矢量数据,利用本征正交分解(POD)技术进行模态分解以及涡波流场的重构,然后根据重构的流场对对称槽道内涡波流场进行了平均速度剖面、流场脉动强度以及特征点的速度和频谱分布等方面的分析。结果表明：POD的前15阶模态能够表征涡波流场的主导结构,第1,3阶模态主要表现为一对旋向相反的涡对特征,第2阶模态具有涡旋和波状主流的特征;提取了5个涡旋涡核的位置作为流场流动特性的特征点;根据POD重构流场分析发现流向平均速度呈抛物线形状分布,法向平均速度呈对称分布特征;流向脉动强度受壁面的影响较大,法向脉动强度呈现抛物线形状分布;距离中心主流较近的1^#,4^#,5^#特征点的速度脉动程度受主流的脉动强度影响较大,速度的脉动主频0.15 Hz与次频、流场的自然频率0.35 Hz共同影响特征点的速度分布;2^#,3^#特征点的流向速度呈衰减趋势,法向速度在初期幅度变化较大。     

Large eddy simulation of channel flow with and without periodic constrictions using the explicit algebraic subgrid-scale model

We analyse the performance of the explicit algebraic subgrid-scale (SGS) stress model (EASSM) in large eddy simulation (LES) of plane channel flow and the flow in a channel with streamwise periodic hill-shaped constrictions (periodic hill flow) which induce separation. The LESs are performed with the Code_Saturne which is an unstructured collocated finite volume solver with a second-order spatial discretisation suitable for LES of incompressible flow in complex geometries. At first, performance of the EASSM in LES of plane channel flow at two different resolutions using the Code_Saturne and a pseudo-spectral method is analysed. It is observed that the EASSM predictions of the mean velocity and Reynolds stresses are more accurate than the conventional dynamic Smagorinsky model (DSM). The results with the pseudo-spectral method were, in general, more accurate. In the second step, LES with the EASSM of flow separation in the periodic hill flow is compared to LES with the DSM, no SGS model and a highly resolved LES data using the DSM. Results show that the mean velocity profiles, the friction and pressure coefficients, the length and shape of the recirculation bubble, as well as the Reynolds stresses are considerably better predicted by the EASSM than the DSM and the no SGS model simulations. It was also observed that in some parts of the domain, the resolved strain-rate and SGS shear stress have the same sign. The DSM cannot produce a correct SGS stress in this case, in contrast to the EASSM.