An improved dynamic subgrid-scale model and its application to large eddy simulation of rotating channel flows

Rotating turbulence occurs extensively in nature and engineering circumstances. Meanwhile, understanding physical mechanisms of the rotating turbulence is important to the fundamental research of turbulence. The turbulent flow in rotating frames undergoes two kinds of Coriolis force effects. First, a secondary flow is induced in the case that there is a mean vorticity component perpendicular to the rotating axis. Second, there are augmenting or suppressing effects on the turbulence if there i…     

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.     

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.     

A new mixed subgrid-scale model for large eddy simulation of turbulent drag-reducing flows of viscoelastic fluids

A mixed subgrid-scale(SGS) model based on coherent structures and temporal approximate deconvolution(MCT) is proposed for turbulent drag-reducing flows of viscoelastic fluids. The main idea of the MCT SGS model is to perform spatial filtering for the momentum equation and temporal filtering for the conformation tensor transport equation of turbulent flow of viscoelastic fluid, respectively. The MCT model is suitable for large eddy simulation(LES) of turbulent dragreducing flows of viscoelastic fluids in engineering applications since the model parameters can be easily obtained. The LES of forced homogeneous isotropic turbulence(FHIT) with polymer additives and turbulent channel flow with surfactant additives based on MCT SGS model shows excellent agreements with direct numerical simulation(DNS) results. Compared with the LES results using the temporal approximate deconvolution model(TADM) for FHIT with polymer additives, this mixed SGS model MCT behaves better, regarding the enhancement of calculating parameters such as the Reynolds number.For scientific and engineering research, turbulent flows at high Reynolds numbers are expected, so the MCT model can be a more suitable model for the LES of turbulent drag-reducing flows of viscoelastic fluid with polymer or surfactant additives.     

Rotation effect on near-wall turbulence statistics and flow structures

Turbulent flow in an axially rotating pipe, involving complicated physical mecha- nism of turbulence, is a typical problem for the study of rotating turbulent flow. The pipe rotation induces two effects on the flow. One is the stabilizing effect due to the centrifu- gal and Coriolis forces, which accounts for the relaminarization of the turbulence[1—3] and the reduction of the friction coefficient at the pipe wall. The behavior is also related to the wall streaks inclining to the azimuthal di…     

Particle subgrid scale modelling in large-eddy simulations of particle-laden turbulence

This study is concerned with particle subgrid scale (SGS) modelling in large-eddy simulations (LESs) of particle-laden turbulence. Although many particle-laden LES studies have neglected the effect of the SGS on the particles, several particle SGS models have been proposed in the literature. In this research, the approximate deconvolution method (ADM) and the stochastic models of Fukagata et al. (Dynamics of Brownian particles in a turbulent channel flow, Heat Mass Transf. 40 (2004), 715–726) Shotorban and Mashayek (A stochastic model for particle motion in large-eddy simulation, J. Turbul. 7 (2006), 1–13) and Berrouk et al. (Stochastic modelling of inertial particle dispersion by subgrid motion for LES of high Reynolds number pipe flow, J. Turbul. 8 (2007), pp. 1–20) are analysed. The particle SGS models are assessed using both a priori and a posteriori simulations of inertial particles in a periodic box of decaying, homogeneous and isotropic turbulence with an initial Reynolds number of Re_λ = 74. The model results are compared with particle statistics from a direct numerical simulation (DNS). Particles with a large range of Stokes numbers are tested using various filter sizes and stochastic model constant values. Simulations with and without gravity are performed to evaluate the ability of the models to account for the crossing trajectory and continuity effects. The results show that ADM improves results but is only capable of recovering a portion of the SGS turbulent kinetic energy. Conversely, the stochastic models are able to recover sufficient SGS energy, but show a large range of results dependent on the Stokes number and filter size. The stochastic models generally perform best at small Stokes numbers, but are unable to predict preferential concentration.     

Multi-scale properties of large eddy simulations: correlations between resolved-scale velocity-field increments and subgrid-scale quantities

We provide analytical and numerical results concerning multi-scale correlations between the resolved velocity field and the subgrid-scale (SGS) stress-tensor in large eddy simulations (LES). Following previous studies for Navier–Stokes equations, we derive the exact hierarchy of LES equations governing the spatio-temporal evolution of velocity structure functions of any order. The aim is to assess the influence of the subgrid model on the inertial range intermittency. We provide a series of predictions, within the multifractal theory, for the scaling of correlation involving the SGS stress and we compare them against numerical results from high-resolution Smagorinsky LES and from a-priori filtered data generated from direct numerical simulations (DNS). We find that LES data generally agree very well with filtered DNS results and with the multifractal prediction for all leading terms in the balance equations. Discrepancies are measured for some of the sub-leading terms involving cross-correlation between resolved velocity increments and the SGS tensor or the SGS energy transfer, suggesting that there must be room to improve the SGS modelisation to further extend the inertial range properties for any fixed LES resolution.     

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.     

A priori evaluation of large eddy simulation subgrid-scale scalar flux models in isotropic passive-scalar and anisotropic buoyancy-driven homogeneous turbulence

Direct numerical simulation (DNS) of passive (non-buoyant) and active (buoyant) scalar homogeneous turbulence is carried out using a standard pseudo-spectral numerical method. The flow settings simulated include stationary forced and decaying passive-scalar turbulence, as well as decaying anisotropic active-scalar turbulence. The Schmidt number is unity in all cases. The results are compared with, and are found to be in very good agreement with, previous similar DNS studies. The well-validated DNS data are divided into 19 sets, and are employed to study different large eddy simulation (LES) subgrid-scale (SGS) models for the SGS scalar flux. The models examined include three eddy-viscosity-type models (Smagorinsky, Vreman and Sigma with a constant SGS Schmidt number), a Dynamic Structure model and two versions of the Gradient (Gradient and Modulated Gradient) model. The models are investigated with respect to their ability to predict the orientation, and the magnitude, of the SGS scalar flux. Eddy-viscosity models are found to predict the magnitude of the SGS scalar flux accurately, but are poor at predicting the orientation of the SGS scalar flux. The Dynamic Structure and Gradient models are better than eddy-viscosity models at predicting both the magnitude and direction. However, neither of them can be realised in an actual LES, without carrying additional transport equations. Based on these observations, four new models are proposed – combining directions from Dynamic Structure and Gradient models, and magnitudes from Smagorinsky and Vreman eddy-viscosity models. These models are expected to be better than eddy-viscosity and Modulated Gradient models, and this is confirmed by preliminary a posteriori tests.     

Reynolds数22 000的孤立方柱绕流的大涡模拟

方柱绕流是典型的钝体绕流问题,蕴含了丰富的流体力学现象,对这类流动的准确预测面临着诸多挑战.采用自主发展的大涡模拟程序,对来流Mach数M=0.3,Reynolds数Re_D=22 000的绕孤立方柱流动进行了细致模拟,亚格子模型使用动力涡黏模型.对计算结果的分析表明,大涡模拟所得的平均流场及Reynolds应力分布与已有实验数据和直接数值模拟结果均吻合较好,验证了预测结果的可靠性;在此基础上对瞬态流场进行了研究,展示了计算条件下方柱绕流分离转捩及尾迹区旋涡交替脱落形成Karman涡街的全过程,为更细致的流动机理探索奠定了基础.      

Constrained large-eddy simulation of separated flow in a channel with streamwise-periodic constrictions

Constrained large-eddy simulation (CLES) method has been recently developed by Chen and his colleagues for simulating attached and detached wall-bounded turbulent flows. In CLES, the whole domain is simulated using large-eddy simulation (LES) while a Reynolds stress constraint is enforced on the subgrid-scale (SGS) stress model for near wall regions. In this paper, CLES is used to simulate the separated flow in a channel with streamwise-periodic constrictions at Re = 10,595. The results of CLES are compared with those of Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) method, LES, detached eddy simulation (DES) and previous LES results by Breuer et al. and Ziefle et al. Although a coarse grid is used, our results from the present LES, DES and CLES do not show large deviations from the reference results using much finer grid resolution. The comparison also shows that CLES performs the best among different turbulence models tested, demonstrating that the CLES provides an excellent alternative model for separated flows. Furthermore, the cross-comparisons among different CLES implementations have been carried out. Our simulation results are in favor of using the constraint from algebraic RANS model or solving the RANS model equations in the whole domain with a length scale modification according to the idea from DES.     

A consistent dual-mesh framework for hybrid LES/RANS modeling

In this work, we propose a consistent turbulence-modeling framework for hybrid LES/RANS modeling. In this framework, the filtered and Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations are solved simultaneously in the whole domain on their respective meshes. Consistency between the two solutions is achieved in terms of velocity, pressure, and turbulent quantities through additional drift terms in the corresponding equations. This approach leads to clean conditions at the LES/RANS interfaces. Note that this general framework does not depend on the specific choice of LES and RANS models. A hybrid LES/RANS solver is developed within this framework and used to simulate the flow in a plane channel and that in a channel with periodic hills. The results demonstrate that the hybrid solver leads to significantly improved results with moderate computational overhead compared to traditional LES, making it a promising candidate for industrial flow simulations.     

High-order incompressible large-eddy simulation of fully inhomogeneous turbulent flows

The subgrid-scale (SGS) eddy-viscosity model developed by Vreman [Phys. Fluids 16 (2004) 3670] and its dynamic version [Phys. Fluids 19 (2007) 065110] are tested in large-eddy simulations (LES) of the turbulent flow in an Re = 12,000 lid-driven cubical cavity by comparison to the direct numerical simulation (DNS) data of Leriche and Gavrilakis [Phys. Fluids 12 (2000) 1363]. This appears to be the first test of this class of model to flows without any homogeneous flow directions, which is typical of flows in complex geometries. Additional LES predictions at Re = 18,000 and Re = 22,000 are compared to the DNS data of Leriche [J. Sci. Comp. 27 (2006)]. The new LES framework yielded excellent agreement for both the mean velocity and Reynolds stress profiles and matches DNS data better than the more traditional Smagorinsky-based SGS models.     

不同亚格子模型在亚声速槽道流大涡模拟中的应用对比

湍流边界层流动是一种广泛存在于飞行器内部和外部的流动现象，是基础理论和模型验证的重要研究对象.能够捕捉大部分流动细节且计算量适中的大涡模拟（large-eddy simulation，LES）方法在湍流数值模拟中得到了越来越广泛的应用.文章基于格心有限差分方法，使用4阶紧致中心格式离散N-S方程无黏项，分别应用5种不同的亚格子（subgrid-scale，SGS）模型，即隐式，SM（Smagorinsky model），DSM（dynamic Smagorinsky model），WALE（wall-adapting local eddy-viscosity model）和CSM（coherent structures model），对Re = 3 000，Ma = 0.5的等温壁面槽道流动进行了大涡模拟研究.与实验值和直接数值模拟（direct numerical simulation，DNS）结果对比后发现，流场平均温度、平均密度等热力学量以及平均流向速度对亚格子模型不敏感，不适宜作为判断模型优劣的判据.亚格子模型在壁面附近的耗散越大，壁面摩擦速度以及阻力系数就越小.对于与速度相关的脉动量来说，不同模型得到的结果在壁面和脉动峰值附近误差比较大，中心线附近较小；显式模型结果在流向速度峰值处均高于参考值，而在展向和壁面法向速度脉动峰值处则均偏低.考虑显式的4种模型在壁面附近的涡黏系数分布，DSM和CSM曲线满足涡黏系数与无量纲壁面距离3次方成正比的分布规律，SM曲线斜率偏小而WALE曲线斜率偏大.      

Investigating asymptotic suction boundary layers using a one-dimensional stochastic turbulence model

The turbulent asymptotic suction boundary layer is studied using a one-dimensional turbulence (ODT) model. ODT is a fully resolved, unsteady stochastic simulation technique. While flow properties reside on a one-dimensional domain, turbulent advection is represented using mapping events whose occurrences are governed by a random process. Due to its reduced spatial dimensionality, ODT achieves major cost reductions compared to three-dimensional (3D) simulations. A comparison to recent direct numerical simulation (DNS) data at moderate Reynolds number (Re = u_∞ / v₀ = 333, where u_∞ and v₀ are the free stream and suction velocity, respectively) suggests that the ODT model is capable of reproducing several velocity statistics, i.e. mean velocity and turbulent kinetic energy budgets, while peak turbulent stresses are under-estimated by ODT. Variation of the Reynolds number in the range Re ∈ [333,400,500,1000] shows that ODT can reproduce various trends observed as a result of increased suction in turbulent asymptotic suction boundary layers, i.e. the reduction of Reynolds stresses and enhanced skin friction. While up to Re = 500 our results can be directly compared to recent LES data, the simulation at Re = 1000 is currently not feasible through full 3D simulations, hence ODT may assist the design of future DNS or LES simulations at larger Reynolds numbers.     

Zonal PANS: evaluation of different treatments of the RANS–LES interface

The partially Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (PANS) model can be used to simulate turbulent flows either as RANS, large eddy simulation (LES) or DNS. Its main parameter is f_k whose physical meaning is the ratio of the modelled to the total turbulent kinetic energy. In RANS f_k = 1, in DNS f_k = 0 and in LES f_k takes values between 0 and 1. Three different ways of prescribing f_k are evaluated for decaying grid turbulence and fully developed channel flow: f_k = 0.4, f_k = k^3/2 _tot/? and, from its definition, f_k = k/k_tot where k_tot is the sum of the modelled, k, and resolved, k_res, turbulent kinetic energy. It is found that the f_k = 0.4 gives the best results. In Girimaji and Wallin, a method was proposed to include the effect of the gradient of f_k. This approach is used at RANS– LES interface in the present study. Four different interface models are evaluated in fully developed channel flow and embedded LES of channel flow: in both cases, PANS is used as a zonal model with f_k = 1 in the unsteady RANS (URANS) region and f_k = 0.4 in the LES region. In fully developed channel flow, the RANS– LES interface is parallel to the wall (horizontal) and in embedded LES, it is parallel to the inlet (vertical). The importance of the location of the horizontal interface in fully developed channel flow is also investigated. It is found that the location – and the choice of the treatment at the interface – may be critical at low Reynolds number or if the interface is placed too close to the wall. The reason is that the modelled turbulent shear stress at the interface is large and hence the relative strength of the resolved turbulence is small. In RANS, the turbulent viscosity – and consequently also the modelled Reynolds shear stress – is only weakly dependent on Reynolds number. It is found in the present work that it also applies in the URANS region.     

Variational multiscale turbulence modelling in a high order spectral element method

In the variational multiscale (VMS) approach to large eddy simulation (LES), the governing equations are projected onto an a priori scale partitioning of the solution space. This gives an alternative framework for designing and analyzing turbulence models. We describe the implementation of the VMS LES methodology in a high order spectral element method with a nodal basis, and discuss the properties of the proposed scale partitioning. The spectral element code is first validated by doing a direct numerical simulation of fully developed plane channel flow. The performance of the turbulence model is then assessed by several coarse grid simulations of channel flow at different Reynolds numbers.     

Vorticity,backscatter and counter-gradient transport predictions using two-level simulation of turbulent flows

The two-level simulation (TLS) method evolves both the large-and the small-scale fields in a two-scale approach and has shown good predictive capabilities in both isotropic and wall-bounded high Reynolds number (Re) turbulent flows in the past. Sensitivity and ability of this modelling approach to predict fundamental features (such as backscatter, counter-gradient turbulent transport, small-scale vorticity, etc.) seen in high Re turbulent flows is assessed here by using two direct numerical simulation (DNS) datasets corresponding to a forced isotropic turbulence at Taylor’s microscale-based Reynolds number Re_λ ≈ 433 and a fully developed turbulent flow in a periodic channel at friction Reynolds number Re_τ ≈ 1000. It is shown that TLS captures the dynamics of local co-/counter-gradient transport and backscatter at the requisite scales of interest. These observations are further confirmed through a posteriori investigation of the flow in a periodic channel at Re_τ = 2000. The results reveal that the TLS method can capture both the large- and the small-scale flow physics in a consistent manner, and at a reduced overall cost when compared to the estimated DNS or wall-resolved LES cost.     

Dynamic gradient models for the sub-grid scale stress tensor and scalar flux vector in large eddy simulation

A number of dynamic variants of the modulated gradient model (MGM) for the sub-grid scale (SGS) stress tensor and the SGS scalar flux vector are developed and evaluated a posteriori in large eddy simulations of neutral and stably stratified turbulent channel flow. Two dynamic procedures are evaluated: one based on the local equilibrium hypothesis (called local-dynamic models) and one based on the global equilibrium and steady state hypotheses (global-dynamic models). These local-dynamic (LD) and global-dynamic (GD) versions of MGM are found to be much more accurate than the constant coefficient MGM in neutral turbulent channel flow at friction Reynolds numbers of 180 and 590. The constant coefficient MGM and GD-MGM are also found to yield the correct asymptotic behaviour close to the wall, which indicates the suitability of coupling the MGM kernel with the GD procedure. For the SGS scalar flux vector, LD and GD versions of the MGM are evaluated along with LD and GD versions of the recently proposed Smagorinsky-gradient (SGM) and Vreman-gradient (VGM) models. Tests in neutral and stably stratified channel flow at friction Reynolds number of 180 and friction Richardson numbers of 0 and 18 reveal that all six dynamic SGS scalar flux vector models are able to reproduce first-order and second-order turbulent statistics accurately. The simulations help further establish the stability and accuracy of SGM and VGM, which have not been tested previously. None of the dynamic gradient-based SGS scalar flux vector models are found to yield the correct asymptotic behaviour, however, and this issue needs further investigation.     

Constrained large-eddy simulation of supersonic turbulent boundary layer over a compression ramp

A supersonic turbulent boundary layer over a compression ramp is numerically investigated using the constrained large-eddy simulation (CLES) method. The compression corner is characterised by a deflection angle of 24°. The free-stream Mach number is Ma_∞ = 2.9, and the Reynolds number based on the momentum thickness of inlet boundary layer is Re_θ = 2300. The mean and statistical quantities, such as mean velocity, wall pressure and Reynolds stresses, are thoroughly analysed and compared with those from traditional large-eddy simulation (LES), experimental measurement and direct numerical simulation (DNS). It turns out that CLES can predict the friction coefficient, wall-pressure distribution, size of separation bubble, Reynolds stresses, etc. more accurately than traditional LES, and the results are in reasonable agreement with the experimental and/or DNS data. Also discussed are the effects of specific parameterisations of the Reynolds constraint and interfacial positions separating the constrained and unconstrained regions on the performance of the CLES method.