Aspect ratio effects in turbulent duct flows studied through direct numerical simulation

Three-dimensional effects in turbulent duct flows, i.e., sidewall boundary layers and secondary motions, are studied by means of direct numerical simulation (DNS). The spectral element code Nek5000 is used to compute turbulent duct flows with aspect ratios 1–7 (at Re_{b, c} = 2800, Re_{τ, c} ? 180) and aspect ratio 1 (at Re_{b, c} = 5600, Re_{τ, c} ? 330), in streamwise-periodic boxes of length 25h. The total number of grid points ranges from 28 to 145 million, and the pressure gradient is adjusted iteratively in order to keep the same bulk Reynolds number in the centreplane with changing aspect ratio. Turbulence is initiated via a trip forcing active during the initial stages of the simulation, and the statistical convergence of the data is discussed both in terms of transient approach and averaging period. Spanwise variations in wall shear, mean-flow profiles, and turbulence statistics are analysed as a function of aspect ratio, and also compared with the spanwise-periodic channel (as idealisation of an infinite aspect ratio duct). The computations show good agreement with experimental measurements carried out in parallel at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago, and highlight the relevance of sidewall boundary layers and secondary vortices in the physics of the duct flow. The rich array of secondary vortices extending throughout the upper and lower walls of the duct, and their dependence on Reynolds number and aspect ratio, had not been reported in the literature before.     

Direct numerical simulation of the flow around a wall-mounted square cylinder under various inflow conditions

The flow around a wall-mounted square cylinder of side d is investigated by means of direct numerical simulation (DNS). The effect of inflow conditions is assessed by considering two different cases with matching momentum-thickness Reynolds numbers Re_θ ? 1000 at the obstacle: the first case is a fullyturbulent zero pressure gradient boundary layer, and the second one is a laminar boundary layer with prescribed Blasius inflow profile further upstream. An auxiliary simulation carried out with the pseudo-spectral Fourier–Chebyshev code SIMSON is used to obtain the turbulent time-dependent inflow conditions which are then fed into the main simulation where the actual flow around the cylinder is computed. This main simulation is performed, for both laminar and turbulent-inflows, with the spectral-element method code Nek5000. In both cases the wake is completely turbulent, and we find the same Strouhal number St ? 0.1, although the two wakes exhibit structural differences for x > 3d downstream of the cylinder. Transition to turbulence is observed in the laminar-inflow case, induced by the recirculation bubble produced upstream of the obstacle, and in the turbulent-inflow simulation the streamwise fluctuations modulate the horseshoe vortex. The wake obtained in our laminar-inflow case is in closer agreement with reference particle image velocimetry measurements of the same geometry, revealing that the experimental boundary layer was not fully turbulent in that dataset, and highlighting the usefulness of DNS to assess the quality of experimental inflow conditions.     

Assessment of subgrid-scale stress statistics in non-premixed turbulent wall-jet flames

We investigate the heat-release effects on the characteristics of the subgrid-scale (SGS) stress tensor and SGS dissipation of kinetic energy and enstrophy. Direct numerical simulation data of a non-premixed reacting turbulent wall-jet flow with and without substantial heat release is employed for the analysis. This study comprises, among others, an analysis of the eigenvalues of the resolved strain rate and SGS stress tensors, to identify the heat-release effects on their topology. An assessment of the alignment between the eigenvectors corresponding to the largest eigenvalues of these two tensors is also given to provide further information for modelling of the SGS stress tensor. To find out the heat-release effects on the dynamics of the turbulent kinetic energy and enstrophy dissipation, probability density functions (PDFs) and mean values are analysed. The mean SGS shear stress and turbulent kinetic energy both slightly increase in the buffer layer and substantially decrease further away from the wall, due to the heat-release effects. Contrary to the kinetic energy, heat release decreases the mean SGS dissipation of enstrophy in the near-wall region. Moreover, differences in the shapes of the PDFs between the isothermal and exothermic cases indicate changes in the intermittency level of both SGS dissipations. Heat release also increases the SGS stress anisotropy in the near-wall region. Although, the structure of the mean resolved strain-rate tensor only marginally differs between the isothermal and exothermic cases in the near-wall region, substantial differences are observed in the jet area, where compressibility effects are important and heat-release effects are found to promote compression states. The differences in the relative alignment between the SGS stress and resolved strain-rate tensors in the isothermal and exothermic cases are discussed in connection with the differences in the SGS dissipation of kinetic energy.     

Direct numerical simulation study of the interaction between the polymer effect and velocity gradient tensor in decaying homogeneous isotropic turbulence

Direct numerical simulation of decaying homogeneous isotropic turbulence (DHIT) of a polymer solution is performed. In order to understand the polymer effect on turbulence or additive-turbulence interaction, we directly investigate the influence of polymers on velocity gradient tensor including vorticity and strain. By visualizing vortex tubes and sheets, we observe a remarkable inhibition of vortex structures in an intermediate-scale field and a small-scale field but not for a large scale field in DHIT with polymers. The geometric study indicates a strong relevance among the vorticity vector, rate-of-strain tensor, and polymer conformation tensor. Joint probability density functions show that the polymer effect can increase "strain generation resistance" and "vorticity generation resistance", i.e., inhibit the generation of vortex sheets and tubes, ultimately leading to turbulence inhibition effects.     

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.     

A minimal flow unit for the study of turbulence with passive scalars

The concept of a minimal flow unit (MFU) for the study of the basic physics of turbulent flows is introduced. The MFU is an initial vorticity configuration that consists of a few simple well-defined large-scale vortex structures. The form and position of these structures are chosen so that their interaction produces turbulence capturing many of the essential characteristics of isotropic homogeneous turbulence produced from random-phase initial conditions or that produced by continual random-phase forcing. The advantage of using the MFU is that the evolution of the vortex structures can be followed more clearly and the relationship between the evolving vortex structures and the various ranges in the energy spectrum can be more clearly defined. The addition of passive scalar fields to the MFU permits an investigation of passive scalar mixing that is relevant to the study of combustion. With a particular choice of the MFU, one that produces a trend to a finite-time singularity in the vorticity field, it is demonstrated that passive scalar distributed in the original large-scale vortices will develop intense gradients in the region where the vorticity is tending toward a singularity. In viscous flow, the evolution of the MFU clearly shows how the volume of the regions where originally well-separated passive scalars come into contact increases with increasing Reynolds number.     

Nonlinear evolution of turbulent spots in the near-wall shear flow

The initial model of turbulent spots with the wall disturbance using the pulse form was proposed. A group of three-dimensional coupling compact difference schemes with high accuracy and high resolution were developed, and implemented to simulate the formation and development of turbulent spots in the near-wall shear flow by means of direct numerical simulation of the Navier-Stokes equations. Growing and decaying modes were used to analyze nonlinear evolution characteristics of the turbulent spots.     

Direct numerical simulation of transitional flow in a finite length curved pipe

Transition to turbulent flow in a curved pipe has been well studied through experiments and numerical simulations. Numerical simulations often use a helical pipe with an infinite length such that the inlet and outlet boundary conditions can be modelled as periodic which greatly reduces computational time. In this study, we examined a finite length curved pipe with Poiseuille flow imposed at the inlet and a stress-free boundary condition at the outlet. Direct numerical simulation of the Navier-Stokes equations for rigid walls and a Newtonian fluid was performed using nek5000. Straight extensions were added to the inlet and outlet such to diminish the impact of boundary conditions on the flow field in the region with curvature. The examined model has a pipe radius of curvature that is three times the pipe radius. The model has ～355 million nodes and required an order of magnitude greater computational time when compared with an infinite length curved pipe. Results show that the critical Reynolds number, the lowest value with instabilities present in the flow, is much greater than that of a straight pipe and occurs near Re=5000–5200. This is larger than the critical Reynolds number typically reported for an infinite length curved pipe (Re=4200–4300).     

Effects of spanwise system rotation on turbulent stripes in a plane Poiseuille flow

In the transitional channel flow, the large-scale intermittent structure of localised turbulence, which is called the turbulent stripe pattern, can be found in the form of stripe arrangement. The structure of the turbulent stripe pattern is an oblique laminar–turbulent banded pattern and is inclined with respect to the streamwise direction. We performed direct numerical simulation at a transitional Reynolds number and very low-rotation numbers, and focused on the turbulent stripe pattern in the plane Poiseuille flow subjected to spanwise system rotation. We captured the turbulent stripe pattern in a rotating channel flow and found the augmentation and diminution of the turbulent stripe pattern were affected by the spanwise rotation. The contents of the discussion are the spatial size of the turbulent stripe pattern on the basis of the instantaneous flow fields, the energy spectra, and various statistics relating to the spanwise velocity component that characterise the turbulent stripe pattern. The turbulent stripe pattern was found to contain kinetic energy that was larger in very weakly rotating flows than in the static system. It was also found that the magnitude of the spanwise secondary flow increases, while the quasi-laminar region is wider at a very lowrotation number.     

A Web services accessible database of turbulent channel flow and its use for testing a new integral wall model for LES

The output from a direct numerical simulation (DNS) of turbulent channel flow at Re_τ ≈ 1000 is used to construct a publicly and Web services accessible, spatio-temporal database for this flow. The simulated channel has a size of 8πh × 2h × 3πh, where h is the channel half-height. Data are stored at 2048 × 512 × 1536 spatial grid points for a total of 4000 time samples every 5 time steps of the DNS. These cover an entire channel flow-through time, i.e. the time it takes to traverse the entire channel length 8πh at the mean velocity of the bulk flow. Users can access the database through an interface that is based on the Web services model and perform numerical experiments on the slightly over 100 terabytes (TB) DNS data on their remote platforms, such as laptops or local desktops. Additional technical details about the pressure calculation, database interpolation, and differentiation tools are provided in several appendices. As a sample application of the channel flow database, we use it to conduct an a-priori test of a recently introduced integral wall model for large eddy simulation of wall-bounded turbulent flow. The results are compared with those of the equilibrium wall model, showing the strengths of the integral wall model as compared to the equilibrium model.     

副气流中He流量变化对流场混合状态的影响

 在保持主气流流量和副气流中I₂的流量不变的条件下,改变副气流中He的流量,数值模拟氧碘化学激光器拉伐尔喷管内的流场混合特性。结果表明,随着副气流中He的流量的增加,副气流垂直穿透主气流的深度逐渐变大,主、副气流混合状态也逐渐变好,直至氧碘气流混合均匀。     

Direct numerical simulation of elastic turbulence and its mixing-enhancement effect in a straight channel flow

In this paper,we present a direct numerical simulation(DNS) of elastic turbulence of viscoelastic fluid at vanishingly low Reynolds number(Re = 1) in a three-dimensional straight channel flow for the first time,using the Giesekus constitutive model for the fluid.In order to generate and maintain the turbulent fluid motion in the straight channel,a sinusoidal force term is added to the momentum equation,and then the elastic turbulence is numerically realized with an initialized chaotic velocity field and a stretched conformation field.Statistical and structural characteristics of the elastic turbulence therein are analyzed based on the detailed information obtained from the DNS.The fluid mixing enhancement effect of elastic turbulence is also demonstrated for the potential applications of this phenomenon.     

副气流中He流量变化对流场混合状态的影响

在保持主气流流量和副气流中I2的流量不变的条件下,改变副气流中He的流量,数值模拟氧碘化学激光器拉伐尔喷管内的流场混合特性。结果表明,随着副气流中He的流量的增加,副气流垂直穿透主气流的深度逐渐变大,主、副气流混合状态也逐渐变好,直至氧碘气流混合均匀。     

Characteristics and generation of elastic turbulence in a three-dimensional parallel plate channel using direct numerical simulation

Direct numerical simulations(DNSs) of purely elastic turbulence in rectilinear shear flows in a three-dimensional(3D) parallel plate channel were carried out,by which numerical databases were established.Based on the numerical databases,the present paper analyzed the structural and statistical characteristics of the elastic turbulence including flow patterns,the wall effect on the turbulent kinetic energy spectrum,and the local relationship between the flow motion and the microstructures' behavior.Moreover,to address the underlying physical mechanism of elastic turbulence,its generation was presented in terms of the global energy budget.The results showed that the flow structures in elastic turbulence were 3D with spatial scales on the order of the geometrical characteristic length,and vortex tubes were more likely to be embedded in the regions where the polymers were strongly stretched.In addition,the patterns of microstructures' elongation behave like a filament.From the results of the turbulent kinetic energy budget,it was found that the continuous energy releasing from the polymers into the main flow was the main source of the generation and maintenance of the elastic turbulent status.     

单隔间内氢气流动分布特性数值模拟与实验验证

以局部隔间氢气流动分布特性研究实验装置中的单个隔间作为几何结构,建立小空间内氢气分布数值研究的计算流体动力学分析模型,对不同湍流模型适用性展开讨论分析,通过对比实验数据和模拟数据,给出最优湍流模型的选择,进一步对低质量流量工况下氢气在小空间内的流动分布进行数值模拟。模拟结果表明：在选取的6种两方程湍流模型中,采用Realizable k-ε、RNG k-ε、Standard k-ε湍流模型计算得到的结果与实验值吻合较好,能够准确地反映氢气在小空间内的释放过程和分布情况;低质量流量工况下,氢气主流区域径向范围较小,氢气在容器中上部呈稳定均匀分布。

     

Studies of the flow and turbulence fields in a turbulent pulsed jet flame using LES/PDF

A turbulent piloted jet flame subject to a rapid velocity pulse in its fuel jet inflow is proposed as a new benchmark case for the study of turbulent combustion models. In this work, we perform modelling studies of this turbulent pulsed jet flame and focus on the predictions of its flow and turbulence fields. An advanced modelling strategy combining the large eddy simulation (LES) and the probability density function (PDF) methods is employed to model the turbulent pulsed jet flame. Characteristics of the velocity measurements are analysed to produce a time-dependent inflow condition that can be fed into the simulations. The effect of the uncertainty in the inflow turbulence intensity is investigated and is found to be very small. A method of specifying the inflow turbulence boundary condition for the simulations of the pulsed jet flame is assessed. The strategies for validating LES of statistically transient flames are discussed, and a new framework is developed consisting of different averaging strategies and a bootstrap method for constructing confidence intervals. Parametric studies are performed to examine the sensitivity of the predictions of the flow and turbulence fields to model and numerical parameters. A direct comparison of the predicted and measured time series of the axial velocity demonstrates a satisfactory prediction of the flow and turbulence fields of the pulsed jet flame by the employed modelling methods.     

Comparative Study of the Propagation of Jet Noise in Static and Flow Environments

In order to analyze the effect of the background flow on the sound prediction of fine-scale turbulence noise, the sound spectra from static and flow environments are compared. It turns out that, the two methods can obtain similar predictions not only at 90 deg to the jet axis but also at mid- and high frequencies in other directions. The discrepancies of predictions from the two environments show that the effect of the jet flow on the sound propagation is related to low frequencies in the downstream and upstream directions. It is noted that there is an obvious advantage of computational efficiency for calculating in static environment, compared with that in flow environment. A good agreement is also observed to some extent between the predictions in static environment and measurements of subsonic to supersonic. It is believed that the predictions in static environment could be an effective method to study the propagation of the sound in jet flow and to predict the fine scale turbulence noise accurately in a way as well.     

A numerical investigation of the evolution of 2-D disturbances in hypersonic boundary layers and the effect on the flow structure due to the existence of shocklets

The evolution of 2-D disturbances in hypersonic boundary layer with Mach number 6,8, and 10 was investigated numerically by three different numerical schemes. At the entrance, second mode T-S waves with different amplitudes were introduced, and the relation between the Mach number and the amplitude of the disturbance when shocklets started to appear was investigated. By comparing the disturbance velocity profiles with those provided by linear stability theory, the effects of shocklets on flow structures were also investigated.     

Use of Lagrangian statistics for the analysis of the scale separation hypothesis in turbulent channel flow

Turbulence models often involve Reynolds averaging, with a closure providing the Reynolds stress tensor as function of mean velocity gradients, through a turbulence constitutive equation. The main limitation of this linear closure is that it rests on an analogy with kinetic theory. For this analogy to be valid there has to be a scale separation between the mean velocity variations and the turbulent Lagrangian free path whose mean value is the turbulent mixing length. The aim of this work is to better understand this hypothesis from a microscopic point of view. Therefore, fluid elements are tracked in a turbulent channel flow. The flow is resolved by direct numerical simulation (DNS). Statistics on particle trajectories ending on a certain distance y₀ from the wall are computed, leading to estimations of the turbulent mixing length scale and the Knudsen number. Comparing the computed values to the Knudsen number in the case of scale separation, we may know in which region of the flow and to what extent the turbulence constitutive equation is not verified. Finally, a new non-local formulation for predicting the Reynolds stress is proposed.     

Direct numerical simulations of exhaust gas recirculation effect on multistage autoignition in the negative temperature combustion regime for stratified HCCI flow conditions by using H2O2 addition

Direct numerical simulations (DNSs) of a stratified flow in a homogeneous compression charge ignition (HCCI) engine are performed to investigate the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and temperature/mixture stratification effects on the autoignition of synthetic dimethyl ether (DME) in the negative temperature combustion region. Detailed chemistry for a DME/air mixture is employed and solved by a hybrid multi-time scale (HMTS) algorithm to reduce the computational cost. The effect of to mimic the EGR effect on autoignition are studied. The results show that adding enhances autoignition by rapid OH radical pool formation (34–46% reduction in ignition delay time) and changes the ignition heat release rates at different ignition stages. Sensitivity analysis is performed and the important reactions pathways affecting the autoignition are specified. The DNS results show that the scales introduced by thermal and mixture stratifications have a strong effect after the low temperature chemistry (LTC) ignition especially at the locations of high scalar dissipation rates. Compared to homogenous ignition, stratified ignitions show similar first autoignition delay times, but 18% reduction in the second and third ignition delay times. The results also show that molecular transport plays an important role in stratified low temperature ignition, and that the scalar mixing time scale is strongly affected by local ignition in the stratified flow. Two ignition-kernel propagation modes are observed: a wave-like, low-speed, deflagrative mode and a spontaneous, high-speed, ignition mode. Three criteria are introduced to distinguish these modes by different characteristic time scales and Damkhöler numbers using a progress variable conditioned by an ignition kernel indicator. The low scalar dissipation rate flame front is characterized by high displacement speeds and high mixing Damkhöler number. The proposed criteria are applied successfully at the different ignition stages and approximate characteristic values are identified to delineate between the different ignition propagation modes.