Direct numerical simulation of turbulent wake behind a surface-mounted square cylinder

In this research, direct numerical simulation has been performed to study the turbulent wake behind a wall-mounted square cylinder with aspect ratio 4 and Reynolds number 12 000 (based on the free-stream velocity and obstacle side length) in a developing boundary layer. Owing to the relatively high Reynolds number and high aspect ratio of the cylinder tested, the wake is wide spread behind the cylinder and exhibits complex and energetic vortex motions. The lateral and tip vortex shedding patterns at different frequencies, coherent structures downstream of the obstacle, the production rate and distribution of turbulent kinetic energy, and the instantaneous pressure distribution in the wake region have been thoroughly investigated. In order to validate the numerical results, the first- and second-order flow statistics obtained from the simulations have been carefully compared against available wind-tunnel measurement data.     

Vortex reynolds number in turbulent boundary layers

The effects of vortex Reynolds number on the statistics of turbulence in a turbulent boundary layer have been investigated. Vortex Reynolds number is defined as the ratio of circulation around the vortex structure to the fluid viscosity. The vortex structure of the outer region was modeled and a full numerical simulation was then conducted using a high-order spectral method. A unit domain of the outer region of a turbulent boundary layer was assumed to be composed of essentially three elements: a wall, a Blasius mean shear, and an elliptic vortex inclined at 45° to the flow direction. The laminar base-flow Reynolds number is roughly in the same range as that of a turbulent boundary layer based on eddy viscosity, and the vortex-core diameter based on the boundary-layer thickness is nearly the same as the maximum mixing length in a turbulent boundary layer. The computational box size, namely, 500, 150, and 250 wall units in the streamwise, surface-normal, and spanwise directions, respectively, is approximately the same as the measured quasi-periodic spacings of the near-wall turbulence-producing events in a turbulent boundary layer. The effects of vortex Reynolds number and the signs of the circulation on the moments of turbulence were examined. The signs mimic the ejection and sweep types of organized motions of a turbulent boundary layer. A vortex Reynolds number of 200 describes the turbulence moments in the outer layer reasonably well.     

Some experimental support at a high Reynolds number to a new hypothesis for turbulence modeling

A new dynamical subgrid model of 2D turbulence has been recently derived from the rapid distortion theory. This model is based on an hypothesis of nonlocality of the interaction of the scales of turbulence. The validity of this hypothesis was demonstrated by numerical simulation in 2D turbulence. It is supported here for real 3D turbulence at high Reynolds number by a spectral analysis of hot wire measurements in a turbulent boundary layer.     

Numerical study of the effects of particles on the near wake around a circular cylinder

In this work, we investigate the dynamics of the near wake in a turbulent flow going past a circular cylinder with/without particles at a moderate Reynolds number using a direct numerical simulation method. High-order finite-deference schemes are applied to solve for the bulk fluid properties, and a Lagrangian approach is adopted to track the individual particles. The single-phase flow is analysed and validated using previous experimental data. Two converged states, U- and V-shaped, are observed in the near wake, which are consistent with the experimental results. For the two-phase flow, the addition of smaller particles shortens the length of the recirculation region and causes a V-shaped profile to form behind the circular cylinder. Furthermore, the particles increase the drag force from the circular cylinder and suppress the vortex shedding frequency. An increase in the turbulent statistics in the very near wake and a decrease in the turbulent statistics further downstream are also observed.     

Direct Numerical Simulation of Self-Similar Turbulent Boundary Layers in Adverse Pressure Gradients

Direct numerical simulations of the Navier–Stokes equations have been carried out with the objective of studying turbulent boundary layers in adverse pressure gradients. The boundary layer flows concerned are of the equilibrium type which makes the analysis simpler and the results can be compared with earlier experiments and simulations. This type of turbulent boundary layers also permits an analysis of the equation of motion to predict separation. The linear analysis based on the assumption of asymptotically high Reynolds number gives results that are not applicable to finite Reynolds number flows. A different non-linear approach is presented to obtain a useful relation between the freestream variation and other mean flow parameters. Comparison of turbulent statistics from the zero pressure gradient case and two adverse pressure gradient cases shows the development of an outer peak in the turbulent energy in agreement with experiment. The turbulent flows have also been investigated using a differential Reynolds stress model. Profiles for velocity and turbulence quantities obtained from the direct numerical simulations were used as initial data. The initial transients in the model predictions vanished rapidly. The model predictions are compared with the direct simulations and low Reynolds number effects are investigated.     

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.     

Wake layer in a thermal turbulent boundary layer with pressure gradient

The open equations of thermal turbulent boundary layer subjected to pressure gradient have been analysed by method of matched asymptotic expansions at large Reynolds number. The flow is divided into outer wake layer and inner wall layer. The asymptotic expansions are matched by Millikan-Kolmogorov hypothesis. The temperature profile in overlap region yields composite law which reduce to log. law for moderate pressure gradient and inverse half power law for strong adverse pressure gradient. In case of a shallow thermal wake, the matching result of outer wake layer reduces to composite temperature defect law, which is more general than the classical log. law. The comparison of data for thermal boundary layer with strong adverse pressure gradient is also considered. Received on 26 May 1998     

低压涡轮内部流动及其气动设计研究进展

随着高空无人飞行器研究的不断升温, 高空低雷诺数条件下动力装置的研究越来越受到人们的重视.结合近年来国内外相关领域的研究工作, 对低雷诺数低压涡轮内部复杂流动机理的研究进展进行了介绍, 包括低雷诺数情况下低压涡轮内部非定常流动的特点, 叶片边界层分离及转捩现象机理, 上游周期性尾迹与下游叶片边界层相互作用机理等. 在此基础上给出了适合低雷诺数条件的低压涡轮气动设计方法:尾迹通过与边界层的相互作用, 能够抑制分离, 进而减小叶型损失, 在气动设计中有效引入非定常效应可以大幅度提高低压涡轮的气动负荷或降低气动损失, 最终达到提高性能的目的;数值及实验结果验证了这种设计方法的有效性.      

The Unsteady Wake of a Circular Cylinder near a Free Surface

The behaviour of the wake Strouhal number for flow past a cylinder close to a free surface at both low and moderate Froude numbers is investigated numerically. For the low Froude number case (i.e., gravity-dominated), the results obtained are similar to those for flow past a cylinder close to an adjacent no-slip boundary. As the distance between the wall and the cylinder is reduced, the Strouhal number, as measured from the time varying lift, increases to a maximum at a gap ratio of 0.70. Further gap reduction leads to a rapid decrease in the Strouhal number, with shedding finally ceasing altogether at gap ratios below 0.16. The agreement between the results for a free surface and a no-slip boundary suggests that the mechanism behind the suppression of vortex shedding is common. For flow at a fixed gap ratio and a moderate Froude number, two distinctly different wake states are observed with the flow passing over the cylinder tending to switch from a state of attachment to the free surface, to one of separation from it, and then back again in a pseudo-periodic fashion. Even though there is a significant difference in Reynolds number, the predicted numerical two-dimensional behaviour is found to compare favourably with the experimental observations at higher Reynolds number.     

Large-scale structures visualization in a high Reynolds number,turbulent flat-plate wake at supersonic speed

A visual study is performed in a supersonic, two-dimensional wake; the high value of the Reynolds number ensures that the wake is turbulent from the trailing edge. The flow is seeded by fluid vaporization in one boundary layer upstream of the trailing edge; a light sheet is generated by a Q-switched, high energy ruby laser. The set of photographs taken from the trailing edge up to the far wake is then processed after digitization of the pictures. A progressive contamination of the lower part of the wake by the fluid initially present in the upper part can be observed. In the far wake region, well organized large scale structures can be visualized. Statistics are performed and the results are compared with previous hot-wire measurements and discussed in terms of downstream wake behaviour.This paper was presented at the 9th Symposium on turbulence, University of Missouri-Rolla, October 1–3, 1984     

Experimental investigation of the effect of Reynolds number on flow structures in the wake of a circular parachute canopy

In the present study, an experimental study was conducted to characterize the effect of Reynolds number on flow structures in the turbulent wake of a circular parachute canopy by utilizing stereoscopic particle image velocime- try （Stereo-PIV） technique. The parachute model tested in the present study was attached by 28 nylon suspension lines and placed horizontally at the test section center of the wind tunnel. The obtained results showed that with the in- crease of Reynolds number, the intensities of the vortices near the downstream region of the canopy skirt were found to increase accordingly. However, the increase of Reynolds number did not result in a significant change in ensemble- averaged normalized x-component of the velocity, ensembleaveraged normalized vorticity, normalized Reynolds stress, and normalized turbulent kinetic energy distributions in the turbulent wake of the circular parachute canopy. The obtained results are very useful to further our understanding about the unsteady aerodynamics in the wake of flexible circular parachute canopies and to constitute a reference for CFD computation.     

Direct numerical simulation of a particle-laden flow in a flat plate boundary layer

In this paper, a direct numerical simulation of particle-laden flow in a flat plate boundary layer is performed, using the Eulerian–Lagrangian point-particle approach. This is, as far as we know, the first simulation of a particle-laden spatially-developing turbulent boundary layer with two-way coupling. A local minimum of the particle number density is observed in the close vicinity of the wall. The present simulation results indicate that the inertial particles displace the quasi-streamwise vortices towards the wall, which, in turn, enhance the mean streamwise fluid velocity. As a result, the skin-friction coefficient is increased whereas the boundary layer integral thicknesses are reduced. The presence of particles augments the streamwise fluctuating velocity in the near-wall region but attenuates it in the outer layer. Nevertheless, the wall-normal and spanwise velocity fluctuations are significantly damped, and so is the Reynolds stress. In addition, the combined effect of a reduced energy production and an increased viscous dissipation leads to the attenuation of the turbulent kinetic energy.     

Numerical simulation of the turbulent wake behind a normal flat plate

The three-dimensional wake flow behind a flat plate placed normal to the free stream has been investigated by means of direct numerical simulations. The Reynolds number Re based on the homogeneous inflow velocity and the uniform width d of the plate was 750. Coherent vortices were alternately shed from the sides of the plate with a frequency corresponding to a Strouhal number 0.168. The wake was distinctly turbulent downstream of the plate whereas the mean recirculation bubble extended 1.96d downstream. A steady 2D mean flow and the accompanying Reynolds stresses were obtained by averaging in time and along the span of the plate. These Reynolds-averaged statistics exhibited the same qualitative features as corresponding data from cylinder wakes.     

Transition from vortex to wall driven turbulence production in the Taylor–Couette system with a rotating inner cylinder

Axisymmetrically stable turbulent Taylor vortices between two concentric cylinders are studied with respect to the transition from vortex to wall driven turbulent production. The outer cylinder is stationary and the inner cylinder rotates. A low Reynolds number turbulence model using the k‐ω formulation, facilitates an analysis of the velocity gradients in the Taylor–Couette flow. For a fixed inner radius, three radius ratios 0.734, 0.941 and 0.985 are employed to identify the Reynolds number range at which this transition occurs. At relatively low Reynolds numbers, turbulent production is shown to be dominated by the outflowing boundary of the Taylor vortex. As the Reynolds number increases, shear driven turbulence (due to the rotating cylinder) becomes the dominating factor. For relatively small gaps turbulent flow is shown to occur at Taylor numbers lower than previously reported. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On Two-dimensional Predictions of Turbulent Cross-flow Induced Vibration: Forces on a Cylinder and Wake Interaction

In this paper a typical fluid-structure interaction scenario is investigated for a turbulent flow past a circular cylinder at a relatively low subcritical Reynolds number. Numerous experimental and numerical studies have been undertaken for a baseline Reynolds number of 4,000 involving a stationary cylinder to study in detail the near wake mean flow and turbulence characteristics. These studies conclusively show that the turbulent wake displays significant coherent periodic structures of large eddies that could be adequately and profitably resolved by “low order modelling” of turbulence. In this study, an unsteady numerical framework is employed for the simulations, incorporating an Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) method for the associated grid deformation to simulate the coupled motion of the circular cylinder with a single degree of freedom in the initial zone in a typical cylinder-flow response map or what is called “initial regime”. Particular attention is paid towards resolving the large scales of the fluid motion and the inherent coupling of the cylinder’s motion towards the associated evolution of the time averaged flow field. The flow-induced vibration effects regarding the kinetic energy exchange between the mean flow and the coherent periodic scales are investigated further. The predictions discussed and analyzed in detail in the paper display reasonable agreement with the chosen benchmark tests of the stationary cylinder and suggest that the conclusions outlined regarding the coupled flow-cylinder system potentially provides a valuable contribution to the state of the art.     

亚临界雷诺数下圆柱绕流的大涡模拟

本文应用Smagorinsky涡粘性模式和二阶精度的有限体积法对圆柱绕流的流场进行大涡模拟．求解了非正交曲线坐标系下的N-S方程,对雷诺数为100和20000的工况进行了计算．计算结果与实验及动力涡粘性模式的结果进行了比较,表明计算对于层流及高亚临界雷诺数的湍流流动是合理的     

倾斜吹吸控制下湍流边界层减阻的直接数值模拟

雷诺切应力是壁湍流高摩擦阻力的重要来源, 有理论认为可以通过壁面生成负雷诺应力(数值上为正)的方式来削弱湍流流场中雷诺应力的分布, 以此获得流动减阻. 而通过对雷诺平均运动方程的法向二次积分, 可以发现壁面生成正雷诺应力(数值上为负)对壁面摩擦阻力系数才有负贡献. 文中在湍流边界层流动的控制区域下边界设置一系列倾斜狭缝, 利用该装置通过周期性吹吸的方法产生壁面生成正(负)雷诺应力, 并采用直接数值模拟方法考察和验证上文提到的减阻理论. 文中采用的湍流边界层流动模型, 其流动雷诺数(基于外流速度及动量损失厚度)从300 发展到860. 文中通过多组数值模拟算例, 考察了射流强度和频率对壁面摩擦阻力系数的影响, 并对比了壁面生成正或负雷诺应力对流动的影响. 研究表明, 壁面生成正雷诺应力控制的减阻率能达到3.26, 而壁面生成负雷诺应力控制的减阻效果较壁面生成正雷诺应力控制的要差; 壁面生成的正雷诺应力对壁面摩擦阻力有负贡献, 而壁面生成的负雷诺应力对壁面摩擦阻力有正贡献; 通过考察控制的收支比, 发现控制方案不能获得能量净收益.      

A reformulated synthetic turbulence generation method for a zonal RANS–LES method and its application to zero-pressure gradient boundary layers

A synthetic turbulence generation (STG) method for subsonic and supersonic flows at low and moderate Reynolds numbers to provide inflow distributions of zonal Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) – large-eddy simulation (LES) methods is presented. The STG method splits the LES inflow region into three planes where a local velocity signal is decomposed from the turbulent flow properties of the upstream RANS solution. Based on the wall-normal position and the local flow Reynolds number, specific length and velocity scales with different vorticity content are imposed at the inlet plane of the boundary layer. The quality of the STG method for incompressible and compressible zero-pressure gradient boundary layers is shown by comparing the zonal RANS–LES data with pure LES, pure RANS, and direct numerical simulation (DNS) solutions. The distributions of the time and spanwise wall-shear stress, Reynolds stress distributions, and two point correlations of the zonal RANS–LES simulations are smooth in the transition region and in good agreement with the pure LES and reference DNS findings. The STG approach reduces the RANS-to-LES transition length to less than four boundary-layer thicknesses.     

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.