A Reynolds stress model for turbulent flows of viscoelastic fluids

A second-order closure is developed for predicting turbulent flows of viscoelastic fluids described by a modified generalised Newtonian fluid model incorporating a nonlinear viscosity that depends on a strain-hardening Trouton ratio as a means to handle some of the effects of viscoelasticity upon turbulent flows. Its performance is assessed by comparing its predictions for fully developed turbulent pipe flow with experimental data for four different dilute polymeric solutions and also with two sets of direct numerical simulation data for fluids theoretically described by the finitely extensible nonlinear elastic – Peterlin model. The model is based on a Newtonian Reynolds stress closure to predict Newtonian fluid flows, which incorporates low Reynolds number damping functions to properly deal with wall effects and to provide the capability to handle fluid viscoelasticity more effectively. This new turbulence model was able to capture well the drag reduction of various viscoelastic fluids over a wide range of Reynolds numbers and performed better than previously developed models for the same type of constitutive equation, even if the streamwise and wall-normal turbulence intensities were underpredicted.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">β</Emphasis>-distribution for Reynolds stress and turbulent heat flux in relaxation turbulent boundary layer of compression ramp

A challenge in the study of turbulent boundary layers (TBLs) is to understand the non-equilibrium relaxation process after sep-aration and reattachment due to shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction. The classical boundary layer theory cannot deal with the strong adverse pressure gradient, and hence, the computational modeling of this process remains inaccurate. Here, we report the direct numerical simulation results of the relaxation TBL behind a compression ramp, which reveal the presence of intense large-scale eddies, with significantly enhanced Reynolds stress and turbulent heat flux. A crucial finding is that the wall-normal profiles of the excess Reynolds stress and turbulent heat flux obey a β-distribution, which is a product of two power laws with respect to the wall-normal distances from the wall and from the boundary layer edge. In addition, the streamwise decays of the excess Reynolds stress and turbulent heat flux also exhibit power laws with respect to the streamwise distance from the corner of the compression ramp. These results suggest that the relaxation TBL obeys the dilation symmetry, which is a specific form of self-organization in this complex non-equilibrium flow. The β-distribution yields important hints for the development of a turbulence model.     

Anisotropic Reynolds stress tensor representation in shear flows using DNS and experimental data

Tensorial decompositions and projections are used to study the performance of algebraic non-linear models and predict the anisotropy of the Reynolds stresses. Direct numerical simulation (DNS) data for plane channel flows at friction Reynolds number (Re_τ = 180, 395, 590, 1000), and for the boundary layer using both DNS (Re_τ = 359, 830, 1271) and experimental data (Re_τ = 2680, 3891, 4941, 7164) are used to build and evaluate the models. These data are projected into tensorial basis formed from the symmetric part of mean velocity gradient and non-persistence-of-straining tensor. Six models are proposed and their performances are investigated. The scalar coefficients for these six different levels of approximations of the Reynolds stress tensor are derived, and made dimensionless using the classical turbulent scales, the kinetic turbulent energy (κ) and its dissipation rate (ε). The dimensionless coefficients are then coupled with classical wall functions. One model is selected by comparing the predicted Reynolds stress components with experimental and DNS data, presenting a good prediction for the shear and normal Reynolds stresses.     

Strengthened opposition control for skin-friction reduction in wall-bounded turbulent flows

An opposition control scheme with strengthened control input is proposed and tested in turbulent channel flows at friction Reynolds number Re_τ = 180 by direct numerical simulations. When the detection plane is located at less than 20 wall units, the drag reduction rate can be greatly enhanced by increasing the control amplitude parameter. The maximum drag reduction rate achieved in the present study is around 33%, which is much higher than the best value of 25% reported in literature. The strengthened control can be more efficient to attain a given drag reduction rate. Based on the total shear stress at the virtual wall established between the real wall and the detection plane by the control, a new friction velocity is proposed and the corresponding coordinate transform is made. Scaled by the proposed friction velocity, the wall-normal velocity fluctuation and the Reynolds shear stress of the controlled flows are collapsed well with those of the uncontrolled flow in the new coordinate. Based on the similarity, a relation between drag reduction rate and the effectiveness of the virtual wall is deduced, which disclosed that the elevation and residual Reynolds shear stress at the virtual wall are the key parameters to determine the drag reduction rate. The conclusion are also validated at Re_τ = 395 and 590. The decrease of the drag reduction rate with the increase of the Reynolds number is attributed to the enhanced residual Reynolds shear stress at the virtual wall.     

微扩张管道内幂律流体非定常电渗流动

研究了电渗驱动下幂律流体在有限长微扩张管道内非稳态流动特性.基于Ostwald-de Wael幂律模型,采用高精度紧致差分离散二维Poisson-Nernst-Planck方程及修正的Cauchy动量方程,数值模拟了初始及稳态时刻微扩张管道内幂律流体电渗流流场分布情况,研究了管道截面改变对幂律流体无量纲剪切应变率及无量纲表观黏度的影响,以及无量纲表观黏度对拟塑性流体与胀流型流体流速分布的影响.数值模拟结果显示,当扩张角和无量纲电动宽度一定时,电场驱动下的幂律流体在近壁区域速度响应都很快;初始时刻,近壁处表观黏度的变化受到剪切应变率变化的影响,从而影响了三种幂律流体速度峰值的分布,出现拟塑性流体流速在扩张段上游及扩张段近壁处速度峰值均为幂律流体中最大、而在扩张段下游三种幂律流体速度峰值相近的现象;稳态时刻,幂律流体速度剖面呈现塞型分布,且满足连续性条件下,幂律流体流速随扩张管半径增大而减小,牛顿流体流动规律与宏观尺度下流动规律相同;初始时刻,在相同电动宽度、不同壁面电势作用下,幂律流体在扩张管近壁处剪切应变率分布的差异导致表观黏度分布的差异,并最终导致拟塑性流体与胀流型流体流速分布的差异.     

Drag and Lift Forces Acting on a Sphere in Shear Flow of Power-Law Fluid

Laminar flow of a power-law fluid over a sphere is considered for unbounded shear flow. The Navier–Stokes equations with power-law viscosity are solved numerically using an in-house developed CFD package. Vorticities structures downstream of particle are suppressed for powerlaw fluid. The shear rate influence on drag force is negligible for power index close to unit, and the drag force appreciably decreases with falling power index. For small Reynolds numbers, the lift force coefficient monotonically decreases against the power index and exhibits an opposite behavior for moderate values of Reynolds numbers. The results of the parametric studies are used to derive correlations for the drag force and to detect the hydrodynamic differences from uniform flow. The investigation parameters varied within the following ranges: power-law index 0.3 ≤ n ≤ 1, Reynolds number 0 < Re ≤ 150, and dimensionless shear rate 0.05 ≤ s ≤ 0.4.     

Turbulent plane wall jets over smooth and rough surfaces

Large-eddy simulations were carried out to study the effects of surface roughness on a plane wall-jet using the Lagrangian dynamic eddy-viscosity subgrid-scale model, at Re = 7500 (based on the jet bulk velocity and height). Results over both smooth and rough surfaces were validated by experimental data at the same Reynolds number. As the jet is injected into the still environment, large-scale rollers are generated in the shear layer between the high-momentum fluid of the jet and the surrounding and are convected downstream with the flow. To understand the extent to which the outer-layer structures modify the flow in the inner layer and the extent to which the effect of roughness spreads away from the wall, both instantaneous and mean flow fields were investigated. The results revealed that, for the Reynolds number and roughness height considered in this study, the effect of roughness is mostly confined to the near-wall region of the wall jet. There is no structural difference between the outer layer of the wall jet over the smooth and rough surfaces. Roughness does not affect the size of the outer-layer structures or the scaling of the profiles of Reynolds stresses in the outer layer. However, in the inner layer, roughness redistributes stresses from streamwise to wall-normal and spanwise directions toward isotropy. Contours of joint probability-density function of the streamwise and wall-normal velocity fluctuations at the bottom of the logarithmic region match those of the turbulent boundary layer at the same height; while the traces of the outer-layer structure were detected at the top of the logarithmic region, indicating that they do not affect the flow very close to the wall, but still modify a major portion of the inner layer. This modification must be taken into consideration when the inner layer of a wall jet is compared with the conventional turbulent boundary layer.     

Level-crossing statistics and production in low Reynolds number wall turbulence

Statistical properties at velocity level crossings are analysed in a low Reynolds number fully developed turbulent channel flow. Emphasis is placed on local production statistics conditioned by fixed amplitudes of the streamwise u and wall-normal v velocity components. Direct numerical simulations performed in large computational domains are used for this purpose. The Reynolds number based on the channel half width and the shear velocity varies from 180 to 1100. Particular attention is paid to correctly determine the conditional quantities at level crossings of u and v velocity fluctuations, to prevent biasing effects. Level crossings along the longitudinal x and spanwise z directions in homogeneous planes are introduced together with different characterisations, such as directional and contour crossings. The frequency of events detected at fixed thresholds follows a Gaussian model acceptably well. There is more level-crossing activity in the spanwise direction than in the streamwise. The mean conditional production distributions are dissymmetrical with respect to the level-crossing thresholds in the low buffer and viscous sublayers. These statistics differ significantly from a statistical model that assumes joint normality between u and v. There is a clear but relatively mild Reynolds number dependence of the conditional expected means of u and v that do not scale with inner, outer or mixed variables. The Reynolds number sensitivity of these statistics increases towards the edge of the wall layer.     

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.     

Verification of the standard model of shear stress transport and its modified version that takes into account the streamline curvature and estimation of the applicability of the Menter combined boundary conditions in calculating the ultralow profile drag for an optimally configured cylinder–coaxial disk arrangement

A modification of the popular model of shear stress transport aimed at calculating the separation flow of an incompressible viscous liquid is justified. The modification eliminates the nonphysical pumping of the vortex viscosity in the cores of large-scale vortices. It has been verified with regard to the influence of the streamline curvature on the vortex viscosity by introducing a reciprocal linear function of the turbulent Richardson number with the Isaev–Kharchenko–Usachov constant equal to 0.02.Verification is based on solving the test problem an axisymmetric steady flow about a disk–cylinder tandem with an optimally configured nose, which has an ultralow profile drag for a Reynolds number of 5 × 10⁵. It has been shown that the Menter combined boundary conditions are valid if y⁺y of the wall does not exceed two.     

Surface roughness effects on the turbulence statistics in a low Reynolds number channel flow

A high-resolution particle image velocimetry was used to characterize a low Reynolds number turbulent flow in a channel. Experiments were conducted over a sand grain-coated surface of large relative roughness, and the results were compared with measurements over a smooth surface. The roughness perturbation significantly modified the outer layer. Even though the streamwise Reynolds stress shows less sensitivity in the outer layer to the boundary condition, significant enhancements were observed in the wall-normal Reynolds stress and the Reynolds shear stress. These modifications were considered as footprints of the larger-scale eddies transporting intense wall-normal motions away from the rough wall. A quadrant decomposition shows that strong and more frequent ejections are responsible for the larger values of the mean Reynolds shear stress over the rough wall. The results also indicate that spanwise vortex cores with mean vorticity of the same sign as the mean shear are the dominant smaller-scale vortical structures over the smooth and rough walls. A linear stochastic estimation-based analysis shows that the average larger-scale structure associated with these vortices is a shear layer that strongly connects the outer layer flow to the near-wall flow. A proper orthogonal decomposition of the flow suggests that the large-scale eddy is more energetic for the rough wall, and contributes more significantly to the resolved turbulent kinetic energy and the Reynolds shear stress than the smooth wall.     

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.     

PIV method for research of the structure of pulsating flow in a smooth duct

The system for Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements in the flow with superimposed pulsations of the fluid (air) has been developed. Measurements of velocity and vorticity fields in a smooth duct in certain phases of superimposed pulsations have been performed. Statistics of a turbulent pulsating flow: velocity profiles, turbulent pulsations, and Reynolds stresses has been obtained.     

Magnetic helicity tensor for an anisotropic turbulence

The evolution of the magnetic helicity tensor for a nonzero mean magnetic field and for large magnetic Reynolds numbers in an anisotropic turbulence is studied. It is shown that the isotropic and anisotropic parts of the magnetic helicity tensor have different characteristic times of evolution. The time of variation of the isotropic part of the magnetic helicity tensor is much larger than the correlation time of the turbulent velocity field. The anisotropic part of the magnetic helicity tensor changes for the correlation time of the turbulent velocity field. The mean turbulent flux of the magnetic helicity is calculated as well. It is shown that even a small anisotropy of turbulence strongly modifies the flux of the magnetic helicity. It is demonstrated that the tensor of the magnetic part of the alpha effect for weakly inhomogeneous turbulence is determined only by the isotropic part of the magnetic helicity tensor.     

LES of spatially developing turbulent boundary layer over a concave surface

We revisit the problem of a spatially developing turbulent boundary layer over a concave surface. Unlike previous investigations, we simulate the combined effects of streamline curvature as well as curvature-induced pressure gradients on the turbulence. Our focus is on investigating the response of the turbulent boundary layer to the sudden onset of curvature and the destabilising influence of concave surface in the presence of pressure gradients. This is of interest for evaluating the turbulence closure models. At the beginning of the curve, the momentum thickness Reynolds number is 1520 and the ratio of the boundary layer thickness to the radius of curvature is δ₀/R = 0.055. The radial profiles of the mean velocity and turbulence statistics at different locations along the concave surface are presented. Our recently proposed curvature-corrected Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) model is assessed in an a posteriori sense and the improvements obtained over the base model are reported. From the large Eddy simulation (LES) results, it was found that the maximum influence of concave curvature is on the wall-normal component of the Reynolds stress. The budgets of wall-normal Reynolds stress also confirmed this observation. At the onset of curvature, the effect of adverse pressure gradient is found to be predominant. This decreases the skin friction levels below that in the flat section.     

Investigation of scaling laws in a turbulent boundary layer flow with adverse pressure gradient using PIV

We present an experimental investigation and data analysis of a turbulent boundary layer flow at a significant adverse pressure gradient at Reynolds number up to Re_θ = 10, 000. We combine large-scale particle image velocimetry (PIV) with microscopic PIV for measuring the near wall region including the viscous sublayer. We investigate scaling laws for the mean velocity and for the total shear stress in the inner part of the boundary layer. In the inner part the mean velocity can be fitted by a log-law. In the outer part of the inner layer the log-law ceases to be valid. Instead, a modified log-law provides a good fit, which is given in terms of the pressure gradient parameter and a parameter for the mean inertial effects. Finally we describe and assess a simple quantitative model for the total shear stress distribution which is local in wall-normal direction without streamwise history effects.     

沟槽壁面减阻机理实验研究

利用IFA300型热线风速仪,测量了光滑壁面和沟槽减阻壁面湍流边界层内的瞬时速度,利用自行设计的阻力天平仪测量了壁面摩擦力。得到了边界层无量纲速度分布和平均湍动能分布。对测得的脉动速度信号,利用离散正交小波变换按时间和尺度分解,得到各尺度分量的湍动能,并且发现其分布在湍流惯性区具有极大值。分析表明,当沟槽有减阻效果时,边界层内的平均湍动能减小,湍流惯性区各分量的湍动能极大值亦减小。     

Large Eddy Simulation of Turbulent Channel Flow with 3D Roughness Using a Roughness Element Model

Large eddy simulation of turbulent channel flow with dense and small 3D roughness elements is carried out using a roughness element model Profiles of mean Reynolds stress, mean velocity and rms velocity as well as turbulent structures near the wall are obtained. The shear stress in the rough wall is larger than that in the smooth wall side and the rough wall has a larger influence on the channel flow. Profiles of mean streamwise velocity near the wall have logarithmic velocity distributions for both smooth and roughness walls, while there is a velocity decrease for the rough wall due to larger fractional drag. All the three components of rms velocities in the rough wall region are larger than that in the smooth wall region, and the roughness elements on the wall increase turbulent intensity in all directions. The s~reak spacing and average diameter of near wall quasi-s~reamwise vortices increase with the presence of roughness elements on the wall and it is shown that the rough wall induces complex and strong streamwise vortices. Results of dense and small 3D roughness elements in both turbulent statistics and structure, obtained with a relatively simple method, are found to be comparable to related experiments.