Boundary layer structure of oscillatory open-channel shallow flows over smooth and rough beds

The boundary layer structure of oscillatory shallow open channel flows has been studied in a wide flume. Fluorescence solution was released at a porous rough bed through a diffuser covered by gravel of 0.5 cm grain size. A planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) system was used to visualise the dye plumes in both vertical and horizontal planes for a qualitative understanding of the roles of large-scale flow structures in mass transport. A variety of tests were conducted for a range of oscillatory periods (30–240 s), water depths (3–16 cm) and velocity amplitudes (0.027–0.325 m/s), which cover a wide range of oscillatory flows with Reynolds numbers Re _a varied from 0.3 × 10⁴ (laminar) to 2.1 × 10⁶ (fully turbulent). For quantitative investigation, a novel technique, namely combined laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) and 2D laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) (LIF/LDV), was developed and used to measure the velocity and solute concentration simultaneously in a vertical plane over 50 cycles. From the dye plumes revealed by the PLIF in transitional flows, there are different patterns of flow structure and solute transport with three representative stages of acceleration, deceleration and flow reversal. In the acceleration stage, turbulence was suppressed with dye layers adhering to the surface with little vertical mass transport. In the deceleration stage, flame-like turbulent structures occurred when turbulence generation was prominent. This was investigated quantitatively by recording the percentage occurrence of the adhered smooth layers per cycle. For those smooth bed cases with Re _a < 1.8 × 10⁵, the adhered smooth dye layers type of boundary layer occupied 100% of the oscillation period. Over a sufficiently high Re _a , a rough bed can generate fully turbulent oscillatory flows without the appearance of adhering dye layers. Between these two extremes, a transitional flow regime occurs in a wide range of flow conditions: Re _a > 2.7 × 10⁴ over the rough bed and Re _a > 8.3 × 10⁶ over a smooth bed.     

Direct and adjoint global stability analysis of turbulent transonic flows over a NACA0012 profile

In this work, various turbulent solutions of the two‐dimensional (2D) and three‐dimensional compressible Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equations are analyzed using global stability theory. This analysis is motivated by the onset of flow unsteadiness (Hopf bifurcation) for transonic buffet conditions where moderately high Reynolds numbers and compressible effects must be considered. The buffet phenomenon involves a complex interaction between the separated flow and a shock wave. The efficient numerical methodology presented in this paper predicts the critical parameters, namely, the angle of attack and Mach and Reynolds numbers beyond which the onset of flow unsteadiness appears. The geometry, a NACA0012 profile, and flow parameters selected reproduce situations of practical interest for aeronautical applications. The numerical computation is performed in three steps. First, a steady baseflow solution is obtained; second, the Jacobian matrix for the RANS equations based on a finite volume discretization is computed; and finally, the generalized eigenvalue problem is derived when the baseflow is linearly perturbed. The methodology is validated predicting the 2D Hopf bifurcation for a circular cylinder under laminar flow condition. This benchmark shows good agreement with the previous published computations and experimental data. In the transonic buffet case, the baseflow is computed using the Spalart–Allmaras turbulence model and represents a mean flow where the high frequency content and length scales of the order of the shear‐layer thickness have been averaged. The lower frequency content is assumed to be decoupled from the high frequencies, thus allowing a stability analysis to be performed on the low frequency range. In addition, results of the corresponding adjoint problem and the sensitivity map are provided for the first time for the buffet problem. Finally, an extruded three‐dimensional geometry of the NACA0012 airfoil, where all velocity components are considered, was also analyzed as a Triglobal stability case, and the outcoming results were compared to the previous 2D limited model, confirming that the buffet onset is well detected. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A bore-capturing finite volume method for open-channel flows

A high-resolution finite volume hydrodynamic solver is presented for open-channel flows based on the 2D shallow water equations. This Godunov-type upwind scheme uses an efficient Harten–Lax–van Leer (HLL) approximate Riemann solver capable of capturing bore waves and simulating supercritical flows. Second-order accuracy is achieved by means of MUSCL reconstruction in conjunction with a Hancock two-stage scheme for the time integration. By using a finite volume approach, the computational grid can be irregular which allows for easy boundary fitting. The method can be applied directly to model 1D flows in an open channel with a rectangular cross-section without the need to modify the scheme. Such a modification is normally required for solving the 1D St Venant equations to take account of the variation of channel width. The numerical scheme and results of three test problems are presented in this paper. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Swirling flows in horizontally vibrated beds of dense granular materials

In a series of experiments, a granular material in a rectangular container with two hollow cylinders was studied as it underwent horizontal vibrations. At the peak values of acceleration, novel swirling granular flows were observed in the cylinders while the grains cascaded down the outer surface of the piles that formed outside the cylinders. Computer simulations were performed that supported our interpretation of the behaviour observed in the experiments.     

On stability of rapid granular shear flows

We study stability properties of rapid granular flows that are described by the balance laws of mass, momentum and fluctuation energy with phenomenological relationships based upon dimensional arguments [12, 13]. Small disturbances propagating perpendicular to the shear plane are only studied. Calculations show that such flows are stable at small free path lengths of the granules but unstable if free path lengths are large. Received June 17, 1997     

A method for the analysis of recirculating turbulent flows in a cavity

The complex fluid-dynamic aspects of a turbulent recirculating flow in a cavity with axial throughflow, and a rotating wall, were investigated by adopting a simple procedure for evaluating the turbulent stresses. The flow field was divided into two regions, a core and a wall region respectively. A wall function was adopted in the zones near to the solid boundaries, while a constant eddy diffusivity was assumed, in the core, following the indications of computed heat transfer coefficients in comparison with existing experimental data. The distributions of the stream function and of the tangential velocity are presented for a range of the rotational Reynolds number of the rotating wall and of the Reynolds number of the throughflow.

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Turbulente Rezirkulationsströmung in einem Hohlraum

Zusammenfassung Die komplizierten fluiddynamischen Aspekte einer turbulenten Rezirkulationsströmung in einem Hohlraum mit axialem Durchfluß und einer rotierenden Wand werden unter Verwendung einer vereinfachten Methode zur Berechnung der turbulenten Spannungen betrachtet. Das Strömungsfeld wird in einen Kern und einen Wandbereich aufgeteilt. Für die wandnahen Zonen wird eine Wandfunktion angenommen, während im Kern mit konstanter Wirbeldiffusivität gerechnet wird, was durch den Vergleich berechneter mit gemessenen Wärmeübergangskoeffizienten gerechtfertigt erscheint. Verteilungen der Stromfunktion und der tangentialen Geschwindigkeit sind für einen bestimmten Bereich der Reynoldszahlen für die Wandrotation und der für den Durchfluß angegeben.

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Nomenclature L axial length of enclosure - P dimensionless pressure, p^*2 - p static pressure - R dimensionless radial coordinate, r/r^* - r radial coordinate - r^* reference length, equal to r_O for enclosure - r_i radii of inlet and exit apertures - Re Reynolds number, v^*r^*/ - Re_i pipe Reynolds number, ¯v_zi(2r_i)/ - Re_t turbulent Reynolds number, Re(/) - Re rotational Reynolds number, r ₀ ² / - t dimensionless time,t/(r^*/v^*) - t time - V_r, V, Vz dimensionless velocity components, V_r/v^*, v, v_z/v^* - v_i turbulent fluctuation of the i-component of velocity - v_r, v, v_z velocity components - v^* reference velocity, equal to ¯v_zi for enclosure - X coordinate along a wall, x/r^* - Y coordinate normal to a wall, y/r^* - Z dimensionless axial coordinate, z/r^* - z axial coordinate - eddy diffusivity for momentum - dynamic viscosity - kinematic viscosity - density - shear stress - dimensionless shear stress, /v^*2 - dimensionless stream function, /r*²v*² - stream function - angular velocity - tangential vorticity component - ()_eff effective - ()_l laminar - ()_t turbulent - mean over the time     

Volume averaging for the analysis of turbulent spray flows

Spray flow calculations are usually based upon equations that have been developed by averaging droplet properties locally throughout the flow field. Presently, standard procedure for LES (large-eddy simulations) is to average these averaged equations once again to filter the short-length-scale fluctuations. In this paper, the theoretical foundations for the averaged spray equations are examined; then the volume-averaging process for LES and the volume-averaging process for two-phase flows are unified for the analysis of turbulent, two-phase flows. Comments are provided on the relationship between the averaging volume and the computational-cell volume. This paper provides generality to the weighting-function choice in the averaging process and precision to the definition of the volume over which the averaging is performed. New flux terms that result from the averaging process and appear in the governing averaged partial differential equations are identified and their modelling is discussed. Situations are identified where sufficient stratification of properties on the scale smaller than the averaging volume leads to the significance of these quantities. Evolution equations for averaged entropy and averaged vorticity are developed. The relationship amongst the curl of the average gas-phase velocity, the average of the gas-phase-velocity curl, and the rotation of the discrete droplets or particles is established. The needs and challenges for sub-grid modelling to account for small-vortex/droplet interactions are presented. Applications to spray combustion are discussed.     

Numerical study of turbulent flows over wavy boundaries

The fully developed turbulent flows over wavy boundaries are investigated by means of thek-ε model. Predicted flow characteristics over rigid wavy walls are in good agreement with the vailable experimental data. Moreover drag reduction has been found in a 2-dimensional channel with periodical wavy walls. The energy input from turbulent wind to regular waves is also studied in the paper by the same turbulence model with carefully posed boundary conditions at wind-wave interface. Better agreement has been obtained in the predication of the growth rates of wind waves as compared with the previous theoretical and numerical results. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.     

Verification of the Malkus hypothesis regarding the stability of turbulent flows

It is shown by a numerical calculation that the Malkus hypothesis regarding the neutral stability of the average velocity profile of a turbulent flow with respect to external perturbations is invalid.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 5, pp. 172–176, September–October, 1970.     

A new second‐moment closure approach for turbulent swirling confined flows

An improved anisotropic model for the dissipation rate—ε—of the turbulent kinetic energy (k), to be used together with a non‐linear pressure‐strain correlations model, is proposed. Experimental data from the open literature for two confined turbulent swirling flows are used to assess the performance of the proposed model in comparison to the standard ε transport equation and to a linear approach to model the pressure‐strain term that appears in the exact equations for the Reynolds‐stress tensor. For the less strongly swirling flow the predictions show much more sensitivity to the εtransport equation than to the pressure‐strain model. In opposition, for the more strongly swirling flow, the results show that the predictions are much sensitive to the pressure‐strain model. Nevertheless, the improved εtransport equation together with the non‐linear pressure strain model yield predictions in good agreement with experiments in both studied cases. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Solving the fully nonlinear weakly dispersive Serre equations for flows over dry beds

We describe a numerical method for solving the Serre equations that can simulate flows over dry bathymetry. The method solves the Serre equations in conservation law form with a finite volume method. A finite element method is used to solve the auxiliary elliptic equation for the depth‐averaged horizontal velocity. The numerical method is validated against the lake at rest analytic solution, demonstrating that it is well‐balanced. Since there are currently no known nonstationary analytical solutions to the Serre equation that involve bathymetry, a nonstationary forced solution, involving bathymetry was developed. The method was further validated and its convergence rate established using the developed nonstationary forced solution containing the wetting and drying of bathymetry. Finally, the method is also validated against experimental results for the run‐up of a solitary wave on a sloped beach. The finite‐volume finite‐element approach to solving the Serre equation was found to be accurate and robust.     

A local mesh refinement approach for large‐eddy simulations of turbulent flows

In this paper, a local mesh refinement (LMR) scheme on Cartesian grids for large‐eddy simulations is presented. The approach improves the calculation of ghost cell pressures and velocities and combines LMR with high‐order interpolation schemes at the LMR interface and throughout the rest of the computational domain to ensure smooth and accurate transition of variables between grids of different resolution. The approach is validated for turbulent channel flow and flow over a matrix of wall‐mounted cubes for which reliable numerical and experimental data are available. Comparisons of predicted first‐order and second‐order turbulence statistics with the validation data demonstrated a convincing agreement. Importantly, it is shown that mean streamwise velocities and fluctuating turbulence quantities transition smoothly across coarse‐to‐fine and fine‐to‐coarse interfaces. © 2016 The Authors International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd     

A PDF propagation approach to model turbulent dispersion in swirling flows

A computationally efficient approach that solves for the spatial covariance matrix along the dense particle ensemble-averaged trajectory has been successfully applied to describe turbulent dispersion in swirling flows. The procedure to solve for the spatial covariance matrix is based on turbulence isotropy assumption, and it is analogous to Taylor's approach for turbulent dispersion. Unlike stochastic dispersion models, this approach does not involve computing a large number of individual particle trajectories in order to adequately represent the particle phase; a few representative particle ensembles are sufficient to describe turbulent dispersion. The particle Lagrangian properties required in this method are based on a previous study (Shirolkar and McQuay, 1998). The fluid phase information available from practical turbulence models is sufficient to estimate the time and length scales in the model. In this study, two different turbulence models are used to solve for the fluid phase – the standard k–ε model, and a multiple-time-scale (MTS) model. The models developed here are evaluated with the experiments of Sommerfeld and Qiu (1991). A direct comparison between the dispersion model developed in this study and a stochastic dispersion model based on the eddy lifetime concept is also provided. Estimates for the Reynolds stresses required in the stochastic model are obtained from a set of second-order algebraic relations. The results presented in the study demonstrate the computational efficiency of the present dispersion modeling approach. The results also show that the MTS model provides improved single-phase results in comparison to the k–ε model. The particle statistics, which are computed based on the fundamentals of the present approach, compare favorably with the experimental data. Furthermore, these statistics closely compare to those obtained using a stochastic dispersion model. Finally, the results indicate that the particle predictions are relatively unaffected by whether the Reynolds stresses are based on algebraic relations or on the turbulence isotropy assumption.     

Asymptotic analysis of equilibrium states for rotating turbulent flows

The equilibrium states of homogeneous turbulence simultaneously subjected to a mean velocity gradient and a rotation are examined by using asymptotic analysis. The present work is concerned with the asymptotic behavior of quantities such as the turbulent kinetic energy and its dissipation rate associated with the fixed point (/kS)=0, whereS is the shear rate. The classical form of the model transport equation for (Hanjalic and Launder, 1972) is used. The present analysis shows that, asymptotically, the turbulent kinetic energy (a) undergoes a power-law decay with time for (P/)<1, (b) is independent of time for (P/)=1, (c) undergoes a power-law growth with time for 1<(P/)<(C ₂–1), and (d) is represented by an exponential law versus time for (P/)=(C ₂–1)/(C ₁–1) and (/kS)>0 whereP is the production rate. For the commonly used second-order models the equilibrium solutions forP/,II, andIII (whereII andIII are respectively the second and third invariants of the anisotropy tensor) depend on the rotation number when (P/kS)=(/kS)=0. The variation of (P/kS) andII versusR given by the second-order model of Yakhot and Orzag are compared with results of Rapid Distortion Theory corrected for decay (Townsend, 1970).     

Lattice Boltzmann modeling of shallow water flows over discontinuous beds

Numerical modeling of shallow water flows over discontinuous beds is presented. The flows are described with the shallow water equations and the equations are solved using the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) with single relaxation time (Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook‐LBM (BGK‐LBM)) and the multiple relaxation time (MRT‐LBM). The weighted centered scheme for force term together with the bed height for a bed slope is described to improve simulation of flows over discontinuous bed. Furthermore, the resistance stress is added to include the local head loss caused by flow over a step. Four test cases, one‐dimensional tidal over regular bed and steps, dam‐break flows, and two‐dimensional shallow water flow over a square block, are considered to verify the present method. Agreements between predictions and analytical solutions are satisfactory. Furthermore, the performance and CPU cost time of BGK‐LBM and MRT‐LBM are compared and studied. The results have shown that the lattice Boltzmann method is simple and accurate for simulating shallow water flows over discontinuous beds. This demonstrates the capability and applicability of the lattice Boltzmann method in modeling shallow water flows on bed topography with a discontinuity in practical hydraulic engineering. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.