Reconstruction of turbulent fluctuations for hybrid RANS/LES simulations using a Synthetic-Eddy Method

A coupling methodology between an upstream Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulation and a Large Eddy Simulation (LES) further downstream is presented. The focus of this work is on the RANS-to-LES interface inside an attached turbulent boundary layer, where an unsteady LES content has to be explicitly generated from a steady RANS solution. The performance of the Synthetic-Eddy Method (SEM), which generates realistic synthetic eddies at the inflow of the LES, is investigated on a wide variety of turbulent flows, from simple channel and square duct flows to the flow over an airfoil trailing edge. The SEM is compared to other existing methods of generation of synthetic turbulence for LES, and is shown to reduce substantially the distance required to develop realistic turbulence downstream of the inlet.     

Evaluation of bubble-induced turbulence using direct numerical simulation

The presented research evaluates the interaction between a single bubble and homogeneous turbulent flow using direct numerical simulation (DNS) approach. The homogeneous single-phase turbulence is numerically generated by passing a uniform flow through grid planes. The turbulence decay rate is compared with experiment-based correlation. The single phase turbulence is then used as an inflow boundary condition for a set of single bubble studies. By estimating the turbulent field around the fully resolved bubble, the effects of bubble deformability, turbulent intensity and relative velocity on the bubble-induced turbulence are investigated. The existence of bubble creates new vortices in the wake region and the enhancement of turbulence is observed in the region behind the bubble. The results show that the magnitude of the turbulence enhancement would increase as the bubble encounters larger liquid turbulent intensity or higher relative velocity. Set of bubble Weber numbers from 0.34 to 3.39 are used to investigate the effect of bubble deformability. The more deformable bubble is the higher the increase in the magnitude of the turbulence enhancement behind the bubble. This research provides systematic insight on the bubble-induced turbulence (BIT) mechanism and is important for multiphase computational fluid dynamics (M-CFD) closure model development.     

Simulation of supersonic turbulent flow in the vicinity of an inclined backward-facing step

Large eddy simulation (LES) is a viable and powerful tool to analyse unsteady three-dimensional turbulent flows. In this article, the method of LES is used to compute a plane turbulent supersonic boundary layer subjected to different pressure gradients. The pressure gradients are generated by allowing the flow to pass in the vicinity of an expansion–compression ramp (inclined backward-facing step with leeward-face angle of 25°) for an upstream Mach number of 2.9. The inflow boundary condition is the main problem for all turbulent wall-bounded flows. An approach to solve this problem is to extract instantaneous velocities, temperature and density data from an auxiliary simulation (inflow generator). To generate an appropriate realistic inflow condition to the inflow generator itself the rescaling technique for compressible flows is used. In this method, Morkovin's hypothesis, in which the total temperature fluctuations are neglected compared with the static temperature fluctuations, is applied to rescale and generate the temperature profile at inlet. This technique was successfully developed and applied by the present author for an LES of subsonic three-dimensional boundary layer of a smooth curved ramp. The present LES results are compared with the available experimental data as well as numerical data. The positive impact of the rescaling formulation of the temperature is proven by the convincing agreement of the obtained results with the experimental data compared with published numerical work and sheds light on the quality of the developed compressible inflow generator.     

Generation of turbulent inflow and initial conditions based on multi‐correlated random fields

Direct or large eddy simulation of a turbulent flow field is strongly influenced by its initial or inflow boundary condition. This paper presents a new stochastic approach to generate an artificial turbulent velocity field for initial or inflow boundary condition based on digital filtering. Each velocity component of the artificial turbulent velocity field is generated by linear combination of individual uncorrelated random fields. These uncorrelated random fields are obtained by filtering random white‐noise fields. Using common elements in these linear combinations results in multi‐correlation among different velocity components. The generated velocity field reproduces locally desired Reynolds stress components and integral length scales including cross‐integral length scales. The method appears to be simple, flexible and more accurate in comparison with previously developed methods. The accuracy and performance of the method are demonstrated by numerical simulation of a homogeneous turbulent shear flow with high and low shear rates. To assess the accuracy and performance of the method, simulation results are compared with a reference simulation. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An LES Turbulent Inflow Generator using A Recycling and Rescaling Method

The present paper describes a recycling and rescaling method for generating turbulent inflow conditions for Large Eddy Simulation. The method is first validated by simulating a turbulent boundary layer and a turbulent mixing layer. It is demonstrated that, with input specification of mean velocities and turbulence rms levels (normal stresses) only, it can produce realistic and self-consistent turbulence structures. Comparison of shear stress and integral length scale indicates the success of the method in generating turbulent 1-point and 2-point correlations not specified in the input data. With the turbulent inlet conditions generated by this method, the growth rate of the turbulent boundary/mixing layer is properly predicted. Furthermore, the method can be used for the more complex inlet boundary flow types commonly found in industrial applications, which is demonstrated by generating non-equilibrium turbulent inflow and spanwise inhomogeneous inflow. As a final illustration of the benefits brought by this approach, a droplet-laden mixing layer is simulated. The dispersion of droplets in the near-field immediately downstream of the splitter plate trailing edge where the turbulent mixing layer begins is accurately reproduced due to the realistic turbulent structures captured by the recycling/rescaling method.     

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.     

可压缩各向同性衰减湍流直接数值模拟研究

采用五阶有限差分WENO格式直接模拟了高初始湍流Mach数的可压缩均匀各向同性湍流,主要分析了湍流的统计特性 和压缩性的影响,包括能谱特征、激波串、耗散率、标度律等. 研究表明,湍动能主要来自于速度场螺旋分量的贡献;各向同性湍流的小尺度脉动对压缩性更为敏感,并且压缩性的增强加快了湍流大 尺度脉动向小尺度脉动的湍动能输运;随着湍流Mach数的升高,胀量(压缩)耗散率所占比率也显著增长. 标度律分析表明,强可压缩湍流的横向速度结构函数仍然具有扩展自相似性;当阶数较高(p ≥ 5)时,纵向速度结构函数的扩展自相似性则不再成立. 对于压缩性较弱的湍流,与不可压缩湍流一致,横向湍流脉动的间歇性要强于纵向湍流脉动;而对于强可压缩湍流,纵向湍流脉动的 间歇性要强于横向湍流脉动.     

Determination of turbulence properties by using empirical mode decomposition on periodic and random perturbed flows

Stationary and non-stationary grid-generated turbulence was studied using a complementary technique that combines empirical mode decomposition (EMD) and triple-decomposition. Non-stationary conditions were generated by superimposing periodic and random fluctuations on the original flow. Empirical mode decomposition (EMD) was applied as a filter to separate these fluctuations from the turbulent velocity component. Triple-decomposition was then used and the turbulent intensity, the integral length scales and the Power Spectral Density of the velocity were determined. How to use EMD in order to optimize this decomposition is discussed. Finally, the properties of the turbulence are compared to those characterized without addition of fluctuations and a good agreement is found.     

Large-eddy simulation of a turbulent boundary layer with blowing

The modifications of a turbulent boundary layer induced by blowing through a porous plate were investigated using large-eddy simulation. The Reynolds number (based on the length of the plate) of the main flow was about 850000. Large-eddy simulations of such a boundary layer needs a turbulent inflow condition. After a review of available turbulent inflow, we describe in details the condition we developed, which consisted of recycling the velocity fluctuations. Then we show the necessity for this inflow to be non-stationary and to be three dimensional with respect to the mass conservation equation. If these properties are not achieved, we found that the velocity fluctuations do not grow as expected along the domain. Finally, the results of simulations of the boundary layer submitted to blowing are compared with experimental measurements. The good agreement obtained validate our turbulent inflow conditions and also the blowing model used. PACS 47.27.Eq, 47.27.Te, 44.20.+b     

Highly-resolved LES and PIV Analysis of Isothermal Turbulent Opposed Jets for Combustion Applications

Turbulent opposed jet (TOJ) burners are an interesting test case for fundamental combustion research and a good benchmark for the available modelling approaches. However, these opposed jet flames strongly depend on the turbulence generation inside the nozzle, which is usually achieved through a perforated plate upstream of the nozzle exit. The present work investigates the flow from these perforated plates and the subsequent turbulence generation in great detail. We present results from highly-resolved large eddy simulations (LES) of the in-nozzle flow in turbulent opposed jets alongside state-of-the-art particle image velocimetry (PIV) at standard and high repetition rates taken inside a glass nozzle. The in-nozzle PIV data provides the LES inflow conditions with unprecedented detail, which are used to follow the initial jet development behaviour known from PIV, before jet coalescence, turbulence production and decay further downstream in the nozzles are successfully predicted. In regions where the PIV experiment suffers from inherent limitations like reflections and the velocity bias, the LES data is available to still obtain a detailed picture of the flow. The sensitivity of the simulations to various physical and numerical parameters is discussed in detail. Results from LES and PIV are compared qualitatively and quantitatively in terms of first and second moments of velocity, temporal autocorrelations, and energy density spectra. Significant deviations are found in the frequency (20%) and strength of vortex shedding from the inlet plane only, whereas the qualitative and quantitative agreement between simulation and experiment is otherwise excellent throughout, implying that a successful large eddy simulation of a turbulent opposed jet can be performed in a domain that includes the perforated plates.     

Large Eddy Simulation of boundary layer transition over an isolated ramp-type micro roughness element

Boundary layer transition over an isolated surface roughness element is investigated by means of numerical simulation. Large Eddy Simulation (LES) flow-modeling approach is employed to study flow characteristics and transition phenomenon past a roughness element immersed within an incoming developing boundary layer, at a height-based Reynolds number of 1170. LES numerical results are compared to experimental data from literature showing the time-averaged velocity distribution, the velocity fluctuation statistics and the instantaneous flow topology.Despite slight difference in the intensity of streamwise velocity fluctuations, the present LES results and experimental data show very good agreement. The mean flow visualization shows streamwise counter-rotating vortices pairs formation downstream of the obstacle. The primary pair induces an upwash motion and a momentum deficit that creates a Kelvin-Helmholtz type flow instability. The instantaneous flow topology reveals the formation of coherent K-H vortices downstream that produce turbulent fluctuations in the wake of the roughness element. These vortices are streched and lifted up when moving downstream. The velocity fluctuations results show that the onset of the turbulence is dominated by the energy transfer of large-scale vortices.     

LES-based filter-matrix lattice Boltzmann model for simulating fully developed turbulent channel flow

In this paper, a three-dimensional filter-matrix lattice Boltzmann (FMLB) model based on large eddy simulation (LES) was verified for simulating wall-bounded turbulent flows. The Vreman subgrid-scale model was employed in the present FMLB–LES framework, which had been proved to be capable of predicting turbulent near-wall region accurately. The fully developed turbulent channel flows were performed at a friction Reynolds number Re_τ of 180. The turbulence statistics computed from the present FMLB–LES simulations, including mean stream velocity profile, Reynolds stress profile and root-mean-square velocity fluctuations greed well with the LES results of multiple-relaxation-time (MRT) LB model, and some discrepancies in comparison with those direct numerical simulation (DNS) data of Kim et al. was also observed due to the relatively low grid resolution. Moreover, to investigate the influence of grid resolution on the present LES simulation, a DNS simulation on a finer gird was also implemented by present FMLB–D3Q19 model. Comparisons of detailed computed various turbulence statistics with available benchmark data of DNS showed quite well agreement.     

A Simple Approach for Specifying Velocity Inflow Boundary Conditions in Simulations of Turbulent Opposed-Jet Flows

A new methodology is developed to specify inflow boundary conditions for the velocity field at the nozzle exit planes in turbulent counterflow simulations. The turbulent counterflow configuration consists of two coaxial opposed nozzles which emit highly-turbulent streams of varying species compositions depending on the mode considered. The specification of velocity inflow boundary conditions at the nozzle exits in the counterflow configuration is non-trivial because of the unique turbulence field generated by the turbulence generating plates (TGPs) upstream of the nozzle exits. In the method presented here, a single large-eddy simulation (LES) is performed in a large domain that spans the region between the TGPs of the nozzles, and the time series of the velocity fields at the nozzle exit planes are recorded. To provide inflow boundary conditions at the nozzle exit planes for simulations under other conditions (e.g., different stream compositions, bulk velocity, TGP location), transformations are performed on the recorded time series: the mean and r.m.s. (root-mean-square) quantities of velocity, as well as the longitudinal integral length scale on the centerline, at the nozzle exits in simulations are matched to those observed in experiments, thereby matching the turbulent Reynolds number R e _t . The method is assessed by implementing it in coupled large-eddy simulation/probability density function (LES/PDF) simulations on a small cylindrical domain between the nozzle exit planes for three different modes of the counterflow configuration: N ₂ vs. N ₂; N ₂ vs. hot combustion products; and C H ₄/N ₂ vs. O ₂. The inflow method is found to be successful as the first and second moments of velocity from the LES/PDF simulations agree well with the experimental data on the centerline for all three modes. This simple yet effective inflow strategy can be applied to eliminate the computational cost required to simulate the flow field upstream of the nozzle exits. It is also emphasized that, in addition to the predicted time series data, the availability of experimental data close to the nozzle exit planes plays a key role in the success of this method.     

Determination of correlation functions of turbulent velocity and sound speed fluctuations by means of ultrasonic technique

An experimental study of the propagation of high-frequency acoustic waves through grid-generated turbulence by means of an ultrasound technique is discussed. Experimental data were obtained for ultrasonic wave propagation downstream of heated and non-heated grids in a wind tunnel. A semi-analytical acoustic propagation model that allows the determination of the spatial correlation functions of the flow field is developed based on the classical flowmeter equation and the statistics of the travel time of acoustic waves traveling through the kinematic and thermal turbulence. The basic flowmeter equation is reconsidered in order to take into account sound speed fluctuations and turbulent velocity fluctuations. It allows deriving an integral equation that relates the correlation functions of travel time, sound speed fluctuations and turbulent velocity fluctuations. Experimentally measured travel time statistics of data with and without grid heating are approximated by an exponential function and used to analytically solve the integral equation. The reconstructed correlation functions of the turbulent velocity and sound speed fluctuations are presented. The power spectral density of the turbulent velocity and sound speed fluctuations are calculated.     

Skin-friction drag reduction in turbulent channel flow based on streamwise shear control

It is known that stretching and intensification of a hairpin vortex by mean shear play an important role to create a hairpin vortex packet, which generates the large Reynolds shear stress associated with skin-friction drag in wall-bounded turbulent flows. In order to suppress the mean shear at the wall for high efficient drag reduction (DR), in the present study, we explore an active flow control concept using streamwise shear control (SSC) at the wall. The longitudinal control surface is periodically spanwise-arranged with no-control surface while varying the structural spacing, and an amplitude parameter for imposing the strength of the actuating streamwise velocity at the wall is introduced to further enhance the skin-friction DR. Significant DR is observed with an increase in the two parameters with an accompanying reduction of the Reynolds stresses and vorticity fluctuations, although a further increase in the parameters amplifies the turbulence activity in the near-wall region. In order to study the direct relationship between turbulent vortical structures and DR under the SSC, temporal evolution with initial eddies extracted by conditional averages for Reynolds-stress-maximizing Q2 events are examined. It is shown that the generation of new vortices is dramatically inhibited with an increase in the parameters throughout the flow, causing fewer vortices to be generated under the control. However, when the structural spacing is sufficiently large, the generation of new vortex is not suppressed over the no-control surface in the near-wall region, resulting in an increase of the second- and fourth-quadrant Reynolds shear stresses. Although strong actuating velocity intensifies the near-wall turbulence, the increase in the turbulence activity is attributed to the generation of counter-clockwise near-wall vortices by the increased vortex transport.     

Events of High Polymer Activity in Drag Reducing Flows

The mechanism of drag reduction in turbulent flows due to polymers has been investigated with help of a direct numerical simulation. In particular, we consider the interaction between turbulent velocity fluctuations and polymers in terms of elastic energy that can be stored in the polymer. To this end all the terms of the elastic energy budget have been computed. The most interesting term is the production of elastic energy due to turbulent fluctuations, because it describes the interaction between polymers and turbulence. Although this term appears to be small in the average, it turns out that it can reach very large values instantaneously and intermittently, and the energy transfer from polymer to turbulence is located in very well defined areas inside the channel. This implies that locally there is a strong interaction between the polymer and the turbulent flow structure, and this strong interaction is mostly seen in areas of high velocity fluctuations.     

Statistical laws of the pressure fluctuations in a hypersonic turbulent boundary layer

The results of measuring the pressure fluctuations on the wall of the nozzle of a hypersonic wind tunnel beneath a developed turbulent boundary layer are presented for the Mach number M_∞ = 7.5. On the basis of a statistical analysis, it is shown that the action of the turbulent flow is dynamically similar to the propagation of a random sequence of wave packets with continuously distributed temporal and spatial scales. Low-frequency disturbances are associated with large-scale structures of long duration that propagate at a mean-statistical velocity similar in value to the outer flow velocity. The continuous generation of weakly-correlated small-scale disturbances ensuring the maintenance and development of turbulence occurs chiefly in the inner region of the boundary layer. Spectral estimates of the power generated by the turbulent flow in the wall region of the boundary layer are presented.     

DNS,LES and RANS of turbulent heat transfer in boundary layer with suddenly changing wall thermal conditions

The objectives of this study are to investigate a thermal field in a turbulent boundary layer with suddenly changing wall thermal conditions by means of direct numerical simulation (DNS), and to evaluate predictions of a turbulence model in such a thermal field, in which DNS of spatially developing boundary layers with heat transfer can be conducted using the generation of turbulent inflow data as a method. In this study, two types of wall thermal condition are investigated using DNS and predicted by large eddy simulation (LES) and Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equation simulation (RANS). In the first case, the velocity boundary layer only develops in the entrance of simulation, and the flat plate is heated from the halfway point, i.e., the adiabatic wall condition is adopted in the entrance, and the entrance region of thermal field in turbulence is simulated. Then, the thermal boundary layer develops along a constant temperature wall followed by adiabatic wall. In the second case, velocity and thermal boundary layers simultaneously develop, and the wall thermal condition is changed from a constant temperature to an adiabatic wall in the downstream region. DNS results clearly show the statistics and structure of turbulent heat transfer in a constant temperature wall followed by an adiabatic wall. In the first case, the entrance region of thermal field in turbulence can be also observed. Thus, both the development and the entrance regions in thermal fields can be explored, and the effects upstream of the thermal field on the adiabatic region are investigated. On the other hand, evaluations of predictions by LES and RANS are conducted using DNS results. The predictions of both LES and RANS almost agree with the DNS results in both cases, but the predicted temperature variances near the wall by RANS give different results as compared with DNS. This is because the dissipation rate of temperature variance is difficult to predict by the present RANS, which is found by the evaluation using DNS results.     

LES study of grid-generated turbulent inflow conditions with moderate number of mesh cells at low Re numbers

A passive grid-generated turbulence technique for generating turbulent inflow conditions in large-eddy simulation (LES) is developed on moderate number of mesh cells and the results are compared with synthetic methods and wind tunnel experiments performed at Reynolds (Re) number of order 100 (based on Taylor microscale). Consistent with previous investigations, it is found that the synthetic methods turbulence dissipate the turbulence kinetic energy very quickly while the present technique represents this decay more accurately. However, this pre-computation method usually requires considerable computational cost. The aim of this study is, therefore, to decrease the computational cost by employing a relatively coarse mesh resolution accompanied with an appropriate wall modelling approach in the solid boundary. The results are within an acceptable accuracy and, therefore, offer a cost-effective solution to generate inflow turbulence parameters for their use in different aerodynamic applications at low Re numbers.