Time evolution of structures in rotating and stratified turbulence

Rotating and stably stratified turbulence exhibit not only significant anisotropies but also dynamics, which are qualitatively different from purely rotating or stratified turbulence. Furthermore, the different time scales due to rotation, stratification and the turbulence one open up a wide field of possibilities for the temporal evolution of rotating and stratified turbulence.We analyze results from DNS with different parameters α = f/N by visualizing iso-enstrophy surfaces, the temporal evolution of velocity correlation length scales and angular energy spectra.We retrieve standard results, such as a large anisotropy for small scales in rotating turbulence and a large anisotropy for intermediate scales in the vortex mode of stratified turbulence. Furthermore, at large times we find qualitatively different phenomena for cases α = 10 and α = 0.1 such as modified cascades due to the existence of potential energy or small scale vorticity production respectively.     

A structural model for the vortex tubes of isotropic turbulence

A class of exact solutions of the Navier–Stokes equations is introduced to model the fine-scale, tubular structures of isotropic turbulence. The model vortices exhibit slow algebraic fall-off of the induced velocity, and accurately reproduce the velocity signatures observed in DNS and experiments. The proposed model has interesting implications for the theoretical analysis of turbulence, supporting the view that the inertial range energy scaling may have a link with the near-singular velocity field induced by vortex tubes produced by the roll-up of vortex sheets.      

A hybrid k-ε turbulence model of recirculating flow

This investigation deals with the modification of streamline curvature effects in the k-ε turbulence model for the case of recirculating flows. Based upon an idea that the modification of curvature effects in C₂ should not be made in regions where the streamline curvature is small, a hybrid k-ε model extended from the modification originally proposed by Srinivasan and Mongia is developed. A satisfactory agreement of model predictions with experimental data reveals that the hybrid k-ε model can perform better simulation of recirculating turbulent flows.     

Measurement of turbulence production in the cylinder separated shear-layer using event-triggered Laser-Doppler anemometry

In the transitional cylinder wake as well as the primary vortex street, the separated shear layer becomes unstable and sequences of small-scale vortex structures are produced intermittently. This paper describes how LDA data can be collected exclusively for these intermittent events. A real-time digital signal processing algorithm is developed in order to detect the instability of the shear layer from the characteristic hot-wire signal. Simultaneously, LDA data is selected so that the turbulence production in the unstable separated shear-layer can be derived. This trigger technique can be used for any kind of intermittent signal and measurement process.     

Experimental research on complex eddy viscosity modeling of multi-scale coherent structures in wall turbulence

在湍流相干结构动力学方程中,非相干结构成分对相干结构贡献的雷诺应力的模型为涡黏性 模型,即涡黏性系数乘以相干结构平均速度变形率的形式. 基于非相干结构成分对相干结构贡 献的雷诺应力与相干结构速度变形率之间存在相位差的事实,在理论上提出了非相干结构成 分对相干结构贡献的雷诺应力复涡黏性模型的假设. 应用热线测速技术,在低速风洞中对湍 流边界层非相干结构成分对相干结构贡献的雷诺应力与相干结构法向速度变形率之间的相位 关系进行了实验测量. 通过分析湍流相干结构猝发过程中非相干结构成分对相干结构贡献的 雷诺应力与相干结构速度变形率之间的相位关系,研究了相干结构雷诺应力分量与流向速度 法向梯度之间的相位差沿湍流边界层法向的变化规律,肯定了湍流相干结构复涡黏性系数模 型的合理性.     

A study on coherent structures and drag-reduction in the wall turbulence with polymer additives by TRPIV

An experimental measurement was performed using time-resolved particle image velocimetry (TRPIV) to investigate the spatial topological character of coherent structures in wall-bounded turbulence of polymer additive solution. The fully developed near-wall turbulent flow fields with and without polymer additives at the same Reynolds number were measured by TRPIV in a water channel. The comparisons of turbulent statistics confirm that due to viscoelastic structure of long-chain polymers, the wall-normal velocity fluctuation and Reynolds shear stress in the near-wall region are suppressed significantly. Furthermore, it is noted that such a behavior of polymers is closely related to the decease of the motion of the second and forth quadrants, i.e., the ejection and sweep events, in the near-wall region. The spatial topological mode of coherent structures during bursts has been extracted by the new mu-level criteria based on locally averaged velocity structure function. Although the general shapes of coherent structures are unchanged by polymer additives, the fluctuating velocity, velocity gradient, velocity strain rate and vorticity of coherent structures during burst events are suppressed in the polymer additive solution compared with that in water. The results show that due to the polymer additives the occurrence and intensity of coherent structures are suppressed, leading to drag reduction.     

Kinematics and dynamics of small-scale vorticity and strain-rate structures in the transition from isotropic to shear turbulence

We applied a technique that defines and extracts “structures” from a DNS dataset of a turbulence variable in a way that allows concurrent quantitative and visual analysis. Local topological and statistical measures of enstrophy and strain-rate structures were compared with global statistics to determine the role of mean shear in the dynamical interactions between fluctuating vorticity and strain-rate during transition from isotropic to shear-dominated turbulence. We find that mean shear adjusts the alignment of fluctuating vorticity, fluctuating strain-rate in principal axes, and mean strain-rate in a way that (1) enhances both global and local alignments between vorticity and the second eigenvector of fluctuating strain-rate, (2) two-dimensionalizes fluctuating strain-rate, and (3) aligns the compressional components of fluctuating and mean strain-rate. Shear causes amalgamation of enstrophy and strain-rate structures, and suppresses the existence of strain-rate structures in low-vorticity regions between enstrophy structures. A primary effect of shear is to enhance “passive” strain-rate fluctuations, strain-rate kinematically induced by local vorticity concentrations with negligible enstrophy production, relative to “active,” or vorticity-generating strain-rate fluctuations. Enstrophy structures separate into “active” and “passive” based on the level of the second eigenvalue of fluctuating strain-rate. We embedded the structure-extraction algorithm into an interactive visualization-based analysis system from which the time evolution of a shear-induced hairpin enstrophy structure was visually and quantitatively analyzed. The structure originated in the initial isotropic state as a vortex sheet, evolved into a vortex tube during a transitional period, and developed into a well-defined horseshoe vortex in the shear-dominated asymptotic state.     

A mechanism for excitation of coherent structures in wall region of a turbulent boundary layer

Introduction Themechanismforthegenerationofcoherentstructuresinthewallregionofaturbulent boundarylayerhasalwaysbeeninconcernandinvestigated.AccordingtoTsujimotoand Miyake[1],thecharacteristicsofturbulenceinthewallregionweremainlydeterminedbythe generationandevolutionofcoherentstructures,notbythesmall_scaleturbulence.However, excitationsfromregionofy >60werefoundtobenecessary,otherwisethewallregionwould degeneratetolaminarflow.Therefore,theinvestigationofthemechanismthathowcoherent structuresi…     

TRPIV measurement of turbulent coherent structures in a drag-reducing flow bypolymers

Fully developed turbulentflow fields with and without polymer solution at the same Reynolds number were measured by time-resolved particle image velocimetry (TRPIV) in a water channel toinvestigate the mechanism of drag-reducingsolution from theview of coherent structures manipulation. The streamwise mean velocity and Reynolds stress profiles in thesolution werecompared with those in water. After adding the polymer solution, the Reynolds stress in the near-wall area decreases significantly. Theresult relates tightly to the decease of the coherent structures' bursting. The spatial topology of coherentstructures duringbursts has been extracted by the new mu-level criterion based on locally averaged velocitystructure function.The effect of polymers onturbulent coherentstructures mainly reflects in the intensity, not in the shape. In the solution, it is by suppressing thecoherent structuresthat the wall friction isreduced.     

Comparison of variants of the bi-conjugate gradient method for compressible Navier-Stokes solver with second-moment closure

Variants of the bi-conjugate gradient (Bi-CG) method are used to resolve the problem of slow convergence in CFD when it is applied to complex flow field simulation using higher-order turbulence models. In this study the Navier-Stokes and Reynolds stress transport equations are discretized with an implicit, total variation diminishing (TVD), finite volume formulation. The preconditioning technique of incomplete lower-upper (ILU) factorization is incorporated into the conjugate gradient square (CGS), bi-conjugate gradient stable (Bi-CGSTAB) and transpose-free quasi-minimal residual (TFQMR) algorithms to accelerate convergence of the overall itertive methods. Computations have been carried out for separated flow fields over transonic bumps, supersonic bases and supersonic compression corners. By comparisons of the convergence rate with each other and with the conventional approximate factorization (AF) method it is shown that the Bi-CGSTAB method gives the most efficient convergence rate among these methods and can speed up the CPU time by a factor of 2·4–6·5 as compared with the AF method. Moreover, the AF method may yield somewhat different results from variants of the Bi-CG method owing to the factorization error which introduces a higher level of convergence criterion.     

A new method for the generation of representative time-domain turbulence excitations

In this paper we address the issue of generating, from the spectral and spatial parameters of turbulent flow excitations, time-domain random excitations suitable for performing representative nonlinear numerical simulations of the dynamical responses of flow-excited tubes with multiple clearance supports. The new method proposed in this work, which is anchored in a sound physical basis, can effectively deal with non-uniform turbulent flows, which display significant changes in their spatial excitation properties. Contrary to the classic technique developed by Shinozuka and coworkers, which generates a large set of correlated physical forces, the proposed method directly generates a set of correlated modal forces. Our approach is particularly effective leading to a much smaller number of generated time-histories than would be needed using physical forces to simulate the turbulence random field. In the case of strongly non-uniform flows, our approach allows for a suitable decomposition of the flow velocity profile, so that the spectral properties of the turbulence excitation are modeled in a consistent manner. The proposed method for simulating turbulence excitations is faster than Shinozuka׳s technique by two orders of magnitude. Also, in the framework of our modal computational approach, nonlinear computations are faster, because no modal projection of physical turbulent forces is needed. After presenting the theoretical background and the details of the proposed simulation method, we illustrate it with representative linear and nonlinear computations performed on a multi-supported tube.     

Flow above the free end of a surface-mounted finite-height circular cylinder: A review

The wake of a surface-mounted finite-height circular cylinder and the associated vortex patterns are strongly dependent on the cylinder aspect ratio and the thickness of the boundary layer on the ground plane relative to the dimensions of the cylinder. Above a critical aspect ratio, the mean wake is characterized by streamwise tip vortex structures and Kármán vortex shedding from the sides of the cylinder. Below a critical aspect ratio, a unique mean wake structure is observed. Recent experimental studies in the literature that used phase-averaged techniques, as well as recent numerical simulations, have led to an improved physical understanding of the near-wake vortex flow patterns. However, the flow above the free end of the finite circular cylinder, and its relationship to the near wake, has not been systematically studied. The effects of aspect ratio and boundary layer thickness on the free-end flow field are also not completely understood, nor has the influence of Reynolds number on the free-end flow field been fully explored. Common features associated with the free end include separation from the leading edge, a mean recirculation zone containing a prominent cross-stream arch (or mushroom) vortex, and reattachment onto the free-surface. Other flow features that remain to be clarified include a separation bubble near the leading edge, one or two cross-stream vortices within this separation bubble, the origins of the streamwise tip or trailing vortices, and various critical points in the near-surface flow topology. This paper reviews the current understanding of the flow above the free end of a surface-mounted finite-height circular cylinder, with a focus on models of the flow field, surface oil flow visualization studies, pressure and heat flux distributions on the free-end surface, measurements of the local velocity field, and numerical simulations, found in the literature.     

Time-resolved PIV measurements of the interaction of polystyrene beads with near-wall-coherent structures in a turbulent channel flow

Time-resolved PIV measurements were performed in a dilute particle-laden flow tracking near-neutrally buoyant polystyrene beads and the velocity field of a near wall turbulent boundary layer. Data were taken in a vertical light sheet aligned in the streamwise direction at the center of a horizontal, closed loop, transparent square water channel facility. In addition, low speed measurements were performed characterizing the effects of the dispersed phase on mean and turbulence flow quantities. Reynolds shear stress slightly differed from clear water conditions whereas fluid mean and rms values were not affected. A case study for several beads revealed a clear relation between their movement and near-wall coherent structures. Several structures having 2D vorticity signatures of near-wall hairpin vortices and hairpin packets, directly affected bead movement. A statistical analysis showed that the mean streamwise velocity of ascending beads lagged behind the mean fluid velocity and bead rms values were higher than fluid ones. Particle Reynolds numbers based on the magnitude of the instantaneous relative velocity vector peaked near the wall; values not exceeding 100, too low for vortex shedding to occur. Quadrant analysis showed a clear preference for ascending beads to reside in ejections while for descending beads the preference for sweeps was less.     

A study of the aerodynamics of a generic container freight wagon using Large-Eddy Simulation

In this work simulations using the Large Eddy Simulation technique have been made of the flow around a generic container freight wagon model. The model consists of one 11.8 m standard length container placed on a wagon. Details of the undercarriage such as wheels are included, but the container is generic and smoothed in comparison to a real freight wagon. The Reynolds number of the flow is 10⁵ based on the container width of 2.354 m. Two cases have been considered in the study, one case where the wagon is standing alone and one case where it is submerged into a train set with wagons ahead and behind the wagon. The latter case is simulated using periodic boundary condition. Both the time-averaged and the instantaneous flow around the wagon for the two cases are described. For the single wagon case, it is found that the separation bubble formed on the roof of the container oscillates back and forth in the streamwise direction and that this oscillation is in phase with oscillations found in the upper shear layer of the ring vortex in the wake. The mechanism that is causing the synchronization of the oscillations of the separation bubble at the front and the upper shear layers in the wake is found to be waves of vorticity being shed from the separation bubble. The time-averaged ring vortex in the near wake of the single wagon is found to be inclined due to the disturbance of the undercarriage details on flow in the lower shear layer. The lower center of the ring vortex is located closer to the base face than the upper center. The drag coefficient of the wagon in the periodic case was found to be only 10% of that of the single wagon case. This is due to two symmetrical counter-rotating vortices found in the gaps which make the train set appear as a single body to the oncoming flow and shielding the wagon from any direct impingement of the flow. The counter-rotating vortices in the gap are found to inhibit periodic oscillations in the lateral direction. These oscillations cause vortical structures to form by the air that is pushed out from the gap and these flow structures cause a dominating oscillation of non-dimensional frequency St=0.12 in the side force signal.     

Three‐dimensional remeshed smoothed particle hydrodynamics for the simulation of isotropic turbulence

We present a remeshed particle‐mesh method for the simulation of three‐dimensional compressible turbulent flow. The method is related to the meshfree smoothed particle hydrodynamics method, but the present method introduces a mesh for efficient calculation of the pressure gradient, and laminar and turbulent diffusion. In addition, the mesh is used to remesh (reorganise uniformly) the particles to ensure a regular particle distribution and convergence of the method. The accuracy of the presented methodology is tested for a number of benchmark problems involving two‐ and three‐dimensional Taylor‐Green flow, thin double shear layer, and three‐dimensional isotropic turbulence. Two models were implemented, direct numerical simulations, and Smagorinsky model. Taking advantage of the Lagrangian advection, and the finite difference efficiency, the method is capable of providing quality simulations while maintaining its robustness and versatility.     

基于聚类连通法的湍流拟序结构研究进展

湍流的无序性要求对拟序结构的研究必须从统计的角度出发, 而聚类连通法 (clustering method) 则是实现拟序结构与统计方法深度融合的有力工具. 该方法是一种基于数据的流动特征提取方法, 它将每个连通域, 即单个拟序结构作为一个统计样本. 此外, 其衍生的基于连通域空间重叠的时空追踪方法可以进一步研究这些结构的时空演化, 该方法将每个拟序结构从生成到消亡的演化过程也视为统计样本, 从而实现了对拟序结构运动学特征和动力学过程的统计刻画. 本文回顾了聚类连通法的发展历程并着重介绍了人们采用该方法在雷诺切应力结构、速度条带和能量级串方面取得的重大进展, 这些结果表明该方法极大拓展了人们基于传统的逐点统计方法对湍流的认识, 因而具有很大的潜力. 最后, 对该方法在湍流中的应用给出了建议和展望.      

A practical implementation of turbulence models for the computation of three-dimensional separated flows

An upwind MUSCL-type implicit scheme for the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations is presented and details on the implementation for three-dimensional flows of a ‘diagonal’ upwind implicit operator are developed. Turbulence models for separated flows are also described with an emphasis on the numerical specificities of the Johnson-King non-equilibrium model. Good predictions of separated two- and three-dimensional flows are demonstrated.