A new wall-damping function for large eddy simulation employing Kolmogorov velocity scale

Abstract

A new wall-damping function, based on the Kolmogorov velocity scale, for large eddy simulation (LES) is proposed, which accounts for the near-wall effect. To calculate the Kolmogorov velocity scale, u ε , the dissipation rate of turbulent energy, ε, is needed. In LES, however, the dissipation rate is generally not solved, unlike in the Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations, e.g., k- ε models. Although, in some previous studies, the dissipation rate of the subgrid-scale (SGS) turbulent energy, ε SGS , is used instead of ε in calculating the Kolmogorov velocity scale, the scale obtained using such a method overly depends on the grid resolution employed and is generally inappropriate. Accordingly, the wall-damping function using the incorrect velocity scale also depends on the grid resolution and gives an inadequate wall effect. This is because ε SGS contains only the components in the scale smaller than the grid-filter width, which obviously varies with the grid resolution employed. In this study, to overcome this problem, we propose a method for estimating the Kolmogorov velocity scale with a technique of conversion in LES, and the estimated one is utilized in the wall-damping function. The revised wall-damping function for LES is tested in channel flows and a backward-facing step flow. The results show that it yields a proper near-wall effect in all test cases which cover a wide range of grid resolution and Reynolds numbers. It is also shown that all three kinds of SGS models incorporating the present wall-damping function provide good predictions, and it is effective both in one-equation and 0-equation SGS models. These results suggest that the use of the proposed wall-damping function is a refined and versatile near-wall treatment in LES with various kinds of SGS models.