Comparison of turbulence models for attached boundary layers relevant to aeronautics

Abstract

With a single numerical method the performance of three classes of turbulence models is compared for different types of attached boundary layers, for which direct numerical simulations or experiments are available in the literature. The boundary-layer equations are solved with the following turbulence models: an algebraic model, two-equation models (k-e andk-ω), and a differential Reynolds-stress model. The test cases are the channel flow, and boundary layers with zero, favourable and adverse streamwise pressure gradient. The differential Reynolds-stress model gives the best overall performance, whereas the performance of the algebraic model and thek-ω model is reasonably good. The performance of thek-e model is less good for boundary layers with a non-zero streamwise pressure gradient, but it can easily be improved by an additional source term in the e equation, which is also applied in the considered differential Reynolds-stress model.