Consistency and convergence of Eulerian Monte Carlo field method for solving transported probability density function equation in turbulence modeling

Abstract

The transported probability density function (PDF) method is an attractive model for the closure of turbulent mixing and turbulent reactive flows. The transported PDF method suffers from the curse of dimensionality and an efficient numerical implementation of the method has always been a research topic of great importance. The Eulerian Monte Carlo field (EMCF) method (also termed as the stochastic field method) has been proposed as an efficient solution approach for solving the PDF transport equation for two decades. In this work, we revisit the EMCF method and examine its mathematical consistency analytically and numerically. It is found that the EMCF method is not mathematically consistent with the PDF transport equation that the method intends to solve. This creates a serious inconsistency issue and causes uncertainties in the yielded numerical solutions by EMCF. It is imperative to examine the effect of the inconsistency. We evaluate the effect of the inconsistency in a simplified turbulent mixing layer test case. Corrections to remedy the mathematical inconsistency are proposed and examined. The effectiveness of the corrections is demonstrated numerically through convergence testing. The effect of the Reynolds number on the inconsistency is explored. The impact of the inconsistency is also investigated in a thermal wake behind a line source in grid turbulence to assess the importance of the issue in real turbulence problems.