Inner–outer interaction of unsteady turbulent flow inside duct with wall corrugations: Augmentation and saturation

Abstract

This study investigates the inner–outer interaction of the unsteady turbulent flow inside a duct with wall corrugations, where “inner” refers to the trapped flow in a corrugation-induced cavity array and “outer” relates to the mainstream flow transporting through a circular duct. Configurations with different pitch–diameter ratios (P/D) are used to demonstrate the effect of the cavity flow pattern on the mainstream flow variations. An improved delayed detached-eddy simulation with dynamic blending function is performed to acquire high-fidelity turbulent flow data, in which dynamic evolution of multi-scale vortex structures containing hairpin vortices and vortex fragments is clearly resolved. The subsequent statistical analysis reveals a nonlinear variation tendency of the inner–outer interaction intensity, experiencing sudden augmentation first and then a gradual attenuation toward the final saturation. Comparatively, a larger pitch ratio results in a stronger interaction under the effect of bicentric recirculation zones within the cavity array. Moreover, a proper orthogonal decomposition analysis allows for the visualization of energetic flow structures, as consistent velocity variations throughout the duct volume are identified for a larger pitch ratio, while discontinuity at the duct termination is found for a smaller pitch ratio. Finally, an advanced elliptical model based on the spatiotemporal cross correlation analysis is proposed to examine the convection velocity and sweeping velocity of the interactive mainstream flow and cavity flow. The results highlighted the presence of first-augmented and then saturated dynamics and kinematics inside the duct with the cavity array.