Reynolds Stress Transport Modelling

Abstract

The Reynolds–averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) approach is the most commonly employed approach in CFD for industrial applications, and is likely to continue to be so for the foreseeable future. The need to handle complex wall-bounded flows, and the need to evaluate large numbers of design variations usually prohibits high-fidelity approaches such as direct numerical simulation (DNS), and large-eddy simulation (LES). The application of Reynolds–averaging to the equations of motion introduces a set of unclosed terms, the Reynolds Stresses, into themean flowmomentum equations, and turbulencemodels are needed to provide closure of these terms before the set of equations can be solved. Within the framework of RANS approaches, a hierarchy of modelling schemes exists based on the level of sophistication in which these unclosed terms are modelled. In Reynolds stress transport (RST) modelling, rather than assuming a direct (linear or non–linear) link between the Reynolds stresses and mean strain, a separate transport equation for each of the stress components is solved. This in principle provides a number of advantages over other RANS models, which will be reviewed here. This chapter aims to provide a general introduction and overview of Reynolds Stress transport modelling. The first section will provide a brief historical background on the development of this class of models. Next, the theoretical background and rationale underlying the most common modelling practises within this framework are presented. This is followed by a discussion of some numerical implementation issues specific to RST modelling within the context of the finite volume method. Finally the chapter is closed with some concluding remarks.