Scale-adaptive subgrid-scale modelling for large-eddy simulation of turbulent flows

Abstract

The proportionality between the subgrid-scale (SGS) drain rate of kinetic energy and the viscous dissipation rate of the resolved motions is studied a priori by filtering a given fully resolved field and evaluating a generic form of the hypothesized energy spectrum. The ratio of the SGS drain to the resolved dissipation, on which a balance condition for the SGS dissipation across an arbitrary grid scale is founded, is shown to be independent of the turbulence Reynolds number, and can be described by a function in terms of the averaged mesh Reynolds number. Such a balance condition can serve as a physical constraint in the SGS modeling to account for the scale effects of the model coefficient(s). Scale-adaptive dynamic Smagorinsky-Lilly model and mixed nonlinear model are formulated for large-eddy simulation of transitional and/or turbulent flows in such a way that the constraint is satisfied. The newly proposed scale-adaptive dynamic SGS models are validated in simulations of homogeneous isotropic turbulence and turbulent channel flow, and prove to be superior over traditional dynamic SGS models.