Large Eddy Simulation Code Research Articles

Large-eddy simulations of the multi-mode Richtmyer–Meshkov instability and turbulent mixing under reshock

The multi-mode Richtmyer–Meshkov instability under reshock and the induced turbulent mixing are numerically investigated by using our parallel large-eddy simulation code MVFT (multi-viscous-flow and turbulence), in which the third-order Godonov scheme is used based on the finite volume method. The one-dimensional wave diagram of wave-interface interaction is presented. The turbulent mixing zone (TMZ) width is in good agreement with experiments. The TMZ width grows in time as a power law before reshock and an exponential law after reshock. The time scaling laws of statistics show the evolution of TMZ has a statistics similarity behavior. The turbulent kinetic energy and dissipation rate, whether they are the resolved-scales or subgrid-scales, all decay with time as a power law before reshock and an exponential law after reshock, so does the enstrophy. The modal analysis shows that the evolution of TMZ is still dominated by the initial perturbation modes during a long time after the first shock. The kinetic energy and enstrophy spectra are amplified extremely by the reshock. After reshock, the energy spectrum moves toward the low wave numbers, which illustrates that larger and larger spatial structures develop in the TMZ. It is also shown that the global spectra exhibit a k−3 scaling law after the reshock and a k−3.5 scaling law at the very late times in three-dimension.

LES of the Cambridge Stratified Swirl Burner using a Sub-grid pdf Approach

The sub-grid scale probability density function equation is rearranged in order to separate the resolved and sub-grid-scale (sgs) contributions to the sgs mixing term. This allows modelling that is consistent with the limiting case of negligible sub-grid scale variations, a property required for applications to laboratory premixed flames. The new method is applied to the Cambridge Stratified Swirl Burner for 6 operating conditions, 2 isothermal and 4 burning, with varying degrees of swirl and mixture stratification. The simulations are performed with the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) code BOFFIN in which the modelled pdf transport equation is solved using the Eulerian stochastic field method. Eight stochastic fields are used to account for the influence of the sub-grid fluctuations and the chemistry is modelled with a reduced version of the GRI 3.0 mechanism for methane involving 19 species and 15 reaction steps. The simulated velocities for both the isothermal and burning cases show good agreement with the experimental data. The measured temperature and major species profiles are also reproduced to a good accuracy.

Importance of detailed chemical kinetics on combustion and soot modelling of ventilated and under-ventilated fires in compartment

A novel in-house computation code based on large eddy simulations (LES) incorporating fully coupled subgrid-scale (SGS) turbulence, combustion, soot and radiation models for turbulent reacting flows in compartment fires has been developed. It uniquely embraces the detailed reaction mechanisms for the chemical processes involved during combustion, which provides a comprehensive description of the fuel oxidation processes. Furthermore, it gives a more complete representation of the generation of intermediate chemical by-products including toxic gases such as carbon monoxide and irritant gases such as soot. Since the modelling of hydrocarbons by-products are enabled when considering the full chemical profile, the formation of soot particles is correlated to the concentration of main soot incipient acetylene, which provides an appropriate representation of nucleation, surface growth processes. The LES code has been validated with experimental fire tests results for both ventilated and under-ventilated fires in compartment for confirmation of its robustness. The importance of incorporating the detailed reaction mechanisms in compartment fire simulations has been confirmed by comparing with experiments. For under-ventilated fires in compartment, the chemical kinetics become increasingly important since the combustion efficiency drops significantly involving generation of intermediate chemical species. It is discovered that species concentrations especially CO2 and CO are more accurately predicted by the detailed scheme comparing to the multi-step scheme, since the formation of hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides are considered. In general, the simulation incorporating detailed kinetics showed an averaged improvement of 9.2% and 81.7% in the prediction of CO2/CO ratio and volume fraction of soot respectively. This also improves the replication of the flame structure as the fire is chemically-driven within the combustion zone.

Large-Eddy Simulation of Coaxial LN2/GH2 Injection at Trans- and Supercritical Conditions

Large-eddy simulations are carried out for the coaxial injection of liquid nitrogen and preheated hydrogen at supercritical pressures. The conditions are similar to that in typical liquid-propellant rocket combustors. By using nitrogen as a model gas, the mixing process is studied without the interference with chemical reactions. An analysis of the thermodynamic conditions that arise in the shear layer reveals that local phase separation may occur if the injection condition is transcritical. A novel volume-translation method on the basis of the cubic Peng–Robinson equation of state is introduced for the use in multispecies large-eddy simulations and is tested for both trans- and supercritical injection conditions. The new thermodynamic model corrects the deficiencies of the Peng–Robinson equation of state in the transcritical regime at minimal extra computational cost. Two independently developed large-eddy simulation codes are used for the simulations and the results are compared. The outcome indicates that the flowfield is mainly controlled by the turbulence on the resolved scales, and an accurate model for the fluid’s thermodynamic state is more important than the subgrid-scale turbulence model or the details of the code architecture. A comparison with available experimental data shows that important flow features are well predicted.

Enforcing realizability in explicit multi-component species transport

We propose a strategy to guarantee realizability of species mass fractions in explicit time integration of the partial differential equations governing fire dynamics, which is a multi-component transport problem (realizability requires all mass fractions that are greater than or equal to zero and that the sum equals unity). For a mixture of n species, the conventional strategy is to solve for n−1 species mass fractions and to obtain the nth (or “background”) species mass fraction from one minus the sum of the others. The numerical difficulties inherent in the background species approach are discussed and the potential for realizability violations is illustrated. The new strategy solves all n species transport equations and obtains density from the sum of the species mass densities. To guarantee realizability the species mass densities must remain positive (semidefinite). A scalar boundedness correction is proposed that is based on a minimal diffusion operator. The overall scheme is implemented in a publicly available large-eddy simulation code called the Fire Dynamics Simulator. A set of test cases is presented to verify that the new strategy enforces realizability, does not generate spurious mass, and maintains second-order accuracy for transport.

Large-eddy simulation of the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability

The subgrid-scale (SGS) terms of turbulence transport are modelled by the stretched-vortex SGS stress model, and a large-eddy simulation code multi-viscous fluid and turbulence (MVFT) is developed to investigate the MVFT problems. Then one AWE shock tube experiment of interface instability is simulated numerically by MVFT code, which reproduces the development process of the interface. The obtained numerical images of interface evolution and wave structures in flow field are consistent with the experimental results. The evolution of perturbed interface and propagation of shock waves in flow field and their interactions are analyzed in detail. The statistics features of turbulence mixing in the form of finer quantities, such as the turbulent kinetic energy, enstrophy, density variance, and turbulent mass flux are investigated, which also proves that the SGS model has a key role in large-eddy simulation. The turbulent kinetic energy and enstrophy decay with time as a power law.

Large‐eddy simulation in an anelastic framework with closed water and entropy balances

AbstractA large‐eddy simulation (LES) framework is developed for simulating the dynamics of clouds and boundary layers with closed water and entropy balances. The framework is based on the anelastic equations in a formulation that remains accurate for deep convection. As prognostic variables, it uses total water and entropy, which are conserved in adiabatic and reversible processes, including reversible phase changes of water. This has numerical advantages for modeling clouds, in which reversible phase changes of water occur frequently. The equations of motion are discretized using higher‐order weighted essentially nonoscillatory (WENO) discretization schemes with strong stability preserving time stepping. Numerical tests demonstrate that the WENO schemes yield simulations superior to centered schemes, even when the WENO schemes are used at coarser resolution. The framework is implemented in a new LES code written in Python and Cython, which makes the code transparent and easy to use for a wide user group.

Analysis of high performance conjugate heat transfer with the OpenPALM coupler

In many communities such as climate science or industrial design, to solve complex coupled problems with high fidelity external coupling of legacy solvers puts a lot of pressure on the tool used for the coupling. The precision of such predictions not only largely depends on simulation resolutions and the use of huge meshes but also on high performance computing to reduce restitution times. In this context, the current work aims at studying the scalability of code coupling on high performance computing architectures for a conjugate heat transfer problem. The flow solver is a Large Eddy Simulation code that has been already ported on massively parallel architectures. The conduction solver is based on the same data structure and thus shares the flow solver scalability properties. Accurately coupling solvers on massively parallel architectures while maintaining their scalability is challenging. It requires exchanging and treating information based on two different computational grids that are partitioned differently on a different number of cores. Such transfers have to be thought to maintain code scalabilities while maintaining numerical accuracy. This raises communication and high performance computing issues: transferring data from a distributed interface to another distributed interface in a parallel way and on a very large number of processors is not straightforward and solutions are not clear. Performance tests have been carried out up to 12 288 cores on the CURIE supercomputer (TGCC/CEA). Results show a good behavior of the coupled model when increasing the number of cores thanks to the fully distributed exchange process implemented in the coupler. Advanced analyses are carried out to draw new paths for future developments for coupled simulations: i.e. optimization of the data transfer protocols through asynchronous communications or coupling-aware preprocessing of the coupled models (mesh partitioning phase).

Towards a Framework for the Stochastic Modelling of Subgrid Scale Fluxes for Large Eddy Simulation

We focus on a mixed deterministic-stochastic subgrid scale modelling strategy currently under development for application in Finite Volume Large Eddy Simulation (LES) codes. Our concept is based on the integral conservation laws for mass, momentum and energy of a flow field. We model the space-time structure of the flux correction terms to create a discrete formulation. Advanced methods of time series analysis for the data-based construction of stochastic models with inherently non-stationary statistical properties and concepts of information theory based on a modified Akaike information criterion and on the Bayesian information criterion for the model discrimination are used to construct surrogate models for the non-resolved flux fluctuations. Vector-valued auto-regressive models with external influences form the basis for the modelling approach. The reconstruction capabilities of the modelling ansatz are tested against fully 3D turbulent channel flow data computed by direct numerical simulation and, in addition, against a turbulent Taylor-Green vortex flow showing a transition from laminar to a turbulent flow state. The modelling approach for the LES closure is different in both test cases. In the channel flow we consider an implicit LES ansatz. In the Taylor-Green vortex flow, it follows an explicit closure approach. We present here the outcome of our reconstruction tests and show specific results of the non-trivial time series data analysis. Started with a generally stochastic ansatz we found, surprisingly, that the deterministic model part already yields small residuals and is, therefore, good enough to fit the flux correction terms well. In the Taylor-Green vortex flow, we found additionally time-dependent features confirming that our modelling approach is capable of detecting changes in the temporal structure of the flow. The results encourage us to launch a more ambitious attempt at dynamic LES closure along these lines.

SParC-LES: Enabling large eddy simulations with parallel sparse matrix computation tools

We discuss the design and development of a parallel code for Large Eddy Simulation (LES) by exploiting libraries for sparse matrix computations. We formulate a numerical procedure for the LES of turbulent channel flows, based on an approximate projection method, in terms of linear algebra operators involving sparse matrices and vectors. Then we implement the procedure using general-purpose linear algebra libraries as building blocks. This approach allows to pursue goals such as modularity, accuracy and robustness, as well as easy and fast exploitation of parallelism, with a relatively low coding effort. The parallel LES code developed in this work, named SParC-LES (Sparse Parallel Computation-based LES), exploits two parallel libraries: PSBLAS, providing basic sparse matrix operators and Krylov solvers, and MLD2P4, providing a suite of algebraic multilevel Schwarz preconditioners. Numerical experiments, concerning the simulation by SParC-LES of a turbulent flow in a plane channel, confirm that the LES code can achieve a satisfactory parallel performance. This supports our opinion that the software design methodology used to build SParC-LES yields a very good tradeoff between the exploitation of the computational power of parallel computers and the amount of coding effort.

Large Eddy Simulation of wind turbine wakes: detailed comparisons of two codes focusing on effects of numerics and subgrid modeling

In this work we report on results from a detailed comparative numerical study from two Large Eddy Simulation (LES) codes using the Actuator Line Model (ALM). The study focuses on prediction of wind turbine wakes and their breakdown when subject to uniform inflow. Previous studies have shown relative insensitivity to subgrid modeling in the context of a finite-volume code. The present study uses the low dissipation pseudo-spectral LES code from Johns Hopkins University (LESGO) and the second-order, finite-volume OpenFOAMcode (SOWFA) from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. When subject to uniform inflow, the loads on the blades are found to be unaffected by subgrid models or numerics, as expected. The turbulence in the wake and the location of transition to a turbulent state are affected by the subgrid-scale model and the numerics.

A numerical comparison of precipitating turbulent flows between large‐eddy simulation and one‐dimensional turbulence

This study presents the results of computational fluid dynamics simulations of a multiphase, reacting, turbulent mixing layer in an idealized geometry. The purpose is to compare large‐eddy simulation (LES) to one‐dimensional turbulence (ODT) and examine the trends of the flow under differing mixing conditions. Aqueous streams are mixed together to precipitate polymorphs of calcium carbonate. The polymorphs of calcium carbonate are tracked numerically using population balance equations (PBE). Each PBE contains all of the relevant physical models to track the particle evolution including nucleation, growth, and aggregation. A simple subgrid mixing model that is convenient for use with PBEs was implemented in the LES code. The higher spatial resolution achievable with ODT allowed an investigation on the effect of resolution on the mixing‐model error. The Reynolds number of the flow is varied and is shown to cause a decrease in average particle sizes with higher mixing rates. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 3185–3197, 2015

Effects of radiative heat transfer on the turbulence structure in inert and reacting mixing layers

We use large-eddy simulation to study the interaction between turbulence and radiative heat transfer in low-speed inert and reacting plane temporal mixing layers. An explicit filtering scheme based on approximate deconvolution is applied to treat the closure problem arising from quadratic nonlinearities of the filtered transport equations. In the reacting case, the working fluid is a mixture of ideal gases where the low-speed stream consists of hydrogen and nitrogen and the high-speed stream consists of oxygen and nitrogen. Both streams are premixed in a way that the free-stream densities are the same and the stoichiometric mixture fraction is 0.3. The filtered heat release term is modelled using equilibrium chemistry. In the inert case, the low-speed stream consists of nitrogen at a temperature of 1000 K and the highspeed stream is pure water vapour of 2000 K, when radiation is turned off. Simulations assuming the gas mixtures as gray gases with artificially increased Planck mean absorption coefficients are performed in which the large-eddy simulation code and the radiation code PRISSMA are fully coupled. In both cases, radiative heat transfer is found to clearly affect fluctuations of thermodynamic variables, Reynolds stresses, and Reynolds stress budget terms like pressure-strain correlations. Source terms in the transport equation for the variance of temperature are used to explain the decrease of this variance in the reacting case and its increase in the inert case.

Numerical comparative analysis of Richtmyer–Meshkov instability simulated by different SGS models

The multi-mode Richtmyer–Meshkov instability is numerically simulated by the large-eddy simulation code MVFT (multi-viscous-flow and turbulence). The Vreman, dynamic Smagorinsky, and stretched-vortex models are used to model the subgrid-scale flux of turbulence transport in simulations. The calculated widths of turbulent mixing zones are all in good agreement with the experimental results, and there is a little difference among the different SGS models. However, the decay factors of turbulent kinetic energy differ significantly for different SGS models, with relative error up to about 50%. It is concluded that the dynamic Smagorinsky model and stretched-vortex model can both predict the energy backscatter, with the prediction of the former weaker, while after reshock, the dynamic Smagorinsky model is absolutely as dissipative as the Vreman model.

Specific volume coupling and convergence properties in hybrid particle/finite volume algorithms for turbulent reactive flows

We investigate the coupling between the two components of a Large Eddy Simulation/Probability Density Function (LES/PDF) algorithm for the simulation of turbulent reacting flows. In such an algorithm, the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) component provides a solution to the hydrodynamic equations, whereas the Lagrangian Monte Carlo Probability Density Function (PDF) component solves for the PDF of chemical compositions. Special attention is paid to the transfer of specific volume information from the PDF to the LES code: the specific volume field contains probabilistic noise due to the nature of the Monte Carlo PDF solution, and thus the use of the specific volume field in the LES pressure solver needs careful treatment. Using a test flow based on the Sandia/Sydney Bluff Body Flame, we determine the optimal strategy for specific volume feedback. Then, the overall second-order convergence of the entire LES/PDF procedure is verified using a simple vortex ring test case, with special attention being given to bias errors due to the number of particles per LES Finite Volume (FV) cell.

Integral wall model for large eddy simulations of wall-bounded turbulent flows

A new approach for wall modeling in Large-Eddy-Simulations (LES) is proposed and tested in various applications. To properly include near-wall physics while preserving the basic economy of equilibrium-type wall models, we adopt the classical integral method of von Karman and Pohlhausen (VKP). A velocity profile with various parameters is proposed as an alternative to numerical integration of the boundary layer equations in the near-wall zone. The profile contains a viscous or roughness sublayer and a logarithmic layer with an additional linear term that can account for inertial and pressure gradient effects. Similar to the VKP method, the assumed velocity profile coefficients are determined from appropriate matching conditions and physical constraints. The proposed integral wall-modeled LES (iWMLES) method is tested in the context of a pseudo-spectral code for fully developed channel flow with a dynamic Lagrangian subgrid model as well as in a finite-difference LES code including the immersed boundary method and the dynamic Vreman eddy-viscosity model. Test cases include a fully developed half-channel at various Reynolds numbers, a fully developed channel flow with unresolved roughness, a standard developing turbulent boundary layer flows over smooth plates at various Reynolds numbers, over plates with unresolved roughness, and a case with resolved roughness elements consisting of an array of wall-mounted cubes. The comparisons with data show that the proposed iWMLES method provides accurate predictions of near-wall velocity profiles in LES while, similarly to equilibrium wall models, its cost remains independent of Reynolds number and is thus significantly lower compared to existing zonal or hybrid wall models. A sample application to flow over a surface with truncated cones (representing idealized barnacle-like roughness elements) is also presented, which illustrates effects of subgrid scale roughness when combined with resolved roughness elements.

Analysis on Turbulent Flows using Large-eddy Simulation on the Seaside Complex Terrain

The purpose of this study is the Large-eddy Simulation (LES) of the turbulent wind on the complex terrain, and the first results of the simulation are described. The authors tried to apply the LES code, which was developed as an atmospheric simulator in Japan Agency for the Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), to the wind prediction for the wind energy. On the wind simulation, the highest problem would be the boundary conditions, and the case in this paper was simplified one. The case study in this paper is the west wind on a complex terrain site, which is the wind from sea for the site. The steady flow was employed for the inlet condition, because the wind on the sea is the low turbulent wind, and almost all the turbulence would be generated by the roughness of the ground surface. The wall function was employed as the surface condition on the ground surface. The computational domain size was about 8 × 3 × 2.5 km3, and the minimum cell size was about 10 × 10 × 3 m3. The computational results, the vertical profile of the averaged wind speed and the turbulence intensity, agreed with the measurement by the meteorological masts. Moreover, the authors tried the analysis of the turbulence characteristics. The power spectrum density model, and the cross spectrum analyses gave the knowledge of the turbulent characteristics on the complex terrain and the hints for the domain and grid of the numerical analysis.

Flow dynamics through a submerged bridge opening with overtopping

ABSTRACTThis paper reports the results of detailed numerical simulations of the flow over a submerged bridge. The method of Large Eddy Simulation (LES) is applied, which allows elucidation of the instantaneous flow and accurate quantification of its turbulence statistics. The in-house LES code employs a free surface algorithm based on the Level Set Method (LSM) to determine the complex water surface profile over the bridge, which is validated with data from a physical model of the bridge under analogous flow conditions. Numerically predicted water surface profiles show good agreement with measured data. The water surface resembles that of the flow over a broad-crested weir with a plunging nappe and a standing wave downstream of the bridge. The mean flow is characterized by a multitude of complex flow features including horizontal recirculation zones upstream and downstream of the bridge abutment and vertical recirculation zones of the separated plunging flow. The latter influences significantly the near-bed turbulence and the bed shear stress.

Self‐similarity and turbulence characteristics of wind turbine wakes via large‐eddy simulation

AbstractMean and turbulent properties of the wake generated by a single wind turbine are studied in this paper with a new large eddy simulation (LES) code, the wind turbine and turbulence simulator (WiTTS hereafter). WiTTS uses a scale‐dependent Lagrangian dynamical model of the sub‐grid shear stress and actuator lines to simulate the effects of the rotating blades. WiTTS is first tested by simulating neutral boundary layers without and with a wind turbine and then used to study the common assumptions of self‐similarity and axisymmetry of the wake under neutral conditions for a variety of wind speeds and turbine properties. We find that the wind velocity deficit generally remains self similarity to a Gaussian distribution in the horizontal. In the vertical, the Gaussian self‐similarity is still valid in the upper part of the wake, but it breaks down in the region of the wake close to the ground. The horizontal expansion of the wake is always faster and greater than the vertical expansion under neutral stability due to wind shear and impact with the ground. Two modifications to existing equations for the mean velocity deficit and the maximum added turbulence intensity are proposed and successfully tested. The anisotropic wake expansion is taken into account in the modified model of the mean velocity deficit. Turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) budgets show that production and advection exceed dissipation and turbulent transport. The nacelle causes significant increase of every term in the TKE budget in the near wake. In conclusion, WiTTS performs satisfactorily in the rotor region of wind turbine wakes under neutral stability. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A coupled mesoscale–microscale framework for wind resource estimation and farm aerodynamics

This study discusses the development of a coupled mesoscale–microscale framework for wind resource estimation and farm aerodynamics. WINDWYO is a computational framework for performing coupled mesoscale–microscale simulations. The framework is modular, automated and supports coupling of different mesoscale and microscale solvers using overset or matched grids. The modular nature of the framework and the support for overset grids allows the independent development of mesoscale and microscale solvers and the efficient coupling between the codes. The performance of the framework is evaluated by coupling Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with three microscale computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes of varying complexity. The solvers used are: (i) UWake: a blade element model with free-vortex wake, (ii) Flowyo: large eddy simulation code with actuator line/disk parametrization of the wind turbine and (iii) HELIOS: detached eddy simulation code with full rotor modeling and adaptive mesh refinement. Power predictions and wake visualization of single turbine and off-shore Lillgrund wind farm in uniform and turbulent inflow are used to demonstrate the capabilities of the framework.