Large Eddy Simulation Research Articles

Verification and Validation of Spectral Element Code for Supercritical CO2 Flow in Vertical Heated Tubes

The investigation of heat transfer in supercritical CO2 (sCO2) has garnered considerable attention in recent decades, given sCO2’s potential as a promising working fluid for advanced power conversion cycles. Despite previous research efforts, there are still gaps in our understanding of sCO2 heat transfer, particularly in conditions associated with heat transfer deterioration. To delve into sCO2 heat transfer more comprehensively, we propose employing the high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics code NekRS to simulate sCO2 flow using the large eddy simulation technique. Through graphics processing unit acceleration, NekRS achieves a higher computational speed than traditional CPU-based systems. However, before using NekRS in practical applications involving sCO2, it is imperative to perform verification and validation. This paper presents our efforts to verify and validate the NekRS code’s capability for simulating sCO2 using heated vertical tubes, where heat transfer deterioration usually happens. To accommodate the unique properties of sCO2, we have modified the NekRS code by integrating third-party property modules, such as REFPROP and PROPATH. Our simulations are compared with experimental and numerical data from the literature, instilling confidence in leveraging NekRS for future engineering applications. Our simulations also reveal that the accuracy of the property module significantly impacts the results, with REFPROP outperforming PROPATH for sCO2 properties. Additionally, we observed that, depending on the flow direction, buoyancy can either enhance or suppress turbulence in sCO2 flow. In upward flow, under certain conditions, the suppressed turbulence leads to heat transfer deterioration, resulting in elevated wall temperatures.

Intermittency, an inevitable feature for faster convergence of large eddy simulations

Intermittency, an inevitable feature for faster convergence of large eddy simulations

Noise reduction in small wind turbines with optimized serrated blades

This study employs a comprehensive combination of experimental and numerical methodologies to delve into the aeroacoustic attributes of a small horizontal axis wind turbine with optimized blades. The experimental investigation is conducted within a semi-anechoic chamber, where both original and optimized geometry models are meticulously positioned to measure the sound pressure levels across a range of rotational speeds and positions. In parallel, the numerical simulations employed the large eddy simulation, complemented by the Ffowcs Williams–Hawkings analogy, facilitating detailed examinations of both aerodynamic and acoustic aspects in the original and optimized modes. The findings reveal a subtle enhancement in aerodynamic performance with the optimized serrated blade configuration when compared to the original. Nevertheless, the reduction in noise levels within the frequency domain was remarkable, culminating in an impressive overall sound pressure reduction of about 10 dB. Furthermore, an intriguing observation emerged from noise measurement in acoustic room: the noise production experiences a marked escalation as the turbine rotational speed intensifies, particularly within the downstream domain. The lateral noise level is found to be lower compared to the axial direction and the reduced noise emission for the serrated optimized blade is more dispersed in the plane of rotation than the original blade, which was pointed out to be nearly uniform. The results provide valuable insights into the interplay of aerodynamics and aeroacoustics in the context of small wind turbines with optimized blades.

A Bayesian optimization framework for the control of combustion instability of a bluff-body stabilized combustor

Control of combustion instability for a realistic gas-turbine combustor is challenging. This work aims to establish an efficient numerical framework for optimization to improve the combustion stability of a bluff-body combustor. Large eddy simulations of the spray combustion process are conducted, and the experimental measurements are used to evaluate the numerical accuracy of the baseline case. The air preheating temperature, the Sauter mean diameter of fuel droplets, and the location of liquid fuel injection are regarded as input variables. The root mean square of pressure amplitude is regarded as an optimization objective. The Bayesian optimization framework is proposed that includes the sampling process, surrogate model, acquisition function, and genetic algorithm optimizer processes. It is found that PRMS can be reduced by 64% for the optimized case compared to the baseline case using only 17 sample evaluations. This work is promising as it provides an effective optimization framework for the development of next-generation gas-turbine combustors.

Friction Velocity Determination Techniques in Turbulent Boundary Layers with Miniature Vortex Generators

Miniature vortex generators (MVGs) have the potential to control turbulent boundary layers (TBLs). Analyzing the scaled turbulent structure of MVG TBLs in experiments typically requires indirect methods for accurate friction velocity Uτ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$U_\ au$$\\end{document} determination. The established methods for Uτ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$U_\ au$$\\end{document} determination need to be verified for non-generic TBLs, such as MVG TBLs, especially at near-wake stations. This study compares the performance of the five most common Uτ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$U_\ au$$\\end{document}-determination methods when applied to MVG TBLs. The methods are tuned in terms of their free parameters and fitting ranges using direct measurements of Uτ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$U_\ au$$\\end{document} from large eddy simulation data, and applied to a corresponding experiment to assess their accuracy. Based on the findings, an “inner” method, which is the Musker function with a drifting buffer layer incorporating a bump function, is recommended for MVG TBLs of the form investigated, as it provides a good estimation of Uτ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$U_\ au$$\\end{document} with uncertainty <3%\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$<3\\%$$\\end{document} for all streamwise stations. The method is applied to three further experimental tests with different flow conditions to study trends in Uτ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$U_\ au$$\\end{document}. The error of the drag variation is <6%\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$<6\\%$$\\end{document}, which indicates the method is reliable for MVG TBLs at high Reynolds numbers.

Numerical investigation on cavitation and induced noise reduction mechanisms of a three-dimensional hydrofoil with leading-edge protuberances

In this work, a National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics 66 hydrofoil with leading-edge protuberances is designed. The large eddy simulation combined with the Schnerr–Sauer cavitation model is used to obtain a satisfactory result as compared with the experimental measurement, integrating the permeable Ffowcs Williams–Hawkings equation for cavitation-induced noise analysis. It is found that the special leading-edge geometric structure deflects the incoming flow, creating two counter-rotating streamwise vortices at the peak shoulders. These lead to upwash and downwash effects and alter the pressure distribution on the suction side. The low pressure localized in the trough facilitates the advancement of the leading-edge cavitation while severely limiting the spanwise development of the cloud cavity, shortening the cavitation evolution by about 20% and reducing the maximum cavitation volume by about 35%. Analysis using the vorticity transport equation indicates that different vorticity transport equation splitting terms play dominant roles at different stages of cavitation evolution. Although the cavitation induces disturbances in the primary vortex, the effect is limited. Acoustic simulation shows that the bionic structure can reduce the total sound pressure level by 7.8–8.3 dB. The spherical noise reduction is not as effective as expected due to the similar cavitation volume acceleration processes of the two hydrofoils. However, the pressure fluctuation caused by the collapse of the cloud cavity is reduced by cavitation suppression, which reduces the linear noise. In addition, the protuberances suppress the generation of large-scale vortex systems and transform them into smaller ones, resulting in reduced spanwise correlation and coherence of the shedding vortices. This is a critical factor in noise reduction. Finally, we hypothesize that the unstable noise reduction is related to the streamwise vortices in the trough regions. These vortices increase the momentum exchange within the boundary layer, affecting its stability and weakening the acoustic feedback loop.

Graphics processing unit/artificial neural network-accelerated large-eddy simulation of swirling premixed flames

Within the scope of reacting flow simulations, the real-time direct integration (DI) of stiff ordinary differential equations for the computation of chemical kinetics stands as the primary demand on computational resources. Meanwhile, as the number of transport equations that need to be solved increases, the computational cost grows more substantially, particularly for those combustion models involving direct coupling of chemistry and flow such as the transported probability density function model. In the current study, an integrated graphics processing unit-artificial neural network (GPU-ANN) framework is introduced to comply with heavy computational costs while maintaining high fidelity. Within this framework, a GPU-based solver is employed to solve partial differential equations and compute thermal and transport properties, and an ANN is utilized to replace the calculation of reaction rates. Large eddy simulations of two swirling flames provide a robust validation, affirming and extending the GPU-ANN approach's applicability to challenging scenarios. The simulation results demonstrate a strong correlation in the macro flame structure and statistical characteristics between the GPU-ANN approach and the traditional central processing unit (CPU)-based solver with DI. This comparison indicates that the GPU-ANN approach is capable of attaining the same degree of precision as the conventional CPU-DI solver, even in more complex scenarios. In addition, the overall speed-up factor for the GPU-ANN approach is over two orders of magnitude. This study establishes the potential groundwork for widespread application of the proposed GPU-ANN approach in combustion simulations, addressing various and complex scenarios based on detailed chemistry, while significantly reducing computational costs.

Centralized gradient-based reconstruction for wall modeled large eddy simulations of hypersonic boundary layer transition

In this study, we introduce a robust central Gradient-Based Reconstruction (GBR) scheme for the compressible Navier-Stokes equations. The method leverages transformation to characteristic space, allowing selective treatment of waves from the compressible Euler equations. By averaging left- and right-biased state interpolations, a central scheme is achieved for all but the acoustic waves, which require upwinding for stability. Distinct differences were observed between transformations using either primitive or conservative variables. We evaluated the method's robustness and superiority using benchmark problems, including the two-dimensional shock entropy problem, two-dimensional viscous shock tube, and three-dimensional inviscid Taylor-Green vortex. Subsequently, we assessed the method in the context of Wall Modeled Large Eddy Simulations (WMLES), where coarse grids are used to reduce computational cost but also introduce substantial numerical dissipation. Using WMLES, we simulated oblique shock impingement on a Mach 6 disturbed boundary layer and a Mach 7.7 flow over a 15∘ compression ramp. Our findings reveal that: 1) transformation to characteristic space using conservative variables leads to more accurate results; 2) minimizing numerical dissipation through centralized interpolation is crucial. In the compression ramp case, boundary layer separation was shifted slightly upstream, and there was an over-prediction of wall heating, likely attributable to the equilibrium-assuming wall model. Overall, this work showcases the method's potential in accurately capturing complex flow dynamics with reduced numerical dissipation.

Large-eddy simulation for indoor flow in a multizone environment

Large-eddy simulation for indoor flow in a multizone environment

Large-Eddy Simulation and Aeroacoustic Prediction of Supercritical Airfoil Side-Edge Noise

Airfoil self-noise is investigated on a cantilever wing with a supercritical profile with a compressible wall-resolved large-eddy simulation. The Reynolds number based on the chord is 620,000, and the angle of attack is 5°. The aerodynamic results reveal the development of a complex vortex system at the side edge, including primary, secondary, and tertiary vortices that govern aerodynamic noise production. The wall-pressure coefficient and root-mean-square pressure coefficient contours highlight the side-edge shear layer and flow impingement of the primary vortex at the pressure-side edge as important noise-generation mechanisms. Dynamic mode decomposition shows that the dominant pressure modes on the airfoil exist along primary and secondary vortex impingement lines. Far-field acoustic predictions based on both solid and porous Ffowcs-Willliams and Hawkings’ analogies demonstrate good agreement with experimental results between 1.5 and 9 kHz. Low-frequency tonal humps observed in the spectra result from duct acoustic modes excited by airfoil self-noise, a consequence of the installation effect. For this configuration, airfoil side-edge noise did not dominate over airfoil surface noise levels, suggesting that at low to moderate angles of attack, airfoil side-edge noise is not a significant contributor to the overall acoustic emissions.

Transient skin friction behavior associated with hemisphere-based vortex ring collisions

Global and local transient skin friction variations resulting from a large-eddy simulation study on ReΓ0=3000 vortex rings colliding with surface-mounted hemispheres of hemisphere-to-vortex-ring diameter-ratios of 0.5≤D/d≤2 are investigated here. Skin friction distribution changes due to the approaching primary vortex ring, formation of secondary/tertiary vortex rings, subsequent mutual interactions between various vortex ring structures, and azimuthal instabilities are clarified with a view to better establish their relationships when the relative hemisphere size varies. Results show that the primary vortex ring produces the highest skin friction levels when it is close to or collides with the hemisphere/flat wall. Additionally, entrainment of wavy secondary/tertiary vortex rings leads to them entangling around the primary vortex ring and resulting in segmented skin friction regions at later stages of the collision process, regardless of the diameter-ratio. Unlike smaller hemispheres, the largest D/d=2 hemisphere here restricts all skin friction changes along its surface with the flat wall unaffected. It is also revealed here that while the diameter-ratio governs the global skin friction distributions, how secondary/tertiary vortex rings interact with the primary vortex ring and how azimuthal instabilities manifest and evolve for all the various vortex rings confer strong influences on the breaking-up and dissipation of regions with high skin friction levels.

Towards Energy-Balance Closure with a Model of Dispersive Heat Fluxes

In the last decades the energy-balance-closure problem has been thoroughly investigated from different angles, resulting in approaches to reduce but not completely close the surface energy balance gap. Energy transport through secondary circulations has been identified as a major cause of the remaining energy imbalance, as it is not captured by eddy covariance measurements and can only be measured additionally with great effort. Several models have already been developed to close the energy balance gap that account for factors affecting the magnitude of the energy transport by secondary circulations. However, to our knowledge, there is currently no model that accounts for thermal surface heterogeneity and that can predict the transport of both sensible and latent energy. Using a machine-learning approach, we developed a new model of energy transport by secondary circulations based on a large data set of idealized large-eddy simulations covering a wide range of unstable atmospheric conditions and surface-heterogeneity scales. In this paper, we present the development of the model and show first results of the application on more realistic LES data and field measurements from the CHEESEHEAD19 project to get an impression of the performance of the model and how the application can be implemented on field measurements. A strength of the model is that it can be applied without additional measurements and, thus, can retroactively be applied to other eddy covariance measurements to model energy transport through secondary circulations. Our work provides a promising mechanistic energy balance closure approach to 30-min flux measurements.

Regulating turbulent separation by surface microstructures on a blunt plate

Microstructured surfaces can induce secondary flow and regulate flow structures of the turbulent separation flow. However, the mechanism governing the relationship between the microstructure size and the characteristic flow size remains unclear. In this study, the separated flow over a blunt flat plate with surface microstructures is studied using time-resolved particle image velocimetry experiments and implicit large-eddy simulations for the plate-thickness-based Reynolds number from 5.08×103 to 1.31×104. The ratio of the height of microstructures to the plate thickness (h/d) ranges from 0.01 to 0.1. Combining experimental and numerical results, the relationships between the separation bubble size and the microstructure size under different Reynolds numbers exhibit similarity when normalized by the separation bubble size of the smooth plate. The dimensionless separation bubble size decreases when the microstructure height increases and large microstructures (h/d = 0.1) exhibit good performance on reducing the flow separation. Near the leading edge, the distortion of two-dimensional vortices and the generation of three-dimensional hairpin vortices are promoted by the first several rows of large microstructures. Additionally, in the main separation region, secondary positive spanwise vortices emerge from large microstructures. Subsequently, the secondary vortices lift up and evolve into streamwise vortices. The characteristic scale of secondary vortices is represented by a significant peak in the spectra of spanwise wavenumbers, which is of the same magnitude as the height of large microstructures. Furthermore, increasing the microstructure height weakens the streamwise correlation of the flow, and the characteristic scale of the correlation is comparable to the height of large microstructures.

Assessment on fast simulation of wind-driven pollutant dispersion around a street canyon with regime-switching Markov chain

High-density cities shorten commutes but also create proximity to air pollution sources. Sensors coupled with simulations can achieve real-time monitoring and risk assessment, and the recently emerging data-driven models provide opportunities that allow minimizing the computation burden of physical models. This study investigates the use of a time inhomogeneous Markov chain (CLF-MC) to fast simulation of wind-driven pollutant dispersion around a street canyon. The CLF-MC model is trained and tested using synthetic datasets obtained from large eddy simulations (LES). The LES model is validated using a benchmark wind tunnel test, which yields correlation coefficients above 0.95. The results show that the CLF-MC can faithfully reproduce the cumulative distribution of air pollution concentrations at the receptor site using the optimal model configuration identified in this study. For the hold-out test dataset, the release condition is a time-varying release strength, and the CLF-MC shows improved prediction results compared to the baseline models, i.e. the weighted average deviation is 15 % and 51 % smaller, respectively. In comparison to LES, the CLF-MC model is 4.8 × 106 times faster. These findings provide scientific references for fast and accurate wind-driven pollutant dispersion simulation using the probabilistic modelling approach.

Noise Mechanisms of an Axial Turbine Stage Based on Large Eddy Simulation

Noise Mechanisms of an Axial Turbine Stage Based on Large Eddy Simulation

Multi-Scale methodology of breakup and atomization for liquid jets in crossflow

Liquid jets in crossflow represent a highly complex phenomenon, characterized by intricate interactions across multiple temporal and spatial scales spanning orders of magnitude. To better understand the atomization mechanisms and characteristics of liquid jets in crossflow, a hybrid multi-scale methodology, integrating volume of fluid and discrete phase models with an enhanced coupling algorithm based on Large Eddy Simulation, has been developed and implemented as a multiphase solver in OpenFOAM. This methodology enables the comprehensive reproduction of the atomization process, including primary breakup and secondary atomization, obviating the requirement for complex tunable atomization models. For further reducing computational costs, a parallel acceleration technology is proposed by integrating the adaptive mesh refinement with dynamic load balancing into the solver. The multi-scale methodology is validated against experimental data regarding the trajectory of the liquid jet, as well as the distribution of droplet sizes and velocities. The validated methodology is then used to predict the behavior of Jet-A in crossflow. Simulation results demonstrate that, under the multi-mode breakup regime, large droplets are formed through the deformation of ligaments, small droplets are stripped from threads, and even smaller droplets are generated after secondary breakup. In contrast, in the shear breakup mode, large droplets are directly squeezed from the sides of the liquid column, while smaller droplets are stripped from ligaments and threads. Additionally, compared to the multi-mode breakup, droplet diameters are smaller in the downstream field for the shear breakup mode.

Multi-scale simulation of typhoon wind field at building scale utilizing mesoscale model with nested large eddy simulation

Based on the mesoscale WRF (Weather Research Forecast) and LES (Large Eddy Simulation), an integrated numerical simulation framework aiming to resolve typhoon wind fields around urban building blocks has been developed. The holistic multi-scale simulation spans four scales: macroscale (∼1000 km), mesoscale (∼100 km), microscale (∼1 km), and building scale (0.1–100m). By interactively sharing the meteorological data among different scales, this simulation framework addressed the challenge of downscaling typhoon effects in urban environments. Typhoon weather reanalysis and urban wind field simulation were conducted by the WRF model with nested computational domains incorporating high-resolution topography data. For the downscaled LES model with urban buildings, the wind profiles produced by the WRF model were used at the interface with provided turbulent fluctuations in the flow. K11 building is a 270-m-tall building located in a densely built-up area of Hong Kong. Wind velocity and pressure fields surrounding the K11 building in Hong Kong during Typhoon Kammuri were obtained by the proposed framework, and the simulation results were validated by comparing with the meteorological data and full-scale measurements at the top of the K11 building. The interactions of the wind fields and building clusters resulting in vortex shedding, separation, and channeling effects have been resolved at high resolutions. Probabilistic distributions and higher-order statistics of wind pressure, i.e., skewness and kurtosis, were presented to highlight non-Gaussian characteristics of the simulated local wind pressure on the K11 building. Based on the simulated wind pressure, wind-induced vibration of the K11 building during the typhoon was analyzed and compared to the measurements.

Wind-Induced Aerodynamic Effects on Set-Back Tall Buildings Using LES

Set-back modification represents a dependable method to reducing the wind effects on high-rise buildings, but the flow mechanism and aerodynamic responses of set-back tall buildings have not been explored systematically. Using the square building as the benchmark model, six set-back building models with varying steps and sizes were chosen for numerical simulation in this study. The results of mean wind pressure and local wind force distribution, power spectral densities of base moment, flow field, and structural response of the proposed building models are compared and analysed using the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) technique. The results demonstrate that the aerodynamic performance of set-back tall buildings dramatically improved, with the actual optimization in the cross-wind direction being more significant. Generally, a single set-back measure can enhance the aerodynamic performance of high-rise buildings more effectively than a double set-back measure. The outcome of this study provides an aerodynamic design guide for set-back tall buildings.

Numerical analysis of novel wavy wall based control of turbulent boundary layer separation

In this work, a comprehensive insight into the new passive flow control method, i.e. a two-dimensional streamwise waviness (recently proposed by Dróżdż et al. [1]) is provided using Large Eddy Simulations. This approach was demonstrated to be effective in postponing turbulent boundary layer separation at high Re, which is out of reach for other commonly known passive flow control strategies. Although the effectiveness of the wavy wall in delaying flow separation has been confirmed, the physical mechanisms standing behind the skin friction enhancement are not fully understood which opens a space for future work. Of particular interest is an insight into the fluid flow in the near-wall region just above the waviness and this paper is aimed at doing so. To separate the effect of the global adverse pressure gradient, the results were confronted with the ones obtained under zero pressure gradient conditions for the identical wavy wall geometry and the same Reτ=2500. Also additional simulations of the turbulent boundary layer building up on the flat wall were conducted to have an additional reference for the flow fields obtained above the wavy wall under zero and adverse pressure gradients respectively. A detailed inspection of the streamwise velocity and its fluctuation profiles indicated that the contribution of the global adverse pressure gradient to the flow statistics begins when the Rotta-Clauser pressure gradient parameter β≥3. The paper confirms an enhancement of the wall shear stress τw downstream the corrugation, which is the necessary condition to postpone the separation. Interestingly, the effect of increased τw was not observed for the case with the same waviness and without pressure gradient.

Mixing Time Prediction in a Ladle Furnace

This paper presents a study on the effectiveness of two turbulence models, the large eddy simulation (LES) model and the k-ε turbulence model, in predicting mixing time within a ladle furnace using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique. The CFD model was developed based on a downscaled water ladle from an industrial ladle. Corresponding experiments were conducted to provide insights into the flow field, which were used for the validation of CFD simulations. The correlation between the flow structure and turbulence kinetic energy in relation to mixing time was investigated. Flow field results indicated that both turbulence models aligned well with time-averaged velocity data from the experiments. However, the LES model not only offered a closer match in magnitude but also provided a more detailed representation of turbulence eddies. With respect to predicting mixing time, increased flow rates resulted in extended mixing times in both turbulence models. However, the LES model consistently projected longer mixing times due to its capability to capture a more intricate distribution of turbulence eddies.