Turbulence Intensity Profiles Research Articles

Wind field effects on crosswind displacement responses of square-section tall-slender structures with aspect ratio over 12

The crosswind responses of tall slender structures play an important role for the wind-resistant design, and they can be significantly influenced by the wind fields. There was a prevailing belief that the aeroelastic response of tall-slender structures was mostly observed under low-turbulent suburban flow. Nevertheless, aeroelastic response of tall-slender structures with substantially higher height and aspect ratio in high-turbulent urban flow may occur, remains unverified in the absence of empirical evidence. Moreover, the aeroelastic instability of vortex resonance and galloping of square-section tall-slender structures should be carefully addressed, especially the combined vortex resonance and galloping may occur. From these particular standpoints, this study aims to discuss the impacts of wind fields on the wind-induced vibrations in crosswind direction of square-sectioned tall-slender structures with aspect ratio 12, 16 and 20 through pivot model tests. The findings demonstrate the crosswind response of the model with λ = 12 is suppressed when it is in urban flow since the turbulence intensity profile is significantly large. Due to the sufficient height and slenderness, aeroelastic effects can occur for the aeroelastic models with λ = 16 and 20 in both suburban and urban flows. The combined vortex resonance and galloping effects are observed for the aeroelastic models with λ = 16 and 20 when they are low damped, even in urban flow. Thus, the attention should be paid to the crosswind response under urban flow for wind-resistant design of tall-slender structures with large aspect ratios and heights in practice.

A new probability-distribution scale synthetic eddy method for large eddy simulation of wind loads

The accurate generation of inflow turbulence in large eddy simulation (LES) plays a crucial role in assessing the wind loads on buildings. To faithfully recreate turbulent flow fields, the inflow turbulence must accurately replicate vortex structures. In this study, we propose a novel method for generating turbulent inflow called the probability-distribution scale synthetic eddy method (PDSSEM). PDSSEM utilizes a random generation of eddy positions, with the length of each eddy scale determined by its probability density function (PDF). This approach ensures that PDSSEM maintains consistency in the mean wind speed profile, turbulence integral length, turbulence intensity profile, and wind speed spectra of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). The PDSSEM method can be more easily applied compared with multi-scale synthetic eddy method (MSSEM), making it highly versatile and adaptable. The self-sustaining characteristics of the flow field generated by PDSSEM are validated, revealing abundant vortex structures and good agreement with targeted values for turbulence flow characteristics. Furthermore, comparing the wind pressures of a tall building with the experimental data, the accuracy and feasibility of PDSSEM are comprehensively demonstrated. Thus, it indicates the great potential of the proposed method for broader computational wind engineering applications, including wind load evaluation and flow pattern investigation.

Investigation of flow generated by the collision of two opposed ceiling-attached jets from radial vortex diffusers

Thermal comfort in rooms with mixing air distribution systems is greatly influenced by air jets issuing from ceiling diffusers. Jets are often attached to ceilings, and as the attached jets collide with each other and generate flow, here called a merged jet, directed vertically and towards the occupied zone. In this research, air velocity and turbulence intensity were measured in the zone of the attached jets from two adjacent vortex ceiling diffusers and in the zone of the merged jet under isothermal conditions using omnidirectional anemometers. The jet characteristics, uniformity, similarity zone, spread rate, the position of virtual origin, centerline and profile distribution for velocity and turbulence intensity, were investigated in the ceiling-attached jet and the merged jet. The aim is to understand better the interactions between air jets created by diffusers and provide tools to designers of air distribution systems to estimate thermal comfort in the zone of the merged jet. Moreover, the results can be used to verify numerical models (CFD) and improve the reproduction of airflow characteristics created by diffusers. Velocity and turbulence intensity profiles show the presence of the similarity zone extending to the occupied zone, which is encouraging in terms of using well-known decay and profile equations to approximate velocity distribution, which has been done here. The draught rate index (DR) distribution in the merged jet was calculated from the measurement data. However, there is no known simple model to estimate turbulence intensity, which has a significant impact on the DR in the jet zone.

Lagrangian Stochastic Modeling of Stratified Atmospheric Boundary Layer

A single-column turbulence model for stratified atmospheric boundary layer (ABL), which solves the transport equations of turbulence probability density function (PDF) using a Lagrangian stochastic modeling (LSM) approach, is proposed in this study. This study adopts previously developed stochastic differential equations (SDEs) for particle velocity and temperature and extends the LSM to simulate inhomogeneous turbulence. The proposed LSM is tested for its ability to fully simulate statistics of inhomogeneous stratified turbulence. In the model, particles evolve by SDEs, and turbulence statistics are calculated by averaging the properties of particles. The model provides a full representation of turbulence PDF and simulates turbulent transport without any modeling assumption. The model performance is evaluated against large-eddy simulation (LES) results in the simulations of convective and stable ABL cases. For the convective ABL, LSM realistically simulates the entrainment process with the temperature and heat flux profiles that closely match with LES. The joint PDF simulated by LSM reproduces a curved and highly skewed shape, and some distinct features, like the asymmetric distribution of vertical velocity and the separation of the PDF in the entrainment zone, are simulated. LSM also reproduces the entrainment enhancement by wind shear in the simulation of sheared convective ABL. The LSM simulation of stable ABL predicts realistic turbulence intensity and mean field profiles, where Gaussian-like PDFs are simulated both in LSM and LES.

Reynolds number dependence of turbulent kinetic energy and energy balance of 3-component turbulence intensity in a pipe flow

Measurement data sets are presented for the turbulence intensity profile of three velocity components ( $u$ , $v$ and $w$ ) and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE, $k$ ) over a wide range of Reynolds numbers from $Re_\tau =990$ to 20 750 in a pipe flow. The turbulence intensity profiles of the $u$ - and $w$ -component show logarithmic behaviour, and that of the $v$ -component shows a constant region at high Reynolds numbers, $Re_\tau >10\,000$ . Furthermore, a logarithmic region is also observed in the TKE profile at $y/R=0.055\unicode{x2013}0.25$ . The Reynolds number dependences of peak values of $u$ -, $w$ -component and TKE fit to both a logarithmic law (Marusic et al., Phys. Rev. Fluids, vol. 2, 2017, 100502) and an asymptotic law (Chen and Sreenivasan, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 908, 2020, R3), within the uncertainty of measurement. The Reynolds number dependence of the bulk TKE $k^+_{bulk}$ , which is the total amount of TKE in the cross-sectional area of the pipe also fits to both laws. When the asymptotic law is applied to the $k^+_{bulk}$ , it asymptotically increases to the finite value $k^+_{bulk}=11$ as the Reynolds number increases. The contribution ratio $\langle u'^2\rangle /k$ reaches a plateau, and the value tends to be constant within $100< y^+<1000$ at $Re_\tau >10\ 000$ . Therefore, the local balance of each velocity component also indicates asymptotic behaviour. The contribution ratios are balanced in this region at high Reynolds numbers as $\langle u'^2\rangle /k\simeq 1.25$ , $\langle w'^2\rangle /k\simeq 0.5$ and $\langle v'^2\rangle /k \simeq 0.25$ .

Experimental translating downbursts immersed in the atmospheric boundary layer

Thunderstorm winds are cold descending gravity currents whose impingement on the ground creates strong radial outflows with maximum wind speeds in the near-ground region. They represent one of the greatest hazards for natural and built environment as well as one of the deadliest phenomena all over the world. This study carries on the post-processing analyses of the downburst experimental campaign performed at the WindEEE Dome, at Western University in Canada, in the context of the ERC project THUNDERR. While a former study presented the interaction between downburst and atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) winds, here the focus is on the influence exerted by the thunderstorm cloud translation. This was experimentally replicated at large scale by means of impinging jet technique where the jet axis was inclined to a non-zero angle with respect to the vertical. Finally, the inclusion of background ABL wind allowed to reconstruct the complete three-dimensional and non-stationary nature of the phenomenon. The outflow radial symmetry is lost in case of inclined jet axis. This leads to an intensification of the front-wind side and weakening of the rear-wind side, where the entrainment of the counter-directed ABL wind, and consequent flow speed-up, are not as pronounced as in the vertical-axis case. The non-linearity of the complex interaction between downburst, ABL flow and cloud translation is proven and quantified. Vertical profiles of mean wind speed and turbulence intensity are discussed in relation to the mutual interaction among flow components.

Numerical investigation of the velocity and spreading characteristics of non-circular turbulent jets at different Reynolds numbers

The flow field characteristics of non-circular turbulent jets are investigated numerically. A steady numerical simulation is conducted using the k–ε turbulence model in Ansys Fluent software. A hotwire anemometer is utilized to collect velocity data along the jet centerline for velocity validation. The jet exit Reynolds numbers vary from 200 to 5000, covering both laminar and turbulent regimes. The mean flow field characteristics, such as mean velocity, turbulent intensity, velocity decay, and half-jet spread width, are examined. The simulated results depict that mean velocity profile decay reveals a universal decay pattern, and the lateral velocity distribution shows a top-hat-like velocity profile in the near field. It significantly changed into peak-shaped and parabolic-shaped at a far downstream distance. The turbulent intensity profile reveals that shear layer growth begins near the jet exits, and entrainment becomes strong with the Reynold number. The potential core region increases with Reynolds numbers. The jet spread width shows a linear increment with the jet exit Reynolds number. The presented numerical results agree well with the measured experimental results and are consistent with published data.

Downstream characteristics of extended flat plate trailing edge on S809 wind turbine blade under various turbulent intensities

Purpose This study aims to investigate the effect of downstream characteristics of S809 wind turbine blade with various extended flat plate (EFP) configuration. Wind farms are recently modified to improve the power production through placing number of wind turbines and locations. Design/methodology/approach A series of wind tunnel experiments were carried out to evaluate the downstream wake characteristics of the S809 airfoil attached with various EFP (EFP, A = 0.1C, 0.2C and 0.3C) at various angles of attack corresponding to free stream velocity Reynolds number (Re) = 2.11 × 105 and various turbulence intensity (TI = 5%, 7%, 10% and 12%). Findings For the S809 wind turbine blade attached with EFP, the downstream velocity ratio decreases with increasing in angle of attack and the velocity deficit decrease with increasing turbulence intensity (TI) up to TI = 10%. The wake intensity for the S809 wind turbine blade and S809 airfoil with 10% of chord EFP performs the same for each downstream location. Practical implications Placing the wind turbine in the wind park next to another wind turbine poses a potential challenge for the park power performance. This research addresses the characteristics of the downstream turbulence intensity profile modified with the EFP in the wind turbine blade which improves the downstream characteristics of the turbine in the wind park. Originality/value The downstream velocity ratio decreases with increasing angle of attack and the velocity deficit decrease with increasing turbulence intensity (TI) up to TI = 10%.

Turbulence anisotropy in a wall-wake flow downstream of two horizontal cylinders

In this study, experimental results of flow past two horizontal cylinders — one above the other are discussed. The research was conducted using experimental data collected on a rough-bed with double cylinders of three different sizes. First, fundamental features such as streamwise velocity, Reynolds shear stress (RSS), and turbulence intensity profiles have been explained at various downstream positions with respect to the cylinders; next, some advanced analysis such as correlation coefficient, stress anisotropy, and dissipation anisotropy have been presented and compared location-wise. To demonstrate anisotropy, stress, dissipation tensors along with anisotropic invariant map and function are plotted and thoroughly analyzed. Lastly, A different diagrammatic representation of the level of anisotropy of turbulence is obtained by incorporating the eigenvalues of the Reynolds stress tensor, namely barycentric coordinates.© 2017 ElsevierInc.Allrightsreserved.

Boundary layer measurements of the flow along a streamwise-oriented circular cylinder using particle tracking velocimetry

Particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) measurements of an axisymmetric turbulent boundary layer (ATBL) around a long circular cylinder in axial flow were carried out in a large-scale water tunnel at different velocities and at different measurement positions along the cylinder. A relatively thick ATBL developed with ratios of δ/a between 4.6 and 8.1 and a/δν between 313 and 1027, where δ is the boundary layer thickness, δν the viscous length scale and a the cylinder radius. At ratios of δ/a above unity and a/δν above 250, transverse curvature effects are known to influence the boundary layer in the outer region. This was observed in the measured mean velocity profiles as the profiles fall below the planar logarithmic law of the wall. Shape factors close to unity with a rather full velocity profile were determined that explain the relatively high skin friction coefficient known to be present for such ATBL flows. Additionally, measurements of the turbulence intensity and Reynolds stress profiles are presented. The non-intrusive PTV measurement approach allowed to gather near-wall velocity data down to a wall-distance below 10 wall-units. The present study provides valuable information regarding ATBL flows along streamwise-oriented cylinders in the flow regime indicated above by the ranges of δ/a and a/δν. In particular, it fills a gap in the literature as far as experimentally obtained higher-order statistical quantities are concerned, such as root-mean-square velocity fluctuations and Reynolds stresses.

Wind Field Numerical Simulation of a Cable-stayed Bridge in a Mountainous Area Using Improved Inlet Boundary by CIRFG Method

Bridges in mountainous areas are indispensable nodes in transportation networks, and wind resistance capabilities have become a controlling factor of long-span bridges built in mountain areas. Therefore, it is necessary to study the characteristics of wind fields under complex terrain. An improved inlet boundary by fitting the boundary curve was proposed in this study. The inlet fluctuating wind field was generated by the Correlation Improved Random Flow Generation method (CIRFG). The results of the numerical simulations show that the fluctuating wind input generated by CIRFG tallies with the target wind field, which proves the reliability of the proposed method. The method of fitting boundary curves to give inlet wind speed profiles can achieve non-uniform wind profile inputs. The results show the wind direction of the gorge varies significantly by height. The wind speed at the summit will accelerate affected by the terrain. Also influenced by the terrain, the turbulence intensity profiles in the simulated area show an S-shape. The transverse wind and angle of attack are uneven along the main girder, especially near slopes. The conclusions obtained in the study can provide references for the wind resistance of bridges built in mountainous areas.

Seasons Effects of Field Measurement of Near-Ground Wind Characteristics in a Complex Terrain Forested Region

The wind characteristics of the atmospheric boundary layer in forested regions exhibit a significant complexity due to rugged terrain, seasonal climate variability, and seasonal growth of vegetation, which play a key role not only in designing optimal blades to gain better performance but also in assessing the structural response, and there is a paucity of research on such wind fields. Therefore, this paper investigates wind characteristics via on-site wind field measurement. The mean and fluctuating wind characteristics of the forested region in different seasons were analyzed based on the field measurement data. The results show that for the mean wind characteristics, the seasonally fitted exponents play a decisive role in characterizing the mean wind profile, while the season and temperature are the key factors affecting the mean wind direction in forested regions. For fluctuating wind characteristics, the seasonal power-law function can accurately characterize the turbulence intensity profile. Moreover, the ratio of the three turbulence intensity components is significantly affected by temperature and season, and the Von Kármán spectrum has better applicability in the cold and less canopy-disturbed winter than in the other three seasons. The proposed seasonally fitted parameters show better applicability in terms of vertical coherence.

Turbulence in a wall-wake flow downstream of two horizontal cylinders

Experimental investigations of flow past two (one above other) horizontal cylinders have been presented in this paper. The experimental data captured over a rough-bed with double cylinders having three different diameters, were used for the analysis. Firstly, general characteristics such as streamwise velocity, Reynolds shear stress and turbulence intensity profiles have been elucidated at different downstream locations from cylinder position; then some advanced analysis such as length scales, turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) fluxes and budget have been investigated to exhibit their variations. Length scale profiles exhibit higher values in near bed; indicating comparatively larger eddies’ downstream of both cylinders. TKE budget profiles indicate highly negative pressure energy diffusion rate together with a sufficient TKE production rate, stabilized by the amplified TKE diffusion and dissipation rates. To determine one of the most prime behaviors of turbulence characteristics, namely TKE dissipation rate more accurately, the concept of structure function has been employed. Primarily velocity gradient method elucidates TKE dissipation rate, then it has been verified by Kolmogorov’s two-thirds law using second order structure function and Kolmogorov’s − 5/3 law using the method of power spectra.

Reynolds stresses and turbulent heat fluxes in fan-shaped and cylindrical film cooling holes

Large eddy simulation (LES) is carried out to predict the thermal performance, unsteady flow patterns, and turbulence characteristics of the fan-shaped hole and the cylindrical hole cooling films. Velocity fields, Reynolds stresses, and turbulent heat flux distributions are the factors that ultimately determine the film cooling effectiveness by deciding the concentration of coolant and heat near the surface. Accurate prediction of these processes can provide a reliable data set for the design of film cooling systems. It can also help solve difficulties of improving RANS-based simulations in terms of their inaccuracies in matching measured flow rates for a given pressure drop across the film and the mixing process once the coolant is ejected from the film. Credible estimates and modest costs of the current LES originate from the multiblock hexahedra meshing, the turbulence inflow generator, and the numerical schemes implemented. Multiblock hexahedra meshes are adopted and generated by a quasi-automatic mesh generation algorithm utilizing template-based multi-block construction followed by elliptic smoothing. Computational resources are utilized in a way that mesh refinement exists only near cooling decorations of small size and wall boundaries, without the need for associated clustering in the far field which is commonly used in commercial packages. The high orthogonality and continuous smoothness throughout the computational domain are maintained to facilitate turbulence capturing. The synthetic inflow generator produces a random field matching a realistic set of two-point statistics based on eigen-reconstruction in a computationally inexpensive processing step. To prove that the current LES simulations of modest cost can reproduce with high accuracy, the discharge characteristics, velocity, and turbulence intensity profiles of cylindrical and fan-shaped cooling films are compared with published measured data on the same flow configurations. Results reveal that the set of modeling methodologies is valid for calculating film-cooling performance within an acceptable range of accuracy. The energy-carrying turbulence structures in and near the cooling holes are shown and their behaviors are linked to turbulent Reynolds stresses. Reynolds stresses and turbulent heat fluxes are compared for different blowing ratios and two types of cooling holes in the parametric study. Similarity patterns of velocity profiles, non-dimensional temperature profiles, Reynolds stress and turbulent heat flux profiles are discussed.

Influence of skewed three-dimensional sinusoidal surface roughness on turbulent boundary layers

The impact of roughness skewness (ksk) on turbulent boundary layer (TBL) flow with a zero pressure gradient over three-dimensional (3D) sinusoidal rough surfaces was experimentally investigated using a single hotwire anemometer. Nine 3D sinusoidal profiles were manufactured with positive, negative, and zero roughness skewness values. Measurements were taken at three different freestream velocities for each surface and compared with smooth wall TBL results. This study covered a range of friction Reynolds numbers (Reτ) from approximately 1000 to 4000, with δ/k≈20 ± 2, where δ represents the local boundary layer thickness, and k is the maximum height of the roughness, measured from the valley to peak. The results indicate that the wall-unit normalized streamwise mean velocity profiles for all rough surfaces exhibit a downward shift compared to the smooth wall profiles. Surfaces with positive roughness skewness produced the highest drag, leading to the largest downward shift. The friction coefficient (Cf) decreased as ksk decreased. The percentage increase in Cf and ΔU+ (the roughness function) was much larger when moving from negative to zero roughness skewness than when moving from zero to positive roughness skewness. The small differences in turbulence intensity profiles and higher-order turbulence statistics in the outer region of the TBL support the outer layer similarity hypothesis for the roughness considered in this study. The autocorrelation study revealed that surfaces with positive roughness skewness tend to shorten the average length of turbulence structures in the near-wall region.

Wind turbine wake: bridging the gap between large eddy simulations and wind tunnel experiments

The wind industry has experienced rapid growth over the past two decades and wind energy is expected to continue leading the way in the global energy transition. Additional wind farms are expected to be installed in the coming years, both offshore and onshore. In view of exploiting any suitable terrain, an increased number of turbines are installed in close proximity to existing structures, thus exposing these to the wake turbulence. For instance, electrical cables are regularly exposed to those higher levels of turbulence compared to design loads, potentially leading to premature failure of the power line. It is hence essential to have a good understanding of these phenomena to be able to mitigate their effects. Scale-resolving investigations using Large Eddy Simulation (LES) can provide insight into site-specific loading conditions when combined with an Actuator Line Model (ALM), which reproduces the reaction force of each blade on the flow while still using a relatively coarse grid. The ALM used in this framework was newly-implemented in the spectral element code Nek5000, a highly efficient code with reduced cost per degree of freedom and exponentially fast convergence. The present work aims to bridge the gap between LES and a well controlled wind tunnel test of a scaled wind turbine, for validation purposes.First, a small scale wind turbine of diameter 80 cm is designed and tested in a well controlled wind tunnel environment. Experimental data are gathered ahead of it and in its wake, and the mean velocity and turbulence intensity profiles are presented.Although blockage effects are kept to a minimum, they will be accounted for in the simulations to ensure a better comparison with the measurements. In this work, we focus on a single inflow velocity field and on a fixed rotation speed.Simulating the produced wake using LES combined with ALM remains challenging as the results are very sensitive to the turbulent inflow conditions and also to the airfoil aerodynamics used in the ALM. In the experiment, the incoming profile is also that of a developing flow and accurately reproducing its main characteristics is required for proper inflow to the LES. A “Recycle and Rescale Method” (R2M) will be hence be used as it is well suited for such case. The method will allow for the relevant turbulent boundary layer structures to be properly reproduced numerically, hence ensuring that the wind turbine is exposed to similar inflow conditions than in the experiment.With the developed framework, the comparison between the wake produced in the experiment and that obtained using LES with ALM will provide the necessary data to further adjust the parameter and grid size used for the LES and the polar model used in the ALM.

Drag reduction by means of an array of staggered circular cavities at moderate Reynolds numbers

Further insight into the physics of boundary layers developing over an array of circular cavities at moderate Reynolds numbers (Reθ up to 3400) is gained from hot wire boundary layer surveys on a range of parameters. The findings are consistent with literature as to the possibility of reducing skin friction drag with circular perforations. The results evidence a modification of the mean velocity profile, an increase of the wake parameter and the shape factor associated to a decrease of the skin friction. The modifications of the boundary layer as well as the skin friction reduction are more pronounced when the open area ratio is increased, which is achieved by increasing the cavity diameter or equivalently by decreasing the inter-cavity spacing. The turbulent activity is shifted in the upward direction, the burst intensity decreases in the buffer layer (10<Y+<35) and increases in the upper part of the logarithmic region/beginning of outer layer (80<Y+<200) with the formation of an outer peak in the turbulence intensity profile. The premultiplied spectra and the streamwise shear stress profiles evidence an energy surplus in the same part of the boundary layer and for the highest open area ratios a “bi-hump” behaviour. The formation of outer quasi-streamwise rollers is believed to be the cause of this energy hump in the spectrum. The turbulence statistics show a striking similarity with the turbulent boundary layer in presence of wall-normal blowing. It is believed that the cavities promote a vertical velocity component that displaces the turbulent activity towards the outer region. Different hypotheses to explain the modification of the flow statistics are detailed in the paper.

Jet Flow and Noise Predictions for the Doak Laboratory Experiment

Large-eddy simulations (LESs) are performed for two isolated unheated jet flows corresponding to a Doak Laboratory experiment performed at the University of Southampton. The jet speeds studied correspond to acoustic Mach numbers of 0.6 and 0.8 as well as Reynolds numbers based on the nozzle exit diameter of about one million. The LES method is based on the compact accurately boundary-adjusting high-resolution technique (CABARET) and is implemented on graphics processing units (GPUs) to obtain 1000–1100 convective time units for statistical averaging with reasonable run times. In comparison with the previous jet LES calculations with the GPU CABARET method, the mean-flow velocity and turbulent intensity profiles are matched with the hot-wire measurements just downstream of the nozzle exit. The far-field noise spectra of the Doak jets are evaluated using two methods: the Ffowcs Williams–Hawkings approach and a reduced-order implementation of the Goldstein generalized acoustic analogy. The flow and noise results are compared with hot-wire and acoustic microphone measurements of the Doak Laboratory and critically analyzed in comparison with the NASA small hot jet acoustic rig database.

An assessment of the scalings for the streamwise evolution of turbulent quantities in wakes produced by porous objects

Experimental results are presented for the evolution of three turbulent quantities in the wake of a porous object, analogous to a wind-turbine wake. These are the mean velocity deficit, the turbulence intensity, and the characteristic wake width. It is noted that characteristic wake widths can be defined both in terms of the mean velocity deficit profile and the profile of turbulence intensity. Both definitions of wake width are observed to grow linearly, although not at the same rate, with that defined by turbulence intensity growing more rapidly than velocity deficit. The streamwise scaling of both wake width, and velocity deficit is found to conform to a non-equilibrium dissipation scaling in which the dissipation rate within the wake is out of equilibrium with the inter-scale energy flux within the mean cascade of turbulent kinetic energy. The cumulative effect of turbulence intensity produced by N upstream porous objects is also considered. It is shown that when the object spacing is sufficiently large that the wake-added turbulence decays substantially only consideration of the most immediately upstream wake is important. Contrastingly, when the spacing between adjacent objects is small then summing the contributions from all upstream wakes in the array is necessary.

On the application of statistical turbulence models to the simulation of airflow inside a car cabin

Computational fluid dynamics simulations of airflow inside a full-scale passenger car cabin are performed using the Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equations. The performance of a range of turbulence models is examined by reference to experimental results of the streamwise mean velocity and turbulence intensity profiles, obtained using the hot-wire anemometry technique at different locations inside the car cabin. The models include three linear eddy-viscosity-based variants, namely, the realizable k–ε, the renormalization group k–ε, and the shear-stress transport k–ω models. The baseline Reynolds stress model (BSL-RSM), a second-moment-closure variant, and an Explicit Algebraic Reynolds Stress Model (BSL-EARSM) are also investigated. Visualization of velocity vectors and streamlines in different longitudinal planes shows a similar airflow pattern. The flow topology is mainly characterized by jet flows developing from the dashboard air vents and extending to the back-seats compartment resulting in a large vortex structure. Additionally, a comparison between numerical and experimental results shows a relatively good agreement of the mean velocity profiles. However, all models exhibit some limitations in predicting the correct level of turbulence intensity. Moreover, the realizability of the modeled Reynolds stresses and the structure of turbulence are analyzed based on the anisotropy invariant mapping approach. All models reveal a few amounts of non-realizable solutions. The linear eddy-viscosity-based models return a prevailing isotropic turbulence state, while the BSL-RSM and the BSL-EARSM models display pronounced anisotropic turbulence states.