Wall-modeled Large Eddy Simulation Research Articles

Large eddy simulation of transitional channel flow using a machine learning classifier to distinguish laminar and turbulent regions

Breakdown to turbulence in wall-bounded flows takes place through sporadic bursts of turbulent spots. Wall-modelled large-eddy simulations (LES) of transition to turbulence must dynamically identify the nascent turbulent regions, track their evolution, and apply the appropriate wall stress within and outside the turbulent/non-turbulent (T-NT) interface. Self-organized maps (SOM), a machine learning classifier, objectively and efficiently captures the T-NT interface. Wall-modeled LES with SOM interface identification predicts both orderly and bypass transition.

Assessing IDDES-Based Wall-Modeled Large-Eddy Simulation (WMLES) for Separated Flows with Heat Transfer

The Wall-modeled Large-eddy Simulation (WMLES) methods are commonly accompanied with an underprediction of the skin friction and a deviation of the velocity profile. The widely-used Improved Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (IDDES) method is suggested to improve the prediction of the mean skin friction when it acts as WMLES, as claimed by the original authors. However, the model tested only on flow configurations with no heat transfer. This study takes a systematic approach to assess the performance of the IDDES model for separated flows with heat transfer. Separated flows on an isothermal wall and walls with mild and intense heat fluxes are considered. For the case of the wall with heat flux, the skin friction and Stanton number are underpredicted by the IDDES model however, the underprediction is less significant for the isothermal wall case. The simulations of the cases with intense wall heat transfer reveal an interesting dependence on the heat flux level supplied; as the heat flux increases, the IDDES model declines to predict the accurate skin friction.

Predictions of Conjugate Heat Transfer in Turbulent Channel Flow Using Advanced Wall-Modeled Large Eddy Simulation Techniques.

In this paper, advanced wall-modeled large eddy simulation (LES) techniques are used to predict conjugate heat transfer processes in turbulent channel flow. Thereby, the thermal energy transfer process involves an interaction of conduction within a solid body and convection from the solid surface by fluid motion. The approaches comprise a two-layer RANS–LES approach (zonal LES), a hybrid RANS–LES representative, the so-called improved delayed detached eddy simulation method (IDDES) and a non-equilibrium wall function model (WFLES), respectively. The results obtained are evaluated in comparison with direct numerical simulation (DNS) data and wall-resolved LES including thermal cases of large Reynolds numbers where DNS data are not available in the literature. It turns out that zonal LES, IDDES and WFLES are able to predict heat and fluid flow statistics along with wall shear stresses and Nusselt numbers accurately and that are physically consistent. Furthermore, it is found that IDDES, WFLES and zonal LES exhibit significantly lower computational costs than wall-resolved LES. Since IDDES and especially zonal LES require considerable extra work to generate numerical grids, this study indicates in particular that WFLES offers a promising near-wall modeling strategy for LES of conjugated heat transfer problems. Finally, an entropy generation analysis using the various models showed that the viscous entropy production is zero inside the solid region, peaks at the solid–fluid interface and decreases rapidly with increasing wall distance within the fluid region. Except inside the solid region, where steep temperature gradients lead to high (thermal) entropy generation rates, a similar behavior is monitored for the entropy generation by heat transfer process.

Numerical Simulation of the Streamwise Transport of a Delta Wing Leading-Edge Vortex

Longitudinal vortices are a common flow phenomenon in the flow around aircraft. They emerge wherever sharp edges are encountered and affect the stability of the boundary layers with which they interact. Hence, for an optimal aircraft design, it is necessary to accurately predict not only the formation of these vortices, but also their downstream evolution. This paper presents a numerical simulation approach for the formation and downstream transport of longitudinal vortices. The approach consists in a hybrid Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes/large eddy simulation (RANS/LES) method with synthetic turbulence forcing for which different RANS/LES interface locations are investigated. To provide a quantitative analysis, an isolated sharp-edged delta wing configuration is adopted that allows to get rid of unwanted uncertainties. The presented RANS/LES approach is validated against particle image velocimetry data and compared with a wall-modeled LES and to a differential Reynolds stress model simulation. The results show that the RANS simulation is able to accurately predict the formation of the bulk vortical structure. However, its downstream transport can be accurately predicted only by a scale-resolving simulation. The hybrid RANS/LES approach allows to achieve this while saving computational resources by modeling the roll-up of the vortex. Nevertheless, its predictive accuracy highly depends on the appropriate placement of the RANS/LES interface.

Wall-modeled large-eddy simulation of a trailing-edge serration–finlet configuration

This paper proposes a novel trailing-edge treatment to reduce airfoil self-noise: a serration–finlet configuration. According to the current literature, while serrations are good at reducing low-frequency noise, finlets are able to significantly reduce noise at high frequencies. Therefore, it is possible that their combination can reduce noise at all frequencies. Wall-modeled large-eddy simulations are performed to compare a serration–finlet configuration to a clean airfoil, an airfoil with serrations only, and an airfoil with finlets only. It is shown that the serration–finlet configuration reduces the far-field overall sound pressure level by 20.2 dB and has an improved aerodynamic performance. The detailed flow physics of noise reduction with the serration–finlet configuration is also investigated. It is found that the serration–finlet configuration remarkably reduces far-field noise by improving the hydrodynamic field at source locations. In particular, near-wall velocity and turbulence kinetic energy are reduced. Large coherent eddies are also broken into smaller turbulent structures. The interactions between serrations and finlets are proven to be beneficial from both aerodynamic and aeroacoustic perspectives. Overall, the current research provides a low-noise solution for wind turbines and the future’s ultra-quiet aircraft.

Evaluation and application of advanced CFD models for rotating disc flows

This paper addresses limitations of widely used Reynolds-averaged turbulence models (RANS) for prediction of gas turbine internal air systems. Results from direct numerical simulation (DNS), wall-resolved large-eddy simulation (LES), wall-modelled large-eddy simulation (WMLES), and RANS for benchmark test cases are compared. For rotor-stator disc cavity flows results for mean velocities, velocity fluctuations, rotor torque and laminar-turbulent transition are considered and compared with published data. For cavities between co-rotating discs attention is focused on buoyancy-driven convection in the centrifugal force field. It is concluded that WMLES is suitable for application in engine conditions, offering better accuracy than RANS in some critical applications. This confirms recently published results for turbine rim sealing and is further illustrated by application to convection in a sealed cavity at higher Rayleigh number than is practical with DNS or wall-resolved LES. The results show that the approximate near-wall treatment gives reasonable results for complex flows and extend previous studies to higher speed rig conditions where Eckert number effects become significant.

Investigation of aerodynamic noise reduction of exterior side view mirror based on bionic shark fin structure

The LES (Large Eddy Simulation) model based on different subgrid-scale models was used to calculate the aerodynamic noise of the side view mirror. The simulation result of Algebraic Wall-Modeled LES Model (WMLES) in LES was proved to be more accurate through the wind tunnel test. In order to explore the noise reduction mechanism of bionic shark fin, the shape of shark fin was studied and applied to the shell of side view mirror. The simulation results indicated that the bionic shark fin structure could effectively comb the streamline of the side view mirror surface and reduce the negative pressure area. The turbulence intensity at the rear of the side view mirror was reduced, which was beneficial to reduce the aerodynamic noise of the side view mirror on the front side window area. The maximum noise reduction could reach 7.3 dB.

On the use of a two-layer model for large-eddy simulations of supersonic boundary layers with separation

The two-layer modeling approach has become one of the most promising and successful methodology for simulating turbulent boundary layers in the past ten years. In the present study, a mixed wall model for large-eddy simulations (LES) of high-speed flows is proposed which combine two approaches; the thin-Boundary Layer Equations (TBLE) model of Kawai and Larsson (1994) and the analytical wall-layer model of Duprat et al. (2011) for streamwise pressure gradients. The new hybrid model has been efficiently implemented into a three-dimensional compressible LES solver and validated against DNS of a spatially-evolving supersonic boundary layer (BL) under moderate and strong pressure gradients, before being employed for the prediction of nozzle flow separations at different flow conditions, ranging from weakly to highly over-expanded regimes. A good agreement is obtained in terms of mean and fluctuating quantities compared to the DNS results. Particularly, the current wall-modeled LES results are found to perfectly match the DNS data of supersonic BL with/out pressure gradient. It is also shown that the model can account for the effect of the large-scale turbulent motions of the outer layer, indicating a good interaction between the inner and the outer part of the wall layer. In terms of simulations costs and improvements of computing power, the obtained results highlight the capability of the current wall-modeling LES strategy in saving a considerable amount of computational time compared to the wall-resolved LES counterpart, allowing to push further the simulations limits. Furthermore, the application of these computationally low-costly LES simulations to nozzle flow separation allows to clearly identify the origin of the shock unsteadiness, and the existence of broadband and energetically-significant low-frequency oscillations (LFO) in the vicinity of the separation region.

Accuracy of bed-load transport models in eddy-resolving simulations

This work investigates the accuracy of commonly used bed-load transport models when applied in combination with high-resolution Navier-Stokes solvers. Empirical bed-load models predict the transport rate of sediments based on the average bottom shear-stress, while eddy-resolving approaches allow for a space- and time-dependent description of the bottom shear-stress distribution. We discuss the effect that a fine-graining of the stress distribution provided by the flow solver has on the transport model prediction, and we examine the space and time scales at which the averaged values of the transport rate, obtained using the local stress distribution, converge to the transport rate predicted using the average stress. To this aim, we performed Direct Numerical Simulation of a channel flow and used the resulting database to mimic Wall-Resolved and Wall-Modelled Large-Eddy Simulations. We compared the prediction of several bed-load transport models to experimental measurements in order to identify and highlight the limitations that stem from the coupling of these models with eddy-resolving techniques. We find that for small values of the Shields parameter (ratio of viscous and gravitational forces) the fine spatial and temporal resolution of wall-resolved simulations can yield overestimation of the bed-load transport rate; whereas more coarse-grained methods, such as wall-modelled Large Eddy Simulation, result in improved predictions. We also show that a short-time averaging of the force exerted by the fluid on the sediments, which we tested in three different configurations (channel flow with smooth and rough walls and flow over an idealized two-dimensional river dune), improves the accuracy of the bed-load transport predictions, thus providing indications about the flow scales that control the transport process.

Parametric Study of Separation and Reattachment in Transonic Airfoil Flows

Shock and boundary-layer interactions in transonic airfoils are investigated by means of wall-modeled large-eddy simulation. A distinctive flow model, organized and chaotic, occurs in this regime driven by the transition from laminar to turbulent flow, and therefore the appearance of coherent structures such as the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability. This phenomenon is crucial for designing transonic airfoils because it leads to a high rise in drag. Experimental observations show that the main variables of transonic airfoil flow are the freestream Mach number, the Reynolds number, and boundary-layer thickness. Simulations are performed to investigate the relation of various components of the shock/boundary-layer interaction, that is, the pressure rise to shock-induced separation, the length of the separation bubble, and the rear separation to the unit Reynolds number and the boundary-layer condition upstream of the shock. Flow around NACA0012 is investigated in a range of transonic Mach numbers at various unit Reynolds numbers. It is found that the bubble length on the airfoil changes rapidly with relatively small changes in the freestream Mach number. Simulation results show that the separation length decreases with increasing of the unit Reynolds number; however, increasing the boundary-layer thickness results in an increase in the bubble’s extent. Evaluation of the rear-separation region shows that, as the Reynolds number increases, the length of the rear separation declines at a given Mach number.

Wall-Modeled Large Eddy Simulations of Axial Turbine Rim Sealing

Abstract This paper presents wall-modeled large-eddy simulations (WMLES) of a chute-type turbine rim seal. Configurations with an axisymmetric annulus flow and with nozzle guide vanes fitted (but without rotor blades) are considered. The passive scalar concentration solution and WMLES are validated against available data in the literature for uniform convection and a rotor–stator cavity flow. The WMLES approach is shown to be effective, giving significant improvements over an eddy viscosity turbulence model, in prediction of rim seal effectiveness compared to research rig measurements. WMLES requires considerably less computational time than wall-resolved LES, and has the potential for extension to engine conditions. All WMLES solutions show rotating inertial waves in the chute seal. Good agreement between WMLES and measurements for sealing effectiveness in the configuration without vanes is found. For cases with vanes fitted, the WMLES simulation shows less ingestion than the measurements, and possible reasons are discussed.

Off-wall boundary conditions for large-eddy simulation based on near-wall turbulence prediction

Wall-modeled large-eddy simulation (LES) is currently the only affordable technique toward the eddy-resolving simulation of high-Reynolds number wall turbulence. Treatment of near-wall region in LES has drawn much attention in recent studies of wall turbulence and computational fluid dynamics. Traditional wall models typically relate the wall stress to the velocity through prescribed algebraic relations or the thin boundary layer equation. In the present study, we developed a new method for the treatment of near-wall region in LES based on the off-wall boundary conditions. The method combines the minimum flow units [Yin et al., “Prediction of near-wall turbulence using minimal flow unit,” J. Fluid Mech. 841, 654–673 (2018)] and the predictive inner–outer (PIO) model for wall turbulence [Marusic et al., “Predictive model for wall-bounded turbulent flow,” Science 329, 193–196 (2010)]. Fluctuating near-wall velocity field is predicted in real time to supply boundary conditions on the off-wall boundary. This method does not assume any velocity profile of the flow, but rather exploits the well-established universality of near-wall turbulence, and incorporates turbulent structures in the boundary conditions. We derived the expressions of the velocity and the subgrid-scale (SGS) stress boundary conditions in combination with the PIO model, and proved that the modulation effect and the fluctuating part of the SGS stress are not necessary for the off-wall boundary conditions. Through comparisons with other wall models, the current method is found to induce a shorter transition zone in the wall-normal direction. The validity and robustness of the method are verified by the reasonable simulation results of channel flows under different computational parameters.

Unified wall-resolved and wall-modeled method for large-eddy simulations of compressible wall-bounded flows

Wall-resolved large eddy simulations and wall-modeled large eddy simulations are still separate strategies in the field of wall-turbulence applications, and no significant attempts have been documented to blend them in order to exploit the full potential of the two methods. This work enables a smooth transition between these two techniques, designing a robust algorithm that dynamically adapts the wall treatment. In particular, we propose a unified method that employs augmented turbulent viscosity and diffusivity at the wall location and allows for preservation of both the no-slip and isothermal/adiabatic conditions.

A discontinuous Galerkin method for wall-modeled large-eddy simulations

We develop an augmented discontinuous Galerkin method for wall-modeled large-eddy simulations. This method is motivated by the enrichment method that has been formulated for finite-element method, by statistically augmenting the variational solution of the near-wall element with a simple wall function to model the effects of the unresolved momentum-carrying near-wall eddies on the resolved scales. An explicit model is employed to model the subgrid-scale stresses. It is shown that this approach improves the solution accuracy on significantly underresolved grids and reduces spurious oscillations that occur in the presence of strong wall gradients on coarse grids with high-order DG methods. The proposed method is applied in low-Mach-number plane channel flows over a range of Reynolds numbers to examine effects of mesh resolution, polynomial order, solution-augmentation, and the SGS closure on the model performance. The results show that the proposed approach reproduces the log-law profile for different flow conditions, even at extreme Reynolds numbers, and yields improved predictions with increasing polynomial order. In addition, the capability of the present DG-based WMLES framework for computations of complex flows is demonstrated in LES of a shock-induced boundary-layer separation for the transonic bump experiment by Bachalo & Johnson (AIAA J., 24, 1986).

Wall-Modeled LES for Ship Hydrodynamics in Model Scale

A complete approach for wall-modeled large-eddy simulation (WMLES) is demonstrated for the simulation of the flow around a bulk carrier in the model scale. Essential components of the method are an a-priori estimate of the thickness of the turbulent boundary layer (TBL) over the hull and to use an unstructured grid with the appropriate resolution relative to this thickness. Expressions from the literature for the scaling of the computational cost, in terms of the grid size, with Reynolds number, are adapted in this application. It is shown that WMLES is possible for model scale ship hydrodynamics, with ∼108 grid cells, which is a gain of at least one order of magnitude as compared with wall-resolving LES. For the canonical case of a flat-plate TBL, the effects of wall model parameters and grid cell topology on the predictive accuracy of the method are investigated. For the flat-plate case, WMLES results are compared with results from direct numerical simulation, RANS (Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes), and semi-empirical formulas. For the bulk carrier flow, WMLES and RANS are compared, but further validation is needed to assess the predictive accuracy of the approach.

Effect of Wall Boundary Conditions on a Wall-Modeled Large-Eddy Simulation in a Finite-Difference Framework

We studied the effect of wall boundary conditions on the statistics in a wall-modeled large-eddy simulation (WMLES) of turbulent channel flows. Three different forms of the boundary condition based on the mean stress-balance equations were used to supply the correct mean wall shear stress for a wide range of Reynolds numbers and grid resolutions applicable to WMLES. In addition to the widely used Neumann boundary condition at the wall, we considered a case with a no-slip condition at the wall in which the wall stress was imposed by adjusting the value of the eddy viscosity at the wall. The results showed that the type of boundary condition utilized had an impact on the statistics (e.g., mean velocity profile and turbulence intensities) in the vicinity of the wall, especially at the first off-wall grid point. Augmenting the eddy viscosity at the wall resulted in improved predictions of statistics in the near-wall region, which should allow the use of information from the first off-wall grid point for wall models without additional spatial or temporal filtering. This boundary condition is easy to implement and provides a simple solution to the well-known log-layer mismatch in WMLES.

An Overview of Hybrid RANS–LES Models Developed for Industrial CFD

An overview of scale-resolving simulation (SRS) methods used in ANSYS Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software is provided. The main challenges, especially when computing boundary layers in large eddy simulation (LES) mode, will be discussed. The different strategies for handling wall-bound flows using combinations of RANS and LES models will be explained, along with some specific application examples. It will be demonstrated that the stress-blended eddy simulation (SBES) approach is optimal for applications with a mix of boundary layers and free shear flows due to its low cost and its ability to handle boundary layers in both RANS and wall-modeled LES (WMLES) modes.

Time-averaging and temporal-filtering in wall-modeled large eddy simulation

A turbulent channel flow at a Reynolds number of Reτ=2000 is solved based on the spatially filtered Navier–Stokes equations using large eddy simulation and an in-house code. A nonequilibrium wall model is implemented to predict the flow in the wall layer based on the Reynolds-averaged approach. To mitigate the log-layer mismatch, which is often encountered in wall modeling, two temporal schemes are introduced to average the wall layer solution and to filter the flow information input to the wall layer. It is found that the time periods used for the time-averaging and temporal-filtering schemes affect the performance of the wall model. The results show that shorter time periods enable the wall model to respond to the flow structures in the outer layer and correctly predict the friction velocity. However, the prediction of the friction velocity also depends on the location of the matching point. Locating the matching point further from the wall results in better performance due to the compatibility of the subgrid scale model with the grid resolution further from the wall. The temporal-filtering scheme is used to remove nonessential high-frequency wavelengths that can disturb the functionality of wall modeling. Various combinations of the time-averaging and temporal-filtering time periods are investigated for different locations of the matching point. Overall, it is concluded that using a shorter period for time-averaging and a temporal-filtering period comparable to the turbulent diffusion timescale leads to improved results.

Predictive accuracy of wall-modelled large-eddy simulation on unstructured grids

The predictive accuracy of wall-modelled LES is influenced by a combination of the subgrid model, the wall model, the numerical dissipation induced primarily by the convective numerical scheme, and also by the density and topology of the computational grid. The latter factor is of particular importance for industrial flow problems, where unstructured grids are typically employed due to the necessity to handle complex geometries. Here, a systematic simulation-based study is presented, investigating the effect of grid-cell type on the predictive accuracy of wall-modelled LES in the framework of a general-purpose finite-volume solver. Following standard practice for meshing near-wall regions, it is proposed to use prismatic cells. Three candidate shapes for the base of the prisms are considered: a triangle, a quadrilateral, and an arbitrary polygon. The cell-centre distance is proposed as a metric to determine the spatial resolution of grids with different cell types. The simulation campaign covers two test cases with attached boundary layers: fully-developed turbulent channel flow, and a zero-pressure-gradient flat-plate turbulent boundary layer. A grid construction strategy is employed, which adapts the grid metric to the outer length scale of the boundary layer. The results are compared with DNS data concerning mean wall shear stress and profiles of flow statistics. The principle outcome is that unstructured simulations may provide the same accuracy as simulations on structured orthogonal hexahedral grids. The choice of base shape of the near-wall cells has a significant impact on the computational cost, but in terms of accuracy appears to be a factor of secondary importance.

Wall-modeled large eddy simulation of turbulent heat transfer by the lattice Boltzmann method

A novel implementation route of the wall-function method to the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is proposed to extend the applicability of the LBM for high Reynolds number turbulent heat transfer in complex geometries. The proposed immersed virtual wall method assumes the virtual wall layer beneath the wall which satisfies the slip wall conditions allowing the subsurface heat and fluid flows within the solid wall. For the validation tests, the D3Q27 multiple-relaxation-time LBM and D3Q19 regularized LBM are used to simulate flow and scaler fields, respectively, and the standard log-law based wall-function method is used. Validation tests against turbulent flows in a two-dimensional channel, circular pipe, channel with two-dimensional constraints confirm that the developed method can deal with complex curvilinear walls and yield grid independent solution with satisfactory accuracy. In addition, the developed method can be applied from partially to highly underresolved conditions, and has a great potential in predicting high Prandtl number flows.