The numerical computation of turbulent flows

Fundamental Principles Laminar Boundary Layer Flow Laminar Duct Flow External Natural Convection Internal Natural Convection Transition to Turbulence Turbulent Boundary Layer Flow Turbulent Duct Flow Free Turbulent Flows Convection with Change of Phase Mass Transfer Convection in Porous Media.

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Convection Heat Transfer

A theoretical framework is proposed for the analysis of adhesion between cells or of cells to surfaces when the adhesion is mediated by reversible bonds between specific molecules such as antigen and antibody, lectin and carbohydrate, or enzyme and substrate. From a knowledge of the reaction rates for reactants in solution and of their diffusion constants both in solution and on membranes, it is possible to estimate reaction rates for membrane-bound reactants. Two models are developed for predicting the rate of bond formation between cells and are compared with experiments. The force required to separate two cells is shown to be greater than the expected electrical forces between cells, and of the same order of magnitude as the forces required to pull gangliosides and perhaps some integral membrane proteins out of the cell membrane.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/200/4342/618.full.pdf

Models for the specific adhesion of cells to cells

It is shown that a sphere moving through a very viscous liquid with velocity V relative to a uniform simple shear, the translation velocity being parallel to the streamlines and measured relative to the streamline through the centre, experiences a lift force 81·2μVa2k½/v½ + smaller terms perpendicular to the flow direction, which acts to deflect the particle towards the streamlines moving in the direction opposite to V. Here, a denotes the radius of the sphere, κ the magnitude of the velocity gradient, and μ and v the viscosity and kinematic viscosity, respectively. The relevance of the result to the observations by Segree & Silberberg (1962) of small spheres in Poiseuille flow is discussed briefly. Comments are also made about the problem of a sphere in a parabolic velocity profile and the functional dependence of the lift upon the parameters is obtained.

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The lift on a small sphere in a slow shear flow

A comprehensive and critical review of closure approximations for two-equation turbulence models has been made. Particular attention has focused on the scale-determining equation in an attempt to find the optimum choice of dependent variable and closure approximations. Using a combination of singular perturbation methods and numerical computations, this paper demonstrates that: 1) conventional A:-e and A>w formulations generally are inaccurate for boundary layers in adverse pressure gradient; 2) using "wall functions'' tends to mask the shortcomings of such models; and 3) a more suitable choice of dependent variables exists that is much more accurate for adverse pressure gradient. Based on the analysis, a two-equation turbulence model is postulated that is shown to be quite accurate for attached boundary layers in adverse pressure gradient, compressible boundary layers, and free shear flows. With no viscous damping of the model's closure coefficients and without the aid of wall functions, the model equations can be integrated through the viscous sublayer. Surface boundary conditions are presented that permit accurate predictions for flow over rough surfaces and for flows with surface mass addition.

Reassessment of the scale-determining equation for advanced turbulence models

When a viscous fluid filling the voids in a porous medium is driven forwards by the pressure of another driving fluid, the interface between them is liable to be unstable if the driving fluid is the less viscous of the two. This condition occurs in oil fields. To describe the normal modes of small disturbances from a plane interface and their rate of growth, it is necessary to know, or to assume one knows, the conditions which must be satisfied at the interface. The simplest assumption, that the fluids remain completely separated along a definite interface, leads to formulae which are analogous to known expressions developed by scientists working in the oil industry, and also analogous to expressions representing the instability of accelerated interfaces between fluids of different densities. In the latter case the instability develops into round-ended fingers of less dense fluid penetrating into the more dense one. Experiments in which a viscous fluid confined between closely spaced parallel sheets of glass, a Hele-Shaw cell, is driven out by a less viscous one reveal a similar state. The motion in a Hele-Shaw cell is mathematically analogous to two-dimensional flow in a porous medium.
Analysis which assumes continuity of pressure through the interface shows that a flow is possible in which equally spaced fingers advance steadily. The ratio λ = (width of finger)/(spacing of fingers) appears as the parameter in a singly infinite set of such motions, all of which appear equally possible. Experiments in which various fluids were forced into a narrow Hele-Shaw cell showed that single fingers can be produced, and that unless the flow is very slow λ = (width of finger)/(width of channel) is close to , so that behind the tips of the advancing fingers the widths of the two columns of fluid are equal. When λ = 1/2 the calculated form of the fingers is very close to that which is registered photographically in the Hele-Shaw cell, but at very slow speeds where the measured value of λ increased from 1/2 to the limit 1.0 as the speed decreased to zero, there were considerable differences. Assuming that these might be due to surface tension, experiments were made in which a fluid of small viscosity, air or water, displaced a much more viscous oil. It is to be expected in that case that λ would be a function of μU/T only, where μ is the viscosity, U the speed of advance and T the interfacial tension. This was verified using air as the less viscous fluid penetrating two oils of viscosities 0.30 and 4.5 poises.

The Penetration of a Fluid into a Porous Medium or Hele-Shaw Cell Containing a More Viscous Liquid

Brownian motion (diffusion) of particles in membranes occurs in a highly anisotropic environment. For such particles a translational mobility (independent of velocity) can be defined if the viscosity of the liquid embedding the membrane is taken into account. The results of a model calculation are presented. They suggest that for a realistic situation translational diffusion should be about four times faster in relation to rotational diffusion than in the isotropic case.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/72/8/3111.full.pdf

Brownian motion in biological membranes

This paper proposes a theory of collisions between small drops in a turbulent fluid which takes into account collisions between equal drops. The drops considered are much smaller than the small eddies of the turbulence and so the collision rates depend only on the dimensions of the drops, the rate of energy dissipation e and the kinematic viscosity v. Reasons are given for believing that the collision rate due to the spatial variations of turbulent velocity is shown to be N = 1.30(r_1 + r_2)^2(n_1n_2)(e | v)^(1/2), valid for r_1|r_2between one and two. A numerical integration has been performed using this expression to show how an initially uniform distribution will change because of collisions. An approximate calculation is then made to take account also of collisions which occur between drops of different inertia because of the action of gravity and the turbulent accelerations. 

The results are applied to the case of small drops in atmospheric clouds to test the importance of turbulence in initiating rainfall. Estimates of e are made for typical conditions and these are used to calculate the initial rates of collision, the change in mean properties and the rate of production of large drops. It is concluded that the effects of turbulence in clouds of the layer type should be small, but that moderate amounts of turbulence in cumulus clouds could be effective in broadening the drop size distribution in nearly uniform clouds where only the spatial variations of velocity are important. In heterogeneous clouds the collision rates are increased, and the effects due to the inertia of the drop soon become predominant. The effect of turbulence in causing collisions between unequal drops becomes comparable with that of gravity when e is about 2000 cm^2 sec^(−3).

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On the collision of drops in turbulent clouds

The structure of the intense-vorticity regions is studied in numerically simulated homogeneous, isotropic, equilibrium turbulent flow fields at four different Reynolds numbers, in the range Re, = 35-170. In accordance with previous investigators this vorticity is found to be organized in coherent, cylindrical or ribbon-like, vortices (‘worms’). A statistical study suggests that they are simply especially intense features of the background, O(o’), vorticity. Their radii scale with the Kolmogorov microscale and their lengths with the integral scale of the flow. An interesting observation is that the Reynolds number y/v, based on the circulation of the intense vortices, increases monotonically with ReA, raising the question of the stability of the structures in the limit of Re, --z co. Conversely, the average rate of stretching of these vortices increases only slowly with their peak vorticity, suggesting that self-stretching is not important in their evolution. One- and two-dimensional statistics of vorticity and strain are presented; they are non-Gaussian and the behaviour of their tails depends strongly on the Reynolds number. There is no evidence of convergence to a limiting distribution in this range of Re,, even though the energy spectra and the energy dissipation rate show good asymptotic properties in the higher-Reynolds-number cases. Evidence is presented to show that worms are natural features of the flow and that they do not depend on the particular forcing scheme.

/pdf/the-structure-of-intense-vorticity-in-isotropic-turbulence-2ruhxp7i29.pdf

Philip Geoffrey Saffman

Papers

The lift on a small sphere in a slow shear flow

The Penetration of a Fluid into a Porous Medium or Hele-Shaw Cell Containing a More Viscous Liquid

Brownian motion in biological membranes

On the collision of drops in turbulent clouds

The structure of intense vorticity in isotropic turbulence