A new subgrid scale model is proposed for Large Eddy Simulations in complex geometries. This model which is based on the square of the velocity gradient tensor accounts for the effects of both the strain and the rotation rate of the smallest resolved turbulent fluctuations. Moreover it recovers the proper y
3 near-wall scaling for the eddy viscosity without requiring dynamic procedure. It is also shown from a periodic turbulent pipe flow computation that the model can handle transition.

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Subgrid-scale stress modelling based on the square of the velocity gradient tensor

The identification issue of coherent vortices is investigated on the basis of direct numerical simulation (DNS) and large-eddy simulations (LES) of turbulent flows. It is first shown that the pressure Laplacian is positive within a low-pressure tube of small cross section enclosed by convex isobaric surfaces in a uniform-density flow. Since this quantity is related to the second invariant Q of ∇ u , the Q criterion (region where Q is positive) is a necessary condition for the existence of such tubes. This eduction scheme is compared to other classical methods in incompressible simulations of isotropic turbulence: a mixing layer, a channel flow and a backward-facing step. Q-isosurfaces turn out to display very nice coherent vortices. This criterion is also used in combination with a conditional sampling method to discuss the characteristics of quasi-longitudinal vortices in a manipulated channel flow. The contribution of near-wall vortical structures to velocity and vorticity fluctuations is clearly isolat...

On coherent-vortex identification in turbulence

Large-Eddy Simulation of the Shock/Turbulence Interaction

A power-law flame wrinkling model for LES of premixed turbulent combustion Part I: non-dynamic formulation and initial tests

The variational multiscale formulation of LES is applied to two-dimensional equilibrium and three-dimensional nonequilibrium channel flows. Simple, constant-coefficient Smagorinsky-type eddy viscosities, without wall damping functions, are used to model the decay of small scales, an approach which is not viable for wall-bounded flows within the traditional LES framework. Nevertheless, very good results are obtained.

Large eddy simulation of turbulent channel flows by the variational multiscale method

It is well known that subgrid models such as Smagorinsky's cannot be used for the spatially growing simulation of the transition to turbulence of flat-plate boundary layers, unless large-amplitude perturbations are introduced at the upstream boundary: they are over-dissipative, and the flow simulated remains laminar. This is also the case for the structure-function model (SF) of Metais & Lesieur (1992). In the present paper we present a sequel to this model, the filtered-structure-function (FSF) model. It consists of removing the large-scale fluctuations of the field before computing its second-order structure function. Analytical arguments confirm the superiority of the FSF model over the SF model for large-eddy simulations of weakly unstable transitional flows. The FSF model is therefore used for the simulation of a quasi-incompressible (M∞ = 0.5) boundary layer developing spatially over an adiabatic flat plate, with a low level of upstream forcing. With the minimal resolution 650 × 32 × 20 grid points covering a range of streamwise Reynolds numbers Rex1 e [3.4 × 105, 1.1 × 106], transition is obtained for 80 hours of time-processing on a CRAY 2 (whereas DNS of the whole transition takes about ten times longer). Statistics of the LES are found to be in acceptable agreement with experiments and empirical laws, in the laminar, transitional and turbulent parts of the domain. The dynamics of low-pressure and high-vorticity distributions is examined during transition, with particular emphasis on the neighbourhood of the critical layer (defined here as the height of the fluid travelling at a speed equal to the phase speed of the incoming Tollmien–Schlichting waves). Evidence is given that a subharmonic-type secondary instability grows, followed by a purely spanwise (i.e. time-independent) mode which yields peak-and-valley splitting and transition to turbulence. In the turbulent region, flow visualizations and local instantaneous profiles are provided. They confirm the presence of low- and high-speed streaks at the wall, weak hairpins stretched by the flow and bursting events. It is found that most of the vorticity is produced in the spanwise direction, at the wall, below the high-speed streaks. Isosurfaces of eddy viscosity confirm that the FSF model does not perturb transition much, and acts mostly in the vicinity of the hairpins.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/C277DE968A1FD929D3CB05FDBC434AAD/S0022112096008221a.pdf/div-class-title-large-eddy-simulation-of-transition-to-turbulence-in-a-boundary-layer-developing-spatially-over-a-flat-plate-div.pdf

Pierre Comte FréDÉRic Ducros

Papers

Large-eddy simulation of transition to turbulence in a boundary layer developing spatially over a flat plate