Some issues concerning large-eddy simulation of inertial particle dispersion in turbulent bounded flows

The problem of accurate Eulerian-Lagrangian modeling of inertial particle dispersion in large-eddy simulation (LES) of turbulent wall-bounded flows is addressed. We run direct numerical simulation (DNS) of turbulent channel flow at shear Reynolds number Re-tau=150 and corresponding a priori and a posteriori LES on two coarser grids. For each flow field, we tracked swarms of particles with different inertia to examine the behavior of particle statistics, specifically focusing on particle preferential segregation and accumulation at the wall. Our object is to discuss the necessity of a closure model for the particle equations when using LES and we verify if the influence of the subgrid turbulence filtered by LES is an important effect on particle motion according to particle size. The results show that well-resolved LES gives particle velocity statistics in satisfactory agreement with DNS. However, independent of the grid, quantitatively inaccurate predictions are obtained for local particle preferential segregation, particularly in the near-wall region. Inaccuracies are observed for the entire range of particle size considered in this study, even when the particle response time is much larger than the flow time scales not resolved in LES. The satisfactory behavior of LES in reproducing particle velocity statistics is thus counterbalanced by the inaccurate representation of local segregation phenomena, indicating that closure models supplying the particle motion equation with an adequate rendering of the flow field might be needed. Finally, we remark that recovering the level of fluid and particle velocity fluctuations in the particle equations does not ensure a quantitative replica of the subgrid turbulence effects, thus implying that accurate subgrid closure models for particles may require information also proportional to the higher-order moments of the velocity fluctuations. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.

Simulation of benchmark and industrial unsteady compressible turbulent fluid flows

Michele Mossi

Large-eddy simulation (LES) is a very promising technique for the numerical computation of unsteady turbulent flows, and seems to be the perfect tool to simulate the compressible air flow around a high-speed train in a tunnel, providing unsteady results for aerodynamic and aeroacoustic analysis. To look into this possible future application of LES, two major lines of investigation are pursued in this thesis: first, the study of the effective ability of shock-capturing schemes to predict fundamental turbulent phenomena; second, the analysis of the aerodynamic phenomena induced by a high-speed train in a tunnel. The numerical simulation of compressible flows requires the use of shock-capturing schemes. These schemes can be relatively dissipative and mask the subgrid-scale contribution introduced in a large-eddy simulation to account for the unresolved turbulence scales. To estimate their effective dissipation and their ability to resolve turbulence phenomena, shock-capturing schemes widely used for aeronautical applications, from second- to fifth-order space accuracy, are employed here for simulating well-known fundamental flows in subsonic and supersonic regimes. Direct and large-eddy numerical simulations are undertaken for the inviscid and viscous Taylor-Green vortex decay problem, the freely decaying homogeneous and isotropic turbulence, and the fully developed channel flow. For all the turbulent flows investigated, several turbulence statistics are computed and the numerical dissipation of the schemes tested is interpreted in terms of subgrid-scale dissipation in a LES context, yielding an equivalent Smagorinsky or dynamic coefficient. This coefficient is for all schemes of the same order of magnitude as the commonly accepted values in LES for the subgrid-scale term. On the grounds of this analysis and of the comparisons of the turbulence statistics with accurate data obtained in the literature, the addition of explicit subgrid-scale models to the shock-capturing schemes tested is not recommended. It is thus concluded that the use of the LES technique for compressible turbulent flows is not yet suitable for industrial applications. The aerodynamic phenomena generated by a high-speed train travelling in a tunnel are also discussed, their importance on the design of high-speed lies is pointed out, and the analysis tools commonly employed for their study are reviewed. To study numerically the three-dimensional, compressible and turbulent air flow around a high-speed train accelerating in a tunnel, by accounting for the unsteady effects at inlet and outlet boundaries due to the propagation of pressure waves generated at the train departure, new coupling conditions between one-dimensional and three-dimensional domains are developed. These conditions are applied successfully to the numerical simulation of the unsteady wake developing behind two- and three-dimensional vehicles, where the averaged Navier-Stokes equations are solved with the turbulence modelling approach. The influence on the wake of the length of the vehicle tail is also discussed and results of multi-dimensional simulations are compared with one-dimensional data.

EPFL1999

Simulation of benchmark and industrial unsteady compressible turbulent fluid flows

Michele Mossi

EPFL1999