scholarly journals Turbulent plane Couette flow at moderately high Reynolds number

2014 ◽  
Vol 751 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Avsarkisov ◽  
S. Hoyas ◽  
M. Oberlack ◽  
J. P. García-Galache

AbstractA new set of numerical simulations of turbulent plane Couette flow in a large box of dimension ($\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}20\pi h,\, 2h,\, 6\pi h$) at Reynolds number $(\mathit{Re}_{\tau }) =125$, 180, 250 and 550 is described and compared with simulations at lower Reynolds numbers, Poiseuille flows and experiments. The simulations present a logarithmic near-wall layer and are used to verify and revise previously known results. It is confirmed that the fluctuation intensities in the streamwise and spanwise directions do not scale well in wall units. The scaling failure occurs both near to and away from the wall. On the contrary, the wall-normal intensity scales in inner units in the near-wall region and in outer units in the core region. The spectral ridge found by Hoyas & Jiménez (Phys. Fluids, vol. 18, 2003, 011702) for the turbulent Poiseuille flow can also be seen in the present flow. Away from the wall, very large-scale motions are found spanning through all the length of the channel. The statistics of these simulations can be downloaded from the webpage of the Chair of Fluid Dynamics.

Author(s):  
W. J. Baars ◽  
N. Hutchins ◽  
I. Marusic

Small-scale velocity fluctuations in turbulent boundary layers are often coupled with the larger-scale motions. Studying the nature and extent of this scale interaction allows for a statistically representative description of the small scales over a time scale of the larger, coherent scales. In this study, we consider temporal data from hot-wire anemometry at Reynolds numbers ranging from Re τ ≈2800 to 22 800, in order to reveal how the scale interaction varies with Reynolds number. Large-scale conditional views of the representative amplitude and frequency of the small-scale turbulence, relative to the large-scale features, complement the existing consensus on large-scale modulation of the small-scale dynamics in the near-wall region. Modulation is a type of scale interaction, where the amplitude of the small-scale fluctuations is continuously proportional to the near-wall footprint of the large-scale velocity fluctuations. Aside from this amplitude modulation phenomenon, we reveal the influence of the large-scale motions on the characteristic frequency of the small scales, known as frequency modulation. From the wall-normal trends in the conditional averages of the small-scale properties, it is revealed how the near-wall modulation transitions to an intermittent-type scale arrangement in the log-region. On average, the amplitude of the small-scale velocity fluctuations only deviates from its mean value in a confined temporal domain, the duration of which is fixed in terms of the local Taylor time scale. These concentrated temporal regions are centred on the internal shear layers of the large-scale uniform momentum zones, which exhibit regions of positive and negative streamwise velocity fluctuations. With an increasing scale separation at high Reynolds numbers, this interaction pattern encompasses the features found in studies on internal shear layers and concentrated vorticity fluctuations in high-Reynolds-number wall turbulence. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Toward the development of high-fidelity models of wall turbulence at large Reynolds number’.


2013 ◽  
Vol 731 ◽  
pp. 46-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. J. Rosenberg ◽  
M. Hultmark ◽  
M. Vallikivi ◽  
S. C. C. Bailey ◽  
A. J. Smits

AbstractWell-resolved streamwise velocity spectra are reported for smooth- and rough-wall turbulent pipe flow over a large range of Reynolds numbers. The turbulence structure far from the wall is seen to be unaffected by the roughness, in accordance with Townsend’s Reynolds number similarity hypothesis. Moreover, the energy spectra within the turbulent wall region follow the classical inner and outer scaling behaviour. While an overlap region between the two scalings and the associated${ k}_{x}^{- 1} $law are observed near${R}^{+ } \approx 3000$, the${ k}_{x}^{- 1} $behaviour is obfuscated at higher Reynolds numbers due to the evolving energy content of the large scales (the very-large-scale motions, or VLSMs). We apply a semi-empirical correction (del Álamo & Jiménez,J. Fluid Mech., vol. 640, 2009, pp. 5–26) to the experimental data to estimate how Taylor’s frozen field hypothesis distorts the pseudo-spatial spectra inferred from time-resolved measurements. While the correction tends to suppress the long wavelength peak in the logarithmic layer spectrum, the peak nonetheless appears to be a robust feature of pipe flow at high Reynolds number. The inertial subrange develops around${R}^{+ } \gt 2000$where the characteristic${ k}_{x}^{- 5/ 3} $region is evident, which, for high Reynolds numbers, persists in the wake and logarithmic regions. In the logarithmic region, the streamwise wavelength of the VLSM peak scales with distance from the wall, which is in contrast to boundary layers, where the superstructures have been shown to scale with boundary layer thickness throughout the entire shear layer. Moreover, the similarity in the streamwise wavelength scaling of the large- and very-large-scale motions supports the notion that the two are physically interdependent.


2011 ◽  
Vol 666 ◽  
pp. 573-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. GUALA ◽  
M. METZGER ◽  
B. J. McKEON

Simultaneous streamwise velocity measurements across the vertical direction obtained in the atmospheric surface layer (Reτ ≃ 5 × 105) under near thermally neutral conditions are used to outline and quantify interactions between the scales of turbulence, from the very-large-scale motions to the dissipative scales. Results from conditioned spectra, joint probability density functions and conditional averages show that the signature of very-large-scale oscillations can be found across the whole wall region and that these scales interact with the near-wall turbulence from the energy-containing eddies to the dissipative scales, most strongly in a layer close to the wall, z+ ≲ 103. The scale separation achievable in the atmospheric surface layer appears to be a key difference from the low-Reynolds-number picture, in which structures attached to the wall are known to extend through the full wall-normal extent of the boundary layer. A phenomenological picture of very-large-scale motions coexisting and interacting with structures from the hairpin paradigm is provided here for the high-Reynolds-number case. In particular, it is inferred that the hairpin-packet conceptual model may not be exhaustively representative of the whole wall region, but only of a near-wall layer of z+ = O(103), where scale interactions are mostly confined.


2014 ◽  
Vol 758 ◽  
pp. 327-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Pirozzoli ◽  
Matteo Bernardini ◽  
Paolo Orlandi

AbstractWe investigate the behaviour of the canonical turbulent Couette flow at computationally high Reynolds number through a series of large-scale direct numerical simulations. We achieve a Reynolds number $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}\mathit{Re}_{\tau } = h/\delta _v \approx 1000$, where $h$ is the channel half-height and $\delta _v$ is the viscous length scale at which some phenomena representative of the asymptotic Reynolds-number regime manifest themselves. While a logarithmic mean velocity profile is found to provide a reasonable fit of the data, including the skin friction, closer scrutiny shows that deviations from the log law are systematic, and probably increasing at higher Reynolds numbers. The Reynolds stress distribution shows the formation of a secondary outer peak in the streamwise velocity variance, which is associated with significant excess of turbulent production as compared to the local dissipation. This excess is related to the formation of large-scale streaks and rollers, which are responsible for a substantial fraction of the turbulent shear stress in the channel core, and for significant increase of the turbulence intermittency in the near-wall region.


Author(s):  
Michael Leschziner ◽  
Ning Li ◽  
Fabrizio Tessicini

This paper provides a discussion of several aspects of the construction of approaches that combine statistical (Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes, RANS) models with large eddy simulation (LES), with the objective of making LES an economically viable method for predicting complex, high Reynolds number turbulent flows. The first part provides a review of alternative approaches, highlighting their rationale and major elements. Next, two particular methods are introduced in greater detail: one based on coupling near-wall RANS models to the outer LES domain on a single contiguous mesh, and the other involving the application of the RANS and LES procedures on separate zones, the former confined to a thin near-wall layer. Examples for their performance are included for channel flow and, in the case of the zonal strategy, for three separated flows. Finally, a discussion of prospects is given, as viewed from the writer's perspective.


1998 ◽  
Vol 358 ◽  
pp. 357-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. NAGATA

The stability of nonlinear tertiary solutions in rotating plane Couette flow is examined numerically. It is found that the tertiary flows, which bifurcate from two-dimensional streamwise vortex flows, are stable within a certain range of the rotation rate when the Reynolds number is relatively small. The stability boundary is determined by perturbations which are subharmonic in the streamwise direction. As the Reynolds number is increased, the rotation range for the stable tertiary motions is destroyed gradually by oscillatory instabilities. We expect that the tertiary flow is overtaken by time-dependent motions for large Reynolds numbers. The results are compared with the recent experimental observation by Tillmark & Alfredsson (1996).


2019 ◽  
Vol 862 ◽  
pp. 1029-1059 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Yang ◽  
Ashley P. Willis ◽  
Yongyun Hwang

A new set of exact coherent states in the form of a travelling wave is reported in plane channel flow. They are continued over a range in $Re$ from approximately $2600$ up to $30\,000$, an order of magnitude higher than those discovered in the transitional regime. This particular type of exact coherent states is found to be gradually more localised in the near-wall region on increasing the Reynolds number. As larger spanwise sizes $L_{z}^{+}$ are considered, these exact coherent states appear via a saddle-node bifurcation with a spanwise size of $L_{z}^{+}\simeq 50$ and their phase speed is found to be $c^{+}\simeq 11$ at all the Reynolds numbers considered. Computation of the eigenspectra shows that the time scale of the exact coherent states is given by $h/U_{cl}$ in channel flow at all Reynolds numbers, and it becomes equivalent to the viscous inner time scale for the exact coherent states in the limit of $Re\rightarrow \infty$. The exact coherent states at several different spanwise sizes are further continued to a higher Reynolds number, $Re=55\,000$, using the eddy-viscosity approach (Hwang & Cossu, Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 105, 2010, 044505). It is found that the continued exact coherent states at different sizes are self-similar at the given Reynolds number. These observations suggest that, on increasing Reynolds number, new sets of self-sustaining coherent structures are born in the near-wall region. Near this onset, these structures scale in inner units, forming the near-wall self-sustaining structures. With further increase of Reynolds number, the structures that emerged at lower Reynolds numbers subsequently evolve into the self-sustaining structures in the logarithmic region at different length scales, forming a hierarchy of self-similar coherent structures as hypothesised by Townsend (i.e. attached eddy hypothesis). Finally, the energetics of turbulent flow is discussed for a consistent extension of these dynamical systems notions to high Reynolds numbers.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document