Outline

Introduction to turbulence
Modelling turbulent flows
Reynolds Averaging Navier-Stokes (RANS)
Models
Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS)
Large Eddy Simulation (LES)
Summary
 Introduction to turbulence
• Most flows in nature and in engineering applications are turbulent.
• Turbulent flows exhibit three-dimensional,, unsteady,y, fluctuatingg
motion.
• Turbulence enhances mixing of momentum, heat and species.
• Turbulence mixing acts to dissipate momentum and the kinetic energy
in the flow by viscosity acting to reduce velocity gradients..

u' t 
u
u  u  u ' t 
u

Time
 Turbulence Modeling:
g Objectives
j
• Physics of turbulence is quite complex
• For engineering
F i i applications,
li i the
h objective
bj i is i to first
fi obtain
b i a basic
b i
understanding of turbulence and then model the phenomenon (often
semi-empirically) to predict the most important quantities such as
effective drag (or shear stress) and heat transfer rate (or Nusselt
number).
• Traditionally, engineers had to depend solely on experiments for
Traditionally
estimating turbulence related quantities. However, even now,
experiments are required to accurately determine some of the constants
(or coefficients) required in modelling.
• In some applications turbulence is desirable (such as in fluid mixing,
heat transfer), while in many cases we need to minimize (or avoid)
turbulence. Modelling allows us to design and optimize engineering
systems in a cost effective manner.
Modeling Techniques in Turbulent Flows

• Turbulent flows can be modeled in a variety of ways. With increasing

levels of complexity they are:
– Correlations (derived entirely from experiments)
• Moody’s chart, Nusselt number correlations
– Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) equations
• Average the equations of motion over time
• Requires closure
– Large Eddy Simulation
Si i (LES)
( S)
• Solve Navier-Stokes equations for large scale motions of the
flow. Model only the small scale motions
– Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS)
• Navier-Stokes equations solved for all motions in the turbulent
flow, upto the smallest eddy scale
 Turbulence Modeling
Approaches
Empirical (Zero-Equation Models)

One-Equation Models

More Physics,
Two-Equation Models
more intensive Standard k-
computationally
t ti ll RNG k-
Second-order closure
Reynolds-Stress Model

Large-Eddy Simulation

Direct Numerical Simulation

 Reynolds
y Averaged
g Navier-Stokes
(RANS) Models
• In many engineering applications, resolving the turbulence flow
structure is not very important.
• Rather, it is suffice to obtain key flow quantities of engineering
interest (such as wall shear stress, Nusselt number, time
averaged velocity and pressure distribution etc.)
• The approach would be to solve Navier Stokes equation at a
coarse grid (much larger than the turbulence eddy scale), but
model the turbulence by averaging the unsteadiness.
• This averaging process creates terms that cannot be solved
analytically but must be modeled. This is the basis of RANS
model.
 RANS Equations
• Velocity
V l it or any scalar
l quantity
tit can be
b resolved
l d into
i t a mean (time
(ti
averaged) value and a fluctuating component, as follows:

     ' t 
• The eddy effects of all scales are hidden in the fluctuating component
• Using
g the above relationshipp for velocity(let
y( f = u)) in the Navier-Stokes
equations gives

  u i     u u j 
  
u i u j   u i u j  
 
p


   i  
t x j xi x j   x j xi 
• This term
Thi t is
i called
ll d the
th Reynolds
R ld Stress
St i which
in hi h the
th eddy
dd effects
ff t are
hidden, but no separate equations are available at the macroscopic
scale. Hence the above equation is not closed. Closure involves
modeling the Reynolds Stresses.
Stresses
 Closure of RANS equations
• The RANS equations contain more unknowns than
equations.
• The unknowns are the Reynolds Stress terms.
• Closure Models are:
• zero-equation
ti turbulence
b l models
d l
– Mixing length model (no transport equation used)
• one-equation turbulence models
– transport equation
i modelled
d ll d for
f turbulent
b l kinetic
ki i energy k
• two-equation models
– transport equation modelled for turbulent kinetic energy k and its
eddy dissipation rate ε
• second-order closure
– Reynolds Stress Model
– does
d nott use Bousinesq
B i approximation
i ti as first-order
fi t d closure
l
models
Modeling
g Turbulent Stresses in Two-
Equation Models
 RANS equations require closure for Reynolds stresses and the
effect of turbulence can be represented as an eddy viscosity

 
Boussinesq Hypothesis:   u u    2 k    ui  u j 
i j ij t 
3  x j xi 
k2
Turbulent Viscosity: t  C

 The turbulent viscosity is correlated with turbulent kinetic energy k
and the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy ε
 Turbulent kinetic energy and
dissipation
• Transport equations for turbulent kinetic energy and its
di i i rate are solved
dissipation l d so that
h turbulent
b l viscosity
i i can be
b
computed for RANS equations.

Turbulent Dissipation Rate of

Kinetic Energy: Turbulent Kinetic Energy:

ui  ui u j 
k  uiui  uxux  uyuy  uzuz 
1 1     
2 2 xj  xj xi 
 St d d k-ε
Standard k Model
M d l
Turbulent Kinetic Energy

k  U j Ui  U j   k 
Ui  t     (t  k )   
xi  
xi x j  xi xi  xi 

 
     Dissipation
Convection Generation Diffusion

Dissipation Rate

     U j Ui  U j     2 
Ui  C1   t  

 (t  )   C2  
xi  k   xi xj  xi xi  xi   k

          
Convection Generation Diffusion Destruction

 k ,  , C1 , C2 are empirical constants

 Some notes on the k-ε model

• The two-equation
q k-ε model based on the eddyy
viscosity approximation provides excellent
predictions for many flows of engineering interest.
• However, this model does not work well for high
strain rates , separated flows and strongly 3D
flows
fl
• The RNG k-ε model is an improvement over the
standard
t d d k- k ε for
f th
these classes
l off flow
fl byb
incorporating the influence of additional strains
rates A higher
rates. higher-order
order closure approximation can
be also applied .
 k- Model
RNG k
Turbulent Kinetic Energy

k  k  where
Ui   S  k eff   
2
 1Uj Ui 
 t
xi Generation xi  xi  S 2SijjSijj, Sijj  

   Dissipation
p
2 xi xj 

Convection Diffusion

Dissipation
p Rate

         2

Ui  C1   t S   eff   C2    
2
R
xi  
 k 
 xi  xi   k  Additional

     Additi l tterm
Convection Generation related to mean strain
Diffusion Destruction
& turbulence quantities

k, ,C1 ,C2 are derived using RNG theory

 Second-Order Closure models
• The Second-Order Closure Models include the effects of
streamline curvature, sudden changes in strain rate, secondary
motions, separated or vortex flows etc.
• This class of models is more complex and computationally
intensive than the RANS models
• The Reynolds-Stress Model (RSM) is a second-order closure
model and gives rise to 6 Reynolds stress equations and the
dissipation rate equation
Reynolds Stress Transport Equation
Rij Jijk
Uk  Pij  ij  ij 
xk xk
Convection Diffusion
Pressure-Strain
Pressure Strain
Generation redistribution Dissipation
 Reynolds Stress Model

 U j Ui 
Generation Pij    uiuk  u j uk  ((computed)
p )
 xk xk 

Pressure-Strain  u u j 
 ij   p i   (modeled)
Redistribution  x 
 j xi 
ui u j
Dissipation  ij  2  (related to )
xk xk

J ijk  pui jk  pu j ik   ui u j u k (modeled)

Turbulent    
Diffusion Pressure/velocityy Turbulent
fluctuations transport
Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS)
• In DNS, the full Navier Stokes equations are solved,
with
ith grid
id sizes
i small
ll enoughh to
t resolve
l smallest
ll t scales
l
of turbulence, called ``Kolmogorov scale”.
• DNS is the most exact approach to modeling
turbulence since no averaging is done or
approximations are made
• The grid size depends on the Reynolds number. The
larger the Re, the smaller the grid size required. A
DNS simulation
i l ti scales l withith Re
R L3 (u
( ´L/
L/n)) where
h Re R L~
0.01Re. Turbulent flow past a cylinder would require
at least ((0.01 × 20,000)
, )3 or 8 million cells
 DNS (contd.)
(contd )
• Given the ppresent computational
p resources
available, only very low to modest Reynolds
number flows with simple geometries are possible.
• Advantages: Gives insight into turbulent flow
with proper physics; can be used for bench-
marking
ki otherh turbulence
b l models.
d l
• Disadvantages: Computationally intensive;
li it d to
limited t simple
i l geometries
t i andd low
l Reynolds
R ld
number flows.
 LES (contd.)
(contd )
DNS u
DNS
LES
LES

• LES is a three dimensional, time dependent

p and computationally
p y
expensive simulation, though not as expensive as DNS.
• LES solves the large scale eddies and models the small scale eddies of
the turbulent flow.
• Large scale eddies contain most of the flow energy, hence responsible
for the transport of conserved properties.
 LES (contd.)
• The large scale components of the flow field are “filtered”
from the small scale components using a wavelength
criteria related to the size of the eddies
• The filter produces the following equation and used to
model the small scale motions



  ui    ui u j 
p

   ui u j 
   
t x j xi x j   x j xi 
– Where
Wh ui u j  ui u j
• The inequality is then modeled as
 
 ij    u i u j  u i u j
ij is called the subgrid scale Reynolds Stress. Different
subgrid scale models are available to approximate ij .
 Summary
• Turbulent flows exist in a wide range of Reynolds number
and with varying degrees of complexity
complexity.
• For solving most engineering problems, RANS models turns
out to be the most ppractical ones. However, these methods
do not reveal the flow physics adequately, and are not
effective for complex flows.
• DNS and LES predict the flow physics better,
better but are yet to
be used regularly as engineering tools. In the near future,
these methods hold a lot of promise.
 MODULE 8 Review Questions
• Explain why normal CFD techniques are unable to capture the fluctuations
in turbulent flow? How small should the ggrid sizes be in order to do so?
• Explain the physical significance of Reynolds’ stress.
• Explain the physics behind the RANS model. Why is closure required for
suchh models?
d l ? How
H is i the
th closure
l introduced?
i t d d? Can C turbulent
t b l t flow
fl structures
t t
be predicted using such models?
• In k-ε turbulence modelling, how are the coefficients obtained? Can those
coefficients be applicable for all kinds of flows?
• How accurate are k-ε models in predicting wall shear stress and mean flow?
Explain how RNG kk-εε model provides an improvement in prediction.
• State the additional features of Second-Order Closure Models.
• How do you choose the grid sizes in Direct Numerical Simulation?
• In LES, how are the small eddies modeled?
• On what basis is “filtering” performed in LES?