Lecture-04 - Turbulence Modelling(1)

MEE 514 – Computational Fluid Dynamics
1
Lecture 4
Turbulence and its Modelling
Dr Gilbert Accary
OUTLINES
 What is turbulence?
 Transition from laminar to turbulent flow
 Characteristic scales and energy cascade
 Effect of turbulence on Navier-Stokes equations
 Characteristics of simple turbulent flows
 Turbulence models overview
2
WHAT IS TURBULENCE?
 Re > Recrit  Flow behavior is chaotic and random
𝑢 𝑡
 Characteristics 𝑢 𝑡
• 3D 𝑢′ 𝑡
• Wide range of length
𝑢
and time scales
• Effective mixing 𝑢 𝑡 𝑢+𝑢′ 𝑡 3
𝑡
• Highly rotational 𝑡
RICHARDSON’S DEFINITION OF TURBULENCE
 Turbulence consists of different eddies (flow structure)
 The largest turbulent eddies extract energy from the
mean flow by a process called vortex stretching
 Large eddies tend to breakdown to smaller eddies
 The smallest eddies are isotropic
4
KOLMOGOROV’S EQUILIBRIUM THEORY
 The rate of energy transfer from large eddies must
be in the order of energy dissipation from the small
eddies to heat
 The smallest eddy must be at the length and velocity
scale at which viscous force is at least as important
as the convection force.
 The Reynolds number of the smallest eddies (scale of
Kolmogorov) is Rek  1
5
SCALES & ENERGY CASCADE
 Taylor scale
• Length: l0
• Velocity: 𝑢’ 𝐼. 𝑈
𝐼 = turbulent intensity
𝑈 = mean velocity
• Time: 𝑡0 𝑙0/𝑢’
𝑢’𝑙0
• Reynolds: 𝑅𝑒𝑙
𝜈
 Kolmogorov scale
• Length: 𝑙𝑘
• Velocity: 𝑢𝑘 Energy transfer rate
• Time: 𝑡𝑘 𝑙𝑘 /𝑢𝑘
𝑢 𝑘 𝑙𝑘 6
• Reynolds: 𝑅𝑒𝑘 1
𝜈
SCALES & ENERGY CASCADE (CONT.)
 Dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy ε is the

at all scales.
 At the largest scale, it is:
At smallest scale, it is:
 So
 At the viscous scale (Kolmogorov scale) convection

term is in the same order as diffusion term.
𝑢 𝑘 𝑙𝑘 𝑙 𝑘2 𝑙𝑘 2 𝑢𝑘2
𝑅𝑒𝑘 1, so 𝑅𝑒𝑘  1 → 𝑡𝑘  → ε  𝜈 2
𝜈 𝑡𝑘 𝜈 𝜈 𝑙𝑘 7
SCALES & ENERGY CASCADE (CONT.)
 At Kolmogorov scale:
since
 At the largest scale:
 So
where
8
DNS (DIRECT NUMERICAL SIMULATION)
Problem length and time scales: l0 and t0 (Taylor scale)
To conduct a 3D unsteady
DNS of a turbulent flow
(to Kolmogorov scale)
lk
CV size: x ~
10
tk
Time step: t ~
10
u, v, w, p  f (x, y, z, t)
9
DNS COST
 Memory ~ N3
t0
 Run time ~ N 3
t
 Example: DNS cost at 𝑅𝑒 10
Memory ~ 10 grid points!
Run time ~ 10 CPU time / timestep!
Moderate Re (~ 103) High Re (~ 107)
10
DNS is possible DNS is impossible
TURBULENCE MODELLING
Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) 11

CFD OF A TURBULENT JET
DNS
LES
RANS
12
FIELDS VARIABLES FILTERING
 We define the mean  of a flow property  as:
By definition
 Information regarding fluctuating part of the flow is obtained

from the root-mean-square (rms) of the fluctuations:
13
REYNOLDS-AVERAGED NAVIER-STOKES EQUATIONS
Reynolds Stress
Need to be modeled (Closure Problem)
14
EXAMPLE - PLANAR TURBULENT JET
15
FLAT PLATE BOUNDARY LAYER
 Average velocity profile:
 Using dimensional analysis:
Friction velocity:
𝑈(𝑦)
In the viscous sub-layer,

𝑈 𝜏 16
𝜏 𝜇 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡. → 𝑈 𝑦→𝑢 𝑦
𝑦 𝜇
FLAT PLATE BOUNDARY LAYER (CONT.)
𝜅 0.4 (von Karman’s constant)

E = 9.8 (for smooth walls)
Viscous
sub-layer Log-law
𝒚 ~11.25
17
TURBULENCE MODELS
 The most common turbulence models:
 The classical models use the Reynolds equations (RANS)

→ most CFD codes
 Large eddy simulations (LES): Space-filtered equations
are solved for the mean flow and large eddies. Eddies
smaller than the filter size (assumed to be isotropic) are
accounted for using a simple model. 18
It requires a relatively fine mesh (Costly)
TURBULENT VISCOSITY CONCEPT
 Turbulent stresses increase with mean rate of deformation
(Boussinesq in 1877)
t is the turbulent or eddy viscosity (varies in space)

 As if the viscosity of the fluid is eff =  + t
 By analogy turbulent transport of a scalar:
We introduce a turbulent Prandtl number:

In most CFD applications: t ~ 1
19
COMMON RANS MODELS
 Mixing length models attempt to describe the stresses by
means of simple formulae for t as a function of the position
 In the k model, 2 transport equations are solved: one for
the turbulent kinetic energy k and a one for the dissipation
of turbulent kinetic energy 
Turbulence intensity:
(turb turbulence-decay time scale)
For both these models, we assume t is isotropic, which

fails in many categories of flows
 In Reynolds stress equation models (2nd order closure
models), 6 transport equations are solved (one for each
Reynolds stress) + one equation for  20

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MEE 514 – Computational Fluid Dynamics

 Dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy ε is the

At smallest scale, it is:

 At the viscous scale (Kolmogorov scale) convection

 At the largest scale:

Problem length and time scales: l0 and t0 (Taylor scale)

Moderate Re (~ 103) High Re (~ 107)

Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) 11

 We define the mean  of a flow property  as:

 Information regarding fluctuating part of the flow is obtained

Need to be modeled (Closure Problem)

 Using dimensional analysis:

In the viscous sub-layer,

𝜅 0.4 (von Karman’s constant)

 The classical models use the Reynolds equations (RANS)

t is the turbulent or eddy viscosity (varies in space)

 By analogy turbulent transport of a scalar:

We introduce a turbulent Prandtl number:

(turb turbulence-decay time scale)

For both these models, we assume t is isotropic, which

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