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Large eddy simulation of a developing turbulent boundary layer at a low Reynolds number
Author(s) -
Tsai H. M.,
Leslie D. C.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
international journal for numerical methods in fluids
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.938
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1097-0363
pISSN - 0271-2091
DOI - 10.1002/fld.1650100503
Subject(s) - boundary layer , mechanics , reynolds stress , reynolds number , boundary layer thickness , momentum (technical analysis) , large eddy simulation , turbulence , physics , classical mechanics , finance , economics
A spectral code has been used to simulate a developing turbulent boundary layer at low Reynolds number Re θ (based on free stream velocity and momentum thickness) between 353 and 576. The starting field was generated by allowing a step change of temperature to diffuse outwards from one wall in a fully developed channel flow. The thermal boundary layer so created was conditionally sampled to convert it into a momentum boundary layer with an irrotational free stream region, a process which is justified by appeal to experiments. This initial field was allowed to develop until the momentum boundary layer thickness δ 995 had grown to about 1·5 times its original thickness. The results of the simulation have been compared with a wide range of experimental data. The outcome of this comparison is generally very satisfactory; the main trends of the experiments are well reproduced and our simulation supplements and extends the existing sets of experimental data. The simulation also gives pressure statistics which cannot be obtained experimentally. In particular, it gives the contribution of pressure diffusion to the balance equations for the Reynolds stress and indicates the error produced by omitting this term.