scholarly journals Statistical modelling and direct numerical simulations of decaying stably stratified turbulence. Part 2. Large-scale and small-scale anisotropy

2003 ◽  
Vol 486 ◽  
pp. 115-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. S. GODEFERD ◽  
C. STAQUET
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulations ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Statistical Modelling ◽  
Direct Numerical Simulations ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Stratified Turbulence

scholarly journals Scaling analysis and simulation of strongly stratified turbulent flows

2007 ◽  
Vol 585 ◽  
pp. 343-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. BRETHOUWER ◽  
P. BILLANT ◽  
E. LINDBORG ◽  
J.-M. CHOMAZ
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Numerical Simulations ◽  
Turbulent Flows ◽  
Scaling Laws ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Direct Numerical Simulations ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Scaling Analysis ◽  
Length Scale ◽  
Stratified Turbulence

Direct numerical simulations of stably and strongly stratified turbulent flows with Reynolds number Re ≫ 1 and horizontal Froude number Fh ≪ 1 are presented. The results are interpreted on the basis of a scaling analysis of the governing equations. The analysis suggests that there are two different strongly stratified regimes according to the parameter $\mathcal{R} \,{=}\, \hbox{\it Re} F^2_h$. When $\mathcal{R} \,{\gg}\, 1$, viscous forces are unimportant and lv scales as lv ∼ U/N (U is a characteristic horizontal velocity and N is the Brunt–Väisälä frequency) so that the dynamics of the flow is inherently three-dimensional but strongly anisotropic. When $\mathcal{R} \,{\ll}\, 1$, vertical viscous shearing is important so that $l_v \,{\sim}\, l_h/\hbox{\it Re}^{1/2}$ (lh is a characteristic horizontal length scale). The parameter $\cal R$ is further shown to be related to the buoyancy Reynolds number and proportional to (lO/η)4/3, where lO is the Ozmidov length scale and η the Kolmogorov length scale. This implies that there are simultaneously two distinct ranges in strongly stratified turbulence when $\mathcal{R} \,{\gg}\, 1$: the scales larger than lO are strongly influenced by the stratification while those between lO and η are weakly affected by stratification. The direct numerical simulations with forced large-scale horizontal two-dimensional motions and uniform stratification cover a wide Re and Fh range and support the main parameter controlling strongly stratified turbulence being $\cal R$. The numerical results are in good agreement with the scaling laws for the vertical length scale. Thin horizontal layers are observed independently of the value of $\cal R$ but they tend to be smooth for $\cal R$< 1, while for $\cal R$ > 1 small-scale three-dimensional turbulent disturbances are increasingly superimposed. The dissipation of kinetic energy is mostly due to vertical shearing for $\cal R$ < 1 but tends to isotropy as $\cal R$ increases above unity. When $\mathcal{R}$ < 1, the horizontal and vertical energy spectra are very steep while, when $\cal R$ > 1, the horizontal spectra of kinetic and potential energy exhibit an approximate k−5/3h-power-law range and a clear forward energy cascade is observed.

scholarly journals Assimilation and extension of particle image velocimetry data of turbulent Rayleigh–Bénard convection using direct numerical simulations

2022 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Bauer ◽  
D. Schiepel ◽  
C. Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Temperature Field ◽  
Numerical Simulations ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Particle Image ◽  
Velocity Fields ◽  
Direct Numerical Simulations ◽  
Temperature Fields ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Feedback Gain

Abstract A novel method for assimilating and extending measured turbulent Rayleigh–Bénard convection data is presented, which relies on the fractional step method also used to solve the incompressible Navier–Stokes equation in direct numerical simulations. Our approach is used to make measured tomographic particle image velocimetry (tomo PIV) fields divergence-free and to extract temperature fields. Comparing the time average of the extracted temperature fields with the temporally averaged temperature field, measured using particle image thermometry in a subdomain of the flow geometry, shows that extracted fields correlate well with measured fields with a correlation coefficient of $$C_{T\tilde{T}}=0.84$$ C T T ~ = 0.84 . Additionally, extracted temperature fields as well as divergence-free velocity fields serve as initial fields for subsequent direct numerical simulations with and without feedback which generate small-scale turbulence initially absent in the experimental data. Although the tomo PIV data set was spatially under-resolved and did not include any information on the boundary layers, the here-proposed method successfully generates velocity and temperature fields featuring small-scale turbulence and thermal as well as kinetic boundary layers, without disturbing the large-scale circulation contained in the original experimental data significantly. The latter is underpinned by high vertical and horizontal velocity correlation coefficients—computed from velocity fields averaged in time and horizontal x-direction obtained from the measurement and from the simulation without feedback—of $$C_{v\tilde{v}}=0.92$$ C v v ~ = 0.92 and $$C_{w\tilde{w}}=0.91$$ C w w ~ = 0.91 representing the large-scale structure. For simulations with feedback, the generated velocity fields resemble the experimental data increasingly well for higher feedback gain values, whereas the temperature fluctuation intensity deviates noticeably from the values obtained from a direct numerical simulation without feedback for gain values $$\alpha \ge 1$$ α ≥ 1 . Thus, a feedback gain of $$\alpha =0.1$$ α = 0.1 was found optimal with correlation coefficients of $$C_{v\tilde{v}}=0.96$$ C v v ~ = 0.96 and $$C_{w\tilde{w}}=0.95$$ C w w ~ = 0.95 as well as a realistic temperature fluctuation intensity profile. The xt-averaged temperature fields obtained from the direct numerical simulations with and without feedback correlate somewhat less with the extracted temperature field ($$C_{T\tilde{T}}\approx 0.6$$ C T T ~ ≈ 0.6 ), which is presumably caused by spatially under-resolved and temporally oscillating initial tomo PIV fields reflected by the extracted temperature field. Graphical abstract

Potential enstrophy in stratified turbulence

2013 ◽  
Vol 722 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael L. Waite
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Numerical Simulations ◽  
Reynolds Numbers ◽  
Direct Numerical Simulations ◽  
Quadratic Approximation ◽  
Stratified Turbulence ◽  
Geophysical Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Quadratic Part ◽  
Flow Variables ◽  
Potential Enstrophy

AbstractDirect numerical simulations are used to investigate potential enstrophy in stratified turbulence with small Froude numbers, large Reynolds numbers, and buoyancy Reynolds numbers ($R{e}_{b} $) both smaller and larger than unity. We investigate the conditions under which the potential enstrophy, which is a quartic quantity in the flow variables, can be approximated by its quadratic terms, as is often done in geophysical fluid dynamics. We show that at large scales, the quadratic fraction of the potential enstrophy is determined by $R{e}_{b} $. The quadratic part dominates for small $R{e}_{b} $, i.e. in the viscously coupled regime of stratified turbulence, but not when $R{e}_{b} \gtrsim 1$. The breakdown of the quadratic approximation is consistent with the development of Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities, which are frequently observed to grow on the layerwise structure of stratified turbulence when $R{e}_{b} $ is not too small.

scholarly journals Waves and vortices in the inverse cascade regime of stratified turbulence with or without rotation

2016 ◽  
Vol 806 ◽  
pp. 165-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corentin Herbert ◽  
Raffaele Marino ◽  
Duane Rosenberg ◽  
Annick Pouquet
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Numerical Simulations ◽  
Direct Numerical Simulations ◽  
Vertical Shear ◽  
Energy Spectra ◽  
Stratified Turbulence ◽  
Viscous Effects ◽  
Inverse Cascade ◽  
Main Effects ◽  
The Waves

We study the partition of energy between waves and vortices in stratified turbulence, with or without rotation, for a variety of parameters, focusing on the behaviour of the waves and vortices in the inverse cascade of energy towards the large scales. To this end, we use direct numerical simulations in a cubic box at a Reynolds number $Re\approx 1000$, with the ratio between the Brunt–Väisälä frequency $N$ and the inertial frequency $f$ varying from $1/4$ to 20, together with a purely stratified run. The Froude number, measuring the strength of the stratification, varies within the range $0.02\leqslant Fr\leqslant 0.32$. We find that the inverse cascade is dominated by the slow quasi-geostrophic modes. Their energy spectra and fluxes exhibit characteristics of an inverse cascade, even though their energy is not conserved. Surprisingly, the slow vortices still dominate when the ratio $N/f$ increases, also in the stratified case, although less and less so. However, when $N/f$ increases, the inverse cascade of the slow modes becomes weaker and weaker, and it vanishes in the purely stratified case. We discuss how the disappearance of the inverse cascade of energy with increasing $N/f$ can be interpreted in terms of the waves and vortices, and identify the main effects that can explain this transition based on both inviscid invariants arguments and viscous effects due to vertical shear.

scholarly journals Partitioning Waves and Eddies in Stably Stratified Turbulence

Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henri Lam ◽  
Alexandre Delache ◽  
Fabien S Godeferd
Keyword(s):  
Dispersion Relation ◽  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Laminar Flow ◽  
Turbulent Flow ◽  
Numerical Simulations ◽  
Direct Numerical Simulations ◽  
Energy Concentration ◽  
Kinetic Energy Density ◽  
Stratified Turbulence ◽  
The Waves

We consider the separation of motion related to internal gravity waves and eddy dynamics in stably stratified flows obtained by direct numerical simulations. The waves’ dispersion relation links their angle of propagation to the vertical θ , to their frequency ω , so that two methods are used for characterizing wave-related motion: (a) the concentration of kinetic energy density in the ( θ , ω ) map along the dispersion relation curve; and (b) a direct computation of two-point two-time velocity correlations via a four-dimensional Fourier transform, permitting to extract wave-related space-time coherence. The second method is more computationally demanding than the first. In canonical flows with linear kinematics produced by space-localized harmonic forcing, we observe the pattern of the waves in physical space and the corresponding concentration curve of energy in the ( θ , ω ) plane. We show from a simple laminar flow that the curve characterizing the presence of waves is distorted differently in the presence of a background convective mean velocity, either uniform or varying in space, and also when the forcing source is moving. By generalizing the observation from laminar flow to turbulent flow, this permits categorizing the energy concentration pattern of the waves in complex flows, thus enabling the identification of wave-related motion in a general turbulent flow with stable stratification. The advanced method (b) is finally used to compute the wave-eddy partition in the velocity–buoyancy fields of direct numerical simulations of stably stratified turbulence. In particular, we use this splitting in statistics as varied as horizontal and vertical kinetic energy, as well as two-point velocity and buoyancy spectra.

Direct Numerical Simulations of Transitional Separation–Bubble Development in Swept–Blade Flow Conditions

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua R. Brinkerhoff ◽  
Metin I. Yaras
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Numerical Simulations ◽  
Shear Layer ◽  
Pressure Field ◽  
Separation Bubble ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Direct Numerical Simulations ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Flow Conditions ◽  
Crossflow Instability

This paper describes numerical simulations of the instability mechanisms in a separation bubble subjected to a three-dimensional freestream pressure distribution. Two direct numerical simulations are performed of a separation bubble with laminar separation and turbulent reattachment under low freestream turbulence at flow Reynolds numbers and streamwise pressure distributions that approximate the conditions encountered on the suction side of typical low-pressure gas-turbine blades with blade sweep angles of 0° and 45°. The three-dimensional pressure field in the swept configuration produces a crossflow-velocity component in the laminar boundary layer upstream of the separation point that is unstable to a crossflow instability mode. The simulation results show that crossflow instability does not play a role in the development of the boundary layer upstream of separation. An increase in the amplification rate and most amplified disturbance frequency is observed in the separated-flow region of the swept configuration, and is attributed to boundary-layer conditions at the point of separation that are modified by the spanwise pressure gradient. This results in a slight upstream movement of the location where the shear layer breaks down to small-scale turbulence and modifies the turbulent mixing of the separated shear layer to yield a downstream shift in the time-averaged reattachment location. The results demonstrate that although crossflow instability does not appear to have a noticeable effect on the development of the transitional separation bubble, the 3D pressure field does indirectly alter the separation-bubble development by modifying the flow conditions at separation.

scholarly journals Investigations of non-hydrostatic, stably stratified and rapidly rotating flows

2016 ◽  
Vol 801 ◽  
pp. 430-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Nieves ◽  
Ian Grooms ◽  
Keith Julien ◽  
Jeffrey B. Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Boussinesq Equations ◽  
Reduced Model ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Net Energy ◽  
Stratified Turbulence ◽  
Stochastic Forcing ◽  
Barotropic Mode ◽  
Energy Exchanges ◽  
Scale Turbulence

We present an investigation of rapidly rotating (small Rossby number $Ro\ll 1$) stratified turbulence where the stratification strength is varied from weak (large Froude number $Fr\gg 1$) to strong ($Fr\ll 1$). The investigation is set in the context of a reduced model derived from the Boussinesq equations that retains anisotropic inertia-gravity waves with order-one frequencies and highlights a regime of wave–eddy interactions. Numerical simulations of the reduced model are performed where energy is injected by a stochastic forcing of vertical velocity, which forces wave modes only. The simulations reveal two regimes: characterized by the presence of well-formed, persistent and thin turbulent layers of locally weakened stratification at small Froude numbers, and by the absence of layers at large Froude numbers. Both regimes are characterized by a large-scale barotropic dipole enclosed by small-scale turbulence. When the Reynolds number is not too large, a direct cascade of barotropic kinetic energy is observed, leading to total energy equilibration. We examine net energy exchanges that occur through vortex stretching and vertical buoyancy flux and diagnose the horizontal scales active in these exchanges. We find that the baroclinic motions inject energy directly to the largest scales of the barotropic mode, implying that the large-scale barotropic dipole is not the end result of an inverse cascade within the barotropic mode.

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