Methods to Set Up and Investigate Low Reynolds Number, Fully Developed Turbulent Plane Channel Flows

1998 ◽  
Vol 120 (3) ◽  
pp. 496-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Durst ◽  
M. Fischer ◽  
J. Jovanovic´ ◽  
H. Kikura

The tripping of fully developed turbulent plane channel flow was studied at low Reynolds number, yielding unique flow properties independent of the initial conditions. The LDA measuring technique was used to obtain reliable mean velocities, rms values of turbulent velocity fluctuations and skewness and flatness factors over the entire cross-section with emphasis on the near-wall region. The experimental results were compared with the data obtained from direct numerical simulations available in the literature. The analysis of the data indicates the important role of the upstream conditions on the flow development. It is shown that the fully developed turbulent state at low Reynolds number can be reached only by significant tripping of the flow at the inlet of the channel. Effects related to the finite size of the LDA measuring control volume and an inaccuracy in the estimation of the wall shear stress from near-wall velocity measurements are discussed in detail since these can yield systematic discrepancies between the measured and simulated results.

2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas Bredberg ◽  
Lars Davidson

This study presents a new near-wall treatment for low-Reynolds number (LRN) turbulence models that maintains accuracy in ‘coarse’ mesh predictions. The method is based on a thorough examination of approximations made when integrating the discretized equations in the near-wall region. A number of modifications are proposed that counteract errors introduced when an LRN-model is used on meshes for which the first interior node is located at y+≈5. Here the methodology is applied to the k−ω turbulence model by Bredberg et al., although similar corrections are relevant for all LRN models. The modified model gives asymptotically, in the sense of mesh refinement, identical results to the baseline model. For coarser meshes y+⩽10, the present method improves numerical stability with less mesh-dependency than the non-modified model. Results are included for fully developed channel flow, a backward-facing step flow and heat transfer in a periodic rib-roughened channel.


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.


1991 ◽  
Vol 230 ◽  
pp. 1-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lincoln P. Erm ◽  
Peter N. Joubert

An investigation was undertaken to improve our understanding of low-Reynolds-number turbulent boundary layers flowing over a smooth flat surface in nominally zero pressure gradients. In practice, such flows generally occur in close proximity to a tripping device and, though it was known that the flows are affected by the actual low value of the Reynolds number, it was realized that they may also be affected by the type of tripping device used and variations in free-stream velocity for a given device. Consequently, the experimental programme was devised to investigate systematically the effects of each of these three factors independently. Three different types of device were chosen: a wire, distributed grit and cylindrical pins. Mean-flow, broadband-turbulence and spectral measurements were taken, mostly for values of Rθ varying between about 715 and about 2810. It was found that the mean-flow and broadband-turbulence data showed variations with Rθ, as expected. Spectra were plotted using scaling given by Perry, Henbest & Chong (1986) and were compared with their models which were developed for high-Reynolds-number flows. For the turbulent wall region, spectra showed reasonably good agreement with their model. For the fully turbulent region, spectra did show some appreciable deviations from their model, owing to low-Reynolds-number effects. Mean-flow profiles, broadband-turbulence profiles and spectra were found to be affected very little by the type of device used for Rθ ≈ 1020 and above, indicating an absence of dependence on flow history for this Rθ range. These types of measurements were also compared at both Rθ ≈ 1020 and Rθ ≈ 2175 to see if they were dependent on how Rθ was formed (i.e. the combination of velocity and momentum thickness used to determine Rθ). There were noticeable differences for Rθ ≈ 1020, but these differences were only convincing for the pins, and there was a general overall improvement in agreement for Rθ ≈ 2175.


2007 ◽  
Vol 52 (10) ◽  
pp. 935-957 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamel Kechiche ◽  
Hatem Mhiri ◽  
Georges Le Palec ◽  
Philippe Bournot

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