Relaxation of Spatially Advancing Coherent Structures in a Turbulent Curved Channel Flow

2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Koji Matsubara ◽  
Tomoya Ohishi ◽  
Keisuke Shida ◽  
Takahiro Miura

A direct numerical simulation is made for the incompressible turbulent flow in the 180 deg curved channel with a long straight portion connected to its exit port. An examination is made for how the organized coherent vortex grows and decays in the curved channel: the radius ratio of 0.92, the aspect ratio of 7.2, and the succeeding straight section length of 75 times the channel half width. The 1552 × 91 × 128 ( = 18,427,136) grids are allocated to the computational domain. The frictional-velocity-based Reynolds number is kept at 150 to resolve the long domain including curved and straight regions. In contrast to that the coherent vortex grows along the concave wall, the vortex remains strong in the convex-wall side after the curvature accompanying a tail of the small-scale turbulence near the convex wall. The dissimilarity between the onset and disappearing of the coherent vortex essentially comes from the mean pressure gradient, which aids or averts the near-wall fluid oppositely between the curvature inlet and the exit. The mean flow is decelerated near the inlet of the convex wall to destabilize the flow and to trigger the onset of the coherent vortex. Contrary, the mean flow is accelerated near the exit of the convex wall to weaken the coherent vortex, and is decelerated near the exit of the concave wall to enhance the turbulence. Therefore, the turbulence enhancement and attenuation occurs oppositely between the inlet and exit of the curvature, and the coherent vortex draws a wake in the convex-side rather than the concave-side where it starts.

2015 ◽  
Vol 787 ◽  
pp. 396-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuesong Wu ◽  
Xiuling Zhuang

Fully developed turbulent free shear layers exhibit a high degree of order, characterized by large-scale coherent structures in the form of spanwise vortex rollers. Extensive experimental investigations show that such organized motions bear remarkable resemblance to instability waves, and their main characteristics, including the length scales, propagation speeds and transverse structures, are reasonably well predicted by linear stability analysis of the mean flow. In this paper, we present a mathematical theory to describe the nonlinear dynamics of coherent structures. The formulation is based on the triple decomposition of the instantaneous flow into a mean field, coherent fluctuations and small-scale turbulence but with the mean-flow distortion induced by nonlinear interactions of coherent fluctuations being treated as part of the organized motion. The system is closed by employing a gradient type of model for the time- and phase-averaged Reynolds stresses of fine-scale turbulence. In the high-Reynolds-number limit, the nonlinear non-equilibrium critical-layer theory for laminar-flow instabilities is adapted to turbulent shear layers by accounting for (1) the enhanced non-parallelism associated with fast spreading of the mean flow, and (2) the influence of small-scale turbulence on coherent structures. The combination of these factors with nonlinearity leads to an interesting evolution system, consisting of coupled amplitude and vorticity equations, in which non-parallelism contributes the so-called translating critical-layer effect. Numerical solutions of the evolution system capture vortex roll-up, which is the hallmark of a turbulent mixing layer, and the predicted amplitude development mimics the qualitative feature of oscillatory saturation that has been observed in a number of experiments. A fair degree of quantitative agreement is obtained with one set of experimental data.


1983 ◽  
Vol 137 ◽  
pp. 331-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Nakamura ◽  
Y. Ohya

There are two main effects of turbulence on the mean flow past rods of square cross-section aligned with the approaching flow. Small-scale turbulence increases the growth rate of the shear layer, while large-scale turbulence enhances the roll-up of the shear layer. The consequences of these depend on the length of a square rod. The mean base pressure of a square rod varies considerably with turbulence intensity and scale as well as with its length.


1976 ◽  
Vol 98 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. M. Kiser ◽  
H. L. Falsetti ◽  
K. H. Yu ◽  
M. R. Resitarits ◽  
G. P. Francis ◽  
...  

Hot film needle and catheter probes were used to measure the velocity waves in the dog aorta between the aortic valve and the iliac bifurcation. The forms of the waves were found to be of two types, those in which there was a reverse flow, following systole, everywhere along the centerline of the aorta and those for which there was no flow reversal in the regions below the diaphragm. Energy spectra were measured before and after the administration of a cardiac stimulant. Except for a shift to higher frequencies, no significant change in the form of the spectra was observed. Characteristic times developed for the mean flow and the decay of a fully developed turbulence suggest that it is difficult to sustain small scale turbulence which might be initiated during peak systole.


1989 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 466-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. E. Catania ◽  
A. Mittica

In addition to the frequently used statistical ensemble-average, non-Reynolds filtering operators have long been proposed for nonstationary turbulent quantities. Several techniques for the reduction of velocity data acquired in the cylinder of internal combustion reciprocating engines have been developed by various researchers in order to separate the “mean flow” from the “fluctuating motion,” cycle by cycle, and to analyze small-scale engine turbulence by statistical methods. Therefore a thorough examination of these techniques and a detailed comparison between them would seem to be a preliminary step in attempting a general study of unconventional averaging procedures for reciprocating engine flow application. To that end, in the present work, five different cycle-resolved data reduction methods and the conventional ensemble-average were applied to the same in-cylinder velocity data, so as to review and compare them. One of the methods was developed by the authors. The data were acquired in the cylinder of a direct-injection automotive diesel engine, during induction and compression strokes, using an advanced hot-wire anemometry technique. Correlation and spectral analysis of the engine turbulence, as determined from the data with the different procedures, were also performed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (10) ◽  
pp. 2419-2427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel B. Whitt ◽  
John R. Taylor

AbstractAtmospheric storms are an important driver of changes in upper-ocean stratification and small-scale (1–100 m) turbulence. Yet, the modifying effects of submesoscale (0.1–10 km) motions in the ocean mixed layer on stratification and small-scale turbulence during a storm are not well understood. Here, large-eddy simulations are used to study the coupled response of submesoscale and small-scale turbulence to the passage of an idealized autumn storm, with a wind stress representative of a storm observed in the North Atlantic above the Porcupine Abyssal Plain. Because of a relatively shallow mixed layer and a strong downfront wind, existing scaling theory predicts that submesoscales should be unable to restratify the mixed layer during the storm. In contrast, the simulations reveal a persistent and strong mean stratification in the mixed layer both during and after the storm. In addition, the mean dissipation rate remains elevated throughout the mixed layer during the storm, despite the strong mean stratification. These results are attributed to strong spatial variability in stratification and small-scale turbulence at the submesoscale and have important implications for sampling and modeling submesoscales and their effects on stratification and turbulence in the upper ocean.


1963 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. G. Brown ◽  
A. W. Marris

An experimental study of turbulent flow in a plane curved channel of depth-to-width ratio 8:1 and mean radius-to-width ratio 1.83:1 by means of measured distributions of mean peripheral velocity and pressure and flow visualization methods using dye. It appears that due to the large depth-to-width ratio, the secondary flow, though appreciable, is apparent mainly in the end plate regions. Even so it has a pronounced effect on the flow near the inner (convex) wall. It appears that the sharp curvature is effective in quenching the turbulence of the entering rectilinear shear flow at the inner wall of the curved channel by causing a mean flow acceleration in this region. The study indicates that localized backflows can occur at the inner wall at the meeting of secondary and main flows under near-laminar conditions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 865 ◽  
pp. 1085-1109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yutaro Motoori ◽  
Susumu Goto

To understand the generation mechanism of a hierarchy of multiscale vortices in a high-Reynolds-number turbulent boundary layer, we conduct direct numerical simulations and educe the hierarchy of vortices by applying a coarse-graining method to the simulated turbulent velocity field. When the Reynolds number is high enough for the premultiplied energy spectrum of the streamwise velocity component to show the second peak and for the energy spectrum to obey the$-5/3$power law, small-scale vortices, that is, vortices sufficiently smaller than the height from the wall, in the log layer are generated predominantly by the stretching in strain-rate fields at larger scales rather than by the mean-flow stretching. In such a case, the twice-larger scale contributes most to the stretching of smaller-scale vortices. This generation mechanism of small-scale vortices is similar to the one observed in fully developed turbulence in a periodic cube and consistent with the picture of the energy cascade. On the other hand, large-scale vortices, that is, vortices as large as the height, are stretched and amplified directly by the mean flow. We show quantitative evidence of these scale-dependent generation mechanisms of vortices on the basis of numerical analyses of the scale-dependent enstrophy production rate. We also demonstrate concrete examples of the generation process of the hierarchy of multiscale vortices.


1994 ◽  
Vol 279 ◽  
pp. 177-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alden M. Provost ◽  
W. H. Schwarz

Intuition and previous results suggest that a peristaltic wave tends to drive the mean flow in the direction of wave propagation. New theoretical results indicate that, when the viscosity of the transported fluid is shear-dependent, the direction of mean flow can oppose the direction of wave propagation even in the presence of a zero or favourable mean pressure gradient. The theory is based on an analysis of lubrication-type flow through an infinitely long, axisymmetric tube subjected to a periodic train of transverse waves. Sample calculations for a shear-thinning fluid illustrate that, for a given waveform, the sense of the mean flow can depend on the rheology of the fluid, and that the mean flow rate need not increase monotonically with wave speed and occlusion. We also show that, in the absence of a mean pressure gradient, positive mean flow is assured only for Newtonian fluids; any deviation from Newtonian behaviour allows one to find at least one non-trivial waveform for which the mean flow rate is zero or negative. Introduction of a class of waves dominated by long, straight sections facilitates the proof of this result and provides a simple tool for understanding viscous effects in peristaltic pumping.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolai M. Gavrilov ◽  
Sergej P. Kshevetskii

<p>Acoustic-gravity waves (AGWs) measuring at big heights may be generated in the troposphere and propagate upwards. A high-resolution three-dimensional numerical model was developed for simulating nonlinear AGWs propagating from the ground to the upper atmosphere. The model algorithms are based on the finite-difference analogues of the main conservation laws. This methodology let us obtaining the physically correct generalized wave solutions of the nonlinear equations. Horizontally moving sinusoidal structures of vertical velocity on the ground are used for the AGW excitation in the model. Numerical simulations were made in an atmospheric region having horizontal dimensions up to several thousand kilometers and the height extention up to 500 km. Vertical distributions of the mean temperature, density, molecular viscosity and thermal conductivity are specified using standard models of the atmosphere.</p><p>Simulations were made for different horizontal wavelengths, amplitudes and speeds of the wave sources at the ground. After “switch on” the tropospheric wave source, an initial AGW pulse very quickly (for several minutes) could propagate to heights up to 100 km and above. AGW amplitudes increase with height and waves may break down in the middle and upper atmosphere. Wave instability and dissipation may lead to formations of wave accelerations of the mean flow and to producing wave-induced jet flows in the middle and upper atmosphere. Nonlinear interactions may lead to instabilities of the initial wave and to the creation of smaller-scale perturbations. These perturbations may increase temperature and wind gradients and could enhance the wave energy dissipation.</p><p>In this study, the wave sources contain a superposition of two AGW modes with different periods, wavelengths and phase speeds. Longer-period AGW modes served as the background conditions for the shorter-period wave modes. Thus, the larger-scale AGWs can modulate amplitudes of small-scale waves. In particular, interactions of two wave modes could sharp vertical temperature gradients and make easier the wave breaking and generating  turbulence. On the other hand, small-wave wave modes might increase dissipation and modify the larger-scale modes.This study was partially supported by the Russian Basic Research Foundation (# 17-05-00458).</p>


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