scholarly journals The Effect of Varying Viscosity in Turbulent Channel Flow

Author(s):  
Victor Coppo Leite ◽  
Elia Merzari

Abstract In this article we examine channel flow subject to spatially varying viscosity in the streamwise direction. The Reynolds number is imposed locally with three different ramps. The setup is reminiscent of transient channel flow, but with a space-dependent viscosity rather than a time dependent viscosity. It is also relevant to various applications in nuclear engineering and in particular in test reactors, where the viscosity changes significantly in the streamwise direction, and there is a severe lack of Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) data to benchmark turbulence models in these conditions. As part of this work we set up a novel benchmark case: the channel is extended in the stream-wise direction up to 20π. The viscosity is kept constant in the first 4π region. This inlet region is used as a cyclic region to obtain a fully developed flow profile at the beginning of the ramping region. In the ramping region the Reynolds number is linearly increased along the channel. The flow is homogenous in the spanwise direction, while it is non-homogenous in the stream-wise and wall-normal direction. We perform here Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) with Nek5000, a spectral-element computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code developed at Argonne National Laboratory. In this study, specific focus is given to the investigation of turbulence properties and structures in the near-wall region along the flow direction. Turbulent statistics are collected and investigated. Similarly to transient channel flow, the results show that a variation in the Reynolds across a channel does not cause an immediate change in the size of turbulent structures in the ramp region and a delay is in fact observed in both wall shear and friction Reynolds number. The results from the present study are compared with a correlation available in the literature for the friction velocity and as a function of the Reynolds number.

2015 ◽  
Vol 774 ◽  
pp. 395-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myoungkyu Lee ◽  
Robert D. Moser

A direct numerical simulation of incompressible channel flow at a friction Reynolds number ($\mathit{Re}_{{\it\tau}}$) of 5186 has been performed, and the flow exhibits a number of the characteristics of high-Reynolds-number wall-bounded turbulent flows. For example, a region where the mean velocity has a logarithmic variation is observed, with von Kármán constant ${\it\kappa}=0.384\pm 0.004$. There is also a logarithmic dependence of the variance of the spanwise velocity component, though not the streamwise component. A distinct separation of scales exists between the large outer-layer structures and small inner-layer structures. At intermediate distances from the wall, the one-dimensional spectrum of the streamwise velocity fluctuation in both the streamwise and spanwise directions exhibits $k^{-1}$ dependence over a short range in wavenumber $(k)$. Further, consistent with previous experimental observations, when these spectra are multiplied by $k$ (premultiplied spectra), they have a bimodal structure with local peaks located at wavenumbers on either side of the $k^{-1}$ range.


2001 ◽  
Vol 123 (2) ◽  
pp. 382-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroyuki Abe ◽  
Hiroshi Kawamura ◽  
Yuichi Matsuo

Direct numerical simulation (DNS) of a fully developed turbulent channel flow for various Reynolds numbers has been carried out to investigate the Reynolds number dependence. The Reynolds number is set to be Reτ=180, 395, and 640, where Reτ is the Reynolds number based on the friction velocity and the channel half width. The computation has been executed with the use of the finite difference method. Various turbulence statistics such as turbulence intensities, vorticity fluctuations, Reynolds stresses, their budget terms, two-point correlation coefficients, and energy spectra are obtained and discussed. The present results are compared with the ones of the DNSs for the turbulent boundary layer and the plane turbulent Poiseuille flow and the experiments for the channel flow. The closure models are also tested using the present results for the dissipation rate of the Reynolds normal stresses. In addition, the instantaneous flow field is visualized in order to examine the Reynolds number dependence for the quasi-coherent structures such as the vortices and streaks.


2022 ◽  
Vol 933 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Pinelli ◽  
H. Herlina ◽  
J.G. Wissink ◽  
M. Uhlmann

We present direct numerical simulation results of turbulent open channel flow at bulk Reynolds numbers up to 12 000, coupled with (passive) scalar transport at Schmidt numbers up to 200. Care is taken to capture the very large-scale motions which appear already for relatively modest Reynolds numbers. The transfer velocity at the flat, free surface is found to scale with the Schmidt number to the power ‘ $-1/2$ ’, in accordance with previous studies and theoretical predictions for uncontaminated surfaces. The scaling of the transfer velocity with Reynolds number is found to vary, depending on the Reynolds number definition used. To compare the present results with those obtained in other systems, we define a turbulent Reynolds number at the edge of the surface-influenced layer. This allows us to probe the two-regime model of Theofanous et al. (Intl J. Heat Mass Transfer, vol. 19, 1976, pp. 613–624), which is found to correctly predict that small-scale vortices significantly affect the mass transfer for turbulent Reynolds numbers larger than 500. It is further established that the root mean square of the surface divergence is, on average, proportional to the mean transfer velocity. However, the spatial correlation between instantaneous surface divergence and transfer velocity tends to decrease with increasing Schmidt number and increase with increasing Reynolds number. The latter is shown to be caused by an enhancement of the correlation in high-speed regions, which in turn is linked to the spatial distribution of surface-parallel vortices.


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