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141sal PDF
ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION
An approach for dealing with turbulent flows over a The majority of time spent in a Computational Fluid
surface-mounted cube using the wall y+ as guidance in Dynamics (CFD) project is usually devoted to successfully
selecting the appropriate grid configuration and generating a mesh for the domain, as noted by Jinyuan et
corresponding turbulence models are investigated using al. (2006), allowing a compromise between the desired
Fluent. The study is divided into two parts - Part I and Part accuracy and solution cost. This time-consuming
II, dealing with low and high Reynolds numbers, procedure is considered a bottleneck in the analysis.
respectively. In Part I presented here, a Reynolds number
of 1,870 based on cube height and bulk velocity is The preferred method for determining the most accurate
investigated and the computation results are compared mesh is to carry out test runs on different mesh sizes and
with data from Meinders et al. (1999) on „the experimental configurations and match the converged numerical
study of local convective heat transfer from a wall- solution as closely as possible to experimental data, in
mounted cube in turbulent channel flow.‟ The standard k- what is termed the grid independence test.
ε, standard k-ω, Reynolds Stress Model (RSM), Spalart-
Allmaras (SA) and renormalization group (RNG) k-ε Turbulent flows are significantly affected by the presence
turbulence models are used to solve the closure problem. of walls, where the viscosity-affected regions have large
Their behaviours together with the accompanying near- gradients in the solution variables and accurate
wall treatments are investigated for wall y+≈1 covering the presentation of these regions determines successful
viscous sublayer and y+≈7 in the buffer region. Notably, prediction of wall bounded flows (Gerasimov, 2006).
adopting a wall y+ in the log-law region, where y+ >30,
would result in a poor mesh resolution due to the low
Salim and Cheah (2009) succeeded in drawing up
Reynolds number of the main flow but is taken into
recommendations for best mesh practices based on the
consideration in the high Reynolds number flow case (Part
computed wall y+ for cases where reliable experimental
2 – Ariff et al., 2009). Overall, SA gave better agreement
data may not be available for validation. Their study was
with experimental data and predicted the re-attachment
carried out for a two-dimensional (2D) problem covering
length similar to DNS results as reported by Alexandar et
both undisturbed and disturbed turbulent flows over a
al. (2006).
solid-ridge bounded by a flat smooth wall at ReH=17,000
based on the flow mean velocity and ridge height. The
NOMENCLATURE recommendations include the behaviour and suggested
D Domain Depth (m) usage of the inbuilt Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes
H Height of Obstacle (m) (RANS) models and near-wall treatments using Fluent.
L Length of the channel (m)
u Instantaneous Velocity (ms-1) Due to the complexity of turbulence which is three-
uB Bulk Velocity (ms-1) dimensional (3D) in nature, the present study covers the
uτ Friction Velocity (ms-1) turbulent flow around a wall-mounted cube which has
x Horizontal Distance along Streamwise direction (m) been extensively studied experimentally by Meinders et al.
XF Front Separation Length (H) (1999) for a developing turbulent channel flow with low
XR Reattachment Length (H) Reynolds numbers of 2,750<ReH<4,970. The case was
y Vertical Distance normal to wall direction (m) chosen due to its simple geometry but complex flow
z Distance parallel to the spanwise direction (m) structures and represents a general engineering
ReH Reynolds Number (=HuB/υair) configuration that is relevant to many engineering
y+ Dimensionless distance to the wall applications ranging from prediction of wind loading on
k Turbulent kinetic energy (m2 s-2) structures to cooling of turbines and electronic
components in circuit boards.
vair Kinematic viscosity of air (m2 s-1)
ω Specific dissipation rate Similarly, a significant number of numerical studies using
ε Dissipation rate simple RANS models such as k-ε by Lakehal and Rodi
(1997) and Gao and Chow (2005), unsteady RANS by
Iaccarino et al. (2003), large eddy simulation (LES) by
MODEL DESCRIPTION
The computational domain as presented in Figure 1 is used
for the present study to mimic the experimental setup of Figure 2: Computational grid (Mesh 1) used for present
Meinders et al. (1999) for a turbulent channel flow and is study.
similar to the geometry configurations implemented by
Alexander at el. (2006) and Ratnam and Vengadesan
(2008) in their respective studies. In these studies, the
Reynolds number, based on channel height and bulk
velocity, uB, is predominantly 5,610.
y
x
z
Figure 3: Computational grid (Mesh 2) used for present
Figure 1: Schematic diagram of geometry. study.
u/uB
based on cube height and bulk velocity is realised, as 0.2
compared to the lower limit of 2,750 for the developing
channel flow investigated by Meinders et al. (1999). 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
A symmetry boundary condition is used for the side walls -0.2
of the channel in order to reduce the computational cost, as
the distance of the walls are sufficiently far from the cube
to influence the flow. A pressure outlet is set for the exit -0.4
x/H
faces while the remaining faces, i.e. the top and bottom Mesh 1 Mesh 2 Experiment
walls including all faces of the cube are defined as smooth
walls. Figure 5: Comparison of mean streamwise velocity in the
symmetry line near wall region y/H=0.1. ReH = 1,870.
RESULTS
1.2
Mesh Configuration 1
0
7
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
-0.2
6
-0.4
5 x/H
Mesh 1 Mesh 2 Experiment
Wall y+
4
Figure 6: Comparison of mean streamwise velocity in the
3 symmetry line far from wall y/H=0.9. ReH = 1,870.
1
Figure 7 shows the comparison of mean streamwise
velocity profiles in the symmetry line at 5 different heights
0
(y/H = 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9) to illustrate the
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 performance of different turbulence models for the
x/H selected Mesh 2 with y+ ≈ 1. RSM only did particularly
Mesh 1 Mesh 2 well in predicting the reverse flow at the front face at y/H
+ = 0.1, whereas it overpredicts the reattachment region
Figure 4: Wall y for the considered Meshes.
behind the cube. Overall, the SA models gives better
agreement with experimental results, particularly at
Figure 5 and Figure 6 show the computed mean velocity y/H=0.1 and 0.3. This is because SA is a two-zonal model,
profiles at two different locations (y/H = 0.1 and y/H = requiring no wall-functions to bridge the solution variables
0.9, respectively) validated against experimental data from the first cell to the adjacent wall and operates better
provided by Meinders et al. (1999) using the standard k-ε if the viscous sublayer is resolved as with the case of the
model. As can be seen from the figures, Mesh 1 computed chosen Mesh. Beyond y/H=0.5, all the models
the velocity profiles more accurately as compared to Mesh underpredicted the velocity profiles except for RSM which
2 due to the fact that Mesh 1 was much finer hence able to overpredicts and is only slightly enhanced by either using
capture the large gradients in the region adjacent to the the improved turbulence models implemented by user-
wall. This further indicates why a coarser mesh that would defined functions and unsteady flow predictions (Ratnam
resolve the log-law region is not acceptable and not and Vengadesan, 2008) or using the more computationally
recommended for relatively low Reynolds number, such as expensive DNS (Alexander et al., 2006). The results show
ReH = 1,870. However, the prediction of reverse flow at that the use of inbuilt RANS models available in Fluent
the front face of the cube is less successful for both can achieve reasonable predictions, provided the required
meshes. computational time and resources are taken into
consideration.
1 1
0.8 0.8
0.6 0.6
u/uB
u/uB
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0 0
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
-0.2 -0.2
(a) (b)
-0.4 -0.4
x/H x/H
1.2 1.2
1 1
0.8 0.8
0.6 0.6
u/uB
u/uB
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0 0
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
-0.2 -0.2
(c) (d)
-0.4 -0.4
x/H x/H
1.2
1
std k-є
0.8
std k-ω
0.6 RSM
u/uB
S-A
0.4
RNG k-є
0.2 Experiment
DNS
0
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
-0.2
(e)
-0.4
x/H
Figures 7: Comparison of the mean streamwise velocity profiles in the symmetry line; (a) y/H=0.1, (b) y/H=0.3, (c) y/H=0.5,
(d) y/H=0.7 and (e) y/H=0.9, for ReH = 1,870. Legends are same in all the plots.
Finally, Figure 8 shows the comparison of streamlines The streamlines suggests that the vortex structures
obtained by the different turbulence models employed in predicted by all the models vary from one another in terms
this study with DNS (Alexander et al., 2006) in the of location and size, especially in the flow separation,
symmetry line x/H=0, and the experiment (Meinders et al., wake and recovery. The patterns look quite similar upwind
1999) on the first grid point from the bottom wall. and near the front face of the cube, but as discussed earlier
Streamlines are used to visualize the separation, the reverse flow in this area was underpredicted by all the
recirculation and reattachments in the mean flow in front, models except for RSM. The same inadequacy is evident
on top, along the lateral sides and behind the cube. There on top of the cube. SA computes sufficiently the
is a horseshoe vortex in front of the cube, recirculation recirculation zone downwind behind the cube, which is the
regions on top and behind the cube and side vortices; all most critical area, and predicts best the location of the arc
accompanied by secondary vortices. Meinders at al. vortex and the reattachment length similar to the DNS
(1999) gives a more detailed description of the streamline results, as summarized in Table 1.
patterns.
Standard k-ε
Standard k-ω
Reynolds Stress
Model (RSM)
Spalart Allmaras
(SA)
RNG k-ε
Figure 8: Comparison of streamlines in symmetry plane (left) z/H=0 and (right) first cell from bottom wall. ReH = 1,870.