Towards a More Realistic Triple Hill's

Vortex Synthetic Eddy Method for LES of

Wall-Bounded Flows
John Haywood and Adrian Sescu
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Mississippi State University
Shanti Bhushan
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mississippi State University
Justin Foster and Matthew Farthing
US Army Corps of Engineers , Vicksburg, MS

2018 AIAA SciTech Forum

January 9, 2017
Table of Contents
1) Introduction
2) Original Triple Hill’s Vortex Synthetic Eddy Method
3) Modification of Target Reynolds Stresses
4) Near-wall Triple Hill’s Vortex Stretching
5) Numerical Method
6) Test Cases
7) Results
8) Concluding Remarks
Introduction
Question:
How can the development length required by the
synthetic turbulent inflow provided by the Triple Hill’s
Vortex Synthetic Eddy Method be reduced?

Google.org : Heliostat Flow Visualization Experiments

Original Triple Hill’s Vortex Synthetic Eddy Method
Synthetic Eddy Method
Proposed by Jarrin et al. (2006)
Based on the assumption that turbulence can be
considered as a superposition of coherent structures
Eddies are generated randomly at the inlet and are
convected downstream with the mean flow.
Synthetic eddies are described by an amplitude and a
shape function.
• The amplitudes allow for the matching of certain statistics
• The shape functions define the velocity distribution
around the eddy

Jarrin,N., Benhamadouche, S., Laurence, D. and Prosser, R. (2006) A synthetic-eddy method for generating inflow conditions
for large-eddy simulations, Int. J. Heat and Fluid Flow, Vol. 27, pp. 585-593.
Hill’s Spherical Vortex
Steady, axisymmetric, analytical solution to the
incompressible Euler equation
A single amplitude defines its strength
Hill’s spherical vortex is symmetric
• the skewness of the longitudinal velocity gradient is
zero

Panton, R.L. (2005) Incompressible Flow.

Undistorted Distorted
Distorted Hill’s Vortex
The streamfuction is distorted
using a minimal Lagrangian
map to introduce skewness,
Rosales and Meneveau
(2006).

Rosales, C. and Meneveau, C. (2006) A minimal

multiscale Lagrangian map approach to
synthesize non-Gaussian turbulent vector
fields, Phys. Fluids, Vol. 18, pp. 075104.
Streamlines of undistorted and distorted Hill’s vortices
 Triple Hill’s Vortex
The Triple Hill’s Vortex (THV) is a superposition of three independent Hill’s
vortices
• They share the same center, (𝑥0 , 𝑦0 , 𝑧0 )
• They share the same outer radius, 𝑎
• But, they have independent amplitudes
The rotation axis of each Hill’s vortex is orthogonal to the rotation axis of the
other two Hill’s vortices.
Since each Hill’s vortex satisfies the divergence free condition in its local
coordinate system, the THV is divergence free.
The amplitudes of the three sub Hill’s vortices allow for the matching of any
anisotropic Reynolds stress tensor. z z
r r
θ θ
r θ θ r
θ r θ
r

x y x y
Calculation of the Amplitudes of a Triple Hill’s Vortex
Based on the method proposed by Smirnov et al. (2001) and
expanded upon by Davidson and Bilson (2006)
1. Calculate the principal-axis Reynolds stresses and eigenvectors of
the local Reynolds stress tensor
2. Calculate the amplitudes in the local principal-axis coordinate
system using the local principal Reynolds stresses
3. Multiply each principal amplitude by an independent random
number, 𝜖, where 𝜖 = 0 and 𝜖 2 = 1
4. Calculate the velocity components of a single THV in the local
principal-axis coordinate system
5. Transform the velocity components from the local principal-axis
coordinate system to the global coordinate system using the
transformation matrix created from the eigenvectors of the local
Reynolds stress tensor

Smirnov, A., Shi, S. and Celik, I. (2001) Random flow generation technique for large eddy simulations and particle-dynamics
modeling, Journal of Fluids Engineering, Vol. 123, pp. 359-371.
Davidson, L. and Billson, M. (2006) Hybrid LES-RANS using synthesized turbulent fluctuations for forcing in the interface
region, Int. J. Heat and Fluid Flow, Vol. 27, pp. 1028-1042.
Imposed Inflow Velocity
The imposed inflow is composed of a mean flow and a fluctuating component.
The fluctuating component is the superposition of many THV’s
𝑢𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 = 𝑈 + σ𝑁 𝑗=1 𝑢
෤𝑗 𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 = 𝑉 + σ𝑁 𝑗=1 𝑣
෤𝑗 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 = 𝑊 + σ𝑁
𝑗=1 𝑤
෥𝑗
෥𝑗 ) is the velocity vector of the 𝑗𝑡ℎ THV and N is the total number of THV’s.
where (𝑢෤𝑗 , 𝑣෤𝑗 , 𝑤
Each THV has a random center, radius, and amplitudes.

Convection of a Triple Hill’s Vortex

The THV’s are convected using Taylor’s hypothesis of
frozen turbulence.

Generations of Triple Hill’s Vortices

The total number of THV’s imposed is based on the area of the inlet plane and the
minimum allowed THV radius, either by grid resolution or the integral length scale.
The maximum allowed THV radius is dictated by the domain size.
To replicate varying population of turbulent structures over a length scale
distribution, the range of allowable radii can be divided into several discrete
generations.
Scaling the Triple Hill’s Vortices
Inlet
The imposed Reynolds stress
tensor at any point in space is
reproduced by a single stream
of THV’s moving through that
point in time.

To account for the superposition of many THV’s, the principal-axis

coordinate system amplitudes of each THV are multiplied by a
constant scale factor.
The scale factors are controlled using the following proportional
controller
𝑖 𝑖 𝑖 ′ ′ 𝑝 ′ ′ 𝑝
𝑠𝑛𝑒𝑤 = 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑑 +𝐾 𝑢𝑖 𝑢𝑖 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛 − 𝑢𝑖 𝑢𝑖 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑

The scale factors are updated until the imposed Reynolds stress
tensor components match the components in the principal-axis
directions of the given flow.
Modification of the Target Reynolds Stresses
(Replacement for the Amplitude Scaling)
Modification of the Target Reynolds Stresses
Two issues with the scaling procedure:
1. Requires a development time before the scale factors are converged
2. The scale factors introduce dependencies on THV’s which already been
convected through the inlet and released downstream
The amplitudes of a new THV
should only be influenced by
THV’s currently at the inlet. 5
4
Only the contribution of
THV's that encircle the center 1
of the new THV will be
considered.
X 2

7
8
6
Modification of the Target Reynolds Stresses
In the global coordinate system,
1. Calculate the Reynolds stress contribution of the surrounding THV’s at
the point on the inlet where the center of the new THV will pass
through
𝑀𝑠 𝑁𝑠 𝑁𝑠

𝑢𝑖′ 𝑢𝑗′ = ෍ 𝑢෤ 𝑖 𝑚 ෍ 𝑢෤𝑗 = ෍ 𝑢෤ 𝑖 𝑢෤𝑗

𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛 𝑛
𝑚=1 𝑛=1 𝑛=1

𝑢෤ 𝑖 𝑢෤𝑗 are found analytically using time-averaging of the shape

𝑛
function and amplitude equations
2. Modify the given Reynolds stress tensor
𝑢𝑖′ 𝑢𝑗′ = 𝑢𝑖′ 𝑢𝑗′ − 𝑢𝑖′ 𝑢𝑗′
𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔

3. Use the target Reynolds stress tensor in the existing THV creation
framework
Negative eigenvalues of the target Reynolds stress tensor indicate that the
given Reynolds stress tenor is already reproduced by the present THV’s
Near-Wall THV Stretching
Near-Wall THV Stretching
The distorted THV still occupies a roughly spherical space.
This conflicts with observations of the coherent structures in the near-wall
regions.
The interaction between high-speed fluid from the outer region
and low-speed streaks in the viscous sublayer help form the
characteristic elongated vortical structures that are stretched
downstream and lifted away from the wall.
Jeong et al. extracted a quantitative description of these
elongated structures using vortex identification.
Pamiès et al. and Roidl et al. have both used modified Gaussian
synthetic eddies within the original SEM of Jarrin et al. to model
near-wall structures
Jeong, J., Hussain, F., Schoppa, W., and Kim, J. (1997) Coherent structures near the wall in a turbulent channel flow, Journal
of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 332, pp. 185-214.
Pamiès, M., Weiss, P.-E., Garnier, E., Deck, S., and Sagaut, P. (2009) Generation of synthetic turbulent inflow data for large
eddy simulation of spatially evolving wall-bounded flows, Phys. Fluids, Vol. 21, pp. 045103.
Roidl, B., Meinke, M., and Schröder, W. (2013) A reformulated synthetic turbulence generation method for a zonal RANS-LES
method and its application to zero-pressure gradient boundary layers, Int. J. Heat and Fluid Flow, Vol. 44, pp. 28-40.
Near-Wall THV Stretching
The physical coordinate system associated with the center of a
near-wall THV is
stretched according to a streamwise length scale, 𝑙𝑥
rotated about the vertical coordinate axis according to a tilting angle, α
rotated about the spanwise coordinate axis according to a inclination
angle, β
𝑥𝑠′ 𝑙𝑥 0 0 cos 𝛼 − sin 𝛼 0 cos 𝛽 0 −sin(𝛽) 𝑥′
′
𝑦𝑠 = 0 1 0 sin 𝛼 cos 𝛼 0 0 1 0 𝑦′
𝑧𝑠′ 0 0 1 0 0 1 sin 𝛽 0 cos 𝛽 𝑧′
where 𝑙𝑥 = 8, 𝛼 = 8°, and 𝛽 = ±4° (Jeong et al. 1997)
y z

x x
Numerical Method
• The compressible, conservative Navier-Stokes equations
were solved in the framework of implicit LES
• Sub-grid scale energy is accounted for with high-order
spatial filtering
• Spatial derivatives were performed using high resolution
dispersion-relation-preserving scheme
• Time marching was performed using a fully-explicit third
order TVD Runge-Kutta method
• Generalized curvilinear coordinates
• MPI parallelization
Test Cases
Homogeneous turbulence
• Isotropic
• Anisotropic
Convection of a single generation of Triple Hill’s Vortices
• Spherical
• Stretched
Turbulent channel flow
• Spherical
• Spherical with stretched
Homogeneous Turbulence
Comparison between the original scaling and the target Reynolds
stress modification method
Domain dimensions
• 20𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑥 × 10𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑥 × 10𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑥
Minimum Radius: 𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛 =
6
• 5 to 6 points across the smallest THV
1000 THV’s arranged in three generations were imposed over a
uniform mean flow of 𝑀∞ = 0.1 for two non-dimensionalized
Reynolds stress tensors
0.01 0 0 0.015 0.005 0.0025
𝑢𝑖′ 𝑢𝑗′ = 0 0.01 0 ; 𝑢𝑖′ 𝑢𝑗′ = 0.005 0.01 0.001
𝑖𝑠𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑜
0 0 0.01 0.0025 0.001 0.02
Boundary Conditions
• Periodic boundaries in the cross flow directions
• THV SEM at the inlet
• Outflow at the exit
Homogeneous Turbulence – Reynolds stresses vs. time
Reynolds stresses at the inlet averaged in the homogeneous directions
Isotropic Anisotropic

Blue) original scaling; Red) target Reynolds stress modification

Homogeneous Turbulence – Reynolds stresses at rescaling periods
Reynolds stresses at the inlet averaged in time and in the homogeneous
directions at the end of three rescaling periods

Isotropic Anisotropic

Blue) original scaling; Red) target Reynolds stress modification

Single Generation of Spherical or Stretched THV’s
Channel flow between two flat plates at 𝑅𝑒𝜏 = 500 was simulated
Domain Dimensions
• 12 𝛿 × 2 𝛿 × 4 𝛿
• 210 × 120 × 120 points
• Uniform grid spacing in the streamwise and spanwise direction
• Stretched grid in the vertical direction

Boundary Conditions
• No-slip boundaries in the vertical directions
• Periodic boundaries in the spanwise direction
• THV SEM at the inlet
• Outflow at the exit
140 THV’s were imposed over a parabolic mean streamwise flow
The ranges of radii and distances away from the wall for the THV's
were specifically selected such that when the THV's are stretched
and inclined, the upstream end just reaches the wall.
Single Generation THV’s – Fluctuating Streamwise Velocity
Isosurfaces and contours of fluctuating streamwise velocity
Spherical

MOVIE

Stretched

Blue) negative; Red) positive

Single Generation THV’s – Vorticity Magnitude
Isosurfaces and contours of vorticity magnitude
Spherical

MOVIE

Stretched
Turbulent Channel Flow
Channel flow between two flat plates at 𝑅𝑒𝜏 = 500 was simulated
The imposed Reynolds stress profiles were from DNS data collected by del
Álamo and Jiménez (2003)
Domain Dimensions
• 12 𝛿 × 2 𝛿 × 4 𝛿
• 240 × 120 × 240 points
• Uniform grid spacing in the streamwise and spanwise direction
• Stretched grid in the vertical direction
Boundary Conditions
• No-slip boundaries in the vertical directions
• Periodic boundaries in the spanwise direction
• THV SEM at the inlet
• Outflow at the exit
7500 THV’s arranged in 5 generations were imposed over a parabolic
mean streamwise flow
• 2 generations were stretched, totaling 260 THV’
• 1 generation was clustered near the walls, totaling 2500 THV’s
Maximum Radius: 𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 0.6 𝛿
Minimum Radius: 𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛 = 0.01 𝛿
del Álamo, J. C. and Jiménez, J. (2003) Spectra of the very large anisotropic scales in turbulent channels, Phys. Fluids, Vol. 15,
No. 6, pp L41-L44.
Turbulent Channel Flow – Vorticity Magnitude
Isosurfaces of vorticity magnitude
Spherical

MOVIE

Spherical with Stretched

Turbulent Channel Flow – Reynolds Stress Profiles
Vertical profiles of the non-zero Reynolds stresses at the inlet compared
with the DNS profiles
Averaged in time and in the homogeneous spanwise direction at the inlet

Spherical Spherical with Stretched

del Álamo, J. C. and Jiménez, J. (2003) Spectra of the very large anisotropic scales in turbulent channels, Phys. Fluids, Vol. 15,
No. 6, pp L41-L44.
 Turbulent Channel Flow – Streamwise profiles
Averaged in time and in the homogeneous spanwise direction at the inlet

Reynolds
Shear
TKE at Stress at
2 2
𝑦= 𝛿 𝑦= 𝛿
3 3

Blue) Spherical
Friction
Coefficient Red) Spherical with
Stretched
Turbulent Channel Flow – Turbulent Kinetic Energy
Vertical profiles of turbulent kinetic energy sample every channel height
downstream
Averaged in time and in the homogeneous spanwise direction at the inlet

Blue) Spherical; Red) Spherical with Stretched

Concluding Remarks
Two improvements to the Triple Hill’s Vortex Synthetic
Eddy Method were proposed:
• Modification of the target Reynolds stresses
• Modeling of near-wall coherent structures in wall-
bounded flows
Implicit LES simulations of isotropic and anisotropic
homogeneous turbulence and turbulent channel flow
were carried out.
For the homogeneous turbulence cases:
• The new target Reynolds stress modification method
matched the given Reynolds stresses almost immediately
after the start of the simulation, while the original scaling
required substantial more time
Concluding Remarks
For the turbulent channel flow cases:
• Simulation of an isolated set of stretched THV’s
qualitatively showed a reduction in development length
• The addition of stretched THV’s did not hinder the
reproduction of the given Reynolds stress profiles
• The turbulent kinetic energy, Reynolds shear stress, and
friction coefficient all showed a faster recovery when
stretched THV’s were included
Future Work:
• Introduce a relationship between the THV generations
and a given energy spectrum
• Model other of the observed coherent structures in wall-
bounded flows
• Replace the parabolic mean flow with a more realistic
turbulent mean velocity profile
Thank You.