Rodney Cannon Schmidt

Near-wall LES closure based on one-dimensional turbulence modeling

A novel near-wall LES closure model is developed based on a revised form of the one-dimensional turbulence (ODT) model of Kerstein and is tested by performing LES calculations of turbulent channel flow at Reynolds numbers based on friction velocity ranging from 395 to 10,000. In contrast to previous models, which invoke Reynolds averaging, near-wall velocity fluctuations and turbulent transport are simulated down to the smallest scales, and can be compared directly to DNS data. Thus, the approach provides more than just a boundary condition. Rather, it is itself a complete (although simplified) model for the wall-normal profiles of velocity within the near-wall region. LES/ODT coupling is bi-directional and occurs both through the direct calculation of the subgrid turbulent stress by temporally and spatially filtering the ODT-resolved momentum fluxes (up-scale coupling), and through the LES-resolved pressure and velocities impacting the ODT behavior (down-scale coupling). The formulation involves finely resolved ODT lines that are embedded within each wall-adjacent LES cell - denoted the inner region. LES cells that are within approximately one LES filter width of the inner region belong to an overlap region where both ODT and LES modeling is active. All other cells are treated using a standard LES approach. Although more expensive than simpler models, the cost of the model relative to the LES portion of the simulation scales favorably with problem size, leading to computationally affordable simulations even at relatively high Reynolds numbers.

ODTLES simulations of wall-bounded flows

ODTLES is a novel multi-scale model for 3D turbulent flow based on the one-dimensional-turbulence model of Kerstein [“One-dimensional turbulence: Model formulation and application to homogeneous turbulence, shear flows, and buoyant stratified flows,” J. Fluid Mech. 392, 277 (1999)]. Its key distinction is that it is formulated to resolve small-scale phenomena and capture some 3D large-scale features of the flow with affordable simulations. The present work demonstrates this capability by considering four types of wall-bounded turbulent flows. This work shows that spatial profiles of various flow quantities predicted with ODTLES agree fairly well with those from direct numerical simulations. It also shows that ODTLES resolves the near-wall region, while capturing the following 3D flow features: the mechanism increasing tangential velocity fluctuations near a free-slip wall, the large-scale recirculation region in lid-driven cavity flow, and the secondary flow in square duct flow.

The ensemble mean limit of the one-dimensional turbulence model and application to residual stress closure in finite volume large-eddy simulation

In order to gain insight into the one-dimensional turbulence (ODT) model of Kerstein [1] as it pertains to residual stress closure in large-eddy simulation (LES), we develop ensemble mean closure (EMC), an algebraic stress closure based on the mappings and time scale physics employed in ODT. To allow analytic determination of the stress the ODT model is simplified, conceptually, such that eddy events act upon a velocity field linearized by the local resolved scale strain. EMC can account for viscous effects, addressing the laminar flow finite eddy viscosity problem without implementation of the dynamic procedure [2]. The algebraic form of the model lends itself to analysis [3] and we are able to derive a theoretical value for the eddy rate constant. This value is a bound on the rate constant for full ODT subgrid closure and yields good results in LES of decaying isotropic turbulence with EMC.

A theory manual for multi-physics code coupling in LIME.

The Lightweight Integrating Multi-physics Environment (LIME) is a software package for creating multi-physics simulation codes. Its primary application space is when computer codes are currently available to solve different parts of a multi-physics problem and now need to be coupled with other such codes. In this report we define a common domain language for discussing multi-physics coupling and describe the basic theory associated with multiphysics coupling algorithms that are to be supported in LIME. We provide an assessment of coupling techniques for both steady-state and time dependent coupled systems. Example couplings are also demonstrated.

The Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications (VERA): Design and architecture☆

VERA, the Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications, is the system of physics capabilities being developed and deployed by the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL). CASL was established for the modeling and simulation of commercial nuclear reactors. VERA consists of integrating and interfacing software together with a suite of physics components adapted and/or refactored to simulate relevant physical phenomena in a coupled manner. VERA also includes the software development environment and computational infrastructure needed for these components to be effectively used. We describe the architecture of VERA from both software and numerical perspectives, along with the goals and constraints that drove major design decisions, and their implications. We explain why VERA is an environment rather than a framework or toolkit, why these distinctions are relevant (particularly for coupled physics applications), and provide an overview of results that demonstrate the use of VERA tools for a variety of challenging applications within the nuclear industry.

On the Development of the Large Eddy Simulation Approach for Modeling Turbulent Flow: LDRD Final Report

This report describes research and development of the large eddy simulation (LES) turbulence modeling approach conducted as part of Sandias laboratory directed research and development (LDRD) program. The emphasis of the work described here has been toward developing the capability to perform accurate and computationally affordable LES calculations of engineering problems using unstructured-grid codes, in wall-bounded geometries and for problems with coupled physics. Specific contributions documented here include (1) the implementation and testing of LES models in Sandia codes, including tests of a new conserved scalar--laminar flamelet SGS combustion model that does not assume statistical independence between the mixture fraction and the scalar dissipation rate, (2) the development and testing of statistical analysis and visualization utility software developed for Exodus II unstructured grid LES, and (3) the development and testing of a novel new LES near-wall subgrid model based on the one-dimensional Turbulence (ODT) model.

High-Resolution Modeling of Multiscale Transient Phenomena in Turbulent Boundary Layers

High fidelity numerical simulation of wall-bounded turbulence requires physically sound representation of the small scale unsteady processes governing near-wall momentum, heat, and mass transfer. Conventional wall treatments do not capture the diverse multiphysics flow regimes relevant to engineering applications. To obtain a robust yet computationally affordable near-wall submodel for turbulent flow computations, the fine-grained spatial structure and time evolution of the near-wall flow is simulated using a model formulated on a 1D domain corresponding to the wall-normal direction. This approach captures the strong variation of flow properties in the wall-normal direction and the transient interactions between this highly inhomogeneous region and the more nearly homogeneous (at fine scales) flow farther from the wall. The 1D simulation utilizes the One Dimensional Turbulence (ODT) methodology, whose formulation for the present application is described in detail. Demonstrations of ODT performance with regard to aspects of flow physics relevant to near-wall flow modeling are presented. The coupling of ODT to a large eddy simulation (LES) of confined turbulent flow is described, and the performance of the coupled formulation is demonstrated. It is concluded that this formulation has the potential to provide the fidelity needed for engineering applications at an affordable computational cost.

ODTLES : a model for 3D turbulent flow based on one-dimensional turbulence modeling concepts.

This report describes an approach for extending the one-dimensional turbulence (ODT) model of Kerstein [6] to treat turbulent flow in three-dimensional (3D) domains. This model, here called ODTLES, can also be viewed as a new LES model. In ODTLES, 3D aspects of the flow are captured by embedding three, mutually orthogonal, one-dimensional ODT domain arrays within a coarser 3D mesh. The ODTLES model is obtained by developing a consistent approach for dynamically coupling the different ODT line sets to each other and to the large scale processes that are resolved on the 3D mesh. The model is implemented computationally and its performance is tested and evaluated by performing simulations of decaying isotropic turbulence, a standard turbulent flow benchmarking problem.

GBL-2D Version 1.0: A 2D Geometry Boolean Library

This report describes version 1.0 of GBL-2D, a geometric Boolean library for 2D objects. The library is written in C++ and consists of a set of classes and routines. The classes primarily represent geometric data and relationships. Classes are provided for 2D points, lines, arcs, edge uses, loops, surfaces and mask sets. The routines contain algorithms for geometric Boolean operations and utility functions. Routines are provided that incorporate the Boolean operations: Union(OR), XOR, Intersection and Difference. A variety of additional analytical geometry routines and routines for importing and exporting the data in various file formats are also provided. The GBL-2D library was originally developed as a geometric modeling engine for use with a separate software tool, called SummitView [1], that manipulates the 2D mask sets created by designers of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS). However, many other practical applications for this type of software can be envisioned because the need to perform 2D Boolean operations can arise in many contexts.

SummitView 1.0: a code to automatically generate 3D solid models of surface micro-machining based MEMS designs.

This report describes the SummitView 1.0 computer code developed at Sandia National Laboratories. SummitView is designed to generate a 3D solid model, amenable to visualization and meshing, that represents the end state of a microsystem fabrication process such as the SUMMiT (Sandia Ultra-Planar Multilevel MEMS Technology) V process. Functionally, SummitView performs essentially the same computational task as an earlier code called the 3D Geometry modeler [1]. However, because SummitView is based on 2D instead of 3D data structures and operations, it has significant speed and robustness advantages. As input it requires a definition of both the process itself and the collection of individual 2D masks created by the designer and associated with each of the process steps. The definition of the process is contained in a special process definition file [2] and the 2D masks are contained in MEM format files [3]. The code is written in C++ and consists of a set of classes and routines. The classes represent the geometric data and the SUMMiT V process steps. Classes are provided for the following process steps: Planar Deposition, Planar Etch, Conformal Deposition, Dry Etch, Wet Etch and Release Etch. SummitView is built upon the 2D Boolean library GBL-2D [4], and thus contains all of that librarys functionality.