Vincenzo Armenio

The importance of the forces acting on particles in turbulent flows

The analysis of the importance of the forces that act over an ensemble of particles in a turbulent field has been carried out by using direct numerical simulation for a wide range of density ratios (2.65<ρ<2650). It has been observed that, compared to the Stokes drag, the added mass is always negligible, the pressure drag is relevant for density ratios O(1), and the Basset force is appreciable for the whole range investigated. However, the effect of these forces on the particle dispersion is about 1% for ρ∼1 as well as for large density ratios.

Effect of the subgrid scales on particle motion

In this study, the effects of small-scale velocity fluctuations on the motion of tracer particles is investigated by releasing particles in a turbulent channel flow at Reτ=175, and following their motion in time. Two types of numerical experiments were carried out: first, the Eulerian velocity field was evaluated by the direct numerical simulation (DNS) and the particles were advanced in time using the resolved and several filtered velocity fields to study the effect of the subgrid-scale velocity fluctuations on particle motion without the influence of modeling errors. In the second stage, the particle-motion study was performed using independent DNS and large-eddy simulations (LES), thus including the effect of interpolation and subgrid-scale stress modeling errors on the dispersion statistics. At this Reynolds number the small scales were found to have a limited effect on the statistics examined (one-particle dispersion, one-particle velocity autocorrelation, Lagrangian integral time scale, turbulent di...

An investigation of stably stratified turbulent channel flow using large-eddy simulation

Boundary-forced stratified turbulence is studied in the prototypical case of turbulent channel flow subject to stable stratification. The large-eddy simulation approach is used with a mixed subgrid model that involves a dynamic eddy viscosity component and a scale-similarity component. After an initial transient, the flow reaches a new balanced state corresponding to active wall-bounded turbulence with reduced vertical transport which, for the cases in our study with moderate-to-large levels of stratification, coexists with internal wave activity in the core of the channel. A systematic reduction of turbulence levels, density fluctuations and associated vertical transport with increasing stratification is observed. Countergradient buoyancy flux is observed in the outer region for sufficiently high stratification. Mixing of the density field in stratified channel flow results from turbulent events generated near the boundaries that couple with the outer, more stable flow. The vertical density structure is thus of interest for analogous boundary-forced mixing situations in geophysical flows. It is found that, with increasing stratification, the mean density profile becomes sharper in the central region between the two turbulent layers at the upper and lower walls, similar to observations in field measurements as well as laboratory experiments with analogous density-mixing situations. Channel flow is strongly inhomogeneous with alternative choices for the Richardson number. In spite of these complications, the gradient Richardson number, Ri g , appears to be the important local determinant of buoyancy effects. All simulated cases show that correlation coefficients associated with vertical transport collapse from their nominal unstratified values over a narrow range, 0.15 Ri g < 0.25. The vertical turbulent Froude number, Fr w , has an O (1) value across most of the channel. It is remarkable that stratified channel flow, with such a large variation of overall density difference (factor of 26) between cases, shows a relatively universal behaviour of correlation coefficients and vertical Froude number when plotted as a function of Ri g . The visualizations show wavy motion in the core region where the gradient Richardson number, Ri g , is large and low-speed streaks in the near-wall region, typical of unstratified channel flow, where Ri g is small. It appears from the visualizations that, with increasing stratification, the region with wavy motion progressively encroaches into the zone with active turbulence; the location of Ri g ≃ 0.2 roughly corresponds to the boundary between the two zones.

ON THE ANALYSIS OF SLOSHING OF WATER IN RECTANGULAR CONTAINERS: NUMERICAL STUDY AND EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION

Abstract In this work the analysis of sloshing of water in rectangular open tanks has been extensively carried out. Two mathematical models are employed, respectively the Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes Equations (RANSE) and the Shallow Water Equations (SWE). The RANSE are solved using a modified form of the well established MAC method (SIMAC) able to treat both the free surface motion and the viscous stresses over the rigid walls accurately. The Shallow Water Equations are solved by means of a simple and powerful algorithm (CE-SE) able to deal with large impacting waves over the tank walls. Successively, in order to validate the mentioned algorithms and for a better understanding of the sloshing phenomenon, experimental tests have been carried out using a 0.5 m breadth rectangular tank in periodic roll motion. It has been shown that RANSE provide more accurate solutions than SWE for small or moderate amplitudes of excitation. In particular in this paper it is proved that the shallow water approximation can be efficiently adopted within liquid depth to tank breadth ratio = 0.15, when examining the sloshing problem. By increasing the water level inside the tank, results by SWE show large qualitative and quantitative disagreement with experiments. Nevertheless, in the case of large amplitude excitation, when sprays and large breaking waves are expected, SWE provide a fairly good estimate of the sloshing induced waves. Finally a simple baffle configuration inside the tank has been considered. By the analysis of numerical results, it has been observed that the presence of a vertical baffle at the middle of the tank dramatically changes the sloshing response compared to the unbaffled configuration. It produces a jump-like effect, resulting in a weak magnification of the dynamic loads on the vertical walls out of resonance, and a strong reduction of the dynamic loads in the resonance condition.

A Lagrangian Mixed Subgrid-Scale Model in Generalized Coordinates

This paper presents the formulation of a mixed dynamic subgrid-scale model in non-Cartesian geometries suitable for the study of complex flows. Following the approach developed by Jordan [J. Comput. Phys.148, 322 (1999)], the variables are first transformed into a contravariant form and then filtered in the computational space. A dynamic localized mixed model, previously developed within the Cartesian framework has been entirely re-formulated for non-orthogonal meshes. The model performance was evaluated by carrying out two tests. First, a plane channel flow at Reτ = 395 was simulated using both Cartesian and curvilinear grids; the results show that the model formulation is consistent and insensitive to grid distortion, and compares well with the reference data. Then, computations of the turbulent flow over a two-dimensional channel with a wavy wall were performed. Accurate first- and second-order statistics were obtained using relatively coarse grids.

The effect of the slope of irregularly distributed roughness elements on turbulent wall-bounded flows

Wall roughness produces a downward shift of the mean streamwise velocity profile in the log region, known as the roughness function. The dependence of the roughness function on the height and arrangement of roughness elements has been confirmed in several studies where regular rough walls were analysed; less attention has been paid to non-regular rough walls. Here, a numerical analysis of turbulent flows over irregularly shaped rough walls is performed, clearly identifying the importance of a parameter, called the effective slope (ES) of the wall corrugations, in characterizing the geometry of non-smooth irregular walls. The effective slope proves to be one of the fundamental geometric parameters for scaling the roughness function. Specifically, for a moderate range of roughness heights, both in the transitionally and in the fully rough regime, ES appears to scale the roughness function for a wide range of irregular rough geometric configurations. The effective slope determines the relative importance of friction drag and pressure drag. For ES ∼ 0.15 we find that the friction contribution to the total wall stress is nearly in balance with the pressure-drag contribution. This value separates the region where the roughness function ΔU + = f(ES) is linear from that where a smooth nonlinear behaviour is observed. In the cases investigated, value ES∼0.15 also separates the transitionally rough regime from the fully rough regime.

Turbulence structures over irregular rough surfaces

Turbulent flow in a channel with irregular two-dimensional rough surfaces is analysed through wall-resolving large eddy simulation (LES). Both walls of the channel are roughened through the superimposition of sinusoidal functions having random amplitude and four different wavelengths. The downward shift of the velocity profile in the log region due to the roughness, known as roughness function, is well captured in the simulations. The spanwise and wall-normal turbulence intensities are found to increase with the roughness height, while the streamwise component decreases. The analysis of the Reynolds stress anisotropy tensor highlights a tendency towards isotropisation, confirmed by the vorticity rms. The analysis of the statistics shows that the effects of the roughness on the turbulent flow are greatly related to the increase of the height of the maximum peaks of the corrugations. Although the inner layer is dramatically affected by the wall irregularities, the outer layer appears not affected by the spe...

A numerical investigation of the Stokes boundary layer in the turbulent regime

The Stokes boundary layer in the turbulent regime is investigated by using large-eddy simulations (LES). The Reynolds number, based on the thickness of the Stokes boundary layer, is set equal to Re δ = 1790, which corresponds to test 8 of the experimental study of Jensen et al . ( J. Fluid Mech. vol. 206, 1989, p. 265). Our results corroborate and extend the findings of relevant experimental studies: the alternating phases of acceleration and deceleration are correctly reproduced, as is the sharp transition to turbulence, observable at a phase angle between 30° and 45°, and its maximum between 90° and 105°. Overall, a very good agreement was found between our LES first- and second-order turbulent statistics and those of Jensen et al . (1989). Some discrepancies were observed when comparing turbulent intensities in the phases of the cycle characterized by a low level of turbulent activity. In the central part of the cycle, namely from the mid acceleration to the late deceleration phases, fully developed equilibrium turbulence is present in the flow field, and the boundary layer resembles that of a canonical, steady, wall-bounded flow. In those phases characterized by low turbulent activity, two separate regions can be detected in the flow field: a near-wall one, where the vertical turbulent kinetic energy varies much more rapidly than the other two components, thus giving rise to the formation of horizontal, pancake-like turbulence; and an outer region where both vertical and spanwise velocity fluctuations vary much faster than the streamwise ones, hence producing cigar-like turbulence. As a side result, the range of application of the plane-averaged dynamic mixed model was assessed based on the qualitative behaviour over the cycle of a significant parameter representing the ratio between a turbulent time scale and a free-stream time scale associated with the oscillatory motion.

Large eddy simulation of stably stratified open channel flow

Large eddy simulation has been used to study flow in an open channel with stable stratification imposed at the free surface by a constant heat flux and an adiabatic bottom wall. This leads to a stable pycnocline overlying a well-mixed turbulent region near the bottom wall. The results are contrasted with studies in which the bottom heat flux is nonzero, a difference analogous to that between oceanic and atmospheric boundary layers. Increasing the friction Richardson number, a measure of the relative importance of the imposed surface stratification with respect to wall-generated turbulence, leads to a stronger, thicker pycnocline which eventually limits the impact of wall-generated turbulence on the free surface. Increasing stratification also leads to an increase in the pressure-driven mean streamwise velocity and a concomitant decrease in the skin friction coefficient, which is, however, smaller than in the previous channel flow studies where the bottom buoyancy flux was nonzero. It is found that the tur...

AN IMPROVED MAC METHOD (SIMAC) FOR UNSTEADY HIGH-REYNOLDS FREE SURFACE FLOWS

A modified MAC method (SIMAC; semi-implicit marker and cell) is proposed which accurately treats unsteady high-Reynolds free surface problems. SIMAC solves the Navier–Stokes equations in primitive variables on a non-uniform staggered Cartesian grid by means of a finite difference scheme. The convective term is treated explicitly by employing a second-order upwind scheme in space (HLPA) and the Adams–Bashforth technique in time. The diffusive part is solved by means of the implicit approximate factorization technique. A multigrid technique based on the additive correction strategy is employed to solve the Poisson equation for the pressure. Finally, the free surface treatment is carried out using massless particles which divide the domain of integration into full and empty cells as in a standard MAC method. The algorithm is used for the analysis of large-amplitude water sloshing in rectangular unbaffled and baffled containers. Experimental tests have been carried out in order to validate the algorithm. Numerical results satisfactorily agree with experimental data for the whole range of filing conditions analysed here.