Campus Units
Aerospace Engineering
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Submitted Manuscript
Publication Date
2015
Journal or Book Title
Journal of Turbulence
Volume
16
Issue
1
First Page
81
Last Page
99
DOI
10.1080/14685248.2014.959126
Abstract
We revisit the problem of a spatially developing turbulent boundary layer over a concave surface. Unlike previous investigations, we simulate the combined effects of streamline curvature as well as curvature-induced pressure gradients on the turbulence. Our focus is on investigating the response of the turbulent boundary layer to the sudden onset of curvature and the destabilising influence of concave surface in the presence of pressure gradients. This is of interest for evaluating the turbulence closure models. At the beginning of the curve, the momentum thickness Reynolds number is 1520 and the ratio of the boundary layer thickness to the radius of curvature is δ0/R = 0.055. The radial profiles of the mean velocity and turbulence statistics at different locations along the concave surface are presented. Our recently proposed curvature-corrected Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) model is assessed in an a posteriori sense and the improvements obtained over the base model are reported. From the large Eddy simulation (LES) results, it was found that the maximum influence of concave curvature is on the wall-normal component of the Reynolds stress. The budgets of wall-normal Reynolds stress also confirmed this observation. At the onset of curvature, the effect of adverse pressure gradient is found to be predominant. This decreases the skin friction levels below that in the flat section.
Copyright Owner
Taylor and Francis
Copyright Date
2014
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Arolla, Sunil K. and Durbin, Paul A., "LES of spatially developing turbulent boundary layer over a concave surface" (2015). Aerospace Engineering Publications. 104.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/aere_pubs/104
Comments
This article is published as Arolla, Sunil K., and Paul A. Durbin. "LES of spatially developing turbulent boundary layer over a concave surface." Journal of Turbulence 16, no. 1 (2015): 81-99. 10.1080/14685248.2014.959126. Posted with permission.