Cavity Flow Assessment Using Advanced Turbulence Methods

• Published in: Journal of aircraft 2011-01, Vol.48 (1), p.141-156
• Main Authors: Liggett, Nicholas D, Smith, Marilyn J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accuracy; Acoustics; Aeroacoustics, atmospheric sound; Aerodynamics; Comparative analysis; Exact sciences and technology; Fluid dynamics; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Physics; Reynolds equation; Shear stress; Simulation; Turbulence models; Turbulence simulation and modeling; Turbulent flows, convection, and heat transfer
• ISSN: 0021-8669; 1533-3868
• DOI: 10.2514/1.C031019

The vortex shedding generated by compressible subsonic flow interacting with a wall cavity has been investigated using large-eddy-simulation-based turbulence techniques embedded within a legacy Reynolds-averaged Navier- Stokes solver. Cavity simulations using hybrid turbulence approaches seek the accuracy of large-eddy simulation by providing filtering and modeling of subgrid-scale turbulence with the cost of traditional Reynolds-averaged Navier- Stokes. Simulations applying differing techniques of hybridization of the Menter k-... shear stress transport Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes approach include detached eddy simulation (DES-SST), blended subgrid-scale turbulence models (GT-HRLES), and a self-adjusting large-eddy-simulation-very-large-eddy-simulation technique (KES) provide an understanding of differing hybrid approaches. Cavity flow results from Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes and hybrid simulations are compared with experiment and large-eddy simulation predictions. Evaluation of important flow characteristics illustrates the abilities of these advanced turbulence modeling techniques compared with traditional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes models. Examination of the influence of the grid, time step, and simulation period demonstrates the sensitivity of the aerodynamic and aeroacoustic predictions to these parameters. In particular the subgrid-scale blended model, GT-HRLES, shows significant improvement in the ability to capture the acoustic signatures and flowfield features on a Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes or very-large-eddy-simulation grid compared with the other models. (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae/symbols omitted.)