TURBULENCEMODELINGFORBEGINNERS

b y

TONYSAAD

UNIVERSITYOFTENNESSEESPACEINSTITUTE
tsaa d@utsi.ed u htt p:/ / j ed i .k n o w s . it

The purpose of this tiny guide is to summarize the basic concepts of turbulence modeling and to a compile the fundamental turbulence models into one simple framework.Intendedforthebeginner,noderivationsareincluded,unlessinsome simple cases, as the focus is to present a balance between the physical understandingandtheclosureequations.Ihopethismaterialwillbehelpful.

TABLEOFCONTENTS
Introduction........................................................................................................................ 3 First Order Models: ........................................................................................................... 6
Zero-Equation Models .............................................................................................................. 7 One-Equation Models: .............................................................................................................. 8 Two-Equation Models ( k ): .............................................................................................. 10

Second Order Models ....................................................................................................... 12

The Standard Reynolds Stress Model (RSM) ....................................................................... 13
Turbulent Diffusion Modeling ............................................................................................................ 13 Pressure-Strain Correlation Modeling................................................................................................. 14 Modeling of the Turbulent Dissipation Rate ....................................................................................... 16

The Algebraic Stress Model ................................................................................................... 18

Acknowledgments............................................................................................................. 19

INTRODUCTION
Aturbulentflowfieldischaracterizedbyvelocityfluctuationsinalldirectionsand hasaninfinitenumberofscales(degreesoffreedom).SolvingtheNSequationsfora turbulentflowisimpossiblebecausetheequationsareelliptic,nonlinear,coupled (pressurevelocity, temperaturevelocity). The flow is three dimensional, chaotic, diffusive, dissipative, and intermittent. The most important characteristic of a turbulentflowistheinfinitenumberofscalessothatafullnumericalresolutionof the flow requires the construction of a grid with a number of nodes that is proportionaltoRe9/4. ThegoverningequationsforaNewtonianfluidare ConservationofMass Conservationofmomentum
ui u j ui + = x j x j u i x j p + gi + sui x i

ui + = 0 t xi

(1)

(2)

Conservationofpassivescalars(givenascalar T )
c pT + c p u jT x j = x j T k x j + st

(3)

Sohowcanwesolvetheproblem?Oneofthesolutionsistoreducethenumberof scales(frominfinityto1or2)byusingtheReynoldsdecomposition.Anyproperty (whether a vector or a scalar) can be written as the sum of an average and a fluctuation, i.e. = + where the capital letter denotes the average and the lower case letter denotes the fluctuation of the property. Of course, this decomposition will yield a set of equations governing the average flow field. The newequationswillbeexactforanaverageflowfieldnotfortheexactturbulentflow field. By an average flow field we mean that any property becomes constant over 3

time.TheresultofusingtheReynoldsdecompositionintheNSequationsiscalled theRANSorReynoldsAveragedNavierStokesEquations.Uponsubstitutionofthe Reynolds decomposition (for each variable, we substitute the corresponding decomposition)weobtainthefollowingRANSequations: ConservationofMass Conservationofmomentum
U i U jU i + = x j x j
_____ U i P ui u j + Sui x x j i

U i + = 0 xi

(4)

(5)

Conservationofpassivescalars(givenascalar T )
c pT + c pU jT x j = x j
_____ T c p u j t + St k x j

(6)

Note:aspecialpropertyoftheReynoldsdecompositionisthattheaverageofthefluctuating componentisidenticallyzero,afactthatisusedinthederivationoftheaboveequations.

However,byusingtheReynoldsdecomposition,therearenewunknownsthatwere introduced such as the turbulent stresses ui u j and turbulent fluxes (where the overbar denotes an average) and therefore, the RANS equations describe an open setofequations.Theneedforadditionalequationstomodelthenewunknownsis calledTurbulenceModeling. Wenowhave9additionalunknowns(6Reynoldsstressesand3turbulentfluxes). Intotal,forthesimplestturbulentflow(includingthetransportofascalarpassive scalar,e.g.temperaturewhenheattransferisinvolved)there14unknowns! A straight forward method to model the additional unknowns is to develop new PDEs for each term by using the original set of the NS equations (multiplying the momentum equations to produce the turbulent stresses). However, the problem with this procedure is that it will introduce new correlations for the unknowns 4

_____

(triplecorrelations)andsoon.Wethenmightthinkofdevelopingnewequationsfor the triple correlations, nevertheless, we will end up with quadruple correlations andsoonAnalternativeapproachistousethePDEsfortheturbulentstressesand fluxes as a guide to modeling. The turbulent models are as follows, in order of increasingcomplexity: Algebraic(zeroequation)models:mixinglength(firstordermodel) Oneequationmodels:kmodel,tmodel(firstordermodel) Twoequationmodels:k,kkl,k2,lowRek(firstordermodel) Algebraicstressmodels:ASM(secondordermodel) Reynoldsstressmodels:RSM(secondordermodel) ZeroEquationModels

OneEquationModels

FirstOrderModels

TwoEquationModels

AlgebraicStressModels SecondOrderModels

ReynoldsStressModels

FIRSTORDERMODELS
First order models are based on the analogy between laminar and turbulent flow. They are also called Eddy Viscosity Models (EVM). The idea is that the average turbulent flow field is similar to the corresponding laminar flow. This analogy is illustratedasfollows
u u j 2 u j ij = i + ij x x j j xi 3 Laminar FLow: q = k T i c x p i

t U U j ij = ui u j = t i + x xi j Turbulent Flow: q t = u t = kt T i i c p xi 2 ij k 3

(7)

whichisreferredtoasthegeneralizedBoussinesqhypothesis. Notethat:

t = Turbulent Viscosity
k = Turbulent Kinetic Energy kt = Turbulent Conduction Coefficient
Theturbulentviscosityandtheturbulentconductioncoefficientareflowproperties. They are not properties of the fluid. They vary from one flow to another. So the problemnowisthedevisemeansormodelstofindtheseunknowns,theturbulent viscosity and the turbulent conduction, because the turbulent stresses and fluxes willbeexpressedasfunctionofthesenewflowproperties.

ZEROEQUATIONMODELS Inzeroequationmodels,asthenamedesignates,wehavenoPDEthatdescribesthe transportoftheturbulentstressesandfluxes.Asimplealgebraicrelationisusedto close the problem. Based on the mixing length theory, which is the length over which there is high interaction of vortices in a turbulent flow field, dimensional analysisisusedtoshowthat:

t =

dU t lu = lm lm dy

(8)

lm isdeterminedexperimentally.Forboundarylayers,wehave and Equations(8)through(10)arethenusedinthelaminarturbulentanalogyandthen backintotheoriginalRANSequations. kt = t cp Prt (10) lm = y for y < lm = for y (9)

ONEEQUATIONMODELS In oneequation models, a PDE is derived for the turbulent kinetic energy and the unknowns (turbulent viscosity and conduction coefficient) are expressed as a functionoftheturbulentkineticenergyas:
K= 1 2 2 u + v + w2 2

(11)

We also make use of the fact that t lu but in this case, the velocity scales is proportionaltothesquarerootofthekineticenergy(unliketheabovecasewhereu wasproportionaltothegradientofvelocity).Therefore,wehave:

t = C K lm

kt = t cp Prt

(12)

Nowthattheturbulentviscosityandturbulentconductioncoefficientareexpressed in terms of the turbulent kinetic energy (therefore the turbulent stresses and turbulent fluxes are functions of the kinetic energy), a PDE is developed for the turbulentkineticenergy. U i K U j K + = ui u j gi ui t ....................(Pk + Gk ) x j x j x j 1 2 K ui u j + pu j 2 x j .........(D k ) (13)

U j U j x j x j

.....................................( k )

On the other hand, this equation introduces two new unknown correlations; the turbulentandpressurediffusions(Dk)andthedissipationrates(k)whichneedto bemodeled.Finally,weendupwiththefollowing:
K U j K + = x j x j t + k K + Pk + Gk x j

(14)

Where
Pk = ui u j U U j U i = t i + x j xi x j U i x j

(15)

Gk = gi

kt T c p xi

(16)

Andfromdimensionalanalysis,weobtain

U j U j x j x j

K 3/ 2 K 3/ 2 = Cd l lm

(17)

TWOEQUATIONMODELS( k ) In the twoequation models, we develop two PDEs: one for the turbulent kinetic energyandonefortheturbulentdissipationrate.ThePDEfortheturbulentkinetic energy is already given by Eq.(13), however, the expression for the turbulent or eddy viscosity is different. So, the idea is to express the turbulent viscosity as a functionofKandandthenderivePDEsforKand.

t ul = k

1/ 2

k 3/ 2 (18)

t = C
kt = t

k2

cp

Prt

Theequationfortheturbulentkineticenergyisrepeatedhereforconvenience

t K U j K + = + x j x j k
Pk = ui u j

K + Pk + Gk x j U i x j

(19)

U U j U i = t i + x j xi x j

(20)

Gk = gi

kt T c p xi

(21)

Nowinsteadofmodeling,weshalldevelopanindependentPDEforitstransport. Weobtain
U j + = x j x j t + 2 + C 1 ( Pk + C 3Gk ) C 2 K K x j U i x j

(22)

Pk = ui u j

U U j U i = t i + x j xi x j

(23)

10

Gk = gi

kt T c p xi

(24)

Theconstantsaredeterminedfromsimplebenchmarkexperiments.
C

k
1.0

1.3

C 1 1.44

C 2 1.92

C 3 01.0

Prt 0.70.9

0.09

11

SECONDORDERMODELS
Thecentralconceptofsecondordermodelsistomakedirectuseofthegoverning equations for the second order moments (Reynolds stresses and turbulent fluxes) instead of the questionable Boussinesq hypothesis. The motivation is to overcome thelimitationsoffirstordermodelsindealingwiththeisotropyofturbulenceand the extra strains. The overshoot of this approach is the large number of PDEs inducedwhichinvolvemanyunknownorimpossibletofindcorrelations.Themost famousmodelsaretheAlgebraicStressModel(ASM)andtheReynoldsStressModel (RSM). The second order modeling approach shall be illustrated with the RSM modelonly.

12

THESTANDARDREYNOLDSSTRESSMODEL(RSM) The RSM involves the modeling of turbulent diffusion, pressure strain correlation whichisthemostinvolvedpartoftheRSM,andtheturbulentdissipationrate.The RANSmomentumequationiswrittenas

ui u j U k ui u j + = xk xk

ui u j t + Dij xk + Pij + Gij + ij ij

(25)

Where

Pij = ui uk

U j Ui u j uk xk xk

(26) (27)

Gij = g j ui t gi u j t

Andthescalartransportequationis

ui t U j ui t ui t t + = + Dit xj xj xj + Pit + Git + it it

(28)

Where
Pit = Pit1 + Pit 2 = ui uk

Ui T uk t xk xk

(29)

Git = gi t 2

(30)

t t Theobjectiveistofindmodelsforturbulentdiffusion( Dij , Dit ),thepressurestrain

correlation( ij , it ),andtheturbulentdissipationrate( ij , it ). TURBULENTDIFFUSIONMODELING One way to model the 3rd order turbulent diffusion tensor is to write its own transport equation. However, this becomes very complicated (handling tensors by 13

itself is sometimes rather involved!). One remedy is to use Generalized Gradient DiffusionHypothesis and
t Dit = Cst t Dij = Cs

ui u j k uk ul xl

(31)

u jt ut k + u j uk i ui uk xk xk

(32)

wheretheconstantsaredeterminedfromsimpleexperiments. PRESSURESTRAINCORRELATIONMODELING The role of the pressurestrain interaction is to redistribute the turbulent kinetic energyoverthethreenormalstresses.Thegoverningequationfortheevolutionof thisphenomenontakestheformofaLagrangianintegrodifferentialequation

1 p ui = x j 4

2u u u U k ul ui g k t ui dV k l i +2 V xk xl x j xl xk x j + T xk x j x x + I S (33)

With a similar equation for pressurescalar correlation. Without further complication,thefinalanalysisassumesthefollowing And where
ij1 , it1 representtheturbulenceturbulenceinteraction,i.e.betweenfluctuations.
w w w it = it1 + it 2 + it 3 + it1 + it 2 + it 3

w w w ij = ij1 + ij 2 + ij 3 + ij1 + ij 2 + ij 3

(34)

(35)

They are modeled using an isotropic assumption, as in the decay of homogeneous turbulence 14

2 ij1 = C1 aij = C1 ui u j ij k k 3
it1 = C1t ui t 1

(36)

= C1t ui t

(37)

ij 2 , it 2 represent the shear effects. They are also modeled by isotropization of

turbulence
1 ij 2 = C2 Pij ij Pkk 3

(38) (39)

it 2 = C2t Pit 2

ij 3 , it 3 represent the body force effects. Their modeling is similar to that of the

sheareffects
w w w w w w Finally, ij1 ,it1 , ij 2 , it2 , ij3 ,it3 represent the wall effects. The basic idea is that a

1 ij 3 = C3 Gij ij Gkk 3

(40) (41)

it 3 = C3t Git

pressurewaveisreflectedatawallandthusaffectsthewholeflowfieldinanelliptic manner

3 3 w ij1 = C1w uk ul nk nl ij ui uk n j nk u j uk ni nk Fn 2 2 k 3 3 w ij 2 = C2 w kl 2 nk nl ij ik 2 n j nk jk 2 ni nk Fn 2 2 3 3 w ij 3 = C3 w kl 3 nk nl ij ik 3 n j nk jk 3 ni nk Fn 2 2

(42)

and 15

w it1 = C1tw uk t ni nk Fn k w it 2 = C2tw kt 2 ni nk Fn

(43)

with

w it 3

= C3tw kt 3 ni nk Fn

3 C 4 K 3 2 Fn = yn

(44)

Where yn represents the distance from the wall to the concerned point in the domain. MODELINGOFTHETURBULENTDISSIPATIONRATE Asimpleisotropicmodelisusedtomodel .

ij = ij

2 3

(45) (46)

it = 0

Withthefollowingtransportequationforthedissipationrate

U j = + x j x j

Ui k 1 (47) C u j uk + ( C 1 Pk C 2 ) Pk = Pii = ui u j xk k xj 2

Where TheconstantsappearinginRSMequationsaregiveninthefollowingtable

Pk =

Ui 1 Pii = ui u j 2 xj

(48)

16

Cs

C1 C2 C3 C1w C2w C3w 0.5 0.3 0.3

C1

C2

Ct

C1t C2t C3t 3.0 0.5 0.5

0.22 1.8 0.6 0.5

0.18 1.44 1.92 0.2

C1tw 0.5

C2tw 0.0

C3tw 0.0

17

THEALGEBRAICSTRESSMODEL Inthealgebraicstressmodel,twomainapproachescanbeundertaken.Inthefirst, the transport of the turbulent stresses is assumed proportional to the turbulent kineticenergy;whileinthesecond,convectiveanddiffusiveeffectsareassumedto be negligible. Algebraic Stress models can only be used where convective and diffusivefluxesarenegligible,i.e.sourcedominatedflows.

18

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am indebted to my undergraduate advisor and tutor, Prof. Michel ElHayek at Notre Dame University for introducing me to turbulence modeling. Most of this tutorialisbasedonhisexplanationandpresentations.

19