A Wall Function for Calculating the Skin Friction With Surface Roughness

Wall functions are used in CFD to provide skin friction values and hence the boundary conditions for flow variables along solid surfaces. In this paper the effect of surface roughness on skin friction is incorporated in a wall function approach which uses Spalding’s formula. The use of Spalding’s formula extends the method to a wider range of wall distance than the logarithmic friction law. For CFD applications the results are then re-formulated for explicit calculation throught the use of an additional variable — the ratio of the surface roughness height to the distance from the solid surface. For a given computational grid this information is readily available in a CFD calculation. This methodology is applied to a linear compressor cascade that has been experimentally measured for different roughness values. The comparison of the simulation followed the same trends as the experiment, but with less overall effect.Copyright © 2004 by ASME