LES, Zonal and Seamless Hybrid LES/RANS: Rationale and Application to Free and Wall-Bounded Flows Involving Separation and Swirl

An overview is given of the activities in the framework of the German-French Research Group on ”LES of Complex Flows” (DFG-CNRS FOR 507) with respect to the development of zonal and seamless hybrid LES/RANS computational methods based on a near-wall Eddy-Viscosity Model (EVM) and a near-wall Second-Moment Closure (SMC) respectively. The zonal scheme represents a two layer model with a two-equation EVM-RANS model covering the near-wall layer and the true LES employing the zero-equation subgrid-scale (SGS) model of Smagorinsky resolving the core flow. Due attention was payed to the exchange of the variables between the ensemble-averaged RANS field and the spatially-filtered LES field across the discrete interface separating the two sub-regions. A procedure for controlling the interface position in the flow domain was also in focus of the present investigations. After considering a few introductory test cases (fully-developed channel flow, flows separating from sharp-edged surfaces) the feasibility of the method was validated against the available experiments in a single tubo-annular, swirl combustor configuration (Exp.: Palm et al., [39]) and in the separated flows in a 3-D diffuser (Exp. Cherry et al., [10]) and over a 2-D hump including the case with the separation control by steady suction (Exp.Greenblatt et al., [23]). The seamless LES/RANS method employs the so-called Elliptic-Blending Reynolds-Stress Model (EB-RSM, Manceau, [33]; Manceau and Hanjalic, [34]) being active in the entire flow field. This RANS-based SGS model represents a near-wall Second-Moment Closure model relying on the elliptic relaxation method. The model coefficient multiplying the destruction term in the transport equation for the scale-supplying variable e (dissipation rate of the turbulence kinetic energy) was made filter-width (corresponding to the grid spacing) dependent, i.e. dependent on the location of the spectral cutoff, by applying a multiscale modelling procedure originating from spectral splitting of filtered turbulence in line with the Partially Integrated Transport Model (PITM) proposed by Dejoan and Schiestel, [48] and Chaouat and Schiestel, [8]. Herewith, the dissipation rate level was obtained, which suppresses the turbulence intensity towards the subgrid (i.e. subscale) level in the regions where large coherent structures dominate the flow. The resulting model was validated by computing some free flows (a temporal mixing layer) and wall-bounded flows (a fully-developed channel flow). Finally, the PITM method applied to the high-Reynolds number RSM model due to Speziale et al., [53] was used to compute the flow separated from a 2-D hill (with reference LES by Frohlich et al., [19] and Breuer, [6]). In addition, all relevant cases were computed by the conventional LES method aiming at mutual comparison of the predictive capabilities of the afore-mentioned methods with respect to the quality of results and space-time resolution issues.