Large Eddy Simulation of transitional flows in rotor/stator cavity

Abstract

An algorithm for the Large Eddy Simulation, with subgrid modelling based on the spectral Chebyshev–Fourier approximation, is developed for the investigation of 3D turbulent and transitional non-isothermal flows within a rotor/stator cavity. In LES we use a version of the dynamic Smagorinsky eddy viscosity model in which the Smagorinsky coefficient at a given position x depends on the history of the flow along the fluid particle pathline. Computations are based on the efficient pseudo-spectral Chebyshev–Fourier method (S. Hugues, A. Randriamampianina, An improved projection scheme applied to pseudospectral methods for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations , Int. J. Numer. Methods Fluids, 28, 501, 1998). To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, computations were performed for the cavity of aspect ratio L =5 and results were compared favorably with the experimental data taken from literature.