Numerical modeling of initially turbulent wakes with net momentum

Abstract

This paper presents results from the first fully three-dimensional direct numerical simulations of initially turbulent wakes with net momentum in unstratified and density stratified fluids. The initial conditions contain a super-position of an initially axisymmetric mean streamwise velocity profile plus a spectrally specified fluctuation velocity field with initially incoherent phases to model initial turbulence. To provide evidence in favor of their validity, we compare results from these simulations with previous measurements behind towed bodies in wind tunnels and towing tanks, and also compare with theories of turbulent wakes. Comparisons with laboratory flow experiments provide agreement, both with statistical quantities and vortex structures and evolution. We subsequently investigate open questions by analysis of the fully three-dimensional flow. Coherent vortices in stratified wakes have their origins in the vortex geometry of the mean wake flow, and do not require stratification or coherent seeding in the initial velocity fluctuations. We conclude that the simulations provide a trustworthy and valuable complement to wake research, and that the vortex structures result from a combination of the necessity that vortices form loops and diffusion of vorticity to smooth the loops into rings.