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A numerical investigation of the coherent vortices in turbulence behind a backward-facing step

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2006

Aristeu Silveira Neto ,
Dominique Grand ,
Olivier Métais  and
Marcel Lesieur
Aristeu Silveira Neto
Affiliation:
Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica, UFU, Uberlândia, M.G. 38400, Brazil Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, D.R.N., Centre d'Etudes Nucléaires de Grenoble, Service des Transferts Thermiques/LPML, BP 85 X, 38041 Grenoble Cedex, France Institut de Mécanique de Grenoble/LEGI (URA CNRS 1509), Institut National Polytechnique de GrenobleandUniversité Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, BP 53 X, 38041 Grenoble Cedex, France
Dominique Grand
Affiliation:
Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, D.R.N., Centre d'Etudes Nucléaires de Grenoble, Service des Transferts Thermiques/LPML, BP 85 X, 38041 Grenoble Cedex, France
Olivier Métais
Affiliation:
Institut de Mécanique de Grenoble/LEGI (URA CNRS 1509), Institut National Polytechnique de GrenobleandUniversité Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, BP 53 X, 38041 Grenoble Cedex, France
Marcel Lesieur
Affiliation:
Institut de Mécanique de Grenoble/LEGI (URA CNRS 1509), Institut National Polytechnique de GrenobleandUniversité Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, BP 53 X, 38041 Grenoble Cedex, France
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Abstract

This paper presents a statistical and topological study of a complex turbulent flow over a backward-facing step by means of direct and large-eddy simulations. Direct simulations are first performed for an isothermal two-dimensional case. In this case, shedding of coherent vortices in the mixing layer is demonstrated. Both direct and large-eddy simulations are then carried out in three dimensions. The subgrid-scale model used is the structure-function model proposed by Métais & Lesieur (1992). Lowstep computations corresponding to the geometry of Eaton & Johnston's (1980) laboratory experiment give turbulence statistics in better agreement with the experimental data than both Smagorinsky's method and K-ε modelling. Furthermore, calculations for a high step show that the eddy structure of the flow presents striking analogies with forced plane mixing layers: large billows are shed behind the step with intense longitudinal vortices strained between them.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 256 , November 1993 , pp. 1 - 25
Copyright
© 1993 Cambridge University Press

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