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DNS study of turbulent transport at low Prandtl numbers in a channel flow

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2002

MARZIO PILLER
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Navale, del Mare e per l'Ambiente, Sezione di Fisica Tecnica, Università di Trieste, Via A. Valerio 10, I-34127 Trieste, Italy
ENRICO NOBILE
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Navale, del Mare e per l'Ambiente, Sezione di Fisica Tecnica, Università di Trieste, Via A. Valerio 10, I-34127 Trieste, Italy
THOMAS J. HANRATTY
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA

Abstract

Direct numerical simulations of the velocity and temperature fields for turbulent flow in a channel are used to examine the influence of Prandtl number Pr on turbulent transport. The Reynolds number, based on the half-height of the channel and the friction velocity, is Reτ = 150. Prandtl numbers of 1.0, 0.3, 0.1, 0.05, 0.025 were studied. The bottom and the top walls were kept at constant temperatures of +Tw and −Tw. The influence of Pr on Reynolds transport, on the turbulent diffusivity, ατ, and on the spectral density function of the temperature fluctuations was studied. The observation that spatial variations of the ratio of the turbulent diffusivity to the value observed at Pr = 1.0 are not large is used to propose a method for calculating average temperature fields. The decrease in ατ with decreasing Pr is related to observations of the increased damping of high-wavenumber temperature fluctuations. Molecular conductivity, at smaller Pr, is pictured to act as a filter that renders high-frequency velocity fluctuations ineffective in transporting heat.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2002 Cambridge University Press

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