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Large-eddy simulation of three-dimensional dunes in a steady, unidirectional flow. Part 2. Flow structures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 October 2013

Mohammad Omidyeganeh  and
Ugo Piomelli
Mohammad Omidyeganeh*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, K7L 4L9, Canada
Ugo Piomelli
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, K7L 4L9, Canada
*
†Present address: School of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, City University, London EC1V 0HB, UK. Email address for correspondence: omid.yeganeh.2@city.ac.uk
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Abstract

We performed large-eddy simulations of the flow over a series of three-dimensional (3D) dunes at laboratory scale. The bedform three-dimensionality was imposed by shifting a standard two-dimensional (2D) dune shape in the streamwise direction according to a sine wave. The turbulence statistics were discussed in Part 1 of this article (Omidyeganeh & Piomelli, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 721, 2013, pp. 454–483). Coherent flow structures and their statistics are discussed concentrating on two cases with the same crestline amplitudes and wavelengths but different crestline alignments: in-phase and staggered. The present paper shows that the induced large-scale mean streamwise vortices are the primary factor that alters the features of the instantaneous flow structures. Wall turbulence is insensitive to the crestline alignment; alternating high- and low-speed streaks appear in the internal boundary layer developing on the stoss side, whereas over the node plane (the plane normal to the spanwise direction at the node of the crestline), they are inclined towards the lobe plane (the plane normal to the spanwise direction at the most downstream point of the crestline) due to the mean spanwise pressure gradient. Spanwise vortices (rollers) generated by Kelvin–Helmholtz instability in the separated shear layer appear regularly over the lobe with much larger length scale than those over the saddle (the plane normal to the spanwise direction at the most upstream point of the crestline). Rollers over the lobe may extend to the saddle plane and affect the reattachment features; their shedding is more frequent than in 2D geometries. Vortices shed from the separated shear layer in the lobe plane undergo a three-dimensional instability while being advected downstream, and rise toward the free surface. They develop into a horseshoe shape (similar to the 2D case) and affect the whole channel depth, whereas those generated near the saddle are advected downstream and toward the bed. When the tip of such a horseshoe reaches the free surface, the ejection of flow at the surface causes ‘boils’ (upwelling events on the surface). Strong boil events are observed on the surface of the lobe planes of 3D dunes more frequently than in the saddle planes. They also appear more frequently than in the corresponding 2D geometry. The crestline alignment of the dune alters the dynamics of the flow structures, in that they appear in the lobe plane and are advected towards the saddle plane of the next dune, where they are dissipated. Boil events occur at a higher frequency in the staggered alignment, but with less intensity than in the in-phase alignment.

JFM classification

Geophysical and Geological Flows: Geophysical and Geological Flows Geophysical and Geological Flows: River dynamics Turbulent Flows: Turbulence simulation
Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 734 , 10 November 2013 , pp. 509 - 534
Copyright
©2013 Cambridge University Press 

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