Efficient implicit LES method for the simulation of turbulent cavitating flows

• Published in: Journal of computational physics Vol. 316; pp. 453 - 469
• Main Authors: Egerer, Christian P., Schmidt, Steffen J., Hickel, Stefan, Adams, Nikolaus A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01-07-2016
• Subjects: CAVITATION; CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; COMPRESSIBLE FLOW; Compressible flows; Computation; Computational fluid dynamics; DESIGN; Discretization; ERRORS; Fluid flow; FUNCTIONS; HOMOGENEOUS MIXTURES; INTERFACES; LARGE-EDDY SIMULATION; LAYERS; LIQUID FLOW; LIQUIDS; LTE; Mathematical models; MIXING; MULTIPHASE FLOW; Multiphase flows; SCALE MODELS; SENSORS; SHOCK WAVES; TURBULENCE; Turbulent flow; Multiphase flows; Cavitation; Compressible flows; Large-eddy simulation
• ISSN: 0021-9991; 1090-2716
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jcp.2016.04.021

We present a numerical method for efficient large-eddy simulation of compressible liquid flows with cavitation based on an implicit subgrid-scale model. Phase change and subgrid-scale interface structures are modeled by a homogeneous mixture model that assumes local thermodynamic equilibrium. Unlike previous approaches, emphasis is placed on operating on a small stencil (at most four cells). The truncation error of the discretization is designed to function as a physically consistent subgrid-scale model for turbulence. We formulate a sensor functional that detects shock waves or pseudo-phase boundaries within the homogeneous mixture model for localizing numerical dissipation. In smooth regions of the flow field, a formally non-dissipative central discretization scheme is used in combination with a regularization term to model the effect of unresolved subgrid scales. The new method is validated by computing standard single- and two-phase test-cases. Comparison of results for a turbulent cavitating mixing layer obtained with the new method demonstrates its suitability for the target applications.