Partially-Averaged Navier-Stokes Closure Modeling for Variable-Density Turbulent Flow

TL;DR

This paper extends the PANS turbulence modeling framework to variable-density flows, deriving a new closure and demonstrating its effectiveness on complex mixing problems involving shear and buoyancy.

Contribution

It introduces a PANS BHR-LEVM closure for variable-density turbulence and provides guidelines for parameter selection based on a-priori testing.

Findings

PANS accurately predicts complex turbulent mixing flows.

The model resolves a fraction of scales compared to LES and DNS.

Physical resolution must capture key flow instabilities and structures.

Abstract

This work extends the framework of the partially-averaged Navier-Stokes (PANS) equations to variable-density flow, \text{i.e.}, multi-material and/or compressible mixing problems with density variations and production of turbulence kinetic energy by both shear and buoyancy mechanisms. The proposed methodology is utilized to derive the PANS BHR-LEVM closure. This includes \textit{a-priori} testing to analyze and develop guidelines toward the efficient selection of the parameters controlling the physical resolution and, consequently, the range of resolved scales of PANS. Two archetypal test-cases involving transient turbulence, hydrodynamic instabilities, and coherent structures are used to illustrate the accuracy and potential of the method: the Taylor-Green vortex (TGV) at Reynolds number $\mathrm{Re}=3000$, and the Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) flow at Atwood number $0.5$ and $(\mathrm{Re})_{\max}\approx 500$. These representative problems, for which turbulence is generated by shear and buoyancy processes, constitute the initial validation space of the new model, and their results are comprehensively discussed in two subsequent studies. The computations indicate that PANS can accurately predict the selected flow problems, resolving only a fraction of the scales of large eddy simulation and direct numerical simulation strategies. The results also reiterate that the physical resolution of the PANS model must guarantee that the key instabilities and coherent structures of the flow are resolved. The remaining scales can be modeled through an adequate turbulence scale-dependent closure.