Turbulent flows over porous lattices: alteration of near-wall turbulence and pore-flow amplitude modulation

TL;DR

This study uses direct numerical simulations to explore how porous lattices influence near-wall turbulence, revealing a transition to Kelvin-Helmholtz-like structures and emphasizing the importance of pore microstructure in turbulent flow behavior.

Contribution

It identifies a permeability threshold that triggers a turbulence regime change and highlights the significance of pore-scale flow modulation, which is often overlooked in continuum models.

Findings

Permeability threshold for turbulence transition matches previous studies.

No drag reduction observed compared to smooth walls.

Amplitude modulation is significant within the porous substrate.

Abstract

Turbulent flows over porous lattices consisting of rectangular cuboid pores are investigated using scale-resolving direct numerical simulations. Beyond a certain threshold which is primarily determined by the wall-normal Darcy permeability, ${K_y}^+$, near-wall turbulence transitions from its canonical regime, marked by the presence of streak-like structures, to another marked by the presence of spanwise coherent structures reminiscent of the Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) type of instability. This permeability threshold agrees well with that previously established in studies where permeable-wall boundary conditions had been used as surrogates for a porous substrate. None of the substrates investigated demonstrate any drag reduction relative to smooth-wall turbulent flow. At the permeable surface, a significant component of the flow is that which adheres to the pore geometry and undergoes amplitude modulation (AM). This pore-coherent flow remains notable within the substrates, highlighting the importance of the porous substrate's microstructure when the overlying flow is turbulent, an aspect which cannot be accounted for when using continuum-based approaches to model porous media flows or effective representations such as wall boundary conditions. The severity of the AM is enhanced in the K-H-like regime, which has implications when designing porous substrates for transport processes. This suggests that the surface of the substrate can have a geometry which is different than the rest of it and tailored to influence the overlying flow in a particular way.