Stochastic Wavevector Model for Rapidly-Distorted Compressible Turbulence

TL;DR

This paper introduces a stochastic wavevector model for compressible turbulence under rapid deformation, simplifying existing models and enabling efficient simulation of shock-turbulence interactions with promising accuracy.

Contribution

A novel stochastic wavevector approach for compressible turbulence that reduces the number of transport equations and simplifies the modeling of rapid distortions.

Findings

Model accurately predicts shock-turbulence interactions.

Reduces computational complexity compared to previous models.

Demonstrates good agreement with DNS and RDT data.

Abstract

A stochastic wavevector approach is formulated to accurately represent compressible turbulence subject to rapid deformations. This approach is inspired by the incompressible particle representation model of Kassinos (1995) and preserves the exact nature of compressible Rapid Distortion Theory (RDT). The adoption of a stochastic - rather than the Fourier - perspective simplifies the transformation of statistics to physical space and serves as a starting point for the development of practical turbulence models. We assume small density fluctuations and isentropic flow to obtain a transport equation for the pressure fluctuation. This results in five fewer transport equations compared to the compressible RDT model of Yu and Girimaji (2007). The final formulation is closed in spectral space and only requires numerical approximation for the transformation integrals. The use of Monte Carlo for unit wavevector integration motivates the representation of the moments as stochastic variables. Consistency between the Fourier and stochastic representation is demonstrated by showing equivalency between the evolution equations for the velocity spectrum tensor in both representations. Sample clustering with respect to orientation allows for different techniques to be used for the wavevector magnitude integration. The performance of the stochastic model is evaluated for axially-compressed turbulence, serving as a simplified model for shock-turbulence interaction, and is compared to LIA and DNS. Pure and compressed sheared turbulence at different distortion Mach numbers are also computed and compared to RDT/DNS data. Finally, two additional deformations are applied and compared to solenoidal and pressure-released limits to demonstrate the modeling capability for generic rapid deformations.