Anisotropic Organised Eddy Simulation for the prediction of non-equilibrium turbulent flows around bodies

The unsteady turbulent flow around bodies at high Reynolds number is predicted by an anisotropic eddy-viscosity model in the context of the Organised Eddy Simulation (OES). A tensorial eddy-viscosity concept is developed to reinforce turbulent stress anisotropy, that is a crucial characteristic of non-equilibrium turbulence in the near-region. The theoretical aspects of the modelling are investigated by means of a phase-averaged PIV in the flow around a circular cylinder at Reynolds number 1.4×105. A pronounced stress–strain misalignment is quantified in the near-wake region of the detached flow, that is well captured by a tensorial eddy-viscosity concept. This is achieved by modelling the turbulence stress anisotropy tensor by its projection onto the principal matrices of the strain-rate tensor. Additional transport equations for the projection coefficients are derived from a second-order moment closure scheme. The modification of the turbulence length scale yielded by OES is used in the Detached Eddy Simulation hybrid approach. The detached turbulent flows around a NACA0012 airfoil (2-D) and a circular cylinder (3-D) are studied at Reynolds numbers 105 and 1.4×105, respectively. The results compared to experimental ones emphasise the predictive capabilities of the OES approach concerning the flow physics capture for turbulent unsteady flows around bodies at high Reynolds numbers.