Analysis of an RNG Based Turbulence Model for Separated Flows

Abstract

A two-equation turbulence model of the K-epsilon type was recently derived by Yakhot and Orszag based on Renormalization Group (RNG) methods. It was later reported that this RNG based model yields substantially better predictions than the standard K-epsilon model for turbulent flow over a backward facing step -- a standard test case used to benchmark the performance of turbulence models in separated flows. The apparent improvements obtained from the RNG K-epsilon model were attributed to the better treatment of near wall turbulence effects. In contrast to these earlier claims, it is shown in this paper that the original version of the RNG K-epsilon model substantially underpredicts the reattachment point in the backstep problem -- a deficiency that is traced to the modeling of the production of dissipation term. However, with the most recent improvements in the RNG K-epsilon model proposed by Yakhot and coworkers, excellent results for the backstep problem are now obtained. Interestingly enough, these results are not that sensitive to the details of the near wall treatment.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1992
Accession Number
ADA247938

Entities

People

  • C. G. Speziale
  • S. Thangam

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Boltzmann Equation
  • Boundary Layer
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Dissipation
  • Engineering
  • Equations
  • Equations Of Motion
  • Experimental Data
  • Flow
  • Fluid Flow
  • Mechanics
  • Production
  • Shear Flow
  • Standards
  • Strain Rate
  • Turbulence
  • Turbulent Flow

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Dynamics.