A Galilean Invariant Variable–Based RANS Closure Model for Bypass and Laminar Separation Bubble–Induced Transition

Abstract

A one-equation Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) closure model has been established for bypass transition and laminar separation bubble (LSB)–induced transition. A new local indicator is proposed to describe the influence of turbulence intensities and pressure gradients, which makes the model Galilean invariant. Based on this new indicator, a novel and efficient transition criterion is formulated. For LSB-induced transition, an empirical correlation is developed to modify the intermittency factor and control the size of separation bubbles. Several flow cases, including flat plates with various pressure gradients, flat plates with LSBs, semicircular leading-edge flat plates, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) 0018 airfoil, and SD7003 airfoil, are employed for the model verification. The predictions show good agreement with the experimental data and large-eddy simulation data for different inlet conditions, which indicates the increment of free-stream turbulence intensity leads to the reduction of the size of laminar separation bubbles.