The Effect of a Pressure Containing Correlation Model on Near Wall Flow Simulations With Reynolds Stress Transport Models

Abstract

It is accustomed to think that turbulence models based on solving the Reynoldsaveraged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations require empirical functions to accurately reproduce the behavior of flow characteristics of interest, particularly near a wall. The current paper analyzes how choosing a model for pressurestrain correlations in secondorder closures affects the need for introducing empirical functions in model equations to reproduce the flow behavior near a wall correctly. An axially rotating pipe flow is used as a test flow for the analysis. Results of simulations demonstrate that by using more physicsbased models to represent pressurestrain correlations, one can eliminate wall functions associated with such models. The higher the Reynolds number or the strength of imposed rotation on a flow, the less need there is for empirical functions regardless of the choice of a pressurestrain correlation model.