Generation of three-dimensional turbulent inlet conditions for large-eddy simulation

A method for generating realistic (i.e., reproducing in space and time the large-scale coherence of the flows) inflow conditions based on two-point statistics and stochastic estimation is presented. The method is based on proper orthogonal decomposition and linear stochastic estimation. This method allows a realistic representation with a minimum of information to be stored. Most of the illustrations of this method are given for a plane turbulent mixing layer that contains most of the basic features of organized turbulent flows. Examples of the application of the method are given first for the generation of inflow conditions for direct numerical simulation (DNS) and for large-eddy simulation from experimental results. Second, DNS results are used to generate realistic inflow conditions for two- and three-dimensional DNS, retaining only a minimum size of relevant information.