Wall modeled large eddy simulations of complex high Reynolds number flows with synthetic inlet turbulence

Large eddy simulations of complex high Reynolds number flows are carried out with the near wall region being modeled with a zonal two layer model. A novel formulation for solving the turbulent boundary layer equation for the effective tangential velocity in a generalized co-ordinate system is presented and applied in the near wall zonal treatment. This formulation reduces the computational time in the inner layer significantly compared to the conventional two layer formulations present in the literature and is most suitable for complex geometries involving body fitted structured and unstructured meshes. The cost effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed wall model, used with the synthetic eddy method (SEM) to generate inlet turbulence, is investigated in turbulent channel flow, flow over a backward facing step, and confined swirling flows at moderately high Reynolds numbers. Predictions are compared with available DNS, experimental LDV data, as well as wall resolved LES. In all cases, there is at least an order of magnitude reduction in computational cost with no significant loss in prediction accuracy. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.