Direct numerical simulation of strongly heated air flow in a vertical pipe

Well-resolved direct numerical simulation (DNS) is applied to investigate strongly heated air flow in a vertical pipe (L = 30D) at inlet Reynolds numbers of Re-0 = 4240 and 6020. The DNS is based on the experimental cases of Shehata and McEligot (1995) and shows excellent agreement with heat-transfer and flow statistical results. Flow relaminarization is observed in the strongly heated cases. We apply a new semi-local wall coordinate to replace the conventional one. With the semi-local wall coordinates, which considers the local property variation, both the velocity and temperature fields show the process of relaminarization. This relaminarization is also indicated by the significant decrease of turbulence intensity and Reynolds shear stress. In the quasi-laminar flow, the viscous sublayer becomes thicker. Turbulence in this layer shows a growing anisotropic character. And turbulence in the pipe center becomes approximately isotropic. This two-layer character is clearly displayed by flow visualization. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.