Large eddy simulation of transitional rotor-stator flows using a spectral vanishing viscosity technique

Transitional regimes in confined flow between a rotating and a stationary disk are studied using high-order numerical simulations. In order to investigate flow regimes at higher Reynolds numbers than those reachable using DNS, we propose a stabilization technique SVV (Spectral Vanishing Viscosity). The SVV method first developed to solve non-linear hyperbolic equations, typically the Burgers equation, exhibits the property of preserving the spectral accuracy of the approximation developed in DNS. The paper presents preliminary results and demonstrates the efficiency of the technique for stabilizing solutions at Re = 70000 in a rotor-stator cavity of aspect ratio L = 5, and curvature parameter Rm = 5. Instantaneous and average quantities obtained with SVV technique are shown, and compared favourably with results in the literature.