RANS study of very high Reynolds-number plane turbulent Couette flow

Abstract

The objective of this study is to expound on the deliverables of a steady-state RANS (Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes) simulation in one of the simplest flows, Couette flow, at a very high Reynolds number. To that end, a process to perform better grid sensitivity testing is introduced. Three two-equation turbulence models ( , , and ) are compared against each other as well as pitted against formal literature on the subject and core flow velocities, slopes, wall-bounded velocities, shear stresses and kinetic energies are analyzed. applied with enhanced wall functions is consistently found to be in better agreement with previous studies. Finally, plane turbulent Couette flow at 51,099, the range at which it has not been studied experimentally, numerically or analytically in former studies, is simulated. The results are found to be consistent with the trends asserted by literature and preliminary computations of this study.

Keywords

• turbulent flows
• couette flow
• rans
• turbulence models
• high reynolds number
• k-omega
• k-epsilon