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Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering

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  • Item
    Numerical simulations of real-gas flows with phase-equilibrium thermodynamics
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-07-20) Tudisco, Principio
    Motivated by the complex physics of multi-component mixtures in strongly non-ideal, real-gas (RG) conditions reported in the field of chemical engineering, this work aims to address the behavior of multi-phase thermodynamics from a broader point of view. The focus is to evaluate the differences, as well as the possible sources of errors that would arise in a computational fluid-dynamics (CFD) simulation when conventional single-phase and multi-phase equilibrium RG thermodynamics are employed: an area of research that despite the active interest in many communities (especially CFD), has not been completely understood. Knowledge of the effects that multi-phase RG thermodynamics with the assumption of vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) can have on a flow dynamics is important because it establishes the relevance of the fully coupled CFD-VLE solver. In fact, this relevance may go beyond the stand-alone calculation of a multi-phase state, providing important insights about the physics that may not be captured if the single-phase assumption is invoked. This work provides an extensive study of RG mixtures from a physical and numerical point of view. The difficulties associated with their modeling are discussed in detail and solutions are provided accordingly. Emphasis is given to the occurrence and suppression of numerical noise in form of pressure oscillations that can pollute the simulation to the point that it cannot be performed. Extension of existing models to eliminate such problem is achieved by incorporating the effects of VLE thermodynamics in a consistent manner, ultimately forming a new and robust tool to investigate the physics further. The resulting model is applied to non-reacting and reacting flows in canonical setups where emphasis is devoted to the discussion of the differences and sources of errors that would occur if this multi-phase behavior is not taken into account. Results show that the different thermodynamic states reached by this advanced model can have an impact on the flow physics, especially in a non-reacting (or more in general cold) regime. In particular, the strong non-linear coupling between the VLE thermodynamics and the transport properties is identified as a key element of difference with respect to the single-phase model counterpart. These differences manifest into the occurrence of localized changes in the fluid properties (such as density) that affect the flow-field in their vicinity, causing visible discrepancies even when time-averaging is performed. Concurrently, results obtained on the reacting side and carried out (for the first time) with finite-rate kinetics suggest that any VLE formation between the products and the reactants may be considered of minor importance. The latter conclusion is supported by the analysis conducted on the multi-phase field which appears to be largely composed of the vapor solution, as expected, hence limiting the analogous effect observed the non-reacting system where a broader range of phase-separation appears instead.
  • Item
    Investigation of ODE-based non-equilibrium wall shear stress models for large eddy simulation
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-07-30) Dzanic, Tarik
    For high Reynolds number flows, wall modeling is essential for performing large eddy simulation at a reasonable computational cost. In this work, a novel low-cost ODE-based non-equilibrium wall model is introduced for wall shear stress modeling in LES. Using polynomial approximations of the pressure gradient and convective terms obtained from interpolation of the LES solution, as opposed to direct evaluation of these gradients within the wall model, the governing wall model equations reduce from coupled PDEs to uncoupled ODEs that do not require an embedded wall model grid within the LES grid. Additionally, the steady form of the wall model equations was utilized, feasible due to the spatial decoupling of the wall model equations, and the effects of the temporal evolution on the wall shear stress were modeled. The effects of polynomial degree on the accuracy of the wall shear stress predictions were explored, and an empirical lag model was built to model the unsteady effects without requiring the solution of a time-stepping problem. Wall resolved large eddy simulations of separated flow around the NASA wall mounted hump and an iced NACA 63A213 airfoil were performed and used as a reference for the comparison of the non-equilibrium wall model to a commonly used equilibrium wall model. The proposed non-equilibrium wall model was able to predict separated flow and laminar flow regions in much better agreement with the wall resolved results than the equilibrium wall model. Underpredictions in the skin friction coefficient in non-equilibrium flow regimes were reduced from 20-50% to less than 10% between the equilibrium and the non-equilibrium wall modeled approaches. Minor improvements in the pressure coefficient predictions were observed with the non-equilibrium model in the separated flow region of the iced airfoil. The results suggest that the proposed wall model can offer better predictions of separated and/or laminar flows compared to equilibrium wall models with negligible computational cost increase.