Numerical Simulations Of A Fully Developed Turbulent Channel Flow By Finite Elements.

Abstract

In this work numerical simulations by finite elements are performed for a fully developed
turbulent and three-dimensional channel flow. This flow case represents a standard
benchmark for validations in turbulent flow research. The computations are carried out by Direct
Numerical Simulation (DNS). Structured grids are used for the channel geometry while the
flow solver is the PETSc-FEM code. DNS is a time-dependent and three-dimensional numerical
solution of the flow equations which are computed as accurately as possible without any turbulence
model introduced. Homogeneous turbulence and wall turbulence are the most frequently
cases considered in DNS literature. Some turbulence statistics such as friction coefficients,
production and viscous dissipation rates, Taylor and Kolmogorov microscales are shown. We
compare our results for the flow patterns both with those previously published and with the
numerical ones.