Abstract
Using a numerical weather forecasting code to provide the dynamic large-scale inlet boundary conditions for the computation of small-scale urban canopy flows requires a continuous specification of appropriate inlet turbulence. For such computations to be practical, a very efficient method of generating such turbulence is needed. Correlation functions of typical turbulent shear flows have forms not too dissimilar to decaying exponentials. A digital-filter-based generation of turbulent inflow conditions exploiting this fact is presented as a suitable technique for large eddy simulations computation of spatially developing flows. The artificially generated turbulent inflows satisfy the prescribed integral length scales and Reynolds-stress-tensor. The method is much more efficient than, for example, Klein’s (J Comp Phys 186:652–665, 2003) or Kempf et al.’s (Flow Turbulence Combust, 74:67–84, 2005) methods because at every time step only one set of two-dimensional (rather than three-dimensional) random data is filtered to generate a set of two-dimensional data with the appropriate spatial correlations. These data are correlated with the data from the previous time step by using an exponential function based on two weight factors. The method is validated by simulating plane channel flows with smooth walls and flows over arrays of staggered cubes (a generic urban-type flow). Mean velocities, the Reynolds-stress-tensor and spectra are all shown to be comparable with those obtained using classical inlet-outlet periodic boundary conditions. Confidence has been gained in using this method to couple weather scale flows and street scale computations.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Batten, P., Goldberg, U., Chakravarthy, S.: Interfacing statistical turbulence closures with large-eddy simulation. AIAA J. 42(3), 485–492 (2004)
Britter, R.E., Hanna, S.R.: Flow and dispersion in urban areas. Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 35, 469–496 (2003)
Castro, I.P., Cheng, H., Reynolds, R.: Turbulence over urban-type roughness: deductions from wind tunnel measurements. Bound. Layer Meteorol. 118, 109–131 (2006)
Collier, C.G.: The impact of urban areas on weather. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 132, 1–25 (2006)
di Mare, L., Klein, M., Jones, W.P., Janicka, J.: Synthetic turbulence inflow conditions for large-eddy simulation. Phys. Fluids 18(2), 025107-1-11 (2006)
Druault, P., Lardeau, S., Bonnet, J.-P., Coiffet, F., Delville, J., Lamballais, E., Largeau, J.F., Perret, L.: Generation of three-Dimensional turbulent inlet conditions for large-eddy simulation. AIAA J. 42(3), 447–456 (2004)
García-Villalba, M., Fröhlich, J., Rodi, W.: On inflow boundary conditions for large eddy simulation of turbulent swirling jets. In: Gutkowski W., Kowalewski T.A. (eds.) Proceedings of the 21st International Congress of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Warsaw, Poland. Springer Verlag, New York (2004)
Iwamoto, K.: Database for fully developed channel flow. THTLAB Internal Report (ILR-0201), Dept. Mech. Eng., Univ. Tokyo. DNS database (CH12_PG.WL7). http://www.thtlab.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ (2002)
Jarrin, N., Benhamadouche, S., Laurence, D., Prosser, R.: A synthetic-eddy-method for generating inflow conditions for large eddy simulation. Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow 27(4), 585–593 (2006)
Johansson, P.S., Andersson, H.I.: Generation of inflow data for inhomogeneous turbulence. Theor. Comput. Fluid Dynamics 18(5), 371–389 (2004)
Hanna, S.R., Tehranian, S., Carissimo, B., Macdonald, R.W., Lohner, R.: Comparisons of model simulations with observations of mean flow and turbulence within simple obstacle arrays. Atmos. Environ. 36, 5067–5079 (2002)
Kondo, K., Murakami, S., Mochida, A.: Generation of velocity fluctuations for inflow boundary conditions of LES. J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 67–68, 51C64 (1997)
Keating, A., Piomelli, U., Balaras, E., Kaltenbach, H.-J.: A posteriori tests of inflow conditions for large-eddy simulation. Phys. Fluids 16(12), 4696–4712 (2004)
Kempf A., Klein, M., Janicka, J.: Efficient generation of initial- and inflow-conditions for transient turbulent flows in arbitrary geometries. Flow Turbulence Combust. 74, 67–84 (2005)
Kim, J., Moin P., Moser, R.: Turbulence statistics in fully developed channel flow at low Reynolds number. J. Fluid Mech. 177, 133–166 (1987)
Klein, M., Sadiki, A., Janicka, J.: A digital filter based generation of inflow data for spatially developing direct numerical simulation or large eddy simulation. J. Comp. Phys. 186, 652–665 (2003)
Le, H., Moin, P.: Direct numerical simulation of turbulent flow over a backward-facing step. Tech. Rep. TF-58. Standford University (1994)
Le, H., Moin, P., Kim, J.: Direct numerical simulation of turbulent flow over a backward-facing step. J. Fluid Mech. 330, 349–374 (1997)
Lee, S., Lele, S., Moin, P.: Simulation of spatially evolving compressible turbulence and the application of taylors hypothesis. Phys. Fluids A 4, 1521–1530 (1992)
Lund, T., Wu, X., Squires, D.: Generation of turbulent inflow data for spatially developing boundary layer simulation. J. Comp. Phys. 140, 233–258 (1998)
Meinders, E.R., Hanjalić, K.: Vortex structure and heat transfer in turbulent flow over a wall-mounted matrix of cubes. Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow 20, 255–267 (1999)
Mordant, N., Metz, P., Michel, O., Pinton, J.-F.: Measurement of Lagrangian velocity in fully developed turbulence. Phys. Rev. Lett. 87(21), 214501-1-4 (2001)
Perret, L., Delville, J., Manceau, R., Bonnet, J.P.: Generation of turbulent inflow conditions for large eddy simulation from stereoscopic PIV mearurements. Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow 27(4), 576–584 (2006)
Pope, S.B.: Lagrangian PDF methods for turbulent flows. Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 26, 23–63 (1994)
Sandham, N.D., Yao, Y.F., Lawal, A.A.: Large-eddy simulation of transonic turbulent flow over a bump. Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow 24(4), 584–595 (2003)
Sawford, B.L.: Reynolds number effects in Lagrangian stochastic models of turbulent dispersion. Phys. Fluids 3(6), 1577–1586 (1991)
Stoesser, T., Mathey, F., Frohlich, J., Rodi, W.: LES of flow over multiple cubes. ERCOFTAC Bull. 56, 15–19 (2003)
Veloudis, I., Yang, Z., McGuirK, J.J., Page, G.J., Spencer, A.: Novel implementation and accessment of a digtial filter based approach for the generation of LES inlet conditions. Flow Turbul. Combust. 79(1), 1–24 (2007)
Xie, Z.-T., Castro, I.P.: LES for flow over urban-like surfaces. Euromech Colloquium 469, Oct. 2005, Dresden, Germany (2005)
Xie, Z.-T., Castro, I.P.: LES and RANS for turbulent flow over arrays of wall-mounted cubes. Flow Turbul. Combust. 76(3), 291–312 (2006)
Xie, Z.-T., Castro, I.P.: Large-eddy simulation for urban micro-meteorologyr. In: Proceedings of the Conference of Global Chinese Scholars on Hydrodynamics, Jul. 2006, Shanghai. J. Hydrodynam. 18(3, Supplement 1), 259–264 (2006)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Xie, ZT., Castro, I.P. Efficient Generation of Inflow Conditions for Large Eddy Simulation of Street-Scale Flows. Flow Turbulence Combust 81, 449–470 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10494-008-9151-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10494-008-9151-5