3D Backward Facing Step (Reattachment Length)

nskelly · April 23, 2018, 08:58

Hi all,

I am currently simulating flow over a backward facing step using LES. I am in the process of validating Armaly (1983) paper with air, but will later do some simulations with shear-thinning fluids.

At the moment I've been having difficulties in getting the correct reattachment length with respect to Reynolds number. In the laminar regime (up to Re=800) my results agree with the experimental data of Armaly, however beyond this my results are far from the experimental. For instance, at Re=3400 the RL is about 15 where it should be about 6.

I have a very fine mesh at the step and upper and lower walls. And I am using a mapped velocity BC at the inlet. I am using pisoFoam solver with the Smagorinsky SGS model for LES.

I am using the exact same geometry as Armaly stated in the experimental procedure.

I am not too sure why I cannot seem to get the same results. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

piu58 · April 23, 2018, 09:28

> I have a very fine mesh at the step and upper and lower walls.

If you have higher Re numbers, than the fluid transports a lot of turbulence downstream. To cover this it is necessary to have a fine mesh in this region too. It may be that your mesh gets coarse to fast.

nskelly · April 23, 2018, 10:33

The mesh refinement is very similar downstream of the step.

I had to create multiple blocks in the blockMeshDict in order to get similar refinement without it getting too coarse.

I have a max aspect ratio of 48.

nskelly · April 24, 2018, 03:31

Also the Reynolds Number is not substantially high. Max will be Re=7000

April 23, 2018, 08:58	3D Backward Facing Step (Reattachment Length)	#1
nskelly Member Nat K Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 68 Rep Power: 8	Hi all, I am currently simulating flow over a backward facing step using LES. I am in the process of validating Armaly (1983) paper with air, but will later do some simulations with shear-thinning fluids. At the moment I've been having difficulties in getting the correct reattachment length with respect to Reynolds number. In the laminar regime (up to Re=800) my results agree with the experimental data of Armaly, however beyond this my results are far from the experimental. For instance, at Re=3400 the RL is about 15 where it should be about 6. I have a very fine mesh at the step and upper and lower walls. And I am using a mapped velocity BC at the inlet. I am using pisoFoam solver with the Smagorinsky SGS model for LES. I am using the exact same geometry as Armaly stated in the experimental procedure. I am not too sure why I cannot seem to get the same results. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

April 23, 2018, 09:28		#2
piu58 Senior Member Uwe Pilz Join Date: Feb 2017 Location: Leipzig, Germany Posts: 744 Rep Power: 15	> I have a very fine mesh at the step and upper and lower walls. If you have higher Re numbers, than the fluid transports a lot of turbulence downstream. To cover this it is necessary to have a fine mesh in this region too. It may be that your mesh gets coarse to fast. __________________ Uwe Pilz -- Die der Hauptbewegung überlagerte Schwankungsbewegung ist in ihren Einzelheiten so hoffnungslos kompliziert, daß ihre theoretische Berechnung aussichtslos erscheint. (Hermann Schlichting, 1950)

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April 23, 2018, 10:33		#3
nskelly Member Nat K Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 68 Rep Power: 8	The mesh refinement is very similar downstream of the step. I had to create multiple blocks in the blockMeshDict in order to get similar refinement without it getting too coarse. I have a max aspect ratio of 48.

April 24, 2018, 03:31		#4
nskelly Member Nat K Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 68 Rep Power: 8	Also the Reynolds Number is not substantially high. Max will be Re=7000