LES OF ROTATING TURBULENT PIPE FLOW WITH TWO SUBGRID SCALE MODELS

It has been shown experimentally that turbulence is suppressed gradually in a rotating pipe with increasing rotation rate due to the stabilizing effect of the centrifugal force. These experimentally observed phenomena are confirmed numerically using Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) by comparing not only mean velocity profiles but also turbulent intensity and Reynolds stresses at two different rotation rates. In addition, the performance of two different subgrid scale models, a dynamical model and the usual Smagorinsky model, has been assessed for the case of fully developed turbulent swirling flow.
A brief description of the numerical methods used is presented. Particular attention has been paid to the numerical treatment of boundary conditions at the centre-line.