Numerical Dissipation and SGS Modeling in LES of

Laminar Separation Bubble Flows

F. Cadieux, J. A. Domaradzki
Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-1191
August 14, 2014

LES of a laminar separation bubble flow

Laminar separation bubbles (LSB) occur on a wide range of blades and airfoils used in rotating machinery,
wind turbines, and propellers as well as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and micro air vehicles (MAV).
The flow over blades and airfoils operating at moderate Reynolds numbers (104 106 ) first undergoes
separation due to the adverse pressure gradient generated by surface curvature. The shear layer then
transitions to turbulence and reattaches, closing off a recirculation region - the laminar separation bubble.
LSB flows, consisting of a mixture of regions where the flow is laminar, transitional, non-equilibrium
turbulent boundary layer, and an equilibrium turbulent boundary layer, provide a challenging environment
for turbulence models. Typical Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) turbulence modeling methods
were indeed shown to be inadequate [4]. Recent work demonstrated that accurate large edddy simulation
(LES) of such flows are possible using only O(1%) of the resolution required by a direct numerical simulation
(DNS) [2]. However, the performance of different subgrid scale (SGS) models could not be properly assessed.
This is because the estimated numerical viscosity due to filtering which was necessary for stability was on
the same order of magnitude as the eddy viscosity provided by the dynamic Smagorinsky model [2]. In
this work, the effects of filtering are analyzed and the performance of SGS models are evaluated using a
spectral code to avoid contamination of results by numerical dissipation.

Method

A procedure used successfully by other investigators to induce separation over a flat plate boundary layer
was followed [5, 1, 4]. The spectral DNS by Spalart and Strelets [4] is used as a reference and benchmark.
The computational domain is a rectangular box with a rigid lower wall on which the boundary layer flow
evolves. A laminar Blasius boundary layer velocity profile with the free stream velocity U0 is imposed at the
inflow. At the top boundary, a vertical suction velocity is imposed in a narrow slot oriented perpendicular
to the mean flow direction. The suction produces an adverse pressure gradient that causes flow separation.
The flow then transitions to turbulence and reattaches. The Reynolds number at the location of the peak
suction velocity is Rex = 105 . See Fig.1. The flow is integrated in time using a collocated pseudo-spectral
fractional time step code [3]. The negligible numerical dissipation of such a spectral code is instrumental
in allowing to evaluate the performance of different SGS models and the effects of filtering, while avoiding
the pitfalls of previous investigations that used inherently dissipative numerical methods and codes.

Preliminary results

The following simulations of a laminar separation bubble over a flat plate were performed: a highly underresolved DNS (UDNS) along with a fifth and 7th order exponential (Gaussian) filtered under-resolved
DNS (F5-UDNS, and F6-UDNS respectively). LES results with different SGS models are forthcoming.
Parameters for these simulations are summarized in Table 1.
In all cases simulations were run until the separation bubble stabilized and turbulent flow was well
established downstream of reattachment. Results were then time-averaged over multiple flow throughs.
The capability to predict accurately at low computational cost the average skin friction, pressure coefficient,
and the location of separation and reattachment is of particular interest to airfoil and blade designers. For
the case considered here such a capability is demonstrated through results shown in Figs. 2 and 3. UDNS
and F7-UDNS results both display a larger separation bubble than the benchmark which can be observed
in the delayed sharp rise in the coefficient of pressure, as well as the skin friction going from negative to
positive indicating a later reattachment point. By contrast, the F5-UDNS performs considerably better the bubble size and location agrees well with the benchmark DNS.
These preliminary results demonstrate that the use of filters alone can provide enough dissipation to act
as a substitute for an explicit SGS model. Separately, several explicit SGS models have been implemented
in the code and LES are being currently performed. The dissipation provided by the exponential filters
1

Nx
Ny
Nz
Ntotal 106
% of DNS

DNS
1022
120
120
14.7
100

UDNS
320
32
72
0.7
5.0

F5/F7-UDNS
320
32
72
0.7
5.0

Table 1: Resolution and parameters for all cases. [4]

will be compared to that provided by the explicit SGS models and the modeling procedure with the best
overall performance will be identified.

References
[1] M. Alam and N.D. Sandham. Direct numerical simulation of short laminar separation bubbles with
turbulent reattachment. J. Fluid Mech., 410:128, 2000.
[2] F. Cadieux, J. A. Domaradzki, T. Sayadi, and T. Bose. DNS and LES of laminar separation bubbles
at moderate Reynolds numbers. ASME J. Fluids Eng., 136(6), 2014.
[3] J. A. Domaradzki and R. W. Metcalfe. Stabilization of laminar boundary layers by compliant membranes. Phys. Fluids, 30(3):695705, 1987.
[4] P.R. Spalart and M.K. Strelets. Mechanisms of transition and heat transfer in a separation bubble. J.
Fluid Mech., 403:329349, 2000.
[5] P.G. Wilson and L.L. Pauley. Two-and three-dimensional large-eddy simulations of a transitional
separation bubble. Phys. Fluids, 10:29322940, 1998.

Figure 1: Physical domain, boundary and inlet conditions used to investigate laminar separation bubble
flow

x 10

0.5
0.45

0.4

0.35

0.3
p

0.25

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

0
1

4
x/H

Figure 2: Wall coefficient of friction.

4
x/H

Figure 3: Coefficient of pressure at the wall.

Symbols: Spalart DNS, dash-dotted line: under-resolved DNS (UDNS), dashed line: 7th order filter (F7UDNS), line: 5th order filter (F5-UDNS).