An open-source anisotropic k-ε- v2-f model for turbulent viscoelastic duct flows

A novel open-source anisotropic k-epsilon-v(2)-f model is presented for turbulent viscoelastic duct flow with dilute polymeric solutions described by the finitely extensible nonlinear elastic-Peterlin constitutive model. The turbulence model for channel and square duct flow of Newtonian fluids is adapted to incorporate the polymeric terms within the governing equations. All the required non-linear terms are validated with simple closure models and are assessed a priori against independent direct numerical simulation data in fully developed channel flow. The NLTij term, which accounts for the interaction between fluctuating components of the conformation tensor and the velocity gradient tensor, is modeled with the mean flow direction, t(i), and wall-normal, n(i), present in the Newtonian model, based on the streamwise alignment of mean polymer stretch. The implicit polymer effects on pressure-strain are assessed with a simple ad hoc closure accounting for the reduced near-wall production of turbulent kinetic energy. The same closure is also adapted for the spanwise Reynolds stress predictions of polymer-enhanced secondary flow. The model performs well in channel flow and captures low, intermediate, and high drag reduction features for a wide range of rheological parameters. The capabilities are extended for square ducts (or any regular polygon) due to the symmetric modeling of the closure models, which can predict the mean streamwise and secondary flow features associated with second normal Reynolds stress differences. Accessible codes and models are crucial for the advancement and improvement of turbulent viscoelastic models, and an OpenFOAM C++ code package is developed and freely available on GitHub (https://github.com/MikeMcDermott-Code/v2f).

Automated summary

A novel open-source anisotropic k-epsilon-v(2)-f model is proposed for turbulent viscoelastic duct flow with dilute polymeric solutions. The model incorporates polymeric terms into the governing equations of the turbulence model for channel and square duct flow of Newtonian fluids. The performance of the model is validated by simple closure models and direct numerical simulation data, and it demonstrates good capability in capturing drag reduction features under a wide range of rheological parameters.