Wall-resolved wavelet-based adaptive large-eddy simulation of bluff-body flows with variable thresholding

Abstract

The wavelet-based eddy-capturing approach with variable thresholding is extended to bluff-body flows, where the obstacle geometry is enforced through Brinkman volume penalization. The use of a spatio-temporally varying threshold allows one to perform adaptive large-eddy simulations with the prescribed fidelity on a near optimal computational mesh. The space–time evolution of the threshold variable is achieved by solving a transport equation based on the Lagrangian path-line diffusive averaging methodology. The coupled wavelet-collocation/volume-penalization approach with variable thresholding is illustrated for a turbulent incompressible flow around an isolated stationary prism with square cross-section. Wavelet-based adaptive large-eddy simulations supplied with the one-equation localized dynamic kinetic energy-based model are successfully performed at moderately high Reynolds number. The present study demonstrates that the proposed variable thresholding methodology for wavelet-based modelling of turbulent flows around solid obstacles is feasible, accurate and efficient.