Numerical aspects of wall-distance computation for turbulence modeling

Abstract

Abstract Numerical aspects of the PDE-based approaches to computing the distance-function involved in many RANS models are discussed focusing on solving Eikonal equation written in advection-diffusion form. This approach is implemented and tested within the in-house structured multi-block general purpose CFD code. A technique which allows considerable increasing the robustness of the numerical procedure is proposed and tested on a set of generic 2D geometries (NACA4412 and 30P30N 3-element airfoils, backward-facing step) and more complex 3D configurations (Stanford diffuser and Common Research Model of commercial aircraft). It is shown that this technique permits to avoid convergence problems typically observed for the Eikonal-type equation and to compute the distance-function for all of the tested configurations. The results obtained show high efficiency of the technique and its potential for turbulence computations of industrial flows.