Modeling turbulent flow with implicit LES

Implicit large eddy simulation (ILES) is a methodology for modeling high Reynolds' number flows that combine computational efficiency and ease of implementation with predictive calculations and flexible application. Although ILES has been used for more than 15 years, it is only recently that significant effort has gone into providing a physical rationale that speaks to its capabilities and its limitations. In this article, we will present new theoretical results aimed toward building a justification for ILES. We will also compare ILES simulations of complex flows with data to illustrate practical aspects of the validation of our approach.

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge discussions with Jay Boris, Christer Fureby, Richard Liska, Piotr Smolarkiewicz, Mark Taylor and Paul Woodward. One of us (FFG) acknowledges support of aspects of this work from the Office of Naval Research through the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) during his tenure at NRL. Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the US Department of Energy under contract W-7405-ENG-36.

Notes

For reasons of efficient implementation on massively parallel platforms, we have chosen to use N = 255³ cells.