Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD)”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,207 records · Page 67

Overflow Simulations of Unmanned Aircraft Systems

National airspace, the management for access and operation of these vehicles is required. This management is being developed under the unmanned aircraft system traffic management system (UTM) program. To determine the aerodynamic characteristics of drones, wind tunnel experiments and computation fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis have been conducted. These experiments and analyses are undertaken to understand the flight capabilities of these vehicles in variable head and cross wind conditions. The results of these investigations will provide metrics for the safe operation of these vehicles in and around civil populations and in urban settings. The focus of this paper is to model a drone installed in a wind tunnel for varying pitch attitudes and rotor rpm settings. Specifically, the IRIS drone is modeled in the NASA-Ames 7x10 ft. W/T. The tunnel mounting hardware and the tunnel enclosure are modeled with the IRIS drone geometry. The rotors of the drone are modeled using two methodologies: a rotor disk model and individual blade representations. The results of the analysis are compared with available experimental data to validate the computational approach.

Stremel, Paul M.↗

High-Fidelity Computational Aerodynamics of the Elytron 4S UAV

High-fidelity Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) have been carried out for the Elytron 4S Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), also known as the converticopter "proto12". It is the scaled wind tunnel model of the Elytron 4S, an Urban Air Mobility (UAM) concept, a tilt-wing, box-wing rotorcraft capable of Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL). The three-dimensional unsteady Navier-Stokes equations are solved on overset grids employing high-order accurate schemes, dual-time stepping, and a hybrid turbulence model using NASA's CFD code OVERFLOW. The Elytron 4S UAV has been simulated in airplane mode and in helicopter mode.

High-Fidelity↗

Scalability of GlennICE in a Parallel Environment

GlennICE (Glenn Icing Computational Environment) is a comptational tool designed to calculate ice growth on complex three- dimensional geometries using the input from a user-supplied computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solution for the geometry of interest. The most significant developments in the advancement of GlennICE have been investigating the convergence of the collection efficiency, efficiently finding trajectories, and improving the refinement methodology. Such developments have increased the efficiency of GlennICE for tractability in a practical engineering application. Although studies have demonstrated a reduction in the amount of work (memory footprint) required, research has yet to systematically investigate the effects of scaling GlennICE. This paper sets out to benchmark the scalability of GlennICE within a parallel environment and investigate if an increase in the number of processors result in a linear speed up.

Computational Icing↗

Numerical Analysis of Novel Plate Type Heat Exchanger with Oval-Twisted Channels

The novel heat exchanger (HX) designs implementing geometrical and surface modification combinations are expected to perform better than traditional HX technologies. Applied enhancement techniques seek to achieve (1) higher overall heat transfer performance, (2) increased compactness, and (3) simplified or comparable manufacturability. One innovative enhancement technique is to generate swirling flow vortices induced by channel or tube twisting. The turbulence generated by the twisted cross-section greatly enhances the heat transfer rate with minimal increases in pressure drop. Plate-type HXs and Printed Circuit Heat Exchangers (PCHXs) are compact designs that achieve high heat transfer rates per unit volume by utilizing several small channels, which maximizes the heat transfer surface area between the hot and cold fluids. Currently, advanced manufacturing technologies enable the design and fabrication of compact-type units with complicated channel geometries to achieve the highest performance and meet the compactness criteria of innovative HX technology. The proposed HX design concept combines the compactness of plate-type HXs and twisted channels, which provide additional turbulence and flow swirl enhancement. The plate-type oval-twisted HX (PTOTHX) is a crossflow configuration, with 16 short channels on one side (for hot fluid) and 8 long channels on the perpendicular side (for cold fluid). The inlet plenums have flow guide vanes to redirect flow and produce uniformity across the various flow paths. The compact size and purportedly improved heat transfer performance of the PTOTHX investigated herein prove its viability in various applications. Some notable potential nuclear applications of the PTOTHX include reactor core, spent fuel cooling, and residual heat dissipation. To establish a reference case, circular channels (PTCHX) are also considered in the present study for comparison with (PTOTHX). This paper aims to outline the numerical analysis procedures for determining the viability of the PTOTHX by comparing its heat transfer performance with the PTCHX units. The computational study used STAR-CCM+, a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. Sensitivity analysis and model selection studies are conducted to determine the appropriate mesh density and turbulence model to provide the reported results. Numerical analyses comparing the Nusselt number (Nu) of the PTOTHX design with a comparable HX unit, including a circular cross-section and no twisting (PTCHX), show an overall heat transfer performance increase of 29-55% for balanced flow and 29-59% for imbalanced flow. Oval-cross-sectional twisted channels induce swirling flow vortices, enhancing the working fluid's convective heat transfer capabilities.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Wind Code Application to External Forebody Flowfields with Comparisons to Experimental Results

The WIND Code, a general purpose Navier-Stokes solver, has been utilized to obtain supersonic external flowfield Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solutions over an axisymmetric, parabolic forebody with comparisons made to wind tunnel experimental results. Various cases have been investigated at supersonic freestream conditions ranging from Mach 2.0 to 3.5, at 0 deg and 3 deg angles-of-attack, and with either a sharp-nose or blunt-nose forebody configuration. Both a turbulent (Baldwin-Lomax algebraic turbulence model) and a laminar model have been implemented in the CFD. Obtaining the solutions involved utilizing either the parabolized- or full-Navier-Stokes analyses supplied in WIND. Comparisons have been made with static pressure measurements, with boundary-layer rake and flowfield rake pitot pressure measurements, and with temperature sensitive paint experimental results. Using WIND's parabolized Navier-Stokes capability, grid sequencing, and the Baldwin-Lomax algebraic turbulence model allowed for significant reductions in computational time while still providing good agreement with experiment. Given that CFD and experiment compare well, WIND is found to be a good computational platform for solving this type of forebody problem, and the grids developed in conjunction with it will be used in the future to investigate varying freestream conditions not tested experimentally.

Frate, F. C.↗

Summary of Multiphysics Modeling for Sublimation Mass Transfer

This report summarizes the effort to develop a multiphysics modeling framework for sublimation mass transfer processes. The aim of the project was to develop a multiphysics code capable of predicting phase change between solid and gas in a closed container, and the movement of material within such a container when exposed to various exterior environmental conditions. Two modeling frameworks were developed towards this aim: one with a high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) structure, and the other as a fast reduced-order model. Ultimately, both attempts were unsuccessful due to instabilities in the code and physical processes for which there is no adequate numerical representation. Both modeling attempts are briefly detailed before providing a brief survey of recent updates in the literature, and a recommendation for future work on this subject.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Numerical and experimental investigation of the flame kernel growth in a methane/air mixture near the lean flammability limit

Lean combustion has the potential to improve the thermal efficiency of spark-ignition engines, but it faces the significant challenge of increased cycle-to-cycle variation due to low mixture reactivity and unstable flame dynamics. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) employing predictive models can guide engine design and optimize operating strategies for lean combustion. However, ignition and combustion models have rarely been validated at fuel-lean conditions, and a fundamental understanding of the early flame kernel growth process is also lacking for a successful sub-model development. Here, the present study develops a numerical simulation framework used to investigate early flame kernel growth in methane/air mixtures. A nanosecond-pulsed discharge (NPD) approach is employed to effectively decouple the flame kernel growth from the electrical discharge due to their difference in timescales, and equivalence ratios near the experimentally measured lean flammability limit (LFL) are selected to focus on challenging mixture conditions. Three numerical investigations, such as the choice of turbulence modeling, grid size, and grid control strategies, are examined to match both LFL and flame kernel structure measured from experiments. It is demonstrated that a quasi-direct numerical simulation (QDNS) with a fixed grid embedding of 10 μm can predict the LFL as φ CFD =0.61 and match the displacement speed of the kernel’s boundary marked in schlieren images. To predict the LFL and flame kernel shape, a fine grid (Δ≤12.5 μm) is needed to capture the consumption of formaldehyde (CH 2 O) in kernel’s reaction branches attached to the anode, and adaptive mesh refinement is replaced with the fixed embedding due to loss of simulation accuracy. Also, it is found that a large-eddy simulation (LES) using the Dynamic Structure model is not suitable for the NPD-induced flame kernel simulation because artificial sub-grid turbulent kinetic energy induced by shock dynamics alters the flow velocity calculation, resulting in divergence of LES from QDNS. Lastly, the simulation well matches the experimental data for the flame kernel evolution in three mixture conditions (φ = 0.7, 0.61, 0.55), showing toroidal flame kernel expansion and flame kernel growth/extinction.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

Assessment of Machine Learning Wall Modeling Approaches for Large Eddy Simulation of Gas Turbine Film Cooling Flows: An a Priori Study

Here, in this work, a priori analysis of machine learning (ML) strategies is carried out with the goal of data-driven wall modeling for large eddy simulation (LES) of gas turbine film cooling flows. High-fidelity flow datasets are extracted from wall-resolved LES (WRLES) of flow over a flat plate interacting with the coolant flow supplied by a single row of 7-7-7 shaped cooling holes inclined at 30 degrees with the flat plate at different blowing ratios (BR). The WRLES are performed using the high-order Nek5000 spectral element computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver. Light gradient boosting machine (LightGBM) is employed as the ML algorithm for the data-driven wall model. Parametric tests are conducted to systematically assess the influence of a wide range of input flow features (velocity components, velocity gradients, pressure gradients, and fluid properties) on the accuracy of ML wall model with respect to prediction of wall shear stress. In addition, the use of spatial stencil and time delay is also explored within the ML wall modeling framework. It is shown that features associated with gradients of the streamwise and spanwise velocity components have a major impact on the prediction fidelity of wall model, while the effect of gradients of wall-normal velocity component is found to be negligible. Moreover, adding flow feature information from an x-y-z spatial stencil significantly improves the ML model accuracy and generalizability compared to just using local flow features from the matching location. Overall, highest prediction accuracy is achieved when both spatial stencil and time delay features are incorporated within the data-driven wall modeling paradigm.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

Overflow Analysis of Unmanned Aircraft Systems

With the increasing presence of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), or drones, in the national airspace, the management for access and operation of these vehicles is required. NASA’s management approach is being developed under the unmanned aircraft system traffic management (UTM) program. To determine the aerodynamic characteristics of drones, wind tunnel experiments and computation fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis have been conducted. These experiments and analyses are undertaken to understand the flight capabilities of these vehicles in variable head and cross wind conditions. The results of these investigations will provide metrics for the safe operation of these vehicles in and around civil populations and in urban settings. The focus of this paper is to model a drone installed in a wind tunnel for varying pitch attitudes and rotor rpm settings. Specifically, the IRIS drone is modeled in the NASA-Ames 7x10 ft wind tunnel. The tunnel mounting hardware and the tunnel enclosure are modeled along with the IRIS drone geometry. The rotors of the drone are modeled using two methodologies: a rotor disk model and full rotating rotors with moving grids. The results of the analysis are compared with available experimental data to validate the computational approach.

Stremel, Paul M.↗

Modeling Marangoni Convection using a Velocity-Time Relationship

The Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Handford site is designed to treat 56 million gallons of radioactive waste through vitrification. The melting vessels physical and chemical integrity is essential to maintain, as failure has a high safety and financial penalty. Monofrax® K-3 refractory, the material widely used for the melting vessel, undergoes significant corrosion over time, concentrated at the triple-point junction between the gaseous atmosphere, refractory, and glass melt, producing a characteristic neck-like profile that significantly limits refractory service life. Accurate prediction of the corrosion within the melter can be used to prevent this and extend the lifetime of the melters. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was previously developed, and predicted subsurface refractory corrosion, but failed to predict the neck-line profile observed experimentally. To address this limitation, the glass-melt meniscus geometry at the glass-refractory interface was estimated from experimentally measured neck profiles and wettability experiments. A curve was fitted to the neck profile to identify the triple point location, and the meniscus shape was characterized by a contact angle of 1°. A velocity profile accounting for Marangoni convection-driven corrosion was derived from the estimated meniscus geometry. Surface tension measurements from LORPM14R1 glasses of varying composition were coupled with K-3 coupon dissolution rates to establish a surface tension–time relationship. This analytical velocity-time model was integrated into the existing CFD framework to improve prediction of the neck corrosion profile. Work was done in a computational setting with national collaboration, resulting in professional development through presentational and technical writing growth.

36 - MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

CFD Modeling of Cryogenic Chilldown in a Complex Channel under Normal and Low Gravity Conditions

Future NASA architectures have baselined cryogenic propulsion systems as well as cryogenic fluid management to support lunar missions and ultimately to support future missions to Mars. These missions will require chilling hardware down prior to engine restart as well as chilling lines and tanks prior to transferring and refueling these propulsion elements in orbit. In lieu of expensive tests conducted on-orbit, accurate predictive computational models of these chilldown processes can be used to reduce system and propellant mass as well as mission risk. To gain confidence in these computational models, appropriate anchoring and validation to experimental data in a relevant environment needs to be performed. Recent ground and sub-orbital flight experiments conducted by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) investigated chilldown of a complex channel resembling a turbopump bearing cavity at low flow rates. This work presents Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model development of the chilldown experiment employing two-phase flow boiling models available in commercial CFD software STAR-CCM+ using Volume of Fluid (VOF) and the traditional Euler-Euler multiphase flow solvers. Comparisons of the numerical and experimental results under normal and low-gravity conditions are presented. An assessment of solid wall temperatures and phase distribution yielded important insights into multiphase solver choice, dependence on gravity environment, and challenges associated with cryogenic flow boiling prediction and validation.

CFD↗

Modeling Heat Pipes with Non-Condensable Gases

The report showcases advancements in modeling heat pipes, considering both scenarios with and without non-condensable gases. To achieve this, two distinct modeling approaches are juxtaposed. Firstly, the effective conduction model, implemented in the MOOSE-based code Sockeye, is employed. Secondly, a first-of-a-kind two-phase Euler-Euler Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model is developed using the STAR-CCM+ code. Both models undergo validation against experimental data, acknowledging the inherent uncertainties associated with each modeling assumption. Interestingly, the non-tuned CFD model surpasses the performance of the calibrated conduction model for heat pipes operating under both conditions: with and without non-condensable gases. It's worth noting, however, that the CFD models entail significantly longer runtimes compared to the conduction models. Nevertheless, the insights garnered from the CFD model shed invaluable light on the intricate operational dynamics of heat pipes. Future work involves broadening the validation scope of these models and continuing their development to enhance their utility as robust tools for heat pipe design and operational support.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Niowave Neutron Source Converter: Lead-Bismuth-Eutectic (LBE) Windowless Target Design and Evaluation

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is working with Niowave on the design and evaluation of their lead-bismuth-eutectic (LBE) windowless target (i.e., neutron source converter). Niowave plans to use 200 kW electron beam at 40 MeV beam energy to produce neutrons by photonuclear reaction with LBE. Then, the neutrons undergo fission at the surrounding uranium target assembly (UTA) to produce Molybdenum 99 (Mo-99) as a fission product, which eventually decays to Technetium-99 (Tc-99m). Tc-99m is one of important radioisotopes that is used for medical diagnostics. LANL conducted 3D multiphysics analysis for the Niowave neutron converter design and provided design assessment in thermohydraulic aspects. LANL conducted radiation transport calculations using Monte-Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) code with unstructured meshing scheme. The 3D volumetric heating profiles in the LBE and Stainless-Steel (SS) housing were imported into multiphase computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to obtain 3D temperature profiles of LBE and SS through conjugate heat transfer (CHT) analysis. The key findings are: LBE film thickness at the center of the beam is approximately 1.6 cm with a maximum LBE velocity of approximately 1.8 m/s, which is below a 2 m/s limit to avoid erosion issues on supporting structures; Heat deposition in the LBE peaks at ~1 cm depth from the LBE free-surface because of the forward interactions of electron, photon, and neutron with LBE; LBE maximum temperature is ~360 °C, which is below LBE evaporation initiative temperature, ~450 °C; LBE-SS interface temperature is ~350 °C, which is below the safety thermal limit to prevent severe corrosion on SS. The results indicate that Niowave’s neutron converter design satisfies both hydraulic and thermal criteria for safe operation. By virtue of such computational analysis, Niowave can move toward establishing an experimental setup to experimentally test their LBE neutron converter. The following sections describe the detailed work done by LANL.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Hybrid learning techniques for scientific data reduction with performance guarantees

The research initiatives supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Grant DE-SC0022265 are fundamentally aimed at pioneering advanced machine learning (ML) techniques for scientific data compression within high-performance computing (HPC) environments. This comprehensive body of work addresses the critical challenge posed by the exponential growth of data generated by scientific simulations in domains such as fusion energy, climate modeling, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). A core objective is to develop compression algorithms that achieve substantial data reduction—often by orders of magnitude—while rigorously ensuring the fidelity of both the primary data (PD) and scientifically crucial derived quantities of interest (QoI). The methodologies deployed under this grant integrate sophisticated deep learning architectures, prominently featuring autoencoders, advanced generative models like conditional diffusion, and hybrid learning techniques. Key innovations include the development of Guaranteed Autoencoders (GAE) and the Guaranteed Conditional Diffusion with Tensor Correction (GCDTC) framework, which provide explicit, instance-level error bounds on reconstructed data. Furthermore, specialized strategies such as nonlinear constraint satisfaction are employed to preserve the integrity of QoI, a vital requirement for the trustworthiness of downstream scientific analyses. This research also focuses on the design and implementation of scalable, GPU-accelerated software pipelines that seamlessly integrate into existing HPC workflows, ensuring both computational efficiency and practical applicability. The CAESAR framework, for example, unifies foundation and generative models to create an adaptive and efficient compression solution for spatio-temporal scientific data. Collectively, these efforts represent a significant advancement in mitigating the scientific data deluge, enabling more effective data management, accelerated scientific discovery, and optimized utilization of HPC resources.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Final report- UFL - RAPIDS2: A SciDAC Institute for Computer Science, Data, and Artificial Intelligence

The research initiatives supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Grant DE-SC0022265 are fundamentally aimed at pioneering advanced machine learning (ML) techniques for scientific data compression within high-performance computing (HPC) environments. This comprehensive body of work addresses the critical challenge posed by the exponential growth of data generated by scientific simulations in domains such as fusion energy, climate modeling, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). A core objective is to develop compression algorithms that achieve substantial data reduction—often by orders of magnitude—while rigorously ensuring the fidelity of both the primary data (PD) and scientifically crucial derived quantities of interest (QoI). The methodologies deployed under this grant integrate sophisticated deep learning architectures, prominently featuring autoencoders, advanced generative models like conditional diffusion, and hybrid learning techniques. Key innovations include the development of Guaranteed Autoencoders (GAE) and the Guaranteed Conditional Diffusion with Tensor Correction (GCDTC) framework, which provide explicit, instance-level error bounds on reconstructed data. Furthermore, specialized strategies such as nonlinear constraint satisfaction are employed to preserve the integrity of QoI, a vital requirement for the trustworthiness of downstream scientific analyses. This research also focuses on the design and implementation of scalable, GPU-accelerated software pipelines that seamlessly integrate into existing HPC workflows, ensuring both computational efficiency and practical applicability. The CAESAR framework, for example, unifies foundation and generative models to create an adaptive and efficient compression solution for spatio-temporal scientific data. Collectively, these efforts represent a significant advancement in mitigating the scientific data deluge, enabling more effective data management, accelerated scientific discovery, and optimized utilization of HPC resources.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling to Facilitate Qualification of Stack Sampling Probe Location

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling was used to help evaluate modifications to a radiological effluent stack and assist with establishing a stack sampling location that met the mixing criteria for qualification. Requirements for stack sampling location are listed in the American National Standards Institute/Health Physics Society (ANSI/HPS) N13.1-2021 standard. Modeling was performed to help develop a suitable design for increasing building ventilation for the radiological effluent stack. The ANSI/HPS N13.1-2021 criteria for the air monitoring probe location are that the coefficient of variation of velocity uniformity, gaseous tracer uniformity, and particulate tracer uniformity must be less than or equal to 20%. Furthermore, no point in the sampling location may have a gaseous tracer concentration that varies from the mean concentration by more than 30%. Additionally, the flow angle at the sampling location must not be more than 20 degrees. The ANSI/HPS N13.1-2021 standard allows for models (physical or computational) to be employed to perform the full suite of qualification tests, followed by a more limited set of verification tests on the actual stack to qualify the stack sampling location. Here, a series of computational model simulations were employed to evaluate the stack qualification criteria. Significant time and re-source savings are achieved using CFD modeling. CFD modeling demonstrated that the stack meets the criteria at the sample probe location. Verification tests were performed on the modified stack to measure the velocity uniformity and flow angle at the stack sampling location, and results demonstrated that the CFD model results may be used to support the qualification of the stack sampling location.

Air Monitoring↗

Flow simulations about steady-complex and unsteady moving configurations using structured-overlapped and unstructured grids

The limiting factor in simulating flows past realistic configurations of interest has been the discretization of the physical domain on which the governing equations of fluid flow may be solved. In an attempt to circumvent this problem, many Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) methodologies that are based on different grid generation and domain decomposition techniques have been developed. However, due to the costs involved and expertise required, very few comparative studies between these methods have been performed. In the present work, the two CFD methodologies which show the most promise for treating complex three-dimensional configurations as well as unsteady moving boundary problems are evaluated. These are namely the structured-overlapped and the unstructured grid schemes. Both methods use a cell centered, finite volume, upwind approach. The structured-overlapped algorithm uses an approximately factored, alternating direction implicit scheme to perform the time integration, whereas, the unstructured algorithm uses an explicit Runge-Kutta method. To examine the accuracy, efficiency, and limitations of each scheme, they are applied to the same steady complex multicomponent configurations and unsteady moving boundary problems. The steady complex cases consist of computing the subsonic flow about a two-dimensional high-lift multielement airfoil and the transonic flow about a three-dimensional wing/pylon/finned store assembly. The unsteady moving boundary problems are a forced pitching oscillation of an airfoil in a transonic freestream and a two-dimensional, subsonic airfoil/store separation sequence. Accuracy was accessed through the comparison of computed and experimentally measured pressure coefficient data on several of the wing/pylon/finned store assembly's components and at numerous angles-of-attack for the pitching airfoil. From this study, it was found that both the structured-overlapped and the unstructured grid schemes yielded flow solutions of comparable accuracy for these simulations. This study also indicated that, overall, the structured-overlapped scheme was slightly more CPU efficient than the unstructured approach.

Newman, James C., III↗

Estimating Resolution Lengths of Hybrid Turbulence Models

A two-stage procedure has been devised for estimating the spatial resolution achievable in the simulation of a given flow on a given computational grid by a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code that incorporates a hybrid model of turbulence. The hybrid models to which this procedure is especially relevant are those of the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and the partial-averaged Navier-Stokes (PANS) approaches. This procedure represents the first step toward adding variable-resolution turbulence-modeling capabilities to CFD codes as part of a continuing effort to increase the accuracy and robustness of CFD simulations of unsteady flows. Some background information is prerequisite to a meaningful summary of the procedure. Among experts in CFD, it is well known that combination of the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) approach and eddy-viscosity turbulence models offers limited capability for simulating unsteady and complex flows. The RANS approach includes an assumption that most of the energy in a given flow is modeled through turbulence-transport equations and is resolved in a computational grid used to simulate the flow. RANS also overpredicts eddy viscosity, thereby yielding excessive damping of unsteady motion. The eddy viscosity attains an unphysically large value because of unresolved scales, and suppresses most temporal and spatial fluctuations in the resolved flow field. One approach used to overcome this deficiency is to provide a mechanism for the RANS equations to resolve motion only on the largest scales and to use a hybrid model to represent effects at smaller scales. The RANS approach involves the use of a standard two-equation turbulence model in which the effect of turbulence is summarized by a viscosity that is a function of (1) the time-averaged kinetic- energy density (k) associated with the local fluctuating (turbulent) component of flow and (2) the time-averaged rate of dissipation of the turbulent-kinetic- energy density ( ). In PANS, which was developed to overcome the grid dependency associated with other hybrid turbulence models (including that of RANS), the standard two-equation turbulence model is replaced by another two-equation model in which one solves for the previously unresolved k and , which are now allowed to vary in space and time.

Abdol-Hamid, Khaled S.↗