A Numerical Study of Laminar and Intermittently Turbulent Boundary Layer on an Oscillating Flat Plate Using Pseudo-Compressible RANS Model

Abstract

A numerical study was conducted to study the unsteady characteristics of incompressible boundary layer flows over an oscillating flat plate under laminar and intermittently turbulent flow conditions using pseudo-compressible Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) model. The numerical study is carried out using an in-house code and a commercial CFD package (Fluent). Two equation (k-ε) turbulence closure model, modified near the wall, is used along with RANS equations to simulate intermittently turbulent flows. Fully Explicit-Finite Difference technique (FEFD) is employed to solve the governing differential equations. For validation purposes, the velocity fields predicted by the in-house code and commercial CFD package are compared to the one given by analytical solution to Stokes’ second problem for an oscillating flat plate. Numerical experiments were conducted for unsteady cases for Stokes’ Reynolds number corresponding to laminar and intermittently turbulent flows, respectively. Time dependent velocity profiles, shear stress distribution, turbulence properties during the accelerating and decelerating stages of oscillations are predicted. The above predictions are then compared to ones predicted by commercial CFD code. The velocity magnitudes predicted by the in-house code and commercial CFD code are within acceptable range for laminar and intermittently turbulent flow conditions.