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The University of Southampton
Engineering

Research project: Aerodynamics and Aeroacoustics LBM Modelling of Turbulent Flow over and past Permeable Rough Surfaces

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Flows over porous and rough media can be found in nature and in industrial devices and are attracting growing interest. The combination of permeability and roughness effects can be beneficial or detrimental to the aerodynamics or aeroacoustics properties of a permeable and rough system. In this project, we employ the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) and adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) to enable accurate aerodynamics and aeroacoustics simulations of such flows. This project is part of EPSRC grant Aerodynamics and Aeroacoustics of turbulent flows over and past permeable rough surfaces (EP/S013296/1).

This project has several objectives. In cooperation with our project partners, we investigate various permeable and rough scenarios. By combining our LBM-LES approach with the experimental and DNS approaches of our colleagues, we aim at providing a better understanding of the physics of turbulent flows over and past rough and porous media. The ultimate goal is to exploit aerodynamics and/or aeroacoustically beneficial effects of these flows for industrial applications.

Using our in-house code AMROC-LBM, we have already been able to validate our approach for modelling turbulent flow over a rough and porous medium made of several spheres layers at Reynolds number 17,630, Fig. 1 and 2. A first aeroacoustics study using AMROC-LBM has also been successfully carried out for a NACA0012 airfoil at Reynolds number 500,000, Mach number 0.22 and angles of attack 0° and 10°, Fig. 3 and 4. The AMR has been shown to improve mesh resolution where needed, without interfering with results, Fig. 5.

Simultaneously, within our LBM team, we are developing and improving our in-house code AMROC for LBM simulations. This includes working on collision operators, LES models and boundary conditions.

Figure 1: LBM-LES simulation of a porous medium made of spheres
Figure 1: LBM-LES simulation of a porous medium made of spheres.
Figure 2: LBM-LES simulation of a porous medium made of spheres.
Figure 2: LBM-LES simulation of a porous medium made of spheres.
Figure 3: LBM-LES aeroacoustics simulation of a NACA0012 airfoil
Figure 3: LBM-LES aeroacoustics simulation of a NACA0012 airfoil
Figure 4: LBM-LES aeroacoustics simulation of a NACA0012 airfoil at Re=500,000, M=0.22 and 10° angle of attack. Instantaneous pressure fluctuations.
Figure 4: LBM-LES aeroacoustics simulation of a NACA0012 airfoil
Figure 5:  LBM-LES aeroacoustics simulation of a NACA0012 airfoil at Re=500,000, M=0.22 and 10° angle of attack. Iso-contour of the vorticity norm and cross-sectional view of mesh levels.
Figure 5: LBM-LES aeroacoustics simulation of a NACA0012 airfoil

Related research groups

Aerodynamics and Flight Mechanic (AFM)
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