HIRECHA – Extreme-scale simulations of turbulent channel flow at high Reynolds number

Despite the leading role of Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) in wall turbulence research, several fundamental questions still stand.

Many of these relate to the flow dynamics at high Reynolds numbers that have become in reach of DNS only in recent times, thanks to the ever-increasing computing power and improvement of computational tools.

In this research we will leverage a highly efficient numerical solver to perform turbulent channel flow simulations at very high Reynolds number, aiming to take the friction Reynolds number well beyond the current state-of-the-art, from 10 000 to about 28 000.

This will allow us to provide much more solid answers to outstanding fundamental questions about the actual nature of wall-bounded turbulence at extreme Reynolds number, including the evolution of the near-wall peak of the streamwise velocity variance, and the emergence of an outer-layer peak.

Turbulent transport near solid boundaries abounds in the environment and engineering applications, and the new fundamental insights and high-quality data provided here can improve upscaled predictive models, and ultimately translate into the design of improved techniques for drag reduction and/or heat transfer enhancement.