Passive Scalar Turbulent Channel Flow at Pr=25: DNS-LES Approach

DNS-LES numerical simulations of a passive scalar field in the turbulent channel flow were performed at friction Reynolds number Re_Tau = 180 and Prandtl number Pr = 25. Direct numerical simulation is used for description of the velocity field. Temperature field is described with LES-like approach with the smallest resolved temperature scales equal to the smallest scales of the velocity field. The consistency of the applied physical modelling and pseudo-spectral scheme is tested with the grid refinement study (grid refine ∼3 times in each direction) and with comparison of the results with the existing DNS simulations of Schwertfirm and Manhart (2006) at the same conditions. The comparison shows that the proposed approach produces very accurate mean temperature profiles, heat transfer coefficients and other low-order moments of the turbulent thermal field. It is shown that the mean temperature profiles near the wall can be accurately predicted even when the temperature scales between the Batchelor and Kolmogorov scale are not resolved. The key to the success of the proposed approach lies in the fact that the large-scale structures govern the turbulent heat transfer at high Prandtl numbers, while the role of the sub-Kolmogorov temperature scales in the diffusive sublayer and the thermal buffer layer (y⁺<5) is practically negligible. The contribution of the sub-Kolmogorov thermal scales becomes relevant above the thermal buffer layer (y⁺>5), where the unresolved temperature scales affect spectra and RMS temperature fluctuations, but not the log-law shape of the mean temperature profile and the mean heat transfer coefficient.