Mixing Models for Large-Eddy Simulation of Nonpremixed Turbulent Combustion

The application of mixture fraction based models to large-eddy simulations (LES) of nonpremixed turbulent combustion requires information about mixing at length scales not resolved on the LES grid. For instance, the large-eddy laminar flamelet model (LELFM) takes the subgrid-scale variance and the filtered dissipation rate of the mixture fraction as inputs. Since chemical reaction rates in nonpremixed turbulence are largely governed by the mixing rate, accurate mixing models are required if mixture fraction methods are to be successfully used to predict species concentrations in large-eddy simulations. In this paper, several models for the SGS scalar variance and the filtered scalar dissipation rate are systematically evaluated a priori using benchmark data from a DNS in homogeneous, isotropic, isothermal turbulence. The mixing models are also evaluated a posteriori by applying them to actual LES data of the same flow. Predictions from the models that depend on an assumed form for the scalar energy spectrum are very good for the flow considered, and are better than those from models that rely on other assumptions.