Large eddy simulation of the subcritical flow past a circular cylinder: Numerical and modeling aspects

The turbulent flow past a circular cylinder (Re = 3900) was computed by lar ge eddy simulation (LES). The objective was not to investigate the physical phenomena of this flow in detail but to study numerical and modeling aspec ts which influence the quality of LES solutions. Concerning the numerical m ethod, the most important component is the discretization of the non-linear convective fluxes. Five different schemes were investigated. Also, the inf luence of different grid resolutions was examined. Two aspects play an impo rtant role on the modeling side, namely the near-wall model and the subgrid scale model. Owing to the restriction to low Reynolds numbers in this stud y, no-slip boundary conditions were used at solid walls. Therefore, only th e second aspect was taken into account. Two different subgrid scale models were applied. Additionally, LES computations without any subgrid scale mode ling were carried out in order to prove the performance of the models. The results were evaluated by comparison with available experimental data. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.