A modified VLES model for simulation of rotating separation flow in axial flow rotating machinery

The internal flow in an axial flow rotating machinery is affected by the rotating characteristics, often accompanied by a strong rotating separation under small flow conditions. At present, the very large eddy simulation (VLES) model commonly used for the separation flow simulation still has certain limitations in simulating such rotating separation flow: (1) The Reynolds stress level is overestimated in the near-wall region. (2) The influence of the rotating effect cannot be effectively considered. The above two limitations affect the simulation accuracy of the VLES model for the rotating separation flow under small flow conditions in the axial flow rotating machinery. The objective of this paper is to provide a new hybrid unsteady Reynolds average Navier-Stokes/large eddy simulation (URANS/LES) model suitable for the simulation of the rotating separation flow in an axial flow rotating machinery. Compared with the original VLES method, the modifications are as follows: (1) A Reynolds stress damping function in the near-wall region is introduced to reduce the overestimation of the Reynolds stress caused by the near-wall Reynolds average Navier-Stokes (RANS) behavior of the VLES model. (2) A control function driven by the vortex is introduced to reflect the influence of the rotating effect. Three typical cases are used to verify the calculation accuracy of the modified model. It is shown that the modified model can capture more turbulent vortices based on the URANS grids, and the prediction accuracy of the rotating separation flow is effectively improved. Compared with the original VLES model, the modified model can accurately predict the head change in the hump region of the axial flow pump.