Explicit algebraic reynolds-stress modeling of pressure-induced separating flows in the presence of sidewalls

Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) approach is used to simulate the steady-state of a family of pressure-induced turbulent separation bubbles in the presence of sidewalls. Different turbulence models are employed with a specific emphasis on the baseline explicit algebraic Reynolds stress model (BSL-EARSM) and the simulations are compared with experimental data. The separation and reattachment of a flat-plate turbulent boundary layer are generated through a combination of adverse and favorable pressure gradients (APG-FPG) by numerically reproducing the geometry of the wind-tunnel test section used for the experiments. Three cases are considered a large (LB) and a medium (MB) bubble presenting mean backflow, and a small bubble (SB) without mean-flow reversal. This is achieved by varying the streamwise position of the APG/FPG transition. Good agreement between the BSL-EARSM-computed solutions and the experimental results are obtained for wall-pressure and skin-friction distributions on the centerline plane of the test section as well as for the overall three-dimensional flow topology. However, both detachment and reattachment are predicted too early and the bubble length is slightly overestimated for cases LB and MB. For case LB, the streamwise Reynolds stress is estimated fairly well but its production is somewhat delayed. Normal and shear stresses are in good agreement with the experiments in the upstream part of the bubble but are significantly over-estimated in the reattachment region. The k-ω shear-stress transport (SST) model with the so-called reattachment modification performs better than the other tested linear-eddy-viscosity models but it is still unable to reproduce accurately the three-dimensional flow topology even for the "simplest" case SB. Overall, the results suggest that BSL-EARSM is the most suitable turbulence model for this flow configuration.