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Scott Reckinger
1 Introduction
2 Problem Description
∂ρ ∂
+ (ρu i ) = 0
∂t ∂xi
∂ ∂τ
(ρu i ) + ∂ (ρu i u j ) = − ∂P + 1 ij
∂t ∂x j ∂xi Re ∂x j
∂
(ρE ) + ∂ (ρEu j ) = − ∂ (u j P ) + 1 ∂ (u kτ jk )
∂t ∂x j ∂x j Re ∂x j
1 ∂ ⎛⎜ ∂T ⎞
⎟+ 1 ∂ ⎛⎜ N s ∂Y ⎞
⎟ Re Sc ∂x ⎜ ∑
+ κ ρhl D l ⎟
Re Pr ∂x j ⎜⎝ ∂x j ⎠ j ⎝ l =1 ∂x j ⎟
⎠
⎛ ⎞
∂
(ρYl ) + ∂ (ρYl u j ) = 1 ∂ ⎜⎜ ρD ∂Yl ⎟
⎟
∂t ∂x j Re Sc ∂x j ⎝ ∂x j ⎠
For the purposes of this course project, compressibility effects are negligible.
However, due to the variable density nature of the problem, the full Navier-Stokes
equations are solved. The nondimensionalization was completed with L as a length
scale (domain size) and a2=P0/ρ0 as a velocity scale, where P0 and ρ0 are the values
of pressure and density, respectively, at the interface between the two fluids (taken to
be an average of the values in the pure fluid). D is the mass diffusivity coefficient.
Energy is calculated as follows:
u ju j Ns
P
E= + ∑ hl Yl − ,
2 l =1 ρ
P = ρRT
hl = c pl T
with,
Ns
Yl
R = ℜ∑ .
l =1 Wl
Here, W corresponds to the molecular weight for one of the fluids. For the course
project, the number of species is limited to two. Since the sum of the Y values must
be unity, all equations involving Y are made simpler. For example, the gas constant
simplifies to
4 Scott Reckinger
⎡ ⎛ 1 1 ⎞ 1 ⎤
R = ℜ⎢Y ⎜⎜ − ⎟⎟ + ⎥
⎣ ⎝ W1 W2 ⎠ W2 ⎦
where Y is the mass fraction for species 1. It is assumed that species 1 is the heavy
fluid. The gas constant formula is similar to the formulas for conductivity, viscosity,
and specific heat.
κ = Y (κ 1 − κ 2 ) + κ 2
μ = Y (μ 1 − μ 2 ) + μ 2
( )
c p = Y c p1 − c p 2 + c p 2
These equations assume a linear relationship as the fluids mix. This assumption may
not be the most valid, but it is easiest to work with. For the course project, a further
assumption is made that the conductivity, viscosity, specific heats, and mass
diffusivity are equal for the two fluids. Therefore, all of those properties are constant.
The fluids are also assumed to be Newtonian so that the stress τ can be easily
calculated.
It was found that the most important parameters affecting the asymmetric mixing
was the Atwood number (a density ratio) and the Schmidt number.
W1 − W2
At =
W1 + W2
υ
Sc =
D
It was also hypothesized that the Mach number could affect the mixing process as
well.
KE
M = .
a0
The focus for this project is on the variable density effects. Therefore, only the
Atwood number will be investigated.
There are a few options for the initialization of the system. For the buoyantly
driven case, the density field was initialized with a near-double-delta probability
density function (PDF). However, they used transport equations instead of the scalar
mass fraction. Since the mass fraction gives a good measure of the total mass
encompassed by a pure fluid, it was chosen to initialize the scalar field with a near-
double-delta PDF. The result is that the scalar field initially contains random blobs of
pure fluid. This was achieved by taking Gaussian random numbers with a top-hat
spectrum between wave numbers 3 and 5, corresponding to large scale structures, and
Variable Density Fluid Mixing 5
creating a true double-delta PDF field by setting all negative values to 0 and all
positive values to 1. The field is then slightly diffused so that the interfaces are well-
resolved. Since DNS is the method of choice for this project, it is important to ensure
that all scales are fully resolved. Therefore, the following filter was applied, which is
the exact solution to the diffusion equation in Fourier space:
r2
Yˆdiffused = Yˆsharp exp⎛⎜ − α k ⎞⎟
⎝ ⎠
The α value was chosen just large enough so that the interface can be fully resolved.
An example of the initial mass fraction field is shown in Fig. 1. The thin diffusion
layers are visible in the figure.
At this point, many other fields could be initialized as well. For example, to match
the initialization of the buoyantly driven case, density would need to be initialized.
This is done by simply rescaling the near-double-delta PDF field. Suppose f is the
near-double-delta PDF field with peaks at 0 and 1. The pure fluid densities are
defined as
ρ1 = W1 = 1 + At
ρ 2 = W2 = 1 − At
1 ⎡1 1 ⎤ 1
=Y⎢ − ⎥+ ,
ρ ⎣ W1 W 2 ⎦ W 2
ρ = W2 ,
ρ = W1 .
ρ = (W1 − W2 ) f + W2 .
6 Scott Reckinger
Fig. 1. Initial mass fraction (scalar) field. A near-double-delta PDF field with thin diffusion layers
Similarly, ρY is initialized by
ρY = W1 f
Yα Y
Wα W1
Xα = ⇒X = ,
Yj ⎡ 1 − 1 ⎤+ 1
∑j W j Y
⎢⎣ W1 W2 ⎥⎦ W2
Variable Density Fluid Mixing 7
is initialized by
X = f
The velocity fields are initialized with a Gaussian random distribution with the
following spectrum:
k4 ⎛ k2 ⎞
E (k ) = exp⎜
⎜ − 2 ⎟
⎟
k 05 ⎝ k 02 ⎠
⎡ 1 ∂ ( ρR ) ⎤ 1 ∂ (u i u j )
2
∂
⎢ ⎥=− ,
∂xi ⎣ ρ ∂xi ⎦ T ∂xi ∂x j
where the gas constant for the mixture is a function of Y as described above. The
solution to this modified Poisson equation is not trivial. For this project, it was solved
using Fast Fourier Transforms. The equation is a little easier to deal with in Fourier
space. For the other initializations, the same equation is solved, but typically for other
variables than density. In the ρY-symmetric initialization, a nonlinear solver is
necessary.
3 Numerical Method
The original intention was to use the Adaptive Wavelet Collocation Method (AWCM)
for the DNS of the variable density mixing. The AWCM is an AMR technique that
utilizes the localized nature of wavelet to efficiently develop an adaptive grid over
which the solutions are solved while maintaining controllable accuracy [3,4].
However, due to the difficulties encountered in setting this problem up, the AWCM
was run in the non-adaptive limit. Therefore, the numerical method used was a
central-based finite difference in space with a krylov time integration scheme. The
method is 4th order in space and 2nd order with time. The simulations were performed
for various Atwood numbers. The domain size was limited to 643, again due to
difficulties in setting up the case. At this resolution, the maximum allowable
8 Scott Reckinger
Reynolds number to ensure that all scales are resolved is only about 10. This
restriction is to ensure that the kolmogrov microscale is resolved. At a Re of only 10,
it is likely that turbulence may not develop.
4 Results
Runs for the Y-symmetric (near-double-delta) were completed for various Atwood
numbers at a Mach number of 0.1 using the AWCM in the nonadaptive limit on a
fixed mesh of size 643. The low Mach number keeps compressibility issues minimal.
The resulting PDFs of the scalar field are shown in Fig. 2, Fig. 3, Fig. 4, and Fig. 5. The
plots show that, for high Atwood numbers, the species scalar PDF becomes skewed
towards the heavy fluid as the system develops and the two fluids mix. In the 4
figures, the PDF of the scalar field and the PDF of the spatial derivative of the scalar
field are given for varying At. The sharp, two-peaked, black line represents the initial
conditions. Then, as time progresses, the peaks collapse and mold together in the
center as the mixing processes take place. For the case when At=0.001 in Fig. 2, there
is almost no asymmetry present. So, at low density differences, the mixing occurs
evenly (at equal rates) for both fluids. There is no tendency for one fluid to remain
pure longer than the other fluid. As At increases, the asymmetry becomes ever more
evident. The red and green lines in the At=0.5, At=0.6, and At=0.8 cases really show
the asymmetry the best. The derivative plots show an initial state with a relatively
wide range of values, yet with the majority of the points clumped near zero. This
represents the pure fluid state. The tails of this initial PDF of the spatial derivative
gives information about the initial mixing layer. Since the tails of the derivative PDFs
decay, the large gradients have properly been diffused by the filter introduced above.
There is one major flaw with the results found in this project. Since the scalar field, Y,
is not conserved by the governing equations, the mean value for Y shifts toward the
heavy fluid as the fluids mix. One could easily make an argument that the asymmetry
is simply due to the fact that the Y=1 initial peak does not have to travel as far on the
PDF as the Y=0 peak. One method to fix this issue is to begin with a different
initialization. The ρY-symmetric initialization would be favorable since ρY is a
conserved variable. Also, ρY is an extremely good indicator of the volume
encompassed by a pure fluid, whereas Y only indicates the total mass encompassed by
a fluid. The runs have been started for the ρY-symmetric initialization, but did not
finish in time for the due date. The molar-fraction-symmetric initialization would also
be a good option. The mole fraction, X, gives information about the total amount of a
fluid in the system. Also, the X-symmetric initialization reduces to the ρY-symmetric
initialization in the incompressible limit. The third option would be to initialize
density, similar to what was done for the buoyancy driven case. An attempt was made
at this initialization, but the results were unphysical (Y less than 0 or greater than 1).
Variable Density Fluid Mixing 9
Qualitatively, the pictures shown from these results closely match those found in the
buoyantly driven turbulent mixing case. That is, the pure heavy fluid in a variable
density setup, mixes more slowly than the pure light fluid. The initial nearly-double-
delta PDF is quickly skewed as the light fluid vanishes rapidly. Only at long times
does the pure heavy fluid disappear resulting in a Guassian distributed mixture of the
two pure fluids. For a Bousinesq fluid, the density PDF remains symmetric
throughout the mixing process. Both fluids, light and heavy, mix at the same rate. If
these results are valid, then it could be tentatively concluded that the asymmetry is
associated with inertial effects and not due to buoyancy. This result is one difference
between the mixing processes in a variable density fluid flow and that of a Boussinesq
fluid. This result has important consequences for all simulations for systems involving
variable density mixing. It appears that the molecular mixing processes act differently
on opposite sides of the mixing layer. Models for the mixing rate between two fluids
of varying density must take this result into consideration.
References
1. Besnard, D., Harlow, F.H., Rauenzahn, R.M., and Zemach, C. Turbulence transport
equations for variable-density turbulence and ther relationship to the two field models.
Technical Reports. 1992. Los Alamos National Laboratory.
2. Livescu, Daniel and Ristorcelli, J.R. Variable density mixing in buoyancy driven
turbulence. submitted to J. Fluid Mech., 2007, LA-UR-07-3399.
3. Vasilyev, Oleg V. Solving multi-dimensional evolution problems with localized structures
using second generation wavelets. Int. J. Comp. Fluid Dyn. special issue on high-
resolution methods in computational fluid dynamics. 17(2), 151-168. 2003.
4. Vasilyev, Oleg V. and Bowman, Christopher. Second-generation wavelet collocation
method for the solution of partial differential equations. Journal of Computational Physics
165 (2000). 660-693.
10 Scott Reckinger
t/tr=0
8
t/tr=0.40205
t/tr=1.0851
7
t/tr=2.8069
t/tr=5.356
6 t/tr=12.2543
5
PDF
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
1
x-Derivative of Scalar PDF with At=0.001
10
t/tr=0
t/tr=0.40205
0
10 t/tr=1.0851
t/tr=2.8069
t/tr=5.356
10
-1
t/tr=12.2543
PDF
-2
10
-3
10
-4
10
-5
10
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
dY/dx
t/tr=0
8
t/tr=0.52655
t/tr=0.97852
7
t/tr=2.7151
t/tr=5.3368
6
t/tr=12.969
5
PDF
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
1
x-Derivative of Scalar PDF with At=0.5
10
t/tr=0
t/tr=0.52655
t/tr=0.97852
0
10 t/tr=2.7151
t/tr=5.3368
t/tr=12.969
-1
10
PDF
-2
10
-3
10
-4
10
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
dY/dx
t/tr=0
8
t/tr=0.51456
t/tr=1.1296
7 t/tr=2.7666
t/tr=5.478
6 t/tr=13.6857
5
PDF
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
1
x-Derivative of Scalar PDF with At=0.6
10
t/tr=0
t/tr=0.51456
10
0 t/tr=1.1296
t/tr=2.7666
t/tr=5.478
10
-1 t/tr=13.6857
PDF
-2
10
-3
10
-4
10
-5
10
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
dY/dx
5
PDF
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
1
x-Derivative of Scalar PDF with At=0.8
10
t/tr=0
t/tr=0.74613
t/tr=1.4002
0
10 t/tr=3.2429
t/tr=8.1468
t/tr=15.6403
-1
10
PDF
-2
10
-3
10
-4
10
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
dY/dx