Large-Eddy Simulation of the Flow Developing in Static and Rotating Ribbed Channels

In the present work, the turbulent flow fields in a static and rotating ribbed channel representative of an aeronautical gas turbine are investigated by the means of wall-resolved compressible large-Eddy simulation (LES). This approach has been previously validated in a squared ribbed channel based on an experimental database from the Von Karman Institute (Reynolds and rotation numbers of about 15,000 and +/- 0.38, respectively). LES results prove to reproduce differences induced by buoyancy in the near rib region and resulting from adiabatic or anisothermal flows under rotation. The model also manages to predict the turbulence increase (decrease) around the rib in destabilizing (stabilizing) rotation of the ribbed channels. On this basis, this paper investigates in more detail the spatial development of the flow along the channel and its potential impact on secondary flow structures. More specifically and for all simulations, results of the adiabatic static case exhibit two contra-rotating structures that are close to the lateral walls of the channel induced by transversal pressure difference created by the ribs. These structures are generated after the first ribs and appear behind all inter-rib sections, their relative position is partly affected by rotation. When considering the stabilizing rotating case, two additional contra-rotating structures also develop along the channel from the entrance close to the low-pressure wall (rib-mounted side). These vortices are due to the confinement of the configuration, inflow profile and are the result of Coriolis forces induced by rotation. Gortler vortices also appear on the pressure wall (opposite to the rib-mounted side). In the destabilizing rotating case, these two types of secondary structures are found to co-exist, and their migration in the channel is significantly different due to the presence of the ribs on the pressure side. Finally, it is shown that heat transfer affects only marginally the static and stabilized cases while it changes more significantly the flow organization in the destabilizing case mainly because of enhanced heat transfer and increased buoyancy force effects.