LES and RANS of turbulent flow in tube bundles

A Large Eddy Simulation (LES) finite element code is developed. It is shown that the standard numerical schemes developed for the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations are not suitable for LES. Validation of the final centred and collocated scheme is carried out for grid turbulence and channel flow. The same code is then applied to a complex flow that has challenged RANS modelling for years: cross-flow in a tube bundle. In contrast to RANS models, LES yields results in good agreement with the experimental data of Simonin and Barcouda (1988, Measurements and prediction of turbulent flow entering a staggered tube bundle. Fourth International Symposium on Applications of Laser Anemometry to Fluid Mechanics, Lisbon, Portugal) including the Reynolds stresses. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.