Large eddy simulation of the generation and breakdown of a tumbling flow

Large eddy simulations (LES) are performed in order to reproduce the generation and the breakdown of a tumbling motion in the simplified model engine [Borée, J., Maurel, S., Bazile, R., 2002. Disruption of a compressed vortex. Phys. Fluids, 14 (7) 2543–2556]. A second-order accurate numerical scheme is applied in conjunction with a mixed finite volume/finite element formulation adapted for unstructured deforming meshes. Subgrid terms are kept as simple as possible with a Smagorinsky model in order to build a methodology devoted to engine-like flows. The main statistical quantities, such as mean velocity and turbulent kinetic energy, are obtained from a set of independent cycles and compared to experiments. Important experimental features, such as oscillations of the intake jet, vortex precession and a turbulent kinetic energy peak near the vortex core, are well reproduced.