Modeling Near-Wall Effects in Axially Rotating Pipe Flow by Elliptic Relaxation

The ability to faithfully reproduce the effect of axial rotation on fully developed turbulent pipe flow is investigated using a low-Reynolds-number, second-moment closure model. In particular, the impact of the pressure-strain model is scrutinized by adopting both linear and nonlinear models. Near-wall effects are modeled by elliptic relaxation, and model predictions are verified against direct numerical simulations as well as experimental results. The results suggest that pressure-strain models cubic in the Reynolds stresses seem unsuitable for this particular case, whereas the best overall performance is obtained by a model that retains terms quadratic in the Reynolds stress tensor. However, the stabilizing effect of the imposed axial rotation on the turbulence is in general overpredicted by the models