A direct numerical simulation of fully developed turbulent channel flow with spanwise wall oscillation

Low-Reynolds-number, fully developed turbulent channel flow with wall motion has been simulated by direct numerical simulation to examine the effectiveness and the near-wall mechanics using spanwise wall oscillation to reduce friction drag. The three-dimensional unsteady Navier-Stokes (and energy) equations are solved using Fourier-Chebyshev-Tau spectral methods combined with a second-order semi-implicit time-advancement scheme. The effects of spatial resolution and computational box size on the computed turbulence and the drag reduction percentage were investigated. Finer spanwise resolution has a greater effect on achieving a better solution and the turbulent flow is well resolved for a spanwise grid spacing of Δ 3 <10 + x . It was also confirmed that the dynamics of turbulence in a natural full channel could be reproduced by a minimal channel. Parameter studies have been performed to examine the variation of drag reduction value with wall oscillation frequency, velocity amplitude, peak-to-peak amplitude, and oscillation orientation, and drag reduction data were discovered to correlate better with peak-to-peak amplitude for frequencies 01 > 0. + f in contrast to the previous finding of its correlation with peak-wall-speed. At the optimal wall oscillation conditions, net power savings of about 5% are obtained after the power input to move the wall is accounted for, even though more than 40% friction drag reduction has been achieved in the turbulence flow. Significant drag reduction is accompanied by the suppression of the turbulent bursting process and production of turbulence, and by a reduction in the intensity of streaks and streamwise vortices. A thickened viscous sublayer is indicated through the observed outward shift of statistical quantities such as velocity fluctuations and Reynolds shear stress in the moving-wall channel flow. Drag reduction by spanwise wall oscillation is mainly due to the suppression of ejection-sweep motions and the disruption in the cycle of the turbulence selfsustaining process, starting with the wall streaks that are distorted and reduced in number and extent. The intensity and the number of vortical structures are also reduced by the wall motion. The suppression of the regeneration of new streamwise vortices above the wall in turn further suppresses the ejection-sweep motions, thus leading to the reduced skin-friction levels at the wall.