The UMIST-N Near-Wall Treatment Applied to Periodic Channel Flow

CHAPTER 6. CONCLUSIONS & SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE WORK84
tried in each of the above test cases. The model produced good results overall,
but its performance was hindered by spurious behaviour at the interface
between the subgrid and the main grid. Numerical challenges associated
with the implementation of the k-ω model within a subgrid approach have
been revealed during this work and were highlighted in the results.
Further steady channel flow data from various sources were also compiled
within this thesis and emperical profiles were presented to identify trends.
These profiles could serve as a tool to CFD researchers who are engaged in
early development or debugging.
The UMIST-N approach has been shown to be applicable to periodic flow.
The potential breadth of applicability of the approach is further indicated by
its application to a k-ω model solution, despite challenges that were encoun-
tered. Further investigation into the usefulness of the UMIST-N approach
in the computation of time-variant industrial flows appears justified.
With particular reference to industrial applicability, one potential avenue
for the further development of UMIST-N is towards its use in Large Eddy
Simulation. Most LES calculations rely on wall functions, and hybrid com-
binations of RANS and LES are not unknown. Therefore, a potential exists
for UMIST-N to offer a benefit to LES. The satisfactory performance of the
subgrid method in periodic flow within this study suggests that UMIST-N
may be suitable when exposed to the rapid local oscillations that can be
associated with the movement of large-scale turbulent structures in LES.
As a tool for industrial modelling, UMIST-N offers an intermediate choice,
in terms of accuracy and computational cost, between a standard wall func-
tion boundary and a low-Reynolds-number treatment. This choice could be