Regularization of turbulence - a comprehensive modeling approach

Turbulence readily arises in numerous flows in nature and technology. The large number of degrees of freedom of turbulence poses serious challenges to numerical approaches aimed at simulating and controlling such flows. While the Navier-Stokes equations are commonly accepted to precisely describe fluid turbulence, alternative coarsened descriptions need to be developed to cope with the wide range of length and time scales. These coarsened descriptions are known as large-eddy simulations in which one aims to capture only the primary features of a flow, at considerably reduced computational effort. Such coarsening introduces a closure problem that requires additional phenomenological modeling. A systematic approach to the closure problem, know as regularization modeling, will be reviewed. Its application to multiphase turbulent will be illustrated in which a basic regularization principle is enforced to physically consistently approximate momentum and scalar transport. Examples of Leray and LANS-alpha regularization are discussed in some detail, as are compatible numerical strategies. We illustrate regularization modeling to turbulence under the influence of rotation and buoyancy and investigate the accuracy with which particle-laden flow can be represented. A discussion of the numerical and modeling errors incurred will be given on the basis of homogeneous isotropic turbulence.