Numerical calculation of steady turbulent flows in adverse pressure-gradients

This paper presents numerical calculations of turbulent flows in adverse streamwise pressure-gradients. Three situations are considered, namely: a boundary layer developing in decreasingly-adverse and another in increasingly-adverse pressure-gradients; and flow in a conical diffuser. The calculations employ a finite-domain scheme and a variant of the SIMPLE procedure of Patankar and Spalding. The effect of pressure gradient on the log-law wall-function is accounted for. An expanding-grid system is used to fit the flow configurations considered. The turbulent stresses in the transport equations are modelled using an isotropic eddy-viscosity which is deduced from K, the specific turbulent kinetic-energy and W, the time-mean square of the vorticity fluctuations. The predictions compare favorably with three experimental results.