Fully Developed Turbulence of Power-Law Fluids in Circular Pipe Based on Large Eddy Simulation

In this study, Large eddy simulation (LES) of the fully developed turbulence of power-law fluids in a circular pipe was performed using the dynamic subgrid-scale model. Under a specific Reynolds number, the flow information of three fluids with a range of power-law indexes was obtained. The trends of the mean axial velocity and the normalized apparent viscosity were analyzed. Simulation results show that shearing-thinning fluid displayed more noticeable non-Newtonian characteristics than shear-thickening fluid. The predicted friction factors were approximately equal to the Dodge and Metzner correlation and Gomes correlation. The peak values of root mean squares (RMS) and Reynolds stress increased as the power-law index increased. The turbulence statistics (skewness and flatness) from the wall to the pipe center were calculated. From the calculated results, the velocity fluctuation near the wall had strong intermittent and asymmetry. As demonstrated by the contours of the normalized instantaneous axial velocity and viscosity, the turbulence was more developed as the power-law index increased. It is concluded that the LES is feasible to predict the turbulence of pipe flow under higher Reynolds numbers.