Large-eddy simulation of a spatially-evolving supersonic turbulent boundary layer at M∞=2

The ability of large-eddy simulations (LES) to resolve the most energetic coherent structures of a spatially-evolving supersonic turbulent boundary layer over a flat plate at M∞=2 and Reθ≈6000 is analyzed using three different local subgrid scale models. Additionally, an Implicit LES (ILES), which relies on the intrinsic numerical dissipation to act as a subgrid model, is investigated to assess the consistency and the accuracy of the method. Direct comparison with data from high resolution DNS calculations (Pirozzoli and Bernardini, 2011) provides validation of the different modeling approaches. Turbulent statistics up to the fourth-order are reported, which help emphasizing some salient features related to near-wall asymptotic behavior, mesh resolution and models prediction. Detailed analysis of the near-wall asymptotic behavior of all relevant quantities shows that the models are able to correctly reproduce the near-wall tendencies. The thermodynamic fluctuations, Trms and ρrms, show a lack of independence from SGS modeling and grid refinement in contrast to the velocity fluctuations. The pressure fluctuations, which are associated with the acoustic mode, are not significantly affected by the modeling and the mesh resolution. Furthermore, the comparison of different contributions to the viscous dissipation reveals that the solenoidal dissipation plays the most dominant role regardless of the model. Finally, it is found that the ILES is more likely to produce consistent near-wall behavior even with a numerical scheme that has a small amount of numerical dissipation to emulate the effects of unresolved scales.