Large-eddy simulation: Past, present and the future

Large-eddy simulation (LES) was originally proposed for simulating atmospheric flows in the 1960s and has become one of the most promising and successful methodology for simulating turbulent flows with the improvement of computing power. It is now feasible to simulate complex engineering flows using LES. However, apart from the computing power, significant challenges still remain for LES to reach a level of maturity that brings this approach to the mainstream of engineering and industrial computations. This paper will describe briefly LES formalism first, present a quick glance at its history, review its current state focusing mainly on its applications in transitional flows and gas turbine combustor flows, discuss some major modelling and numerical challenges/issues that we are facing now and in the near future, and finish with the concluding remarks.