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Numerical and Physical Instabilities in Massively Parallel LES of Reacting Flows

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Abstract

LES of reacting flows is rapidly becoming mature and providing levels of precision which can not be reached with any RANS (Reynolds Averaged) technique. In addition to the multiple subgrid scale models required for such LES and to the questions raised by the required numerical accuracy of LES solvers, various issues related to the reliability, mesh independence and repetitivity of LES must still be addressed, especially when LES is used on massively parallel machines. This talk discusses some of these issues: (1) the existence of non physical waves (known as ‘wiggles’ by most LES practitioners) in LES, (2) the effects of mesh size on LES of reacting flows, (3) the growth of rounding errors in LES on massively parallel machines and more generally (4) the ability to qualify a LES code as ‘bug free’ and ‘accurate’. Examples range from academic cases (minimum non-reacting turbulent channel) to applied configurations (a sector of an helicopter combustion chamber).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNRS UMR 5502, Institut de Mecanique des Fluides de Toulouse, Toulouse, France

    T. Poinsot

  2. CERFACS, 31057, Toulouse, France

    M. Garcia, J. M. Senoner, L. Gicquel, G. Staffelbach & O. Vermorel

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  1. T. Poinsot
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  2. M. Garcia
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  3. J. M. Senoner
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  4. L. Gicquel
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  5. G. Staffelbach
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  6. O. Vermorel
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Correspondence to T. Poinsot.

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Poinsot, T., Garcia, M., Senoner, J.M. et al. Numerical and Physical Instabilities in Massively Parallel LES of Reacting Flows. J Sci Comput 49, 78–93 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10915-010-9432-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10915-010-9432-8

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