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Recent numerical predictions of turbulent boundary layers subject to very strong Favorable Pressure Gradient (FPG) with high spatial/temporal resolution, i.e. Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS), have shown a meaningful weakening of the Reynolds shear stresses with a lengthy logarithmic behavior [1,2]. In the present study, assessment of the Shear Stress Transport and Spalart-Allmaras turbulence models (hence- forth SST and SA, respectively) in Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations is performed. The main objective is to evaluate the ability of popular turbulence models in capturing the characteristic features present during the quasi-laminarization phenomenon in highly accelerating turbulent boundary layers. A favorable pressure gradient is prescribed by a top converging surface (sink flow) with an approximately constant acceleration parameter of K = 4 . 0 ×10 −6 . Validation of RANS results is carried out by means of a large DNS dataset [1]. Generally speaking, the SA turbulence model has demonstrated the best compromise between accuracy and quick adaptation to the turbulent inflow conditions. Turbulence models properly captured the increasing trend of the freestream and friction velocity in highly accelerated flows; however, they fail to reproduce the decreasing behavior of the skin friction coefficient, which is typical in early stages of the quasi-laminarization process. Both models have shown deficient predictions of the decreasing and logarithmic behavior of Reynolds shear stresses as well as significantly overpredicted the production of Turbulent Kinetic Energy (TKE) in turbulent boundary layers subject to very strong FPG. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compfluid.2020.104494 

Turbulent boundary layers subject to severe acceleration or strong favorable pressure gradient (FPG) are of fundamental and technological importance. Scientifically, they elicit great interest from the points of view of scaling laws, the complex interaction between the outer and inner regions, and the quasi-laminarization phenomenon. Many flows of industrial and technological applications are subject to strong acceleration such as convergent ducts, turbines blades and nozzles. Our recent numerical predictions (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 775, pp. 189-200, 2015) of turbulent boundary layers subject to very strong FPG with high spatial/temporal resolution, i.e. Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS), have shown a meaningful weakening of the Reynolds shear stresses with an evident logarithmic behavior. In the present study, assessment of three different turbulence models (Shear Stress Transport, k-w and Spalart-Allmaras, henceforth SST, k-w and SA, respectively) in Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations is performed. The main objective is to evaluate the ability of popular turbulence models in capturing the characteristic features present during the quasi-laminarization phenomenon in highly accelerating turbulent boundary layers. Favorable pressure gradient is prescribed by a top converging surface (sink flow) with an approximately constant acceleration parameter of K = 4.0 x 10^(-6). Furthermore, the quasi-laminarization effect on the temperature field is also examined by solving the energy equation and assuming the temperature as a passive scalar. Validation of RANS results is carried out by means of a large DNS dataset.