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Smooth-Wall Boundary Conditions For Dissipation-Based Turbulence Models, W. F. Phillips, Doug F. Hunsaker, Robert E. Spall

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

It is shown that the smooth-wall boundary conditions specified for commonly used dissipation-based turbulence models are mathematically incorrect. It is demonstrated that when these traditional wall boundary conditions are used, the resulting formulations allow an infinite number of solutions. Furthermore, these solutions do not enforce energy conservation and they do not properly enforce the no-slip condition at a smooth surface. This is true for all dissipation-based turbulence models, including the k-ε, k-ω, and k-ζ models. Physically correct wall boundary conditions must force both k and its gradient to zero at a smooth wall. Enforcing these two boundary conditions on k …