arXiv subjects

Yantao Yang

Publications and source records attributed to Yantao Yang.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

AFiD-GPU: a versatile Navier-Stokes Solver for Wall-Bounded Turbulent Flows on GPU Clusters

The AFiD code, an open source solver for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations ({\color{blue}\burl{http://www.afid.eu}}), has been ported to GPU clusters to tackle large-scale wall-bounded turbulent flow simulations. The GPU porting has been carried out in CUDA Fortran with the extensive use of kernel loop directives (CUF kernels) in order to have a source code as close as possible to the original CPU version; just a few routines have been manually rewritten. A new transpose scheme, which is not limited to the GPU version only and can be generally applied to any CFD code that uses pencil distributed parallelization, has been devised to improve the scaling of the Poisson solver, the main bottleneck of incompressible solvers. The GPU version can reduce the wall clock time by an order of magnitude compared to the CPU version for large meshes. Due to the increased performance and efficient use of memory, the GPU version of AFiD can perform simulations in parameter ranges that are unprecedented in thermally-driven wall-bounded turbulence. To verify the accuracy of the code, turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection and plane Couette flow are simulated and the results are in good agreement with the experimental and computational data that published in previous literatures.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2017

Confined Rayleigh-Bénard, Rotating Rayleigh-Bénard, and Double Diffusive Convection: A unifying view on turbulent transport enhancement through coherent structure manipulation

Many natural and engineering systems are simultaneously subjected to a driving force and a stabilizing force. The interplay between the two forces, especially for highly nonlinear systems such as fluid flow, often results in surprising features. Here we reveal such features in three different types of Rayleigh-Bénard (RB) convection, i.e. buoyancy-driven flow with the fluid density being affected by a scalar field. In the three cases different {\it stabilizing forces} are considered, namely (i) horizontal confinement, (ii) rotation around a vertical axis, and (iii) a second stabilizing scalar field. Despite the very different nature of the stabilizing forces and the corresponding equations of motion, at moderate strength we counterintuitively but consistently observe an {\it enhancement} in the flux, even though the flow motion is weaker than the original RB flow. The flux enhancement occurs in an intermediate regime in which the stabilizing force is strong enough to alter the flow structures in the bulk to a more organised morphology, yet not too strong to severely suppress the flow motions. Near the optimal transport enhancements all three systems exhibit a transition from a state in which the thermal boundary layer (BL) is nested inside the momentum BL to the one with the thermal BL being thicker than the momentum BL.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2016

Shock responses of nanoporous aluminum by molecular dynamics simulations

We present systematic investigations on the shock responses of nanoporous aluminum (np-Al) by nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. The dislocation nucleation sites are found to concentrate in low latitude region near the equator of the spherical void surfaces. We propose a continuum wave reflection theory and a resolved shear stress model to explain the distribution of dislocation nucleation sites. The simulations reveals two mechanisms of void collapse: the plasticity mechanism and the internal jetting mechanism. The plasticity mechanism, which leads to transverse collapse of voids, prevails under relatively weaker shocks; while the internal jetting mechanism, which leads to longitudinal filling of the void vacuum, plays more significant role as the shock intensity increases. In addition, an abnormal thermodynamic phenomenon (i.e., arising of temperature with pressure dropping) in shocked np-Al is discovered. This phenomenon is incompatible with the conventional Rankine-Hugoniot theory, and is explained by the nonequilibrium processes involved in void collapse. The influences of void collapse on spall fracture of np-Al is studied. Under the same loading velocity, the spall strength of np-Al is found to be lower than that of single-crystal Al; but the spall resistance is higher in np-Al than in single-crystal Al. This is explained by the combined influences of thermal dissipation and stress attenuation during shock wave propagation in np-Al.

physics.comp-ph↗

arXiv2016

Scaling laws and flow structures of double diffusive convection in the finger regime

Direct numerical simulations are conducted for double diffusive convection (DDC) bounded by two parallel plates, with fluid properties similar to the values of seawater. The DDC flow is driven by an unstable salinity difference and stabilized at the same time by a temperature difference. For these conditions the flow can be in the finger regime. We develop scaling laws for three key response parameters of the system: The non-dimensional salinity flux $Nu_S$ mainly depends on the salinity Rayleigh number $Ra_S$, which measures the strength of the salinity difference, and exhibits a very weak dependence on the density ratio $Λ$, which is the ratio of the buoyancy forces induced by two scalar differences. The non-dimensional flow velocity $Re$ and the non-dimensional heat flux $Nu_T$ are dependent on both $Ra_S$ and $Λ$. However, the rescaled Reynolds number $ReΛ^{α^{\rm eff}_u}$ and the rescaled convective heat flux $(Nu_T-1)Λ^{α^{\rm eff}_T}$ depend only on $Ra_S$. The two exponents are dependent on the fluid properties and are determined from the numerical results. Moreover, the behaviors of $Nu_S$ and $ReΛ^{α^{\rm eff}_u}$ agree with the predictions of the Grossmann-Lohse theory which was originally developed for the Rayleigh-Bénard flow. The non-dimensional salt-finger width and the thickness of the velocity boundary layers, after being rescaled by $Λ^{α^{\rm eff}_u/2}$, collapse and obey a similar power-law scaling relation with $Ra_S$. When $Ra_S$ is large enough, salt fingers do not extend from one plate to the other and horizontal zonal flows emerge in the bulk region. We then show that the current scaling strategy can be successfully applied to the experimental results of a heat-copper-ion system~(Hage and Tilgner, Phys. Fluids, 22, 076603, 2010).

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2016

Vertically bounded double diffusive convection in the fingering regime: comparing no-slip vs free-slip boundary conditions

Vertically bounded fingering double diffusive convection (DDC) is numerically investigated, focusing on the influences of different velocity boundary conditions, i.e. the no-slip condition which is inevitable in the lab-scale experimental research, and the free-slip condition which is an approximation for the interfaces in many natural environments, such as the oceans. For both boundary conditions the flow is dominated by fingers and the global responses follow the same scaling laws, with enhanced prefactors for the free-slip cases. Therefore, the laboratory experiments with the no-slip boundaries serve as a good model for the finger layers in the ocean. Moreover, in the free-slip case although the tangential shear stress is eliminated at the boundaries, the local dissipation rate in the near-wall region may exceed the value found in the no-slip cases, which is caused by the stronger vertical motions of fingers and sheet structures near the free-slip boundaries. This counter intuitive result might be relevant for properly estimating and modelling the mixing and entrainment phenomena at free-surfaces and interfaces.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2015

From convection rolls to finger convection in double-diffusive turbulence

Double diffusive convection (DDC), which is the buoyancy driven flow with fluid density depending on two scalar components, is ubiquitous in many natural and engineering enviroments. Of great interests are scalers transfer rate and flow structures. Here we systematically investigate DDC flow between two horizontal plates, driven by an unstable salinity gradient and stabilized by a temperature gradient. Counterintuitively, when increasing the stabilizing temperature gradient, the salinity flux first increases, even though the velocity monotonically decreases, before it finally breaks down to the purely diffusive value. The enhanced salinity transport is traced back to a transition in the overall flow pattern, namely from large scale convection rolls to well-organised vertically-oriented salt fingers. We also show and explain that the unifying theory of thermal convection originally developed by Grossmann and Lohse for Rayleigh-Bénard convection can be directly applied to DDC flow for a wide range of control parameters (Lewis number and density ratio), including those which cover the common values relevant for ocean flows.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2015

Salinity transfer in bounded double diffusive convection

The double diffusive convection between two parallel plates is numerically studied for a series of parameters. The flow is driven by the salinity difference and stabilized by the thermal field. Our simulations are directly compared to experiments by Hage and Tilgner (\emph{Phys. Fluids} 22, 076603 (2010)) for several sets of parameters and reasonable agreement is found. This in particular holds for the salinity flux and its dependence on the salinity Rayleigh number. Salt fingers are present in all simulations and extend through the entire height. The thermal Rayleigh number seems to have minor influence on salinity flux but affects the Reynolds number and the morphology of the flow. Next to the numerical calculation, we apply the Grossmann-Lohse theory for Rayleigh-Bénard flow to the current problem without introducing any new coefficients. The theory successfully predicts the salinity flux both with respect to the scaling and even with respect to the absolute value for the numerical and experimental results.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2015

Inertial waves and mean velocity profiles in a rotating pipe and a circular annulus with axial flow

In this paper we solve the inviscid inertial wave solutions in a circular pipe or annulus rotating constantly about its axis with moderate angular speed. The solutions are constructed by the so-called helical wave functions. We reveal that the mean velocity profiles must satisfy certain conditions to accommodate the inertial waves at the bulk region away from boundary. These conditions require the axial and azimuthal components of the mean velocity take the shapes of the zeroth and first order Bessel functions of the first kind, respectively. The theory is then verified by data obtained from direct numerical simulations for both rotating pipe and circular annulus, and excellent agreement is found between theory and numerical results. Large scale vortex clusters are found in the bulk region where the mean velocity profiles match the theoretical predictions. The success of the theory in rotating pipe, circular annulus, and streamwise rotating channel suggests that such inertial waves are quite common in wall bounded flow with background rotation.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2015

A multiple--resolution strategy for Direct Numerical Simulation of scalar turbulence

In this paper a numerical procedure to simulate low diffusivity scalar turbulence is presented. The method consists of using a grid for the advected scalar with a higher spatial resolutions than that of the momentum. The latter usually requires a less refined mesh and integrating both fields on a single grid tailored to the most demanding variable, produces an unnecessary computational overhead. A multiple resolution approach is used also in the time integration in order to maintain the stability of the scalars on the finer grid. The method is the more advantageous the less diffusive the scalar is with respect to momentum, therefore it is particularly well suited for large Prandtl or Schmidt number flows. However, even in the case of equal diffusivities the present procedure gives CPU time and memory occupation savings. The reason is that the absence of the pressure term in the scalar equation leads to much steeper gradients in the scalar field as compared to the velocity field.

physics.flu-dyn↗