Standard and consistent Detached-Eddy Simulation for turbulent engine flow modeling: An application to the TCC-III engine

Multidimensional modeling of Cycle-to-Cycle Variability (CCV) has become a crucial support for the development and optimization of modern direct-injection turbocharged engines. In that sense, the only viable modeling options is represented by scale-resolving approaches such as Large Eddy Simulation (LES) or hybrid URANS/LES methods. Among other hybrid approaches, Detached-Eddy Simulation (DES) has the longest development story and is therefore commonly regarded as the most reliable choice for engineering-grade simulation. As such, in the last decade DESbased methods have found their way through the engine modeling community, showing a good potential in describing turbulence-related CCV in realistic engine configurations and at reasonable computational costs. In the present work we investigate the in-cylinder modeling capabilites of a standard two-equation DES formulation, compared to a more recent one which we call DESx. The DESx form differs from standard DES in the turbulent viscosity switch from URANS to LES-like behavior, which for DESx is fully consistent with Yoshizawa’s one-equation sub-grid scale model. The two formulations are part of a more general Zonal-DES (ZDES) methodology, developed and validated by the authors in a series of previous publications. Both variants are applied to the multi-cycle simulation of the TCC-III experimental engine setup, using sub-optimal grid refinement levels in order to stress the model limitations in URANS-like numerical resolution scenarios. Outcomes from this study show that, although both alternatives are able to ouperform URANS even in coarse grid arrangements, DESx emerges as sligthly superior and thus it can be recommended as the default option for in-cylinder flow simulation.