Implementation and performance analysis of efficient grid-free integral wall models in unstructured-grid LES solvers

Abstract: Two zonal wall models based on integral form of the boundary layer differential equations, albeit with algebraic complexity, have been implemented in an unstructured-grid cell-centered finite-volume LES solver. The first model is a novel implementation of the ODE equilibrium wall model, where the velocity profile is expressed in the integral form using the constant shear-stress layer assumption and the integral is evaluated using a spectral quadrature method, resulting in a local and algebraic (grid-free) formulation. The second model, which closely follows the integral wall model of Yang et al. (Phys. Fluids 27, 025112 (2015)), is based on the vertically-integrated thin-boundary-layer PDE along with a prescribed composite velocity profile in the wall-modeled region. Several numerical challenges unique to the implementation of these integral models in unstructured mesh environments, such as the exchange of wall quantities between wall faces and LES cells, and the computation of surface gradients, are identified and possible remedies are proposed. The performance of the wall models is assessed both in a priori and a posteriori settings against the traditional finite-volume based ODE equilibrium wall model, showing a comparable computational cost for the integral wall model, and superior performance for the spectral implementation over the finite-volume based approach. Load imbalance among the processors in parallel simulations seems to severely degrade the parallel efficiency of finite-volume based ODE wall model, whereas the spectral implementation is remarkably agnostic to these effects.