Study of Hybrid LES/RANS Models in OpenFOAM Applied to Taylor–Couette Flow

A brief study on the agreement of hybrid LES/RANS models for the counter-rotating Taylor–Couette (CRTC) flow is explored. The simulations are done for Rei = −Reo = 4000. The hybrid LES/RANS models, namely detached eddy simulation (DES), delayed detached eddy simulation (DDES) and improved delayed detached eddy simulation (IDDES), based on the Spalart–Allmaras (SA) and k-ω SST RANS models are explored. The advantages of these models are explained with respect to the velocity profile and turbulent quantities. The length scale based on automatic switching is used in these models. Computational time and the reduction in mesh size are the two main improvements of using hybrid LES/RANS models over traditional LES and DNS methods with reasonable accuracy in the flow characteristics. We observe that the hybrid models are roughly about 22–24% faster than the LES model. The above conclusions display the possibility of extending the hybrid models to industrial problems.