A wall-distance-free version of the SST turbulence model

The present work aims to retain the predictive quality of the 2003 SST model while replacing its dependence on explicit wall distance with a local representation thereof, thereby avoiding the need to repeatedly compute wall distance arrays in flow cases involving nonstationary grids or in those involving multimillion-cell meshes. The approach proposed here is a local, algebraic-based representation of wall distance, using k and ω. Several examples are given, showing that the proposed alternative to explicit wall distance usually enables as good predictions as those of the 2003 SST model and in some cases even better. The paper also provides a proposal to treat free shear flows and includes a jet flow example.