Numerical study of turbulent kinetic energy amplification during shock-wave diffraction

In this Letter, we are focusing on the understanding of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) amplification during shock-wave diffraction over a 90° step corner through numerical simulation in OpenFOAM platform. It is observed that TKE amplification is dominant inside the transonic lambda shock, separated shear layer, and primary vortex. Analysis of the turbulence production term, Pk, which appears in the turbulent kinetic energy budget, shows that the term involving production of TKE due to (a) mean shear, Ps, is dominant inside the separated shear layer and (b) streamwise mean flow deceleration, Px, is dominant inside the transonic lambda shock wave.