Validation Study of a Multidomain Spectral Code for Simulation of Turbulent Flows

A Chebyshev multidomain staggered grid method (CMSM) presented by Kopriva (Kopriva, A A., "A Staggered Grid Multidomain Spectral Method for the Compressible Navier Stokes Equations," Journal of Computational Physics, Vol. 143, No. 1, 1998, pp. 125 158) for numerical simulation of three dimensional compressible turbulent flows, is validated. Computations with the CMSM of an isotropic turbulence and a fully developed turbulent channel flow are compared with previously published results. Turbulence initiation of the isotropic turbulence on the Chebyshev grid is discussed. Low resolution simulations ensure transition of an initial laminar channel flow to a turbulent channel flow. The turbulent kinetic energy spectrum has sufficient dropoff (indicating a resolved solution) at a minimum of 3 to 6 points per wave number for a polynomial approximation of 13 to 10, respectively.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]