Modeling dilute sediment suspension using large-eddy simulation with a dynamic mixed model

Transport of suspended sediment in high Reynolds number channel flows Re=O 600 000 is simulated using large-eddy simulation along with a dynamic-mixed model DMM . Because the modeled sediment concentration is low and the bulk Stokes’ number Stb is small during the simulation, the sediment concentration is calculated through the use of the Eulerian approach. In order to employ the DMM for the suspended sediment, we formulate a generalized bottom boundary condition in a finite-volume formulation that accounts for sediment flux from the bed without requiring specific details of the underlying turbulence model. This enables the use of the pickup function without requiring any assumptions about the behavior of the eddy viscosity. Using our new boundary condition, simulations indicate that the resolved component of the vertical flux is one order of magnitude greater than the resolved subfilter-scale flux, which is in turn one order of magnitude greater than the eddy-diffusive flux. Analysis of the behavior of the suspended sediment above the bed indicates the existence of three basic time scales that arise due to varying degrees of competition between the upward turbulent flux and downward settling flux. Instantaneous sediment concentration and velocity fields indicate that streamwise vortices account for a bulk of the resolved flux of sediment from the bed. © 2008 American Institute of Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.3005863