Unresolved SGS

In real life, the parcels or blobs are also subjected to the turbulent fluctuations not resolved in the simulation. Depending on the type of simulation (DNS, LES, or RANS), the wide range of eddies of the turbulent-fluid-flow field is not necessarily calculated completely. Parcels released in a LES flow field feel both the resolved part of the fluid motion and the unresolved SGS part that, at best, is known in statistical terms only. It is desirable that the forces exerted by the fluid flow on the particles are dominated by the known, resolved part of the flow field. This issue is discussed in greater detail in the next section in the context of tracking real particles. With a RANS simulation, the turbulent velocity fluctuations remaining unresolved completely, the effect of the turbulence on the tracks is to be mimicked by some stochastic model. As a result, particle tracking in a RANS context produces less realistic results than in an LES-based flow field. 

The divergence of (4.21) yields a Poisson equation for p. However, the residual stress tensor r6 is unknown because it involves unresolved SGS terms (i.e., UfiJfi). Closure of the residual stress tensor is thus a major challenge in LES modeling of turbulent flows. 

---