Bayesian optimisation of RANS simulation with ensemble-based variational method in convergent-divergent channel

Abstract

This paper investigates the applicability of a hybrid data assimilation approach, namely ensemble-based variational method (EnVar), to optimise Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations in convergent-divergent channel from the perspective of Bayesian inference. Concretely, the ensemble-based variational method is applied to infer the inlet velocity and turbulence model corrections by assimilating Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) results or limited experimental data. The approach is first adopted to infer the inlet velocity profile for the WallTurb Bump and Venturi geometry. The improvement can be achieved near the inlet region for the bump, but for Venturi in light of the view field limited in adverse pressure gradient region, the observation space is not sensitive to the perturbation of inlet condition. In a second step, the model corrections in k − ω SST model are investigated by assimilating the limited sparse experimental data. With the inferred model corrections, the predictions on both velocity and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) get improved. The results indicate that the ensemble-based variational method is efficient in inferring unknown quantities of both low dimension (D=20) and high dimension (D=2400) with small ensemble size robustly and non-intrusively. This approach could prove very useful for Bayesian inference or optimisation in CFD problems.