Stress limiter consideration for k-ω turbulence models in shock wave/turbulent Boundary-Layer interactions in supersonic and hypersonic flows

The shear stress transport (SST) turbulence model of Menter was proposed to predict an accurate separated flow in the adverse pressure gradient flows, but it has sometimes failed to predict the flowfield with strong shock wave/turbulent boundary-layer interaction. In an effort to improve the original k-ω model, Wilcox has recently proposed a modified k-ω model formulation (Wilcox08), which adopted two elements of the SST model, namely the cross diffusion term and SST limiter. However, the effects of freestream dependency have not been eliminated by the new model. In order to take full advantages of Wilcox08 model and SST model, in this paper, it is straightforward to apply Wilcox's type of stress limiter to the SST model by adjusting the coefficient in the eddy viscosity computation. The new model with different stress limiter strength are evaluated for three cases involving strong shock wave/turbulent boundary-layer interactions at Mach 2.8 and Mach 5.0. It has been observed in all simulations that the stress limiter strength has significant effect on the features of flowfield and wall surface parameters while a constant value of stress limiter is not sufficient, and could be a function of the flow variables in some way or a specific scalar transport equation of stress limiter is necessary for better prediction of strong SWTBLI flows.