Real-fluid Effects on Wall-bounded Turbulence and Heat Transfer at Supercritical Pressures

Abstract

Turbulent flows and heat transfer at supercritical pressures (SCP) are of both fundamental and practical significance in energy conversion and propulsion systems. However, SCP fluids exhibit complex real-fluid behaviours—such as large density gradients and strong property variations across the pseudo-boiling line—which challenge the validity of classical turbulence statistics and models developed under ideal-gas assumptions. This seminar presents a comprehensive study of wall-bounded turbulence and heat transfer at SCP using direct numerical simulations (DNS), with an emphasis on turbulence modulation due to real-fluid effects, turbulent anisotropy, wall-scaling laws, and subgrid-scale modelling. These findings advance the understanding of wall-bounded turbulence characteristics under SCP conditions. Future efforts are recommended to enable accurate and efficient simulations of SCP fluid flows in engineering applications.

Speaker

Prof. Xingjian Wang is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Energy and Power Engineering at Tsinghua University. He obtained his PhD from the Georgia Institute of Technology under the supervision of Prof. Vigor Yang. Prior to joining Tsinghua, he served as an Assistant Professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. He has published numerous articles in prestigious journals, including Journal of Fluid Mechanics (JFM), American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Journal, Combustion and Flame, and Physics of Fluids, among others, and has received several best paper awards. His research areas include high-fidelity modelling of complex fluid flows and combustion under extreme conditions, data-driven modelling, and combustion instability.

His current research is funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Science Center for Gas Turbine Project, the National Science and Technology Major Project, and various industrial partners. He is also an Associate Editor of the AIAA Journal, a senior member of AIAA, and a member of the AIAA High Speed Air Breathing Propulsion (HSABP) Technical Committee.