A Comparative Study of Contrasting Machine Learning Frameworks Applied to RANS Modeling of Jets in Crossflow

Abstract

Classical RANS turbulence models have known deficiencies when applied to jets in crossflow. Identifying the linear Boussinesq stress-strain hypothesis as a major contribution to erroneous prediction, we consider and contrast two machine learning frameworks for turbulence model development. Gene Expression Programming, an evolutionary algorithm that employs a survival of the fittest analogy, and a Deep Neural Network, based on neurological processing, add non-linear terms to the stress-strain relationship. The results are Explicit Algebraic Stress Model-like closures. High fidelity data from an inline jet in crossflow study is used to regress new closures. These models are then tested on a skewed jet to ascertain their predictive efficacy. For both methodologies, a vast improvement over the linear relationship is observed.