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At least 343 records · Page 19

An analysis of curvature effects for the control of wall-bounded shear flows

The Reynolds stress transport equations are used to predict the effects of simultaneous and sequential combinations of distortions on turbulent boundary layers. The equations are written in general orthogonal curvilinear coordinates, with the curvature terms expressed in terms of the principal radii of curvature of the respective coordinate surfaces. Results are obtained for the cases of two-dimensional and three-dimensional flows in the limit where production and pressure-strain redistribution dominate over diffusion effects.

Gatski, T. B.↗

Turbulence management in free shear flows by control of coherent structures

The possibility of controlling turbulence by manipulating coherent structures is discussed. The processes of the generation, evolution, and interaction of coherent structures are described together with measurements necessary to analyze such coherent-structure properties as coherent vorticity, incoherent turbulence intensities, coherent and incoherent Reynolds stresses, and coherent turbulence production. Experimental findings are presented, in which the modified coherent structures were shown to result in favorable effects on the turbulence field.

Husain, Hyder S.↗

Numerical experiments on transition control in wall-bounded shear flows

Results are presented from a numerical simulation of transition control in plane channel and boundary layer flows. The analysis is based on a pseudo-spectral/finite difference semi-implicit solution procedure employed to numerically integrate the time-dependent, three-dimensional, incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in a doubly periodic domain. In the channel flow, it was found that the active periodic suction/blowing method was effective in controlling strongly three-dimensional disturbances. In the boundary layer, the preliminary analysis indicated that in the early stages, passive control by suction is as effective as active control to suppress instabilities. The current work is focused on a detailed comparison of active and passive control by suction/blowing in the boundary layer.

Biringen, S.↗

Simulation of electrostatic turbulence due to sheared flows parallel and transverse to the magnetic field

A spatially two-dimensional electrostatic particle simulation code is used to examine the stability of a plasma equilibrium characterized by a localized transverse dc electric field and a magnetic-field-aligned electron drift for L much less than Lx, where Lx is the simulation length in the x direction and L is the scale length associated with the dc electric field. It is found that the dc electric field and the field-aligned current can together play a synergistic role to enable the excitation of electrostatic waves even when the threshold values of the field-aligned drift and the E x B drift are individually subcritical. The simulation results indicate that a broadband turbulence is associated with such an equilibrium.

Nishikawa, K.-I.↗

Analysis of turbulence in shear flows using the stabilization principle

An analysis is made based upon the concept that the velocity fluctuations, and therefore, the Reynolds stresses, driven by the instability of the original flow grow until a new stable state is approached. The Reynolds stresses incorporated into the Orr-Sommerfeld equation are coupled with the main flow such that all the imaginary parts of the complex eigenvalues vanish, i.e., the original instability is eliminated. Using this stabilization principle, it is possible to find the Reynolds stresses as well as the mean velocity for plane Poiseuille flow with the Reynolds number slightly higher than the critical.

Zak, M.↗

Nonaxisymmetric instabilities in rotating shear flows - Internal gravity modes in stratified media and analogies with plane flows

The role of the internal gravity modes in mediating the growth of nonaxisymmetric instabilities is investigated by studying the instability of stratified incompressible differentially rotating fluid cylinders to global nonaxisymmetric modes. The results indicate that, in addition to a modified version of the well-known principal branch mediated by surface modes of the system (analogous to f-modes of stars), there exist unstable branches of the dispersion relation mediated by internal gravity modes of the system (similar to the g-modes of stars). These branches arise due to the interaction between the g-modes. It is shown that the maximum growth rate on one of the new branches can sometimes equal or exceed that on the principal branch, thus modifying the principal branch.

Ghosh, P.↗

Turbulence modeling in aerodynamic shear flows - Status and problems

This paper briefly summarizes the status and problems of turbulence modeling for aerodynamical applications. For complex flows the 'approach of choice' is (increasingly) full second-order (Reynolds stress equation) closure. These closures have not yet developed to anywhere near their full potential, significant further research is required especially regarding length-scale equations, representation of pressure-strain correlations, and wall region treatments. Recent developments in computer capability, algorithms, numerical simulations, theory and quantitative flow visualization should assist in and hasten this research. Several problem areas such as shock interaction and discrete dynamic instabilities of turbulent flows may require mega-to-large eddy simulation or theoretical adjuncts.

Bushnell, D. M.↗

Numerical simulation of transition in wall-bounded shear flows

The current status of numerical simulation techniques for the transition to turbulence in incompressible channel and boundary-layer flows is surveyed, and typical results are presented graphically. The focus is on direct numerical simulations based on the full nonlinear time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations without empirical closure assumptions for prescribed initial and boundary conditions. Topics addressed include the vibrating ribbon problem, space and time discretization, initial and boundary conditions, alternative methods based on the triple-deck approximation, two-dimensional channel and boundary-layer flows, three-dimensional boundary layers, wave packets and turbulent spots, compressible flows, transition control, and transition modeling.

Kleiser, Leonhard↗

Turbulence enhancement in free shear flows under multifrequency excitation

The interactions of multifrequency wave-packet with the background turbulence in a round jet are studied. The process explains the mechanisms governing the later stages of the laminar-turbulent transitions as well as the effect of multifrequency excitation on turbulent jets. In a multifrequency-excited jet, mixing enhancement was found to be a result of the turbulence enhancement rather than simply the amplification of forced wave components. The excitation waves pump energy from the mean flow to the turbulence, thus enhancing the latter. The high-frequency wave enhance the turbulence close to the jet exit, but the low-frequency waves are most effective further downstream.

Mankbadi, R. R.↗

A hybrid numerical method for three-dimensional spatially-developing free-shear flows

The present novel algorithm for 3D incompressible Navier-Stokes equations treats a domain which is (1) infinite in the vertical direction, using a mapped spectral method; (2) finite in the streamwise direction, using a classical Fourier method; and (3) homogeneous in the spanwise direction, using high-order compact finite differencing. A projection method is employed which ensures the exact conservation of mass, as well as the satisfaction of the boundary conditions at infinity. The novel aspects of these methods are noted, and the code they constitute is validated in light of several test cases. Results are presented for two- and three-dimensional mixing layers.

Buell, Jeffrey C.↗

Modeling of compressible turbulent shear flows

Despite all the recent developments in computer technologies and numerical algorithms, full numerical simulations of turbulent flows are feasible only at moderate Reynolds numbers and for flows with relatively simple geometries. The main goal of this research is to develop new second order moment closures for compressible turbulence. It has been shown that the models based on the extension of those developed originally for incompressible flows fail to adequately predict turbulent flows at high Mach numbers. In this attempt, the compressibility effects are explicitly considered. A successful development of these models that directly takes into account the compressibility effects may have a range of technological implications in the design of supersonic and hypersonic vehicles.

Liou, William W.↗

Some effects of oscillation waveform and amplitude on unsteady turbulent shear flows

Some physical features of several unsteady separating turbulent boundary layers are presented for practical Reynolds numbers and reduced frequencies such as for helicopter and turbomachinery flows. The effects of unsteadiness amplitude and waveform are examined for flows along the floor of a converging and diverging wind tunnel test section. At the end of the converging portion, the mean skin friction coefficient normalized on the mean dynamic pressure is independent of the waveform and amplitude within low experimental uncertainties. In the detaching and detached portions of the flow, wall values of the fraction of time that the flow moves downstream of gamma sub pu, which is a separated flow state variable, shows that oscillation waveform and amplitude strongly influence the detached flow behavior. Distributions of gamma sub pu during a cycle indicate hysteresis within the detached flow and the effects of the higher harmonics of pressure gradient and velocity.

Agarwal, Naval K.↗

Compressibility effects on large structures in free shear flows

Space-time correlations were used to study compressibility effects on large structures in mixing layers. Two high-Reynolds number mixing layers with M(c) = 0.51 (case 1) and 0.86 (case 2) were studied. The results indicate that the structures in case 1 are similar to those in the incompressible case, but less organized. The structures in case 2 are highly three-dimensional, with a good spatial but a poor temporal orgnization. The streamwise correlations showed a decay rate four to five times greater for case 2 relative to case 1. While the spanwise correlations for case 1 showed trends similar to incompressible mixing layers, the behavior of case 2 was very different. The pressure fluctuations in the fully developed region of case 2 displayed significant rms variation in the spanwise direction with a well-defined pattern. Based on these measurements, the structures in case 2 seem to be of a horseshoe type, transversely spanning the mixing layer with the head in the low-speed side and the legs inclined in both the x-y and the x-z planes.

Samimy, M.↗

A continuous mixing model for pdf simulations and its applications to combusting shear flows

The problem of time discontinuity (or jump condition) in the coalescence/dispersion (C/D) mixing model is addressed in this work. A C/D mixing model continuous in time is introduced. With the continuous mixing model, the process of chemical reaction can be fully coupled with mixing. In the case of homogeneous turbulence decay, the new model predicts a pdf very close to a Gaussian distribution, with finite higher moments also close to that of a Gaussian distribution. Results from the continuous mixing model are compared with both experimental data and numerical results from conventional C/D models.

Hsu, A. T.↗

Turbulence measurements of high shear flow fields in a turbomachine seal configuration

The mean velocity and Reynolds stress tensor throughout a whirling annular seal are presented. The data was collected with a three dimensional laser Doppler velocimeter using phase averaging. Two axial flow conditions (Re = 12,000 and 24,000) were studied at one shaft speed (Ta = 6,600). The eccentricity and whirl ratios were 50 and 100 percent, respectively. There is a region of high axial momentum in this region is higher in the low Reynolds number case due to an axial recirculation zone that occurs on the suction side of the rotor at the inlet. The recirculation zone does not occur in the high Reynolds number case. At both Reynolds numbers, there is a recirculation zone on the rotor surface in the pressure side of the inlet. This recirculation zone extends from 20 to 200 degrees rotor zenith in the tangential direction, and is one third of a clearance wide radially. The high Reynolds number recirculation zone is 1.5 mean clearances long, while the low Reynolds number zone extends 2 mean clearances downstream. When compared to previous studies, it is apparent that the tangential momentum is no greater for a seal with whirl than for one without if other parameters are constant. Areas of high tangential momentum occur in the clearance where the axial momentum is low. Average exit plane tangential velocities in the high Reynolds number case are 1.5 times greater than those in the other flow case. These results are in general agreement with predictions made by other investigators.

Morrison, Gerald L.↗