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At least 397 records · Page 22

Navier-Stokes, flight, and wind tunnel flow analysis for the F/A-18 aircraft

Computational analysis of flow over the F/A-18 aircraft is presented along with complementary data from both flight and wind tunnel experiments. The computational results are based on the three-dimensional thin-layer Navier-Stokes formulation and are obtained from an accurate surface representation of the fuselage, leading-edge extension (LEX), and the wing geometry. However, the constraints imposed by either the flow solver and/or the complexity associated with the flow-field grid generation required certain geometrical approximations to be implemented in the present numerical model. In particular, such constraints inspired the removal of the empennage and the blocking (fairing) of the inlet face. The results are computed for three different free-stream flow conditions and compared with flight test data of surface pressure coefficients, surface tuft flow, and off-surface vortical flow characteristics that included breakdown phenomena. Excellent surface pressure coefficient correlations, both in terms of magnitude and overall trend, are obtained on the forebody throughout the range of flow conditions. Reasonable pressure agreement was obtained over the LEX; the general correlation tends to improve at higher angles of attack. The surface tuft flow and the off-surface vortex flow structures compared qualitatively well with the flight test results. To evaluate the computational results, a wind tunnel investigation was conducted to determine the effects of existing configurational differences between the flight vehicle and the numerical model on aerodynamic characteristics. In most cases, the geometrical approximations made to the numerical model had very little effect on overall aerodynamic characteristics.

Ghaffari, Farhad↗

Computation of supersonic and low subsonic cascade flows using an explicit Navier-Stokes technique and the kappa-epsilon turbulence model

A fully explicit two-dimensional flow solver, based on a four-stage Runge-Kutta scheme, was developed and utilized to predict two-dimensional viscous flow through turbomachinery cascades for which experimental data is available. The formulation is applied to the density averaged Navier-Stokes equations. Several features of the technique improve the ability of the code to predict high Reynolds number flows on highly stretched grids. These include a low Reynolds number compressible form of the k-epsilon turbulence model, anisotropic scaling of artificial dissipation terms and locally varying timestep evaluation based on hyperbolic and parabolic stability considerations. Comparisons between computation and experiment are presented for both a supersonic and a low-subsonic compressor cascade. These results indicate that the code is capable of predicting steady two-dimensional viscous cascade flows over a wide range of Mach numbers in reasonable computational times.

Kunz, R. F.↗

Navier-Stokes solution of transonic cascade flows using nonperiodic C-type grids

A new kind of C-type grid is proposed, this grid is non-periodic on the wake and allows minimum skewness for cascades with high turning and large camber. Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations are solved on this type of grid using a finite volume discretization and a full multigrid method which uses Runge-Kutta stepping as the driving scheme. The Baldwin-Lomax eddy-viscosity model is used for turbulence closure. A detailed numerical study is proposed for a highly loaded transonic blade. A grid independence analysis is presented in terms of pressure distribution, exit flow angles, and loss coefficient. Comparison with experiments clearly demonstrates the capability of the proposed procedure.

Arnone, Andrea↗

Navier-Stokes simulation of real gas flows in nozzles

Air flow in a hypersonic nozzle causes real gas effects due to reaction among the species constituting air. Such reactions may be in chemical equilibrium or in chemical nonequilibrium. Here using the CSCM upwind scheme for the compressible Navier-Stokes equations, the real gas flowfield in an arcjet nozzle is computed for both the equilibrium case and the nonequilibrium case. A hypersonic nozzle flow arising from a pebble bed heated plenum is also computed for the equilibrium situation. Between the equilibrium cases, the chemistry is treated by two different schemes and comments are made as to computational complexity. For the nonequilibrium case, a full set of seventeen reactions and full implicit coupling of five species with gasdynamics is employed to compute the flowfield. For all cases considered here the gas is assumed to be a calorically imperfect mixture of ideal gases in thermal equilibrium.

Nagaraj, N.↗

A multi-block multigrid method for the solution of the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations for three-dimensional flows

A multi-block multigrid method for the solution of the three-dimensional Euler and Navier-Stokes equations is presented. The basic flow solver is a cell-vertex method which employs central-difference spatial approximations and Runge-Kutta time stepping. The use of local time stepping, implicit residual smoothing, multigrid techniques, and variable-coefficient numerical smoothing results in an efficient and robust scheme. The multi-block strategy places the block loop within the Runge-Kutta loop such that accuracy and convergence are not affected by block boundaries. This has been verified by comparing the results of one- and two-block calculations in which the two-block grid is generated by splitting the one-block grid. Results are presented for both Euler and Navier-Stokes computations of wings and wing-fuselage combinations.

Atkins, H. L.↗

Analysis of Leakage Flows in Turbomachinery

Navier-Stokes calculations predict leakage flow in high-pressure fuel pump. Accurate calculation of internal turbomachinery flow dynamics helps spot possible failure modes and establishes coupling between cyclic loading and structural dynamics. Approach also useful in analyzing two-and quasi-three-dimensional leakage flows in other turbomachinery components.

Sindir, M. M.↗

Reduced Navier Stokes Relaxation Procedures for Internal Flows

In spite of significant advancement in the field of high speed computing, flow calculations involving complex geometries and/or flow behavior still require large amounts of CPU time and memory. In order to predict such flows without sacrificing grid convergence and accuracy, adaptive gridding techniques that provide optimal resolution are highly desirable. The present work combines multigrid techniques and domain decomposition concepts to provide local, solution adaptive, grid refinement. Several viscous compressible and incompressible, two and three-dimensional, flows with strong inviscid interaction and/or axial flow reversal, are considered with a segmented multigrid domain decomposition (SMGDD) procedure for which uniform meshes result in each domain. A pressure-based form of flux-vector splitting is applied to the Navier-Stokes equations, which are represented by an implicit lowest-order reduced Navier-Stokes (RNS) system and a purely diffusive, higher-order, deferred-corrector. A trapezoidal or box-like form of discretization insures that all mass conservation properties are satisfied at interfacial and outflow boundaries, even for this primitive-variable non-staggered grid computation. The SMGDD technique presented herein has previously been applied for incompressible two dimensional flows. The present work offers improvement in the gridding strategy, by allowing for disjoint subdomains that provide optimal resolution of disparate flow features. It also extends the SMGDD technique to three dimensional compressible flows. Laminar and turbulent flow in a backward facing step channel is considered; although the procedure is applicable to more severe geometries. The standard K-epsilon model is applied for turbulence closure. For Re greater than 400, differences between two-dimensional theory and experiment are resolved through a three dimensional simulation, which confirms the experimentally observed three dimensionality of the recirculation patterns on the upper and lower surfaces.

Rubin, Stanley G.↗

Calculations of two and three-dimensional transonic cascade flow fields using the Navier-Stokes equations

The multidimensional, ensemble-averaged, compressible, time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations have been used to study the turbulent flow field in two and three-dimensional turbine cascades. The viscous regions of the flow were resolved and non-slip boundary conditions were utilized on solid surfaces. The calculations were performed in a constructive 'O'-type grid which allows representation of the blade rounded trailing edge. Converged solutions were obtained in relatively few time steps (about 80-150) and comparisons for both surface pressure and heat transfer showed good agreement with data. The three-dimensional turbine cascade calculation showed many of the expected flow-field features.

Weinberg, B. C.↗

Navier-Stokes calculations using Cartesian grids. I - Laminar flows

A finite-volume formulation for the Navier-Stokes equations using Cartesian grids is used to study flows past airfoils. In addition to the solution of the complete equations, solutions for two simplified versions of the governing equations were obtained and compared with those using body-fitted grids. Results are presented for two airfoil sections, NACA 0012 and RAE 2822, for a range of Mach numbers, angles of attack, and Reynolds numbers. It is shown that the results are highly dependent on the smoothness of the surface grid. Without such smoothness, the skin friction and pressure converge to nonuniform distributions. On the other hand, when surface cells with smoothly varying areas are used, the results compared favorably with calculations employing body-fitted grids.

Frymier, Paul D., Jr.↗

Optimal Design of Passive Flow Control for a Boundary-Layer-Ingesting Offset Inlet Using Design-of-Experiments

This research will investigate the use of Design-of-Experiments (DOE) in the development of an optimal passive flow control vane design for a boundary-layer-ingesting (BLI) offset inlet in transonic flow. This inlet flow control is designed to minimize the engine fan face distortion levels and first five Fourier harmonic half amplitudes while maximizing the inlet pressure recovery. Numerical simulations of the BLI inlet are computed using the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) flow solver, OVERFLOW, developed at NASA. These simulations are used to generate the numerical experiments for the DOE response surface model. In this investigation, two DOE optimizations were performed using a D-Optimal Response Surface model. The first DOE optimization was performed using four design factors which were vane height and angles-of-attack for two groups of vanes. One group of vanes was placed at the bottom of the inlet and a second group symmetrically on the sides. The DOE design was performed for a BLI inlet with a free-stream Mach number of 0.85 and a Reynolds number of 2 million, based on the length of the fan face diameter, matching an experimental wind tunnel BLI inlet test. The first DOE optimization required a fifth order model having 173 numerical simulation experiments and was able to reduce the DC60 baseline distortion from 64% down to 4.4%, while holding the pressure recovery constant. A second DOE optimization was performed holding the vanes heights at a constant value from the first DOE optimization with the two vane angles-of-attack as design factors. This DOE only required a second order model fit with 15 numerical simulation experiments and reduced DC60 to 3.5% with small decreases in the fourth and fifth harmonic amplitudes. The second optimal vane design was tested at the NASA Langley 0.3-Meter Transonic Cryogenic Tunnel in a BLI inlet experiment. The experimental results showed a 80% reduction of DPCPavg, the circumferential distortion level at the engine fan face.

Allan, Brian G.↗

Optimal Design of Passive Flow Control for a Boundary-Layer-Ingesting Offset Inlet Using Design-of-Experiments

This research will investigate the use of Design-of-Experiments (DOE) in the development of an optimal passive flow control vane design for a boundary-layer-ingesting (BLI) offset inlet in transonic flow. This inlet flow control is designed to minimize the engine fan-face distortion levels and first five Fourier harmonic half amplitudes while maximizing the inlet pressure recovery. Numerical simulations of the BLI inlet are computed using the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) flow solver, OVERFLOW, developed at NASA. These simulations are used to generate the numerical experiments for the DOE response surface model. In this investigation, two DOE optimizations were performed using a D-Optimal Response Surface model. The first DOE optimization was performed using four design factors which were vane height and angles-of-attack for two groups of vanes. One group of vanes was placed at the bottom of the inlet and a second group symmetrically on the sides. The DOE design was performed for a BLI inlet with a free-stream Mach number of 0.85 and a Reynolds number of 2 million, based on the length of the fan-face diameter, matching an experimental wind tunnel BLI inlet test. The first DOE optimization required a fifth order model having 173 numerical simulation experiments and was able to reduce the DC60 baseline distortion from 64% down to 4.4%, while holding the pressure recovery constant. A second DOE optimization was performed holding the vanes heights at a constant value from the first DOE optimization with the two vane angles-of-attack as design factors. This DOE only required a second order model fit with 15 numerical simulation experiments and reduced DC60 to 3.5% with small decreases in the fourth and fifth harmonic amplitudes. The second optimal vane design was tested at the NASA Langley 0.3- Meter Transonic Cryogenic Tunnel in a BLI inlet experiment. The experimental results showed a 80% reduction of DPCP(sub avg), the circumferential distortion level at the engine fan-face.

Allan, Brian G.↗

A comparative study of Navier-Stokes codes for high-speed flows

A comparative study was made with four different codes for solving the compressible Navier-Stokes equations using three different test problems. The first of these cases was hypersonic flow through the P8 inlet, which represents inlet configurations typical of a hypersonic airbreathing vehicle. The free-stream Mach number in this case was 7.4. This 2-D inlet was designed to provide an internal compression ratio of 8. Initial calculations were made using two state-of-the-art finite-volume upwind codes, CFL3D and USA-PG2, as well as NASCRIN, a code which uses the unsplit finite-difference technique of MacCormack. All of these codes used the same algebraic eddy-viscosity turbulence model. In the experiment, the cowl lip was slightly blunted; however, for the computations, a sharp cowl leading edge was used to simplify the construction of the grid. The second test problem was the supersonic (Mach 3.0) flow in a three-dimensional corner formed by the intersection of two wedges with equal wedge angles of 9.48 degrees. The flow in such a corner is representative of the flow in the corners of a scramjet inlet. Calculations were made for both laminar and turbulent flow and compared with experimental data. The three-dimensional versions of the three codes used for the inlet study (CFL3D, USA-PG3, and SCRAMIN, respectively) were used for this case. For the laminar corner flow, a fourth code, LAURA, which also uses recently-developed upwind technology, was also utilized. The final test case is the two-dimensional hypersonic flow over a compression ramp. The flow is laminar with a free-stream Mach number of 14.1. In the experiment, the ramp angle was varied to change the strength of the ramp shock and the extent of the viscous-inviscid interaction. Calculations were made for the 24-degree ramp configuration which produces a large separated-flow region that extends upstream of the corner.

Rudy, David H.↗

On a class of unsteady three-dimensional Navier Stokes solutions relevant to rotating disc flows: Threshold amplitudes and finite time singularities

A class of exact steady and unsteady solutions of the Navier Stokes equations in cylindrical polar coordinates is given. The flows correspond to the motion induced by an infinite disc rotating with constant angular velocity about the z-axis in a fluid occupying a semi-infinite region which, at large distances from the disc, has velocity field proportional to (x,-y,O) with respect to a Cartesian coordinate system. It is shown that when the rate of rotation is large, Karman's exact solution for a disc rotating in an otherwise motionless fluid is recovered. In the limit of zero rotation rate a particular form of Howarth's exact solution for three-dimensional stagnation point flow is obtained. The unsteady form of the partial differential system describing this class of flow may be generalized to time-periodic equilibrium flows. In addition the unsteady equations are shown to describe a strongly nonlinear instability of Karman's rotating disc flow. It is shown that sufficiently large perturbations lead to a finite time breakdown of that flow whilst smaller disturbances decay to zero. If the stagnation point flow at infinity is sufficiently strong, the steady basic states become linearly unstable. In fact there is then a continuous spectrum of unstable eigenvalues of the stability equations but, if the initial value problem is considered, it is found that, at large values of time, the continuous spectrum leads to a velocity field growing exponentially in time with an amplitude decaying algebraically in time.

Hall, Philip↗

Time-accurate Navier-Stokes computations of classical two-dimensional edge tone flow fields

Time-accurate Navier-Stokes computations were performed to study a Class II (acoustic) whistle, the edge tone, and gain knowledge of the vortex-acoustic coupling mechanisms driving production of these tones. Results were obtained by solving the full Navier-Stokes equations for laminar compressible air flow of a two-dimensional jet issuing from a slit interacting with a wedge. Cases considered were determined by varying the distance from the slit to the edge. Flow speed was kept constant at 1750 cm/sec as was the slit thickness of 0.1 cm, corresponding to conditions in the experiments of Brown. Excellent agreement was obtained in all four edge tone stage cases between the present computational results and the experimentally obtained results of Brown. Specific edge tone generated phenomena and further confirmation of certain theories concerning these phenomena were brought to light in this analytical simulation of edge tones.

Liu, B. L.↗

Control-volume based Navier-Stokes equation solver valid at all flow velocities

A control-volume based finite difference method to solve the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations is presented. A pressure correction equation valid at all flow velocities and a pressure staggered grid layout are used in the method. Example problems presented herein include: a developing laminar channel flow, developing laminar pipe flow, a lid-driven square cavity flow, a laminar flow through a 90-degree bent channel, a laminar polar cavity flow, and a turbulent supersonic flow over a compression ramp. A k-epsilon turbulence model supplemented with a near-wall turbulence model was used to solve the turbulent flow. It is shown that the method yields accurate computational results even when highly skewed, unequally spaced, curved grids are used. It is also shown that the method is strongly convergent for high Reynolds number flows.

Kim, S.-W.↗

An implicit flux-difference splitting scheme for three-dimensional, incompressible Navier-Stokes solutions to leading edge vortex flows

A new, implicit finite-difference scheme designed to solve the conservative, flux-difference split Navier-Stokes equations is used to compute incompressible vortex flows around delta wings. The completely vectorizable hybrid algorithm is constructed in delta form for steady state solutions independent of the time-step sizes. The scheme combines approximate factorization in crossflow planes with a symmetric planar Gauss-Seidel relaxation in the remaining spatial direction. The governing equations are solved in curvilinear, body-fitted coordinates for treating complex geometries. The computed flow field results are compared with other theoretical and experimental data.

Hartwich, P.-M.↗

An Overview of Unsteady Three-Dimensional Navier-Stokes Simulations of Multistage Turbomachinery Flows

Fluid dynamics of turbomachines are complicated by inherently three dimensional structures such as endwall boundary layers, hub corner separation bubbles and tip-leakage flows. In addition, the relative motion between rotors and stators causes unsteady aerodynamic interactions to occur between blade rows. It is necessary to understand the aerodynamics associated with these interactions in order to design turbomachines that are both light and compact as well as reliable and efficient. An unsteady, three-dimensional, thin-layer, Navier-Stokes zonal algorithm is used to investigate the unsteady aerodynamics of multi-stage turbines and compressors. Relative motion between rotors and stators is made possible by the use of systems of patched and overlaid grids. Time-averaged pressures and pressure envelopes have been computed for several two- and three-dimensional single- and multi-stage configurations. Flow visualizations and computed results are in good agreement with experimental data.

Gundy-Burlet, Karen L.↗