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Investigations involving artificial excitation of various shear flows are reviewed. Potential applications of excitation in flow control, e.g., in enhancing mixing, and in delaying transition and separation are discussed. An account is given of the current activities at NASA Lewis Research Center in this regard.
Investigations involving artificial excitation of various shear flows are reviewed. Potential applications of excitation in flow control, e.g., in enhancing mixing, and in delaying transition and separation are discussed. An account is given of the current activities at NASA Lewis Research Center in this regard.
Flow separation control over a wall-mounted hump model was studied experimentally to assess the performance of fluidic oscillators (sweeping jet actuators). An array of fluidic oscillators was used to control flow separation. The results showed that the fluidic oscillators were able to achieve substantial control over the separated flow by increasing the upstream suction pressure and downstream pressure recovery. Using the data available in the literature, the performance of the fluidic oscillators was compared to other active flow control (AFC) methods such as steady blowing, steady suction, and zero-net-mass-flux (ZNMF) actuators. Several integral parameters, such as the inviscid flow comparison coefficient, pressure drag coefficient, and modified normal force coefficient, were used as quality metrics in the performance comparison of the AFC methods. These quality metrics indicated the superiority of the steady suction method, especially at lower excitation amplitudes that is followed by the fluidic oscillators, steady blowing, and the ZNMF actuators, respectively. An aerodynamic figure of merit (AFM) was also constructed using the integral parameters and AFC power usage. The AFM results revealed that, for this study, steady suction was the most efficient AFC method at lower excitation amplitudes. The steady suction loses its efficiency as the excitation amplitude increases, and the fluidic oscillators become the most efficient AFC method. Both the steady suction and the fluidic oscillators have an AFM > 1 for the range tested in this study, indicating that they provide a net benefit when the AFC power consumption is also considered. On the other hand, both the steady blowing and ZNMF actuators were found to be inefficient AFC methods (AFM < 1) for the current configuration. Although they improved the flow field by controlling flow separation, the power requirement was more than their benefit.
Micro-flow control actuation embedded in a stator vane was used to successfully control separation and improve near stall performance in a multistage compressor rig at NASA Glenn. Using specially designed stator vanes configured with internal actuation to deliver pulsating air through slots along the suction surface, a research study was performed to identify performance benefits using this microflow control approach. Pressure profiles and unsteady pressure measurements along the blade surface and at the shroud provided a dynamic look at the compressor during microflow air injection. These pressure measurements lead to a tracking algorithm to identify the onset of separation. The testing included steady air injection at various slot locations along the vane. The research also examined the benefit of pulsed injection and actively controlled air injection along the stator vane. Two types of actuation schemes were studied, including an embedded actuator for on-blade control. Successful application of an online detection and flow control scheme will be discussed. Testing showed dramatic performance benefit for flow reattachment and subsequent improvement in diffusion through the use of pulsed controlled injection. The paper will discuss the experimental setup, the blade configurations, and preliminary CFD results which guided the slot location along the blade. The paper will also show the pressure profiles and unsteady pressure measurements used to track flow control enhancement, and will conclude with the tracking algorithm for adjusting the control.
The components required for an in-space iodine vapor-fed Hall effect thruster propellant management system are described. A laboratory apparatus was assembled and used to produce iodine vapor and control the flow through the application of heating to the propellant reservoir and through the adjustment of the opening in a proportional flow control valve. Changing of the reservoir temperature altered the flowrate on the timescale of minutes while adjustment of the proportional flow control valve changed the flowrate immediately without an overshoot or undershoot in flowrate with the requisite recovery time associated with thermal control systems. The flowrates tested spanned a range from 0-1.5 mg/s of iodine, which is sufficient to feed a 200-W Hall effect thruster.
The recent research in the control of shear flows using unsteady aerodynamic excitation conducted at the NASA Lewis Research Center is reviewed. The program is of a fundamental nature, concentrating on the physics of the unsteady aerodynamic processes. This field of research is a fairly new development with great promise in the areas of enhanced mixing and flow separation control. Enhanced mixing research includes influence of core turbulence, forced pairing of coherent structures, and saturation of mixing enhancement. Separation flow control studies included are for a two-dimensional diffuser, conical diffusers, and single airfoils. Ultimate applications include aircraft engine inlet flow control at high angle of attack, wide angle diffusers, highly loaded airfoils as in turbomachinery, and ejector/suppressor nozzles for the supersonic transport. An argument involving the Coanda Effect is made that all of the above mentioned application areas really only involve forms of shear layer mixing enhancement. The program also includes the development of practical excitation devices which might be used in aircraft applications.
A flow diode configured to permit fluid flow in a first direction while preventing fluid flow in a second direction opposite the first direction is disclosed. The flow diode prevents fluid flow without use of mechanical closures or moving parts. The flow diode utilizes a bypass flowline whereby all fluid flow in the second direction moves into the bypass flowline having a plurality of tortuous portions providing high fluidic resistance. The portions decrease in diameter such that debris in the fluid is trapped. As fluid only travels in one direction through the portions, the debris remains trapped in the portions.
The recent research progress in the control of shear flows using unsteady aerodynamic excitation conducted at the NASA Lewis Research Center is reviewed. The program is of fundamental nature concentrating on the physics of the unsteady aerodynamic processes. This field of research is a fairly new development with great promise in the areas of enhanced mixing and flow separation control. Enhanced mixing research reported in this paper include influence of core turbulence, forced pairing of coherent structures, and saturation of mixing enhancement. Separation flow control studies included are for a two-dimensional diffuser, conical diffusers, and single airfoils. Ultimate applications of this research include aircraft engine inlet flow control at high angle of attack, wide angle diffusers, highly loaded airfoils as in turbomachinery, and ejector/suppressor nozzles for the supersonic transport. An argument involving the Coanda Effect is made here that all of the above mentioned application areas really only involve forms of shear layer mixing enhancement. The program also includes the development of practical excitation devices which might be used in aircraft applications.
Flow separation in the low-pressure turbine (LPT) is a major barrier that limits further improvements of aerodynamic designs of turbine airfoils. The separation is responsible for performance degradation, and it prevents the design of highly loaded airfoils. The separation can be delayed, reduced, or eliminated completely if flow control techniques are used. Successful flow control technology will enable breakthrough improvements in gas turbine performance and design. The focus of this research project was the development and experimental demonstration of active separation control using glow discharge plasma (GDP) actuators in flow conditions simulating the LPT. The separation delay was shown to be successful, laying the foundation for further development of the technologies to practical application in the LPT. In a fluid mechanics context, the term "flow control" means a technology by which a very small input results in a very large effect on the flow. In this project, the interest is to eliminate or delay flow separation on LPT airfoils by using an active flow control approach, in which disturbances are dynamically inserted into the flow, they interact with the flow, and they delay separation. The disturbances can be inserted using a localized, externally powered, actuating device, examples are acoustic, pneumatic, or mechanical devices that generate vibrations, flow oscillations, or pulses. A variety of flow control devices have been demonstrated in recent years in the context of the external aerodynamics of aircraft wings and airframes, where the incoming flow is quiescent or of a very low turbulence level. However, the flow conditions in the LPT are significantly different because there are high levels of disturbances in the incoming flow that are characterized by high free-stream turbulence intensity. In addition, the Reynolds number, which characterizes the viscous forces in the flow and is related to the flow speed, is very low in the LPT passages.
A hemispherical inlet flow control device was tested on a 50.8 cm. (20-inch) diameter fan stage in the NASA-Lewis anechoic chamber. The control device used honeycomb and wire mesh to reduce turbulence intensities entering the fan. Far field acoustic power level results show about a 5 db reduction in blade passing tone and about 10 dB reduction in multiple pure tone sound power at 90% design fan speed with the inlet device in place. Hot film cross probes were inserted in the inlet to obtain data for two components of the turbulence at 65 and 90% design fan speed. Without the flow control device, the axial intensities were below 1.0%, while the circumferential intensities were almost twice this value. The inflow control device significantly reduced the circumferential turbulence intensities and also reduced the axial length scale.
A hemispherical inlet flow control device was tested on a 50.8 cm. (20-inch) diameter fan stage in the NASA-Lewis Anechoic Chamber. The control device used honeycomb and wire mesh to reduce turbulence intensities entering the fan. Far field acoustic power level results showed about a 5 dB reduction in blade passing tone and about 10 dB reduction in multiple pure tone sound power at 90% design fan speed with the inlet device in place. Hot film cross probes were inserted in the inlet to obtain data for two components of the turbulence at 65 and 90% design fan speed. Without the flow control device the axial intensities were below 1.0%, while the circumferential intensities were almost twice this value. The inflow control device significantly reduced the circumferential turbulence intensities and also reduced the axial length scale.
A unique active flow-control device is proposed for the control of unsteady separated flow associated with the dynamic stall of airfoils. The device is an adaptive-geometry leading-edge which will allow controlled, dynamic modification of the leading-edge profile of an airfoil while the airfoil is executing an angle-of-attack pitch-up maneuver. A carbon-fiber composite skin has been bench tested, and a wind tunnel model is under construction. A baseline parameter study of compressible dynamic stall was performed for flow over an NACA 0012 airfoil. Parameters included Mach number, pitch rate, pitch history, and boundary layer tripping. Dynamic stall data were recorded via point-diffraction interferometry and the interferograms were analyzed with in-house developed image processing software. A new high-speed phase-locked photographic image recording system was developed for real-time documentation of dynamic stall.
This paper reviews aerodynamic drag reduction for friction, wave and vortex drag associated with supersonic cruise aircraft and suggests approaches and research directions which cover the spectrum from possibly significant to revolutionary. Various synergisms are also included, especially in regard to suction laminar flow control and flow separation control at cruise. The former may also enable improved low speed, high lift systems, lift to drag ratio for subsonic cruise, reduced parasitic viscous drag for favorable interference wave drag reduction approaches, and turbulent skin friction reduction via slot injection. Flow separation control at cruise proffers opportunities for increased leading edge thrust, increased lift increment from upper surface, increased fuselage lift/camber for wave drag due to lift reduction, improved performance of various favorable interference wave drag reduction schemes, as well as possibly better low speed, high-schemes and wing cruise performance. More speculative approaches include multi-stage aircraft, thrust vectoring for lift augmentation, as well as trim, and a number of conceptual wave and vortex drag reduction schemes.
Successful flow control may bring numerous benefits, such as flow stabilization, flow reattachment, separation delay, drag reduction, lift increase, aerodynamic performance improvement, energy efficiency increase, shock delay or weakening, noise reduction, etc. For these purposes, many different flow control devices, which can be classified as passive, semi-active and active, have been designed and tested. This review paper aims to highlight the most promising and commonly employed boundary layer control methods as well as outline their potential in specific applications in aerospace and energy engineering. Referenced studies, performed on various geometries (flat plates, channels, airfoils, wings, blades, cylinders), are primarily numerical or experimental. Although enhanced aerodynamic performance is achieved in many cases, further research is required to draw general conclusions. This paper aims to demonstrate that, in the future, we may expect further developments of flow control actuators, as well as their increased application.
The interdisciplinary field of reactive flow control is one that holds a great deal of promise for the optimization of complex phenomena occurring in many practical systems, ranging from automobile and gas turbine engines to environmental thermal destruction systems. The fundamental underpinnings of combustion control, however, require a detailed level of understanding of complex reactive flow phenomena, and, in the case of closed-loop active control, require the ability to sense (monitor) and actuate (manipulate) flow processes in a spatially distributed manner in "near real time". Hence the ultimate growth and success of the field of reactive flow control is intimately linked: 1) to advances in the understanding, simulation, and model reduction for complex reactive flows, 2) to the development of experimental diagnostic techniques, in particular, to the development of physically robust sensors, and 3) to the development of a framework or frameworks for generation of closed loop control algorithms suitable for unsteady, nonlinear reactive flow systems. The present paper seeks to outline the potential benefits and technical challenges that exist for mixing and combustion control in fundamental as well as practical systems and to identify promising research directions that could help meet these challenges.
This paper describes test results of a joint NASA/Boeing research effort to advance Active Flow Control (AFC) technology to enhance aerodynamic efficiency. A full-scale Boeing 757 vertical tail model equipped with sweeping jets AFC was tested at the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex 40- by 80-Foot Wind Tunnel at NASA Ames Research Center. The flow separation control optimization was performed at 100 knots, a maximum rudder deflection of 30deg, and sideslip angles of 0deg and -7.5deg. Greater than 20% increments in side force were achieved at the two sideslip angles with a 31-actuator AFC configuration. Flow physics and flow separation control associated with the AFC are presented in detail. AFC caused significant increases in suction pressure on the actuator side and associated side force enhancement. The momentum coefficient (C sub mu) is shown to be a useful parameter to use for scaling-up sweeping jet AFC from sub-scale tests to full-scale applications. Reducing the number of actuators at a constant total C(sub mu) of approximately 0.5% and tripling the actuator spacing did not significantly affect the flow separation control effectiveness.
CUBESATS are relatively new spacecraft platforms that are typically deployed from a launch vehicle as a secondary payload, providing low-cost access to space for a wide range of end-users. These satellites are comprised of building blocks having dimensions of 10x10x10 cm3 and a mass of 1.33 kg (a 1-U size). While providing low-cost access to space, a major operational limitation is the lack of a propulsion system that can fit within a CubeSat and is capable of executing high Delta V maneuvers. This makes it difficult to use CubeSats on missions requiring certain types of maneuvers (i.e. formation flying, spacecraft rendezvous). Work has been performed investigating the use of iodine as a propellant for Hall-effect thrusters (HETs) that could subsequently be used to provide a high specific impulse path to CubeSat propulsion. One of the systems under development to support such a technology is the propellant feed system, which must be capable of storing solid iodine propellant, applying heat to sublime the stored solid into the vapor phase, and then control the flow of low-pressure gaseous iodine to both the thruster and cathode. In a test conducted in 2016, a first-generation iodine propellant feed system was integrated with a cathode and Hall thruster. While this test had to be terminated, the feed system in this first test was able to support both cathode and integrated cathode and thruster operation prior to the termination of the test. In the present paper, we describe work performed since that initial integrated test. The effort uses lessons learned from the previous integrated test, retiring risk associated with the iodine propellant feed system, answering open design-space questions, and demonstrating iodine flow control in an integrated system. The work is undertaken at both the component level and then at the integrated subsystem level to systematically improve the feed system design, improving the hardware fidelity so the appearance and operation of the system are as flight-like as possible. At the component level, the work focuses on the propellant tank, the feed system tubing, the valves used to control the flow to the cathode and thruster, and the heaters that maintain the temperature of the flowpaths and keep iodine from redepositing and clogging the system. Work on the propellant reservoir focuses on fabricating a tank that matches the geometry of the flight design, which allows for the identification of flight tank fabrication issues that may arise and permits thermal testing of a tank possessing the same size and thermal mass as the flight design, which can be used to anchor thermal modeling of the component. This is critical for finalizing the tank heater power requirements that feed into the heater design. All metallic materials in the feed system are hastelloy or Inconel, as these materials are resistant to chemical attack by the highly-reactive iodine vapor. The tubing in the iodine feed system must possess ports to permit a neutral gas purge of the system that clear impurities after iodine is loaded into the propellant tank. A procedure is discussed whereby these ports are crimped and sealed after the purge process is completed so as to not re-expose the iodine system to air. The valves are a critical component for control of the flow to the thruster and the cathode. Significant effort has gone into upgrading the materials of the valves to make them more resistant to chemical attack and into developing an understanding of the use of these valves during the startup and operation of the cathode and thruster. The heaters that line the entire feed system are designed to draw minimal power from the power processing unit (PPU) while still having the capacity to maintain all the feed system components at the temperatures required to discourage iodine deposition inside components downstream of the propellant tank exit. The heaters possess two separate resistive traces, giving the design redundancy should a failure occur in the primary heater circuit of one of the heater zones. The task of operating a feed system in conjunction with a thruster and cathode is undertaken in a series of sub-steps. The system is first assembled and operated on xenon gas, using the valves for cathode startup and thruster control based on measurement of the discharge current. After startup and control on xenon are demonstrated, the thruster will be transitioned to iodine operation, demonstrating thruster startup and feed system control while using a xenon-fed cathode. Finally, the last step is to integrate an iodine-compatible cathode with the system, demonstrate autonomous cathode start-up with open-loop control and thruster start-up with closed-loop control for multiple cycles.
A novel way of controlling flow separation is reported. The approach involves using an adaptive airfoil geometry that changes its leading edge shape to adjust to the instantaneous flow at high angles of attack such that the flow over it remains attached. In particular, a baseline NACA 0012 airfoil, whose leading edge curvature could be changed dynamically by 400% was tested under quasi-steady compressible flow conditions. A mechanical drive system was used to produce a rounded leading edge to reduce the strong local flow acceleration around its nose and thus reduce the strong adverse pressure gradient that follows such a rapid acceleration. Tests in steady flow showed that at M = 0.3, the flow separated at about 14 deg. angle of attack for the NACA 0012 profile but could be kept attached up to an angle of about 18 deg by changing the nose curvature. No significant hysteresis effects were observed; the flow could be made to reattach from its separated state at high angles by changing the leading edge curvature. Interestingly, the flow over a nearly semicircular nosed airfoil was separated even at low angles.