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At least 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1979

Acoustic resonances and sound scattering by a shear layer

The energy reflection coefficient is evaluated numerically for plane waves incident on a plane shear layer having a linear velocity profile. The shear layer is found to exhibit no resonances and no Brewster angles. The behavior of the reflection coefficient depends crucially on the parameter tau, a nondimensional measure of the disturbance Strouhal number with respect to the disturbance Mach number in the mean flow direction. For moderate values of tau, the amplified reflection regime degenerates into the total reflection one, whereas in the ordinary reflection regime the variation of the reflection coefficient with tau depends on whether or not the corresponding vortex sheet has a Brewster angle. The results indicate that caution should be exercised in uncritically modeling a finite thickness shear layer by a corresponding vortex sheet.

Koutsoyannis, S. P.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Large-Amplitude Long-Wave Instability of a Supersonic Shear Layer

For sufficiently high Mach numbers, small disturbances on a supersonic vortex sheet are known to grow in amplitude because of slow nonlinear wave steepening. Under the same external conditions, linear theory predicts slow growth of long-wave disturbances to a thin supersonic shear layer. An asymptotic formulation is given here which adds nonzero shear-layer thickness to the weakly nonlinear formulation for a vortex sheet. Spatial evolution is considered, for a spatially periodic disturbance having amplitude of the same order, in Reynolds number, as the shear-layer thickness. A quasi-equilibrium inviscid nonlinear critical layer is found, with effects of diffusion and slow growth appearing through nonsecularity condition. Other limiting cases are also considered, in an attempt to determine a relationship between the vortex-sheet limit and the long-wave limit for a thin shear layer; there appear to be three special limits, corresponding to disturbances of different amplitudes at different locations along the shear layer.

Messiter, A. F.↗
NASA NTRS1981

An experimental study of combustion: The turbulent structure of a reacting shear layer formed at a rearward-facing step

A premixed propane-air flame is stabilized in a turbulent free shear layer formed at a rearward-facing step. The mean and rms averages of the turbulent velocity flow field were determined by LDV for both reacting and non-reacting flows. The reaching flow was visualized by high speed schlieren photography. Large scale structures dominate the reacting shear layer. The growth of the large scale structures is tied to the propagation of the flame. The linear growth rate of the reacting shear layer defined by the mean velocity profiles is unchanged by combustion but the virtual origin is shifted downstream. The reacting shear layer based on the mean velocity profiles is shifted toward the recirculation zone and the reattachments lengths are shortened by 30%.

Pitz, R. W.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Mixing control in a plane shear layer

An investigation of mixing processes in a plane shear layer by a direct numerical simulation with a high-order numerical technique, the isoparametric spectral element method, is presented. The computational domain includes a region with the splitter plate that allows to start the flow as a laminar (Blasius) boundary layers with different velocities and concentrations, merging in the shear layer and undergoing transition to highly-unsteady structures with intensive mixing. The augmentation of mixing as a function of a downstream location, the intensity and type of vortical structures in the layer is investigated by an introduction of disturbance at the high-velocity inflow. The character of the dynamic mixing is displayed along with time averaged profiles and statistical characteristics.

Korczak, K. Z.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Correlation of turbulent shear layer attachment peak heating near Mach 6

A correlation of new turbulent two-dimensional data and peak heating data for attaching free shear layers is presented for a 2.54-cm and 5.08-cm diam cylindrical leading-edge slab 25.4 cm long, and 7.62 and 10.16 cm wide. A 30.48 x 25.4 cm sharp leading-edge flat plate set at 15 and 20 deg is used to generate plane impinging shocks. The freestream Mach number is 6 and the freestream Reynolds number varies from 3,300,000 to 25,600,000/m. Peak heating is measured on silica-based epoxy models with a phase change coating technique. A comparison of the free shear layer data with the transition data of Birch and Keyes (1972) reveals that the shear layer data are turbulent at attachment. The trend of the data shows that peak heating is strongly affected by the state of development at attachment. As the free shear layers become more fully developed, the data approach the two-dimensional correlation. Persistence of transitional flow structures for supersonic free shear flows is pointed out.

Keyes, J. W.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Modern CFD applications for the design of a reacting shear layer facility

The RPLUS2D code, capable of calculating high speed reacting flows, was adopted to design a compressible shear layer facility. In order to create reacting shear layers at high convective Mach numbers, hot air streams at supersonic speeds, rendered by converging-diverging nozzles, must be provided. A finite rate chemistry model is used to simulate the nozzle flows. Results are compared with one-dimensional solutions at chemical equilibrium. Additionally, a two equation turbulence model with compressibility effects was successfully incorporated with the RPLUS code. The model was applied to simulate a supersonic shear layer. Preliminary results show favorable comparisons with the experimental data.

Yu, S. T.↗
NASA NTRS1989

The stability of a compressible stratified shear layer

The stability of a shear layer under the effect of gravity is investigated using the compressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations, including an effective gravity term to represent the curvature effects of the flow and magnetic field line geometry. A general eigenmode equation is derived for a two-dimensional MHD fluid, and an energy-principle analysis to explain the effect of compressibility on the critical Richardson number is presented. For the case of a hyperbolic tangent shear flow and exponential density profile, it was found that, in the Boussinesq approximation, the compressibility raises the critical Richardson number from 1/4 to as much as 1/2, with the exact value depending on the value of the magnetic field at infinity. Under approximation of a strong asymptotic magnetic field, without invoking the Boussinesq approximation, it is shown both analytically and numerically that the density gradient terms cause the shear instability to be dispersive. The long-wavelength stability boundary for the Richardson number J = 0 is characterized by a normalized phase velocity c =

Wang, Z.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Modern CFD applications for the design of a reacting shear layer facility

The RPLUS2D code, capable of calculating high speed reacting flows, has been adopted to design a compressible shear layer facility. In order to create reacting shear layers at high convective Mach numbers, hot air streams at supersonic speeds, render by converging-diverging nozzles, must be provided. A finite rate chemistry model is used to simulate the nozzle flows. Results are compared with one-dimensional, chemically equilibrium solutions. Additionally, a two equation turbulence model with compressibility effects has been successfully incorporated with the RPLUS code. The model has been applied to simulate a supersonic shear layer. Preliminary results show favorable comparisons with the experimental data.

Yu, S. T.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Wall pressure fluctuations in the reattachment region of a supersonic free shear layer

The primary aim of this research program was to investigate the mechanisms which cause the unsteady wall-pressure fluctuations in shock wave turbulent shear layer interactions. The secondary aim was to find means to reduce the magnitude of the fluctuating pressure loads by controlling the unsteady shock motion. The particular flow under study is the unsteady shock wave interaction formed in the reattachment zone of a separated supersonic flow. Similar flows are encountered in many practical situations, and they are associated with high levels of fluctuating wall pressure. The free shear layer is formed by the flow over a backward facing step, using an existing model, with the base pressure on the step adjusted so that there is no pressure discontinuity at the lip. The shear layer therefore develops in a zero pressure gradient. The primary advantage of this flow configuration is that the reattachment process can be studied in the absence of a separation shock. The mean flow data, and some preliminary hot-wire measurements of the mass-flux fluctuations were made by Baca and Settles, Baca, Williams and Bogdonoff, who showed that the shear layer became self-similar at about 17 delta(sub 0) downstream of the lip, and that it grew at a rate typical of the observed Mach number difference (about 1/3rd the incompressible growth rate). The turbulence measurements were later extended by Hayakawa, Smits and Bogdonoff under NASA Headquarters support.

Smits, Alexander J.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Experimental study of combustion in a turbulent free shear layer formed at a rearward facing step

A premixed propane-air flame is stabilized in a turbulent free shear layer formed at a rearward facing step. The mean and rms averages of the turbulent velocity flow field are determined by LDV for both reacting (equivalence ratio 0.57) and nonreacting flows (Reynolds number 15,000-37,000 based on step height). The effect of combustion is to shift the layer toward the recirculation zone and reduce the flame spread. For reacting flow, the growth rate is unchanged except very near the step. The probability density function of the velocity is bimodial near the origin of the reacting layer and single-peaked but often skewed elsewhere. Large-scale structures dominate the reacting shear layer. Measurements of their passing frequency from LDV are consistent with high-speed Schlieren movies of the reacting layer and indicate that the coalescence rate of the eddies in the shear layer is reduced by combustion.

Pitz, R. W.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Three-dimensional structures and turbulence closure of the wake developing in a wall shear layer

The turbulent wake interacting with the rotating wall shear layer is investigated analytically and numerically. The turbulent wakes of the rotating blades in a compressor which are interacting with the rotating hub-wall boundary layer are analyzed. A modified version of the closure model of the pressure-strain correlation term in the Reynolds stress transport equation is developed to predict the effect of rotation, which is appreciable for the present flow because the thick hub-wall boundary layer is interacting with the rotor wake. It is noted that the Poisson type equation for the pressure-strain correlation has an extra rotation term when the entire flow field is rotating. This extra rotation term is modeled to accommodate the effect of rotation. In addition, the standard correction for the wall effect is incorporated for the utilized Reynolds stress closure model. The rotation-modified Reynolds stress closure model is used to predict the present flow, and the predictions are compared with the experimental data. The experimental data reveal that the characteristics of the three-dimensional turbulent wake interacting with the wall shear layer are considerably altered by the effects of the wall and the rotation. These features are predicted with good accuracy by the turbulence closure model developed.

Hah, C.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Pressure-based real-time measurements in compressible free shear layers

A preliminary experimental study has been conducted to gain insight into the temporal and spatial contents of largescale structures in a convective Mach number = 0.51 high Reynolds number planar two-dimensional compressible free shear layer. Power spectra, coherence, and space-time correlations were obtained using single- and two-point pressure measurements. Both developing and fully developed regions of the flow were investigated. The passage frequency of structures were found to be 10-15 kHz in the developing region and 4-8 kHz in the fully developed region. The convective velocity obtained from the space-time correlation in the middle of the shear layer was close to the theoretical value but varied toward the edge of the shear layer. The structures were shown to be surprisingly three-dimensional even in this low compressibility level shear layer. The structures size and spacing were also determined and discussed.

Samimy, M.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Coherent motion induced fluctuations in the primary transition region of a plane shear layer

The naturally occurring large scale motions in a single stream shear layer (that is initiated from a fully turbulent boundary layer) are made evident by the induced velocities in the entrainment region beyond the active shear layer. The distinctive attributes of these induced motions are particularly evident in the Michigan State Univerity Free Shear Flow Facility since the total test section length (3m) is nominally the same as the location of the first, fully formed, coherent motion, ca/x theta (0) = 400 (or 2.5 m). Hence, detailed studies of the induced motions can be executed. Individual coherent motions are identified by the induced velocity signatures and conditional-ensemble statistics are used to represent the irrotational field properties. Clusters of such motions exist; some of their properties are substantially different from the unconditionally averaged values.

Foss, J. F.↗
NASA NTRS1990

A new mixing length model for supersonic shear layers

A new mixing length model is presented for supersonic shear flows. In this model, the characteristic scale of the mixing region is not constant across the shear layer at each axial position but is determined locally by the lateral distance between the two points where flow moves sonic relative to the local point. Supersonic free shear layers at various Mach numbers were calculated by solving the compressible boundary layer equations with the new model. The results demonstrate the decrease of spreading rate with increasing Mach number and agree well with experimental data.

Kim, S. C.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Transmission of sound in ducts with thin shear layers - Convergence to the uniform flow case.

The problem of the transmission of sound in a duct with very thin shear layers at the walls is treated by an inner expansion method. The results show that the formulation of the problem of the transmission of sound in a duct with a shear layer at the wall converges, in the case of a vanishingly thin shear layer, to the formulation of the same problem when uniform flow is assumed and the wall boundary condition is that of continuity of particle displacement.

Eversman, W.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Numerical simulation of unsteady flow in an axisymmetric shear layer

Numerical simulation of unsteady flow in an axisymmetric subsonic shear layer is accomplished by solving the time-dependent compressible Navier-Stokes equations. The objective of the effort is to investigate by numerical means the influence of various flow parameters on the shear layer behavior. The parameters investigated include the velocity ratio of two streams, total temperature, and nozzle lip thickness. The computations are performed on a CRAY-IS computer using McCormack's explicit finite difference scheme. The computed results generally show qualitative agreement with experimental data.

Scott, J. N.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Propagation of sound waves through a linear shear layer: A closed form solution

Closed form solutions are presented for sound propagation from a line source in or near a shear layer. The analysis was exact for all frequencies and was developed assuming a linear velocity profile in the shear layer. This assumption allowed the solution to be expressed in terms of parabolic cyclinder functions. The solution is presented for a line monopole source first embedded in the uniform flow and then in the shear layer. Solutions are also discussed for certain types of dipole and quadrupole sources. Asymptotic expansions of the exact solutions for small and large values of Strouhal number gave expressions which correspond to solutions previously obtained for these limiting cases.

Scott, J. N.↗