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NASA NTRS2021

Transition Analysis for Isolated Trips on BOLT-II Wind-Tunnel and Flight Configuration

The BOLT-II configuration designed for an upcoming flight experiment exemplifies the complexities of hypersonic boundary layer transition in the presence of multiple and potentially interacting instability mechanisms. The present paper is related to the NASA-led roughness experiment on the secondary side of the BOLT-II configuration. First, computations are performed to aid mean-flow based correlations for the transition measurements acquired during an experimental campaign in the Ludwieg Tube facility at the United States Air Force Academy. To that end, both laminar and turbulent flow computations are performed for selected conditions of the experiment with a 1:3 scale model of the slightly shorter BOLT configuration. The variation in well-known correlation parameters for transition due to isolated roughness elements with respect to element position, height, and flow Reynolds number is delineated. Furthermore, the wake instability theory is used to examine the amplification of unstable disturbances behind the centerline trip at the design conditions of the BOLT-II flight experiment and for its dynamically scaled version on the 1:3 scale model of the wind tunnel experiment. To our knowledge, this study represents the first analysis of the wake instabilities in the presence of a prominent entropy layer outside the boundary layer. At the nominal flight design condition of Re ∞ ) = 5.44 and Re ∞ = 2.5 x 10 6 /m, a diamond planform (“pizza-box”) trip with k/δ = 0.70 and planform-halfwidth-to-height ratio of b/k = 3.0 at X/L = 0.254 induces a strong distortion of the boundary-layer flow in the vicinity of the symmetry plane, such that the wake structure includes a centerline streak produced by the flow retardation behind the trip along with multiple additional, prominent vorticity structures representing the necklace vortex system. Stability results reveal that each of these streaks can support a strong amplification of wake instabilities within a frequency band of 95 kHz–255 kHz, with a peak N-factor of greater than 15 beyond X/L ≈ 0.42. The dynamically scaled wind tunnel configuration with Re ∞ = 20.25 x 10 6 /m is also found to support N > 15 at similar axial stations.

BOLT↗
NASA NTRS2021

Wake Instability Behind Isolated Trip Near the Leading Edge of the BOLT-II Configuration

The BOLT-II (Holden Mission) configuration is an extended version of the BOLT flight article and depicts hypersonic boundary-layer transition in the presence of multiple and potentially interacting instability mechanisms. Several numerical studies of the boundary-layer instabilities over these configurations have been reported in the recent literature, including our previous studies of the modal instability characteristics of boundary-layer streaks adjacent to the minor-axis symmetry plane of the BOLT configuration and the wake instabilities behind a diamond planform (“pizza-box”) trip along the symmetry plane on the secondary side of the BOLT-II configuration. The present work extends the latter study to a scaled version of the same trip that is located in the region of nonzero crossflow in the vicinity of the leading edge at X/L = 0.5. Collectively, the trips along the symmetry plane and near the leading edge are the focus of the NASA roughness experiment on the secondary side of the BOLT-II configuration. The laminar basic state computation at the nominal flight design condition of Re ∞ = 5.44 x 10 6 /m and Re ∞ = 2.5 x 10 6 /m shows that the leading-edge trip with k/δ ≈ 0.70 and planform-side-length-to-height ratio of b/k = 3.0 induces multiple asymmetric, longitudinal streaks within the trip wake. The most prominent streak among these resembles a finite amplitude crossflow vortex, and it supports the amplification of multiple families of unstable modes. The application of multi-dimensional instability analysis to the wake flow reveals that the most amplified unstable mode can achieve a peak N-factor of up to 20 by X/L = 0.80, indicating that the onset of transition is more than likely to occur within eighty percent of the model length. To the best of our knowledge, the present study represents the first analysis including nonparallel and curvature effects on hypersonic tripwake instabilities in the presence of boundary-layer crossflow over a three-dimensional configuration.

Boundary layer transition↗
NASA NTRS2022

Linear Disturbance Amplification Over Blunted Flat Plates in High-Speed Flows

Modal and nonmodal instability characteristics of cylindrically blunted flat plates with varying leading edge radii are described for Mach 4 and Mach 6 freestream conditions. The selection of leading edge radii and freestream parameters is informed by experimental conditions. The investigation of this 2D problem provides a slow entropy layer swallowing which allows for an isolated development of perturbations seeded upstream within different wall-normal regions of the flow. At both Mach numbers, a decrease in modal instability amplification was seen as the leading edge radius was increased. Nonmodal analysis reveals amplifying perturbations in the boundary layer as well as in the entropy layer. The medium bluntness regime exhibits the strongest amplification of nonmodal disturbances that is nonmonotonic in character. Small amplitude boundary forcing at the plate surface or volumetric forcing at various wall-normal heights was used to account for receptivity effects. While wall forcing effectively induced modal instabilities, only an actuation above the boundary layer captured disturbances that amplify within the entropy layer. The optimal nonmodal theory’s entropy-layer disturbance evolution exhibited outstanding agreement with controlled forcing, including receptivity effects. The evolution of entropy-layer disturbances from the optimal nonmodal theory showed excellent agreement with the results of receptivity to controlled forcing. Therefore, the nonmodal optimal growth analysis may provide a useful as well as efficient technique to identify the complete disturbance spectrum in blunt hypersonic configurations, where both modal and nonmodal disturbances can amplify in the boundary-layer and entropy-layer regions.

Boundary layer transition↗
NASA NTRS2022

Combined Bluntness and Roughness Effects on Cones at Hypersonic Speeds

This computational study investigates the effects of discrete roughness elements on a blunt cone at zero degrees angle of attack in a Mach 6 flow. Motivation was provided by experiments conducted in the Air Force Research Laboratory Mach 6 High Reynolds Number facility on a 7-degree half-angle cone with a roughness array located at 45 degrees from the apex on two nose tips of different blutness but equivalent roughness Reynolds number. Transition was only affected on the blunter cone, indicating that the transition onset is associated with the combined effects of bluntness and roughness. The present study investigates the 15.24 mm nose radius, 420 azimuthal wavenumber case via Navier-Stokes computations of the laminar base flow and instability analysis. Plane-marching parabolized stability equations (PSE) and inflow-resolvent analysis based on the three-dimensional, harmonic linearized Navier-Stokes equations (HLNSE) are used to calculate the amplification of disturbances along the roughness wake as well as over the roughness nearfield. Results show that the roughness shape can have a great impact on the characteristics of the most amplified wake instabilities. For the experimental configuration with cubic roughness elements of 15 μ m height, the flow is marginally unstable. For prismatic elements of 20 μ m height, the PSE predicts a logarithmic disturbance amplification ratio of N = 5.6 along its wake, but this ratio increases to N = 9.6 when the amplification over the roughness and separation regions is included in the inflow-resolvent analysis.

Boundary-layer transition↗
NASA NTRS1994

Numerical investigation of supersonic turbulent boundary layers with high wall temperature

A direct numerical approach has been developed to simulate supersonic turbulent boundary layers. The mean flow quantities are obtained by solving the parabolized Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations (globally). Fluctuating quantities are computed locally with a temporal direct numerical simulation approach, in which nonparallel effects of boundary layers are partially modeled. Preliminary numerical results obtained at the free-stream Mach numbers 3, 4.5, and 6 with hot-wall conditions are presented. Approximately 5 million grid points are used in all three cases. The numerical results indicate that compressibility effects on turbulent kinetic energy, in terms of dilatational dissipation and pressure-dilatation correlation, are small. Due to the hot-wall conditions the results show significant low Reynolds number effects and large streamwise streaks. Further simulations with a bigger computational box or a cold-wall condition are desirable.

Guo, Y.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Direct simulation of hypersonic flows over blunt slender bodies

Results of a numerical study of low-density hypersonic flow about cylindrically blunted wedges and spherically blunted cones with body half angles of 0, 5, and 10 deg are presented. Most of the transitional flow regime encountered during entry between the free molecule and continuum regimes is simulated for a reentry velocity of 7.5 km/s by including freestream conditions of 70 to 100 km. The bodies are at zero angle of incidence and have diffuse and finite catalytic surfaces. Translational, thermodynamic, and chemical nonequilibrium effects are considered in the numerical simulation by utilizing the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method. The numerical simulations show that noncontinuum effects such as surface temperature jump, and velocity slip are evident for all cases considered. The onset of chemical dissociation occurs at a simulated altitude of 96 km for the two-dimensional configurations. Comparisons between the DSMC and continuum viscous shock-layer calculations highlight the significant difference in flowfield structure predicted by the two methods.

Moss, J. N.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Numerical Simulations of Two-Phase Reacting Flow in a Single-Element Lean Direct Injection (LDI) Combustor Using NCC

A series of numerical simulations of Jet-A spray reacting flow in a single-element lean direct injection (LDI) combustor have been conducted by using the National Combustion Code (NCC). The simulations have been carried out using the time filtered Navier-Stokes (TFNS) approach ranging from the steady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS), unsteady RANS (URANS), to the dynamic flow structure simulation (DFS). The sub-grid model employed for turbulent mixing and combustion includes the well-mixed model, the linear eddy mixing (LEM) model, and the filtered mass density function (FDF/PDF) model. The starting condition of the injected liquid spray is specified via empirical droplet size correlation, and a five-species single-step global reduced mechanism is employed for fuel chemistry. All the calculations use the same grid whose resolution is of the RANS type. Comparisons of results from various models are presented.

Liu, Nan-Suey↗
NASA NTRS2007

On the Origin of Near-Radial Magnetic Fields in the Heliosphere: Numerical Simulations

Deviations from the direction of the "Parker spiral" can be found in in situ measurements of the interplanetary magnetic field on essentially all scales. One intriguing subset is the intervals of near-radial magnetic field, lasting for many hours. Some such intervals are obviously associated with coronal mass ejections, while others appear to be embedded within the ambient solar wind. Most occur on declining speed profiles, such that, when mapped back to the Sun, an entire radial field interval appears to have been launched at approximately the same time. It has been proposed that these events are the result of abrupt, semipermanent speed decreases on these field lines close to the Sun, and that such speed changes might be due to interchange reconnection. In this study, we use a three-dimensional, time-dependent magnetohydrodynamic model to assess to what extent this can account for near-radial magnetic fields observed relatively far out in the heliosphere. We find that sudden speed drops on the trailing portions of high-speed flows can produce strongly underwound (that is near radial) field lines in the heliosphere, although significantly larger speed gradients are required than are typically observed. Moreover, the simulations also reproduce the decreases in density, temperature, and magnetic field strength that are also commonly observed within these events. The question of what produces the abrupt speed drops remains to be answered.

Mikic, Zoran↗
NASA NTRS1988

Numerical investigations in three-dimensional internal flows

An investigation into the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was performed to examine the expected heat transfer rates that will occur within the NASA-Ames 100 megawatt arc heater nozzle. This nozzle was tentatively designed and identified to provide research for a directly connected combustion experiment specifically related to the National Aerospace Plane Program (NASP) aircraft, and is expected to simulate the flow field entering the combustor section. It was found that extremely fine grids, that is very small mesh spacing near the wall, are required to accurately model the heat transfer process and, in fact, must contain a point within the laminar sublayer if results are to be taken directly from a numerical simulation code. In the present study, an alternative to this very fine mesh and its attendant increase in computational time was invoked and is based on a wall-function method. It was shown that solutions could be obtained that give accurate indications of surface heat transfer rate throughout the nozzle in approximately 1/100 of the computer time required to do the simulation directly without the use of the wall-function implementation. Finally, a maximum heating value in the throat region of the proposed slit nozzle for the 100 megawatt arc heater was shown to be approximately 6 MW per square meter.

Rose, William C.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Advances in fluid dynamics

Various papers on advances in fluid dynamics are presented. Individual topics addressed include: nonunique solutions of the Euler equations; numerical solution of the biharmonic equation using a spectral multigrid method; finite-volume shape and placement for efficiency, accuracy, and physics; NND schemes and their application to numerical simulation of complex plume flow problems; symbolic analysis and computational algorithm construction; and velocity and mass flux distribution measurements of spherical glass beads in air flow in a 90-deg vertical-to-horizontal bend. Also discussed are: hyperbolic solution adaptive mesh generation; progress and future directions in CFD; numerical simulation of shock focusing; microbubble formation and splitting in a turbulent boundary layer for turbulence reduction; numerical study of spherical Taylor-Couette flow, trajectories of vortex lines beneath a free surface or above a plane; and a mathematical model for response of the coronary circulation to high sustained gravitational force fields.

Ballhaus, W. F., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Study of Interesting Solidification Phenomena on the Ground and in Space (MEPHISTO)

Real-time Seebeck voltage variations in a Sn-Bi melt during directional solidification in the MEPHISTO spaceflight experiment flown on the USMP-3 mission, can be correlated with well characterized thruster firings and an Orbiter Main System (OMS) burn. The Seebeck voltage measurement is related to the response of the instantaneous average melt composition at the melt-crystal interface. This allowed us to make a direct comparison of numerical simulations with the experimentally obtained Seebeck signals. Based on the results of preflight and real-time computations, several well-defined thruster firing events were programmed to occur at specific times during the experiment. In particular, we simulated the effects of the thruster firings on melt and crystal composition in a directionally solidifying Sn-Bi alloy. The relative accelerations produced by the firings were simulated by impulsive accelerations of the same magnitude, duration and orientation as the requested firings. A comparison of the simulation results with the Seebeck signal indicates that there is a good agreement between the two. This unique opportunity allows us, for the first time, to quantitatively characterize actual g-jitter effects on an actual crystal growth experiment and to properly calibrate our models of g-jitter effects on crystal growth.

Favier, J.-J.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Study of Interesting Solidification Phenomena on the Ground and in Space (MEPHISTO)

Real-time Seebeck voltage variations in a Sn-Bi melt during directional solidification in the MEPHISTO spaceflight experiment flown on the USMP-3 mission, have been correlated with well-characterized thruster firings and an Orbiter Main System (OMS) burn. The Seebeck voltage measurement is related to the response of the instantaneous average melt composition at the melt-crystal interface. This allowed us to make a direct comparison of numerical simulations with the experimentally obtained Seebeck signals. Based on the results of preflight and real-time computations, several well-defined thruster firing events were programmed to occur at specific times during the experiment. In particular, we simulated the effects of the thruster firings on melt and crystal composition in a directionally solidifying Sn-Bi alloy. The relative accelerations produced by the firings were simulated by impulsive accelerations of the same magnitude, duration and orientation as the requested firings. A comparison of the simulation results with the Seebeck signal indicates that there is a good agreement between the two. This unique opportunity allows us to make the first quantitative characterization of actual g-jitter effects on an actual crystal growth experiment and to calibrate our models of g-jitter effects on crystal growth.

Alexander, J. Iwan D.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Orbiter Aerodynamic Acceleration Flight Measurements in the Rarefied-Flow Transition Regime

Acceleration data taken from the Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment (OARE) during reentry on STS-62 have been analyzed using calibration factors taken on orbit. This is the first Orbiter mission which collected OARE data during the Orbiter reentry phase. The data examined include the flight regime from orbital altitudes down to about 90 km which covers the free-molecule-flow regime and the upper altitude fringes of the rarefied-flow transition into the hypersonic continuum. Ancillary flight data on Orbiter position, orientation, velocity, and rotation rates have been used in models to transform the measured accelerations to the Orbiter center-of-gravity, from which aerodynamic accelerations along the Orbiter body axes have been calculated. Residual offsets introduced in the measurements by unmodeled Orbiter forces are identified and discussed. Direct comparisons are made between the OARE flight data and an independent micro-gravity accelerometer experiment, the High Resolution Accelerometer Package (HiRAP), which also obtained flight data on reentry during the mission down to about 95 km. The resulting OARE aerodynamic acceleration measurements along the Orbiter's body axis, aid the normal to axial acceleration ratio in the free-molecule-flow and transition-flow regimes are presented and compared with numerical simulations from three direct simulation Monte Carlo codes.

Blanchard, Robert C.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Retarding potential analyzer for the Pioneer-Venus Orbiter Mission

The retarding potential analyzer on the Pioneer-Venus Orbiter Mission has been designed to measure most of the thermal plasma parameters within and near the Venusian ionosphere. Parameters include total ion concentration, concentrations of the more abundant ions, ion temperatures, ion drift velocity, electron temperature, and low-energy (0-50 eV) electron distribution function. To accomplish these measurements on a spinning vehicle with a small telemetry bit rate, several functions, including decision functions not previously used in RPA's, have been developed and incorporated into this instrument. The more significant functions include automatic electrometer ranging with background current compensation; digital, quadratic retarding potential step generation for the ion and low-energy electron scans; a current sampling interval of 2 ms throughout all scans; digital logic inflection point detection and data selection; and automatic ram direction detection. Extensive numerical simulation and plasma chamber tests have been conducted to verify adequacy of the design for the Pioneer Mission.

Knudsen, W. C.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Collisional evolution of mass-distribution spectrum of planetesimals

The early growth of planetesimals by mutual direct collisions is numerically simulated with a Monte Carlo technique to show how planetesimals with specific mass and velocity distributions evolve into a full-size planet. Four types of collisions are taken into account: rebound, erosion, catastrophic break-up, and coagulation. It is shown that evolution of mass-distribution spectrum is expressed by an inverse power relation. It is also suggested that whether or not a planetesimal can survive catastrophic collision is primarily dependent on mean relative velocity and mechanical properties of planetesimals. It is necessary for the early growth of rocky (basaltic) materials that mean relative velocity be much smaller than 0.1 km/s. Otherwise it is necessary to introduce something like nucleating agents (such as iron bodies which have plastic properties at temperatures higher than 200 K) for the formation of terrestrial planets.

Matsui, T.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Numerical investigation on Benard instability in a finite liquid layer

A numerical procedure for directly simulating the Benard-Marangoni instabilities (B-M-I) in a bounded liquid layer is presented in this paper. The procedure consists of applying a finite amplitude disturbance to the basic static state, and then integrating the Navier-Stokes equations to determine whether the disturbance will die down or will reach a state of finite-strength steady convection. The critical Marangoni number (Mac) for the onset of B-M-I can thus be determined and can be correlated as a function of the aspect ratio (Ar), Prandtl number (Pr), and Rayleigh number (Ra). The Biot number (B) between the liquid and the air is analyzed to approximate the heat transfer condition along the free surface. A 2D calculation is performed to investigate the effect of various initial disturbances, and the Mac is determined for Ar = 2, Ra = 0, and Pr = 0.7. Current results show that disturbances of different nature and amplitude have little effect on Mac. The Mac determined in this study also clearly demonstrates the dominant effect of the sidewalls.

Duh, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Numerical Simulations of Wake/Boundary Layer Interactions

Direct and large-eddy simulations of the interaction between the wake of a circular cylinder and a flat-plate boundary layer are conducted. Two Reynolds numbers are examined. The simulations indicate that at the lower Reynolds number the boundary layer is buffeted by the unsteady Karman vortex street shed by the cylinder. The fluctuations, however, cannot be self-sustained due to the low Reynolds-number, and the flow does not reach a turbulent state within the computational domain. In contrast, in the higher Reynolds-number case, boundary-layer fluctuations persist after the wake has decayed (due, in part, to the higher values of the local Reynolds number Re(sub theta) achieved in this case); some evidence could be observed that a self-sustaining turbulence generation cycle was beginning to be established.

Piomelli, Ugo↗
NASA NTRS2008

A Stereo Imaging Velocimetry Technique for Analyzing Structure of Flame Balls at Low Lewis-Number (SOFBALL) Data

Stereo Imaging Velocimetry (SIV) is a NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) developed fluid physics technique for measuring threedimensional (3-D) velocities in any optically transparent fluid that can be seeded with tracer particles. SIV provides a means to measure 3-D fluid velocities quantitatively and qualitatively at many points. This technique provides full-field 3-D analysis of any optically clear fluid or gas experiment using standard off-the-shelf CCD cameras to provide accurate and reproducible 3-D velocity profiles for experiments that require 3-D analysis. A flame ball is a steady flame in a premixed combustible atmosphere which, due to the transport properties (low Lewis-number) of the mixture, does not propagate but is instead supplied by diffusive transport of the reactants, forming a premixed flame. This flame geometry presents a unique environment for testing combustion theory. We present our analysis of flame ball phenomena utilizing SIV technology in order to accurately calculate the 3-D position of a flame ball(s) during an experiment, which can be used as a direct comparison of numerical simulations.

McDowell, Mark↗