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107 records · Page 6

Crossflow-vortex instability and transition on a 45 deg swept wing

A crossflow vortex experiment on a 45 deg swept wing is currently being conducted in the Arizona State University Unsteady Wind Tunnel. The experimental apparatus is designed to produce crossflow-dominated transition by simulating infinite swept wing flow using contoured end liners in a closed throat wind tunnel. Stationary fixed-wavelength crossflow vortices are observed at several chord Reynolds numbers. The vortex wavelength which is fixed for a given Reynolds number varies with Reynolds number approximately as predicted by linear stability theory, but with the predicted wavelengths about 30 percent larger than the observed wavelengths. Travelling waves are observed both in the frequency range predicted by linear stability theory and at higher frequencies. These higher frequency waves may be harmonics of the primary crossflow waves generated by a nonlinear parametric resonance phenomena.

Dagenhart, J. Ray↗

Structure Identification Within a Transitioning Swept-Wing Boundary Layer

Extensive measurements are made in a transitioning swept-wing boundary layer using hot-film, hot-wire and cross-wire anemometry. The crossflow-dominated flow contains stationary vortices that breakdown near mid-chord. The most amplified vortex wavelength is forced by the use of artificial roughness elements near the leading edge. Two-component velocity and spanwise surface shear-stress correlation measurements are made at two constant chord locations, before and after transition. Streamwise surface shear stresses are also measured through the entire transition region. Correlation techniques are used to identify stationary structures in the laminar regime and coherent structures in the turbulent regime. Basic techniques include observation of the spatial correlations and the spatially distributed auto-spectra. The primary and secondary instability mechanisms are identified in the spectra in all measured fields. The primary mechanism is seen to grow, cause transition and produce large-scale turbulence. The secondary mechanism grows through the entire transition region and produces the small-scale turbulence. Advanced techniques use Linear Stochastic Estimation (LSE) and Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) to identify the spatio-temporal evolutions of structures in the boundary layer. LSE is used to estimate the instantaneous velocity fields using temporal data from just two spatial locations and the spatial correlations. Reference locations are selected using maximum RMS values to provide the best available estimates. POD is used to objectively determine modes characteristic of the measured flow based on energy. The stationary vortices are identified in the first laminar modes of each velocity component and shear component. Experimental evidence suggests that neighboring vortices interact and produce large coherent structures with spanwise periodicity at double the stationary vortex wavelength. An objective transition region detection method is developed using streamwise spatial POD solutions which isolate the growth of the primary and secondary instability mechanisms in the first and second modes, respectively. Temporal evolutions of dominant POD modes in all measured fields are calculated. These scalar POD coefficients contain the integrated characteristics of the entire field, greatly reducing the amount of data to characterize the instantaneous field. These modes may then be used to train future flow control algorithms based on neural networks.

Chapman, Keith↗

Three-dimensional boundary layer stability and transition

Nonparallel and nonlinear stability of a three-dimensional boundary layer, subject to crossflow instability, is investigated using parabolized stability equations (PSEs). Both traveling and stationary disturbances are considered and nonparallel effect on crossflow instability is found to be destabilizing. Our linear PSE results for stationary disturbances agree well with the results from direct solution of Navier-Stokes equations obtained by Spalart (1989). Nonlinear calculations have been carried out for stationary vortices and the computed wall vorticity pattern results in streamwise streaks which resemble remarkably well with the surface oil-flow visualizations in swept-wing experiments. Other features of the stationary vortex development (half-mushroom structure, inflected velocity profiles, vortex doubling, etc.) are also captured in our nonlinear calculations. Nonlinear interaction of the stationary amplitude of the stationary vortex is large as compared to the traveling mode, and the stationary vortex dominates most of the downstream development. When the two modes have the same initial amplitude, the traveling mode dominates the downstream development owing to its higher growth rate, and there is a tendency for the stationary mode to be suppressed. The effect of nonlinear wave development on the skin-friction coefficient is also computed.

Malik, M. R.↗

Crossflow instability control on a swept-wing: Preliminary studies

The pressure distribution on a swept wing causes the streamlines at the edge of the boundary layer to be curved. This pressure gradient normal to the external streamline creates a velocity component normal to the external streamline within the boundary layer which is referred to as the crossflow velocity. Because the crossflow velocity profile perpendicular to the wing surface has an inflection point, the profile is unstable. The stationary instability mode takes the form of crossflow vortices. Under these conditions, the boundary layer on the wing is extremely unstable and transition to turbulent flow takes place much closer to the leading edge of the wing than it would on an unswept wing. Higher skin friction drag is associated with turbulent flow, and so better aircraft performance could be obtained if the crossflow could be eliminated One method of controlling crossflow that is being investigated is boundary-layer suction. An extensive airfoil suction experiment in the 8 feet Transonic Pressure Tunnel (TPT) at NASA Langley Research Center will begin late in 1994. Because of the size, complexity, and expense associated with this test, a number of 'risk-reduction' tests are currently being conducted. The 20 x 28 in. Shear Flow Control Tunnel at NASA Langley is being used for some of these tests. Prior to the summer of 1994, a flat plate with a swept leading edge was installed in the 20 x 28 in. tunnel, with a displacement body mounted on the tunnel ceiling that created a pressure distribution on the plate similar to the pressure distribution on a swept wing. The flow over the plate was investigated during the summer of 1994 using a laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV) system. The LDV measurements indicated the possible presence of multiple disturbance modes, a rarely-seen phenomena since, in most tests, one disturbance mode dominates. The possible existence of multiple disturbance modes in the flat plate boundary layer, however, means that the flow in the 20 x 28 in. tunnel is of interest itself, and will be investigated more thoroughly in the future. With a view to these investigations, the boundary layer traverse mechanism in the 20 x 28 in. tunnel was modified to improve its performance, and strain gauges were mounted on the traverse in order to monitor its deflection during a test. Other preliminary work conducted in the 20 x 28 in. tunnel included the use of an infrared camera system. Previous work with this system showed that transition indeed could be detected, but the signal produced by the crossflow vortices was too weak to be detected. It was hoped that spraying the flat plate with naphthalene would augment the heat transfer associated with the crossflow vortices so that they would show up in a IR image; however, experiments showed that this would not work. Another set of tests was conducted in the 20 x 28 in. tunnel to determine the tripping requirements for a set of airfoil-shaped struts that will be used in the 8 feet TPT experiment. Since the Reynolds number associated with these struts is small, a laminar boundary layer would separate early, causing large fluctuations in the flow field. A turbulent boundary layer would remain attached further back, but tripping from laminar to turbulent flow at low Reynolds number is very difficult. However, trip strip configurations were found that should effectively trip the boundary layer at the required conditions. Currently underway is an investigation of the data acquisition requirements for the 8 feet TPT experiment, with the purpose of the finding the minimum amount of data needed to characterize sufficiently the swept-wing boundary layer. This study is being conducted using a numerically generated data set.

Bridges, David H.↗

Boundary Layer Transition over Blunt Hypersonic Vehicles Including Effects of Ablation-Induced Out-Gassing

Computations are performed to study the boundary layer instability mechanisms pertaining to hypersonic flow over blunt capsules. For capsules with ablative heat shields, transition may be influenced both by out-gassing associated with surface pyrolysis and the resulting modification of surface geometry including the formation of micro-roughness. To isolate the effects of out-gassing, this paper examines the stability of canonical boundary layer flows over a smooth surface in the presence of gas injection into the boundary layer. For a slender cone, the effects of out-gassing on the predominantly second mode instability are found to be stabilizing. In contrast, for a blunt capsule flow dominated by first mode instability, out-gassing is shown to be destabilizing. Analogous destabilizing effects of outgassing are also noted for both stationary and traveling modes of crossflow instability over a blunt sphere-cone configuration at angle of attack.

Li, Fei↗

Long-wavelength asymptotics of unstable crossflow modes, including the effect of surface curvature

Stationary vortex instabilities with wavelengths significantly larger than the thickness of the underlying three-dimensional boundary layer are studied with asymptotic methods. The long-wavelength Rayleigh modes are locally neutral and are aligned with the direction of the local inviscid streamline. For a spanwise wave number Beta much less than 1, the spatial growth rate of these vortices is O(Beta(exp 3/2)). When Beta becomes O(R(exp -1/7)), the viscous correction associated with a thin sublayer near the surface modifies the inviscid growth rate to the leading order. As Beta is further decreased through this regime, viscous effects assume greater significance and dominate the growth-rate behavior. The spatial growth rate becomes comparable to the real part of the wave number when Beta = O(R(exp -1/4)). At this stage, the disturbance structure becomes fully viscous-inviscid interactive and is described by the triple-deck theory. For even smaller values of Beta, the vortex modes become nearly neutral again and align themselves with the direction of the wall-shear stress. Thus, the study explains the progression of the crossflow-vortex structure from the inflectional upper branch mode to nearly neutral long-wavelength modes that are aligned with the wall-shear direction.

Choudhari, Meelan↗

Partial Premixing Effects on the Reacting Jet of a High-Pressure Axially Staged Combustor

The effects of partial premixing on a reacting jet-in-crossflow is investigated in a five atmosphere axially staged combustor at stationary gas turbine relevant conditions. The facility consists of a dump style headend burner that provides a crossflow with a quasi-uniform velocity and temperature profile to the axial stage to isolate the effects of the jet-in-crossflow. The headend burner is run with methane and air at a lean equivalence ratio to match industry emission standards. For this work, the total air to the headend and axial stage is kept constant, and fuel is split between the headend and axial stage to represent different gas turbine loading conditions. For the cases analyzed, the fuel split to the axial stage went up to 25%. The axial stage consists of an optically accessible test section with a coaxial injector that provides variability to how long the methane and air can mix before entering the facility. Three different premixed levels are studied: fully premixed, nonpremixed, and partially premixed. The flow-field characteristics of the reacting jet-in-crossflow are analyzed using particle image velocimetry (PIV), and flame behavior is quantified by employing CH* chemiluminescence. NO measurements are made at the exit of the facility using a Horiba emissions analyzer. Furthermore, two different flames are observed: flames that burn in the leeward recirculation region and flames that burn at the core of the jet.

03 NATURAL GAS↗

The influence of a crossflow on jet noise

The acoustic field generated by a circular jet in the presence of a low speed crossflow is calculated. The solution is obtained for a quadrupole source located in a uniformly moving acoustic medium. Ribner's work on straight jets is used to model the flow in the turbulent crossflow jet. The movement of the acoustic medium results in the acoustic intensity being greater upstream of the jet flow than at an equal distance downstream. A summary is also presented of the analysis for the acoustic intensity of a crossflow jet which is in motion through a stationary acoustic medium. The analysis is applicable to the noise generated by the lift jet of a V/STOL aircraft under take-off or landing conditions. The results of these two configurations provide a comparision of the directional distribution of acoustic intensity measured in a wind tunnel test of a crossflow jet and in a corresponding flight test.

Cole, J. E., III↗

Experimental verification of corrosive vapor deposition rate theory in high velocity burner rigs

The ability to predict deposition rates is required to facilitate modelling of high temperature corrosion by fused salt condensates in turbine engines. A corrosive salt vapor deposition theory based on multicomponent chemically frozen boundary layers (CFBL) has been successfully verified by high velocity burner rig experiments. The experiments involved internally air-impingement cooled, both rotating full and stationary segmented cylindrical collectors located in the crossflow of sodium-seeded combustion gases. Excellent agreement is found between the CFBL theory an the experimental measurements for both the absolute amounts of Na2SO4 deposition rates and the behavior of deposition rate with respect to collector temperature, mass flowrate (velocity) and Na concentration.

Gokoglu, S. A.↗

Experimental verification of corrosive vapor deposition rate theory in high velocity burner rigs

The ability to predict deposition rates is required to facilitate modelling of high temperature corrosion by fused salt condensates in turbine engines. A corrosive salt vapor deposition theory based on multicomponent chemically frozen boundary layers (CFBL) has been successfully verified by high velocity burner rig experiments. The experiments involved internally air-impingement cooled, both rotating full and stationary segmented cylindrical collectors located in the crossflow of sodium-seeded combustion gases. Excellent agreement is found between the CFBL theory and the experimental measurements for both the absolute amounts of Na2SO4 deposition rates and the behavior of deposition rate with respect to collector temperature, mass flowrate (velocity) and Na concentration.

Gokoglu, Suleyman A.↗

Mixing of Pure Air Jets with a Reacting Fuel-Rich Crossflow

Jets in a crossflow play an integral role in practical combustion systems such as can and annular gas turbine combustors in conventional systems, and the Rich-burn/Quick-mix/Lean-burn (RQL) combustor utilized in stationary applications and proposed for advanced subsonic and supersonic transports. The success of the RQL combustor rests with the performance of the quick-mixing section that bridges the rich and lean zones. The mixing of jet air with a rich crossflow to bring the reaction to completion in the lean zone must be performed rapidly and thoroughly in order to decrease the extent of near-stoichiometric fluid pocket formation. Fluid pockets at near-stoichiometric equivalence ratios are undesirable because the high temperatures attained accelerate pollutant formation kinetics associated with nitric oxide (NO). The present study develops a model experiment designed to reveal the processes that occur when jet air is introduced into hot effluent emanating from a fuel-rich reaction zone.

Leong, M. Y.↗

Roughness-induced generation of crossflow vortices in three-dimensional boundary layers

The receptivity theory of Goldstein and Ruban is extended within the nonasymptotic (quasi-parallel) framework of Zavol'skii et al to predict the roughness-induced generation of stationary and nonstationary instability waves in three-dimensional, incompressible boundary layers. The influence of acoustic-wave orientation, as well as that of different types of roughness geometries, including isolated roughness elements, periodic arrays, and two-dimensional lattices of compact roughness shapes, as well as random, but spatially homogeneous roughness distributions, is examined. The parametric study for the Falkner-Skan-Cooke family of boundary layers supports our earlier conjecture that the initial amplitudes of roughness-induced stationary vortices are likely to be significantly larger than the amplitudes of similarly induced nonstationary vortices in the presence of acoustic disturbances in the free stream. Maximum unsteady receptivity occurs when the acoustic velocity fluctuation is aligned with the wavenumber vector of the unsteady vortex mode. On the other hand, roughness arrays that are oriented somewhere close to the group velocity direction are likely to produce higher instability amplitudes. Limitations of the nonasymptotic theory are discussed, and future work is suggested.

Choudhari, Meelan↗

Concerning the interaction of non-stationary cross-flow vortices in a three-dimensional boundary layer

Recently there has been much work devoted to considering some of the many and varied interaction mechanisms which may be operative in three-dimensional boundary layer flows. This paper is concerned with resonant triads of crossflow vortices. The effects of interactions upon resonant triads is examined where each member of the triad has the property of being linearly neutrally stable so that the importance of the interplay between modes can be relatively easily assessed. Modes within the boundary layer flow above a rotating disc are investigated because of the similarity between this disc flow and many important practical flows and, secondly, because the selected flow is an exact solution of the Navier-Stokes equations which makes its theoretical analysis especially attractive. It is demonstrated that the desired triads of linearly neutrally stable modes can exist within the chosen boundary layer flow. Evolution equations are obtained to describe the development of the amplitudes of these modes once the interaction mechanism is accounted for. It is found that the coefficients of the interaction terms within the evolution equations are, in general, given by quite intricate expressions although some elementary numerical work shows that the evaluation of these coefficients is practicable. The basis of the work lends itself to generalization to more complicated boundary layers, and effects of detuning or non-parallelism could be provided for within the asymptotic framework.

Bassom, Andrew P.↗

The Effect of Backward-Facing Step Height on Instability Growth and Breakdown in Swept Wing Boundary-Layer Transition

A low-speed experiment was performed on a swept at plate model with an imposed pressure gradient to determine the effect of a backward-facing step on transition in a stationary-cross flow dominated flow. Detailed hot-wire boundary-layer measurements were performed for three backward-facing step heights of approximately 36, 45, and 49% of the boundary-layer thickness at the step. These step heights correspond to a subcritical, nearly-critical, and critical case. Three leading-edge roughness configurations were tested to determine the effect of stationary-cross flow amplitude on transition. The step caused a local increase in amplitude of the stationary cross flow for the two larger step height cases, but farther downstream the amplitude decreased and remained below the baseline amplitude. The smallest step caused a slight local decrease in amplitude of the primary stationary cross flow mode, but the amplitude collapsed back to the baseline case far downstream of the step. The effect of the step on the amplitude of the primary cross flow mode increased with step height, however, the stationary cross flow amplitudes remained low and thus, stationary cross flow was not solely responsible for transition. Unsteady disturbances were present downstream of the step for all three step heights, and the amplitudes increased with increasing step height. The only exception is that the lower frequency (traveling crossflow-like) disturbance was not present in the lowest step height case. Positive and negative spikes in instantaneous velocity began to occur for the two larger step height cases and then grew in number and amplitude downstream of reattachment, eventually leading to transition. The number and amplitude of spikes varied depending on the step height and cross flow amplitude. Despite the low amplitude of the disturbances in the intermediate step height case, breakdown began to occur intermittently and the flow underwent a long transition region.

Eppink, Jenna L.↗

Stationary disturbances in three-dimensional boundary layers over concave surfaces

A two-dimensional boundary layer on a concave surface is known to be susceptible to centrifugal instability which manifests itself in the form of stationary streamwise counter-rotating vortices commonly known as Goertler vortices. In this paper, the problem of the stability of a three-dimensional boundary layer on a concave surface is considered. Linear stability equations, including streamline and surface curvature effects, are solved for an infinitely swept wing. The results indicate that the Goetler vortex structure begins to transform into co-rotating vortices when the crossflow Reynolds number is increased. This transition is almost complete when the crossflow Reynolds number is in excess of 45. It is shown that the centrifugal effects destabilize the crossflow vortices. Some comparisons with available experimental results are made.

Collier, F. S., Jr.↗

Crossflow-Vortex Breakdown on Swept Wings: Correlation of Nonlinear Physics

The spatial evolution of cross flow-vortex packets in a laminar boundary layer on a swept wing are computed by the direct numerical simulation of the incompressible Navier- Stokes equations. A wall-normal velocity distribution of steady suction and blowing at the wing surface is used to generate a strip of equally spaced and periodic disturbances along the span. Three simulations are conducted to study the effect of initial amplitude on the disturbance evolution, to determine the role of traveling cross ow modes in transition, and to devise a correlation function to guide theories of transition prediction. In each simulation, the vortex packets first enter a chordwise region of linear independent growth, then, the individual packets coalesce downstream and interact with adjacent packets, and, finally, the vortex packets nonlinearly interact to generate inflectional velocity profiles. As the initial amplitude of the disturbance is increased, the length of the evolution to breakdown decreases. For this pressure gradient, stationary modes dominate the disturbance evolution. A two-coeffcient function was devised to correlate the simulation results. The coefficients, combined with a single simulation result, provide sufficient information to generate the evolution pattern for disturbances of any initial amplitude.

Joslin, R. D.↗

The Effects of Vortex Ingestion on the Flow in a Diffusing S-duct

An experimental study of the effects of an ingested vortex on the flowfield of a diffusing S-duct is reported. The vortex is generated through the use of a stationary pinwheel device mounted upstream of the diffusing S-duct. Three test conditions vary the location of the vortex in the duct inlet crossplane. For each condition of ingested vortex, a baseline S-duct and an S-duct with an array of vortex generators is examined. The data taken consist of duct inlet and exit crossplane surveys of velocity and total pressure. Duct surface flow visualization and static pressure are also recorded. The data acquired in these tests are compared to identical S-duct data taken in the absence of the ingested vortex. The ingested vortex is observed to have a strong influence on the flowfield inside (and exiting) the S-duct, but only when the vortex impinges at the inlet crossplane location coincident with the crossplane location of downstream flow separation within the duct. When the ingested vortex impinges at this location it reduces the extent of flowfield separation inside the baseline duct and promotes stronger crossflow in the exit plane of both the baseline duct and the duct with installed vortex generators. This enhanced crossflow also strengthens the vortices shed from the vortex generators. The other impingement locations of the ingested vortex are found to produce little effect on the flowfield of the duct with or without vortex generators.

Wendt, B. J.↗