Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “boundary effects”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,567 records · Page 87
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1982

Experiments on the stability of the flat-plate boundary layer with suction

Experiments have been conducted in the VPI and SU Stability Wind Tunnel on a flat-plate wind-tunnel model equipped with porous suction panels. Detailed hot-wire measurements were conducted in the laminar boundary layer to investigate the stabilizing effects of suction on growing Tollmien-Schlichting waves, which were introduced into the boundary layer using a vibrating ribbon. Special care was taken to minimize external disturbances and to avoid extraneous experimental bias. The measurements, which included mean-flow and disturbance-amplitude profiles across the boundary layer, showed that suction applied through discrete porous strips can be as effective as suction applied continuously over a much longer streamwise length. The measurements also showed that suction is more effective when placed forward, nearer to the region of neutral stability, than when placed in the region of maximum growth rate. These results also provided meaningful comparison with recent theory.

Reynolds, G. A.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Effects of transverse shear on large deflection random response of symmetric composite laminates with mixed boundary conditions

Nonlinear equations of motion of symmetrically laminated anisotropic plates are derived considering von Karman strains and transverse shear effects. Using a single-mode Galerkin procedure, the nonlinear modal equation is obtained. The direct equivalent linearization method is employed for solution of this equation. The effects of transverse shear on large deflection vibration of laminated plates with mixed boundary support conditions under random excitation are studied. Mean-square deflections and mean-square inplane strains are obtained for symmetric graphite-epoxy laminates. Using equilibrium equations and the continuity requirements, the mean-square transverse shear stresses are calculated. The results obtained will be useful in the sonic fatigue design of composite aircraft panels. The analysis is presented in detail for plates with two opposing edges simply supported and the remaining edges clamped.

Prasad, C. B.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Wind-tunnel investigation of a full-scale general aviation airplane equipped with an advanced natural laminar flow wing

An investigation was conducted in the Langley 30- by 60-Foot Wind Tunnel to evaluate the performance, stability, and control characteristics of a full-scale general aviation airplane equipped with an advanced laminar flow wing. The study focused on the effects of natural laminar flow and advanced boundary layer transition on performance, stability, and control, and also on the effects of several wing leading edge modifications on the stall/departure resistance of the configuration. Data were measured over an angle-of-attack range from -6 to 40 deg and an angle-of-sideslip range from -6 to 20 deg. The Reynolds number was varied from 1.4 to 2.4 x 10 to the 6th power based on the mean aerodynamic chord. Additional measurements were made using hot-film and sublimating chemical techniques to determine the condition of the wing boundary layer, and wool tufts were used to study the wing stall characteristics. The investigation showed that large regions of natural laminar flow existed on the wing which would significantly enhance cruise performance. Also, because of the characteristics of the airfoil section, artificially tripping the wing boundary layer to a turbulent condition did not significantly effect the lift, stability, and control characteristics. The addition of a leading-edge droop arrangement was found to increase the stall angle of attack at the wingtips and, therefore, was considered to be effective in improving the stall/departure resistance of the configuration. Also the addition of the droop arrangement resulted in only minor increases in drag.

Murri, Daniel G.↗
NASA NTRS2003

The Effect of Surface Topography on the Nonlinear Dynamics of Rossby Waves

Boussinesq convection in rotating systems attracts a sustained attention of the fluid dynamics community, because it has intricate non-linear dynamics (Cross & Hohenberg 1993) and plays an important role in geophysical and astrophysical applications, such as the motion of the liquid outer core of Earth, the Red Spot in Jupiter, the giant cells in the Sun etc. (Alridge et al. 1990). A fundamental distinction between the real geo- and astrophysical problems and the idealized laboratory studies is that natural systems are inhomogeneous (Alridge et al. 1990). Heterogeneities modulate the flow and influence significantly the dynamics of convective patterns (Alridge et al. 1990; Hide 1971). The effect of modulations on pattern formation and transition to turbulence in Boussinesq convection is far from being completely understood (Cross & Hohenberg 1993; Aranson & Kramer 2002). It is generally accepted that in the liquid outer core of the Earth the transport of the angular momentum and internal heat occurs via thermal Rossby waves (Zhang et al. 2001; Kuang & Bloxham 1999). These waves been visualized in laboratory experiments in rotating liquid-filled spheres and concentric spherical shells (Zhang et al. 2001; Kuang & Bloxham 1999). The basic dynamical features of Rossby waves have been reproduced in a cylindrical annulus, a system much simpler than the spherical ones (Busse & Or 1986; Or & Busse 1987). For convection in a cylindrical annulus, the fluid motion is two-dimensional, and gravity is replaced by a centrifugal force, (Busse & Or 1986; Or & Busse 1987). Hide (1971) has suggested that the momentum and heat transport in the core might be influenced significantly by so-called bumps, which are heterogeneities on the mantle-core boundary. To model the effect of surface topography on the transport of momentum and energy in the liquid outer core of the Earth, Bell & Soward (1996), Herrmann & Busse (1998) and Westerburg & Busse (2001) have studied the nonlinear dynamics of thermal Rossby waves in a cylindrical annulus with azimuthally modulated height.

Abarzhi, S. I.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Surface boundary conditions for the numerical solution of the Euler equations

We consider the implementation of boundary conditions at solid walls in inviscid Euler solutions by upwind, finite-volume methods. We review some current methods for the implementation of surface boundary conditions and examine their behavior for the problem of an oblique shock reflecting off a planar surface. We show the importance of characteristic boundary conditions for this problem and introduce a method of applying the classical flux-difference splitting of Roe as a characteristic boundary condition. Consideration of the equivalent problem of the intersection of two (equal and opposite) oblique shocks was very illuminating on the role of surface boundary conditions for an inviscid flow and led to the introduction of two new boundary-condition procedures, denoted as the symmetry technique and the curvature-corrected symmetry technique. Examples of the effects of the various surface boundary conditions considered are presented for the supersonic blunt body problem and the subcritical compressible flow over a circular cylinder. Dramatic advantages of the curvature-corrected symmetry technique over the other methods are shown, with regard to numerical entropy generation, total pressure loss, drag and grid convergence.

Dadone, A.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Experimental Study of a Three-Dimensional Shear-Driven Turbulent Boundary Layer with Streamwise Adverse Pressure Gradient

The effects of a strong adverse pressure gradient on a three-dimensional turbulent boundary layer are studied in an axisymmetric spinning cylinder geometry. Velocity measurements made with a three-component laser Doppler velocimeter include all three mean flow components, all six Reynolds stress components, and all ten triple-product correlations. Reynolds stress diminishes as the flow becomes three-dimensional. Lower levels of shear stress were seen to persist under adverse pressure gradient conditions. This low level of stress was seen to roughly correlate with the magnitude of cross-flow (relative to free stream flow) for this experiment as well as most of the other experiments in the literature. Variations in pressure gradient do not appear to alter this correlation. For this reason, it is hypothesized that a three-dimensional boundary layer is more prone to separate than a two-dimensional boundary layer, although it could not be directly shown here. None of the computations performed with either a Prandtl mixing length, k-epsilon, or a Launder-Reece-Rodi full Reynolds-stress model were able to predict the reduction in Reynolds stress.

Driver, David M.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Effects of cluster expansion on the locations of phase transition boundary as a first step to quantify uncertainty in first principles statistical mechanics framework

Predicting phase diagrams from first principle calculations eliminates the need of tedious experimental trials and errors. Fully automating first principle phase diagram calculations without any sort of human intervention has been a long daunting task and troubling scientific communities for decades. This grand problem remains not fully resolved, largely due to the vastly high-dimensional parameter space associated with density functional theory, cluster expansion, lattice Monte Carlo, and the substantial uncertainty propagating through a set of complex simulations. As a first step to tackle this grand problem, we reported a first demonstration of how sensitive phase boundary locations can be to various cluster expansion fittings and input DFT training data. To the best knowledge of the authors, this study reported the first ever attempt to quantify uncertainty in first principles statistical mechanics framework. In addition, a semi-automated phase transition detection algorithm has been devised in this paper to deal with the associated statistical errors and uncertainties from Monte Carlo method and its predecessor DFT calculations and cluster expansions. This algorithm has been applied in a classical cluster expansion Mg-Cd binary alloy system to detect phase transitions at various locations of phase diagram using different cluster expansions to demonstrate its predictive power and quantify uncertainties. The results suggested that using Chebyshev basis function shifted the transition locations toward the dilute solid solution phase and expanded the phase stability of concentrated ordered phases to wider composition range. The addition of perturbed defect configurations into training data set lowered the order-disorder transition temperature to be away from true transition temperature, suggesting the transition nature is indeed configurational disorder dominated rather than defect assisted. Finally, we found that the weighting has negligible effect on the transition locations, except for the case of using Chebyshev basis function to fit all non-weighted configurations that can be susceptible to Monte Carlo sampling hysteresis.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS2013

Investigation of Materials for Boundary Layer Control in a Supersonic Wind Tunnel

During operation of the NASA Glenn Research Center 15- by 15-Centimeter Supersonic Wind Tunnel (SWT), a significant, undesirable corner flow separation is created by the three-dimensional interaction of the wall and floor boundary layers in the tunnel corners following an oblique-shock/ boundary-layer interaction. A method to minimize this effect was conceived by connecting the wall and floor boundary layers with a radius of curvature in the corners. The results and observations of a trade study to determine the effectiveness of candidate materials for creating the radius of curvature in the SWT are presented. The experiments in the study focus on the formation of corner fillets of four different radii of curvature, 6.35 mm (0.25 in.), 9.525 mm (0.375 in.), 12.7 mm (0.5 in.), and 15.875 mm (0.625 in.), based on the observed boundary layer thickness of 11.43 mm (0.45 in.). Tests were performed on ten candidate materials to determine shrinkage, surface roughness, cure time, ease of application and removal, adhesion, eccentricity, formability, and repeatability. Of the ten materials, the four materials which exhibited characteristics most promising for effective use were the heavy body and regular type dental impression materials, the basic sculpting epoxy, and the polyurethane sealant. Of these, the particular material which was most effective, the heavy body dental impression material, was tested in the SWT in Mach 2 flow, and was observed to satisfy all requirements for use in creating the corner fillets in the upcoming experiments on shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction.

Braafladt, Alexander↗
NASA NTRS1993

Effects of precipitation on the thermodynamic structure of the trade wind boundary layer

A model of the thermodynamic structure of the trade wind boundary layer is formulated to include the parameterization of precipitation in relatively shallow clouds. Although the area-averaged simulated precipitation rates are relatively small (less than 1 mm/day), the inclusion of precipitation has an appreciable effect on the predicted thermodynamic structure. The cloud layer structure simulated with precipitation is warmer, drier, and more stable than that simulated without precipitation. The simulated inversion height is lowered by as much as 60 mbar when precipitation is included.

Albrecht, Bruce A.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Surface Turbulent Fluxes Over Pack Ice Inferred from TOVS Observations

A one-dimensional, atmospheric boundary layer model is coupled to a thermodynamic ice model to estimate the surface turbulent fluxes over thick sea ice. The principal forcing parameters in this time-dependent model are the air temperature, humidity, and wind speed at a specified level (either at 2 m or at 850 mb) and the downwelling surface radiative fluxes. The free parameters. are the air temperature, humidity, and wind speed profiles below the specified level, the surface skin temperature, the ice temperature profile, and the surface turbulent fluxes. The goal is to determine how well we can estimate the turbulent surface heat and momentum fluxes using forcing parameters from atmospheric temperatures and radiative fluxes retrieved from the TIROS-N Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS) data. Meteorological observations from the Lead Experiment (LeadEx, April 1992) ice camp are used to validate turbulent fluxes computed with the surface observations and the results are used to compare with estimates based on radio-sonde observations or with estimates based on TOVS data. We find that the TOVS-based estimates of the stress are significantly more accurate than those found with a constant geostrophic drag coefficient, with a root-mean-square error about half as large. This improvement is due to stratification effects included in the boundary layer model. The errors in the sensible heat flux estimates, however, are large compared to the small mean values observed during the field experiment.

Lindsay, R. W.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Three-dimensional shear-driven boundary layer flow with streamwise adverse pressure gradient

The effects of adverse pressure gradient on a three-dimensional turbulent boundary layer are studied in an axisymmetric forward-facing step geometry. Velocity measurements made using a three-component laser Doppler velocimeter include mean flow as well as Reynolds stresses and velocity triple-product correlations. Turbulent Prandtl mixing-lengths are extracted from the data, showing the effects of curvature. Streamwise pressure gradient was seen to alter streamwise velocity and Reynolds stress without significantly affecting transverse velocity and Reynolds stress. Transverse-strain was seen to have the effect of reducing the streamwise component of Reynolds stress.

Driver, David M.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Electromagnetic structure of the magnetopause and boundary layer

After a review of the properties and predictions of the closed and open models of the magnetopause, OGO-5 magnetometer data are used to illustrate various observed signatures of the magnetopause current layer and the adjacent plasma boundary layer. Among the topics touched upon are: fluctuations, diamagnetic effects, and field aligned currents in the boundary layer; one dimensionality of the magnetopause; presence and absence of a magnetic field component perpendicular to the magnetopause; finite ion gyroradius effects. A brief summary is given of existing Vlasov theory for the description of tangential, rotational, and contact discontinuities. Special attention is paid to the tangential momentum balance and the jump conditions at a rotational discontinuity. Low frequency fluctuations are discussed with emphasis on the signatures of the tearing mode.

Sonnerup, B. U. O.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Celestial Topology, Symmetry Theories, and Evidence for a NonSUSY D3‐Brane CFT

Symmetry Theories (SymThs) provide a flexible framework for analyzing the global categorical symmetries of a D -dimensional QFT D in terms of a (D + 1)-dimensional bulk system SymTh D+1 . In QFTs realized via local string backgrounds, these SymThs naturally arise from dimensional reduction of the linking boundary geometry. To track possible time dependent effects we introduce a celestial generalization of the standard “boundary at infinity” of a SymTh. As an application of these considerations we revisit large N quiver gauge theories realized by spacetime filling D3-branes probing a non-supersymmetric orbifold $\mathbb{R}$ 6 /Γ. Comparing the imprint of symmetry breaking on the celestial geometry at small and large ‘t Hooft coupling we find evidence for an intermediate symmetry preserving conformal fixed point.

conformal field theory↗
NASA NTRS1986

Wing laminar boundary layer in the presence of a propeller slipstream

The effects of a propeller slipstream on the wing laminar boundary layer are being investigated. Hot-wire velocity sensor measurements have been performed in flight and in a wind tunnel. It is shown that the boundary layer cycles between a laminar state and a turbulent state at the propeller blade passage rate. The cyclic length of the turbulent state increases with decreasing laminar stability. Analyses of the time varying velocity profiles show the turbulent state to lie in a transition region between fully laminar and fully turbulent. The observed cyclic boundary layer has characteristics similar to relaminarizing flow and laminar flow with external turbulence.

Miley, S. J.↗
NASA NTRS2008

PLIF Visualization of Active Control of Hypersonic Boundary Layers Using Blowing

Planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) imaging was used to visualize the boundary layer flow on a 1/3-scale Hyper-X forebody model. The boundary layer was perturbed by blowing out of orifices normal to the model surface. Two blowing orifice configurations were used: a spanwise row of 17-holes spaced at 1/8 inch, with diameters of 0.020 inches and a single-hole orifice with a diameter of 0.010 inches. The purpose of the study was to visualize and identify laminar and turbulent structures in the boundary layer and to make comparisons with previous phosphor thermography measurements of surface heating. Jet penetration and its influence on the boundary layer development was also examined as was the effect of a compression corner on downstream boundary layer transition. Based upon the acquired PLIF images, it was determined that global surface heating measurements obtained using the phosphor thermography technique provide an incomplete indicator of transitional and turbulent behavior of the corresponding boundary layer flow. Additionally, the PLIF images show a significant contribution towards transition from instabilities originating from the underexpanded jets. For this experiment, a nitric oxide/nitrogen mixture was seeded through the orifices, with nitric oxide (NO) serving as the fluorescing gas. The experiment was performed in the 31-inch Mach 10 Air Tunnel at NASA Langley Research Center.

Bathel, Brett F.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Path to Improving Simulated Properties of Low Clouds over the Beaufort Sea using Airborne In Situ Observations of Subgrid-Scale Variability

Arctic low clouds influence the evolution of the Arctic system through their effects on radiative fluxes, boundary layer mixing, stability, turbulence, humidity, and precipitation. Unfortunately, atmospheric models and retrospective analysis (reanalysis) products struggle to accurately simulate the occurrence and properties of low clouds in the Arctic. One of the main reasons for this problem are the possible unrealistic assumptions that models/reanalyses make about the subgrid-scale (SGS) variability of meteorological properties, as well as the relationship between SGS variability and grid-scale (GS) cloud properties. We utilize cloud and thermodynamic data of low level (primarily) liquid clouds collected from two aircraft campaigns conducted over the Beaufort Sea to better understand and characterize this problem. Examining data from the September 2014 Arctic Radiation-IceBridge Sea and Ice Experiment (ARISE) airborne campaign and the 1998 First International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) Regional Experiment (FIRE)–Arctic Cloud Experiment (ACE) reveals that GS cloud water variability is closely related with SGS distribution of total water (i.e. water vapor + cloud water). We examine the influence of three assumed SGS parameters on the estimation of GS cloud water: the width of the SGS PDF of total water (ΔQT), the shape of the SGS PDF, and the critical saturation ratio (Scrit), which partitions the SGS PDF into water that is available or not for conversion to cloud water. Both Scrit and ΔQT influence predicted GS cloud water strongly. ARISE and FIRE-ACE disagree somewhat in the details, but both campaigns support the possibility that more realistic representations of these two parameters may lead to more realistic GS cloud water. In particular, both parameters are sensitive to GS relative humidity, and so we examine the effects of allowing these quantities to vary as an empirically-derived linear function of GS relative humidity. In contrast, the shape of the PDF has little effect on the predicted cloud water – a surprising result that merits additional investigation.

J Brant Dodson↗
NASA NTRS2016

Transient Growth Analysis of Compressible Boundary Layers with Parabolized Stability Equations

The linear form of parabolized linear stability equations (PSE) is used in a variational approach to extend the previous body of results for the optimal, non-modal disturbance growth in boundary layer flows. This methodology includes the non-parallel effects associated with the spatial development of boundary layer flows. As noted in literature, the optimal initial disturbances correspond to steady counter-rotating stream-wise vortices, which subsequently lead to the formation of stream-wise-elongated structures, i.e., streaks, via a lift-up effect. The parameter space for optimal growth is extended to the hypersonic Mach number regime without any high enthalpy effects, and the effect of wall cooling is studied with particular emphasis on the role of the initial disturbance location and the value of the span-wise wavenumber that leads to the maximum energy growth up to a specified location. Unlike previous predictions that used a basic state obtained from a self-similar solution to the boundary layer equations, mean flow solutions based on the full Navier-Stokes (NS) equations are used in select cases to help account for the viscous-inviscid interaction near the leading edge of the plate and also for the weak shock wave emanating from that region. These differences in the base flow lead to an increasing reduction with Mach number in the magnitude of optimal growth relative to the predictions based on self-similar mean-flow approximation. Finally, the maximum optimal energy gain for the favorable pressure gradient boundary layer near a planar stagnation point is found to be substantially weaker than that in a zero pressure gradient Blasius boundary layer.

Compressible boundary layer↗