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Preliminary design methods are presented for vehicle aerothermodynamics. Predictions are made for Shuttle orbiter, a Mach 6 transport vehicle and a high-speed missile configuration. Rapid and accurate methods are discussed for obtaining aerodynamic coefficients and heat transfer rates for laminar and turbulent flows for vehicles at high angles of attack and hypersonic Mach numbers.
An experimental program has been conducted to ascertain the effects of the number of lateral jets, the jet velocity ratio, and the crossflow swirl strength, on the isothermal flowfield patterns in jets injected normally to a round-section crossflow. Attention has been given to the trajectory, penetration, and mixing efficiency of the lateral injection, using flow visualization, pitot-probe and hot-wire methods. In addition, such predictive techniques as a simple, explicit, fully three-dimensional turbulent computer code have been employed.
The shock-cell structure of supersonic jets with non-circular exit geometry is modeled using a linearized analysis. The model takes into account the finite thickness of the jet shear layer using realistic velocity and density profiles. The effects of the shear layer turbulence are included by incorporating eddy-viscosity terms. A finite-difference numerical method is used to solve the steady linearized equations of motion. A body-fitted coordinate system is used to describe the shear layer. The variation of the pressure fluctuation with downstream distance is given for circular jets and for an elliptic jet of aspect ratio 2.0. Comparisons with experimental data are made. Difficulties with the numerical technique are also discussed.
A high-order-accurate finite-difference approach to direct simulations of transition and turbulence in compressible flows is described. Attention is given to the high-free-stream disturbance case in which transition to turbulence occurs close to the leading edge. In effect, computation requirements are reduced. A method for numerically generating free-stream disturbances is presented.
The multi-dimensional numerical model has been developed to analyze the nonlinear combustion instabilities in liquid-fueled engines. The present pressure-based approach can handle the implicit pressure-velocity coupling in a non-iterative way. The additional scalar conservation equations for the chemical species, the energy, and the turbulent transport quantities can be handled by the same predictor-corrector sequences. This method is time-accurate and it can be applicable to the all-speed, transient, multi-phase, and reacting flows. Special emphasis is given to the acoustic/vaporization interaction which may act as the crucial rate-controlling mechanism in the liquid-fueled rocket engines. The subcritical vaporization is modeled to account for the effects of variable thermophysical properties, non-unitary Lewis number in the gas-film, the Stefan flow effect, and the effect of transient liquid heating. The test cases include the one-dimenisonal fast transient non-reacting and reacting flows, and the multi-dimensional combustion instabilities encountered in the liquid-fueled rocket thrust chamber. The present numerical model successfully demonstrated the capability to simulate the fast transient spray-combusting flows in terms of the limiting-cycle amplitude phenomena, correspondence between combustion and acoustics, and the steep-fronted wave and flame propagation. The investigated parameters include the spray initial conditions, air-fuel mixture ratios, and the engine geometry. Stable and unstable operating conditions are found for the liquid-fueled combustors. Under certain conditions, the limiting cycle behavior of the combusting flowfields is obtained. The numerical results indicate that the spray vaporization processes play an important role in releasing thermal energy and driving the combustion instability.
Computations were performed to study three-dimensional (3-D), shock-wave/boundary-layer interactions on a flat plate in which fluid in the boundary layer was bled through a circular hole into a plenum to control shock-wave induced separation. Results are presented which show the details of the 3-D flowfield about the bleed hole and how bleed-hole placement relative to shock-wave impingement affect upstream, spanwise, and downstream influence lengths. This study revealed an underlying mechanisms by which bleed holes can affect shock-wave/boundary-layer interactions. This investigation is based on the ensemble-averaged, "full-compressible" Navier-Stokes equations closed by the Baldwin-Lomax turbulence model. Solutions to these equations were obtained by an implicit finite-volume method based on the partially-split, two-factored algorithm of Steger.
Recent advances in the development of the diagonalized alternating direction implicit multigrid method for compressible aerodynamic problems are reviewed. These include the extension of the method originally developed for the Euler equations to include viscous effects, the computation of turbulent flows and the implementation on parallel computers of the scheme on multiblock rids.
One of the major achievements in engineering science has been the development of computer algorithms for solving nonlinear differential equations such as the Navier-Stokes equations. These algorithms are now used in the practical engineering design of devices such as cars and airplanes as well as theoretical studies of complex phenomena such as fluid turbulence. In past years, limited computer resources have motivated the development of efficient numerical methods in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) utilizing structured meshes. These meshes are comprised of systematic arrays of quadrilateral or hexahedral cells. The use of structured meshes greatly simplifies the implementation of CFD algorithms on conventional computers. Structured meshes also permit the use of highly efficient solution techniques such as alternating direction implicit (ADI) iteration schemes or multigrid. Following the dramatic improvement in computing speed in recent years, emphasis has shifted towards the design of algorithms capable of treating complex geometries. The automatic generation of structured grids about complex geometries is problematic. Unstructured grids offer one promising alternative technique for treating these general geometries. Unstructured meshes have irregular connectivity and usually contain triangles and/or quadrilaterals in two dimensions and tetrahedra and/or hexahedra in three dimensions. The generation and use of unstructured grids poses new challenges in computational fluid dynamics. This is true for both grid generation as well as for the design of algorithms for flow solution. The purpose of these notes is to present recent developments in the unstructured grid generation and flow solution technology.
The objective of this project was to evaluate and develop subgrid-scale (SGS) turbulence models for large eddy simulations (LES) of compressible flows. During the first phase of the project results from LES using the dynamic SGS model were compared to those of direct numerical simulations (DNS) of compressible homogeneous turbulence. The second phase of the project involved implementing the dynamic SGS model in a NASA code for simulating supersonic flow over a flat-plate. The model has been successfully coded and a series of simulations has been completed. One of the major findings of the work is that numerical errors associated with the finite differencing scheme used in the code can overwhelm the SGS model and adversely affect the LES results. Attached to this overview are three submitted papers: 'Evaluation of the Dynamic Model for Simulations of Compressible Decaying Isotropic Turbulence'; 'The effect of the formulation of nonlinear terms on aliasing errors in spectral methods'; and 'Large-Eddy Simulation of a Spatially Evolving Compressible Boundary Layer Flow'.
Fully elliptic forms of the transport equations have been solved numerically for two flow configurations. The first is turbulent flow in a channel with transverse rectangular ribs, and the second is impingement cooling of a plane surface. Both flows are relevant to proposed designs for active cooling of hypersonic vehicles using supercritical hydrogen as the coolant. Flow downstream of an abrupt pipe expansion and of a backward-facing step were also solved with various near-wall turbulence models as benchmark problems. A simple form of periodicity boundary condition was used for the channel flow with transverse rectangular ribs. The effects of various parameters on heat transfer in channel flow with transverse ribs and in impingement cooling were investigated using the Yap modified Jones and Launder low Reynolds number k-epsilon turbulence model. For the channel flow, predictions were in adequate agreement with experiment for constant property flow, with the results for friction superior to those for heat transfer. For impingement cooling, the agreement with experiment was generally good, but the results suggest that improved modelling of the dissipation rate of turbulence kinetic energy is required in order to obtain improved heat transfer prediction, especially near the stagnation point. The k-epsilon turbulence model was used to predict the mean flow and heat transfer for constant and variable property flows. The effect of variable properties for channel flow was investigated using the same turbulence model, but comparison with experiment yielded no clear conclusions. Also, the wall function method was modified for use in the variable properties flow with a non-adiabatic surface, and an empirical model is suggested to correctly account for the behavior of the viscous sublayer with heating.
Active separation control, using periodic excitation, was studied experimentally at high Reynolds numbers. The effects of compressibility, mild sweep, location o excitation slot and steady momentum transfer on the efficacy of the method were identified. Tests conducted at chord Reynolds numbers as high as 40 x 10(exp 6) demonstrated that active control using oscillatory flow excitation can effectively delay flow separation from and reattach separated flow to aerodynamic surfaces at flight conditions. The effective frequencies generate one to four vortices over the controlled region at all times, regardless of the Reynolds number. The vortices are initially amplified by the separated shear-layer, and after initiating reattachment, the strength of the vortices decay as they are convected downstream. Large amplitude, low frequency vortices break down to smaller ones upon introduction at the excitation slot. The effects of steady mass transfer were compared to those of periodic excitation. It was found that steady blowing is significantly inferior to periodic excitation in terms o performance benefits and that the response to steady blowing is abrupt, and therefore undesirable from a control point of view. Steady suction and periodic excitation are comparable in effectiveness and both exhibit a gradual response to changes in the magnitude of the control input. The combination of weak steady suction and periodic excitation is extremely effective while the addition of steady blowing could be detrimental. Compressibility effects are weak as long as separation is not caused by a shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction The undesirable effects of the shock-induced separation could be alleviated by the introduction of periodic excitation upstream of the shock wave, inside the region of supersonic flow. The effects of mild sweep were also studied and periodic excitation was found to be very effective in reattaching three-dimensional separated flow. Scaling laws that correlate 2D and 3D controlled flows were tested and verified. Several performance benefits could be gained by applying the method to existing configurations, but it is expected that the full potential of the method can only be realized through the design of new configurations. A comprehensive, fully turbulent, database was generated in order to guide the development, and enable validation, of candidate unsteady CFD design tools.
Active separation control, using periodic excitation, was studied experimentally at high Reynolds numbers. The effects of compressibility, mild sweep, location of excitation slot and steady momentum transfer on the efficacy of the method were identified. Tests conducted at chord Reynolds numbers as high as 40 x 10(exp 6) demonstrated that active control using oscillatory flow excitation can effectively delay flow separation from, and reattach separated flow to aerodynamic surfaces at flight conditions. The effective frequencies generate one to four vortices over the controlled region at all times, regardless of the Reynolds number. The vortices are initially amplified by the separated shear-layer, and after initiating reattachment, the strength of the vortices decay as they are convected downstream. Large amplitude, low frequency vortices break down to smaller ones upon introduction at the excitation slot. The effects of steady mass transfer were compared to those of periodic excitation. It was found that steady blowing is significantly inferior to periodic excitation in terms of performance benefits and that the response to steady blowing is abrupt, and therefore undesirable from a control point of view. Steady suction and periodic excitation are comparable in effectiveness and both exhibit a gradual response to changes in the magnitude of the control input. The combination of weak steady suction and periodic excitation is extremely effective while the addition of steady blowing could be detrimental. Compressibility effects are weak as long as separation is not caused by a shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction. The undesirable effects of the shock-induced separation could be alleviated by the introduction of periodic excitation upstream of the shock wave, inside the region of supersonic flow. The effects of mild sweep were also studied and periodic excitation was found to be very effective in reattaching three-dimensional separated flow. Scaling laws that correlate 2D and 3D controlled flows were tested and verified. Several performance benefits could be gained by applying the method to existing configurations, but it is expected that the full potential of the method can only be realized through the design of new configurations. A comprehensive, fully turbulent, database was generated in order to guide the development, and enable validation, of candidate unsteady CFD design tools.
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft is being designed to carry a large rover (greater than 800 kg) to the surface of Mars using a blunt-body entry capsule as the primary decelerator. The spacecraft is being designed for launch in 2009 and arrival at Mars in 2010. The combination of large mass and diameter with non-zero angle-of-attack for MSL will result in unprecedented convective heating environments caused by turbulence prior to peak heating. Navier-Stokes computations predict a large turbulent heating augmentation for which there are no supporting flight data1 and little ground data for validation. Consequently, an extensive experimental program has been established specifically for MSL to understand the level of turbulent augmentation expected in flight. The experimental data support the prediction of turbulent transition and have also uncovered phenomena that cannot be replicated with available computational methods. The result is that the flight aeroheating environments predictions must include larger uncertainties than are typically used for a Mars entry capsule. Finally, the thermal protection system (TPS) being used for MSL has not been flown at the heat flux, pressure, and shear stress combinations expected in flight, so a test program has been established to obtain conditions relevant to flight. This paper summarizes the aerothermodynamic definition analysis and TPS development, focusing on the challenges that are unique to MSL.
Discretization of the viscous terms in current finite-volume unstructured-grid schemes are compared using node-centered and cell-centered approaches in two dimensions. Accuracy and efficiency are studied for six nominally second-order accurate schemes: a node-centered scheme, cell-centered node-averaging schemes with and without clipping, and cell-centered schemes with unweighted, weighted, and approximately mapped least-square face gradient reconstruction. The grids considered range from structured (regular) grids to irregular grids composed of arbitrary mixtures of triangles and quadrilaterals, including random perturbations of the grid points to bring out the worst possible behavior of the solution. Two classes of tests are considered. The first class of tests involves smooth manufactured solutions on both isotropic and highly anisotropic grids with discontinuous metrics, typical of those encountered in grid adaptation. The second class concerns solutions and grids varying strongly anisotropically over a curved body, typical of those encountered in high-Reynolds number turbulent flow simulations. Results from the first class indicate the face least-square methods, the node-averaging method without clipping, and the node-centered method demonstrate second-order convergence of discretization errors with very similar accuracies per degree of freedom. The second class of tests are more discriminating. The node-centered scheme is always second order with an accuracy and complexity in linearization comparable to the best of the cell-centered schemes. In comparison, the cell-centered node-averaging schemes are less accurate, have a higher complexity in linearization, and can fail to converge to the exact solution when clipping of the node-averaged values is used. The cell-centered schemes using least-square face gradient reconstruction have more compact stencils with a complexity similar to the complexity of the node-centered scheme. For simulations on highly anisotropic curved grids, the least-square methods have to be amended either by introducing a local mapping of the surface anisotropy or modifying the scheme stencil to reflect the direction of strong coupling.
Discretization of the viscous terms in current finite-volume unstructured-grid schemes are compared using node-centered and cell-centered approaches in two dimensions. Accuracy and complexity are studied for four nominally second-order accurate schemes: a node-centered scheme and three cell-centered schemes - a node-averaging scheme and two schemes with nearest-neighbor and adaptive compact stencils for least-square face gradient reconstruction. The grids considered range from structured (regular) grids to irregular grids composed of arbitrary mixtures of triangles and quadrilaterals, including random perturbations of the grid points to bring out the worst possible behavior of the solution. Two classes of tests are considered. The first class of tests involves smooth manufactured solutions on both isotropic and highly anisotropic grids with discontinuous metrics, typical of those encountered in grid adaptation. The second class concerns solutions and grids varying strongly anisotropically over a curved body, typical of those encountered in high-Reynolds number turbulent flow simulations. Tests from the first class indicate the face least-square methods, the node-averaging method without clipping, and the node-centered method demonstrate second-order convergence of discretization errors with very similar accuracies per degree of freedom. The tests of the second class are more discriminating. The node-centered scheme is always second order with an accuracy and complexity in linearization comparable to the best of the cell-centered schemes. In comparison, the cell-centered node-averaging schemes may degenerate on mixed grids, have a higher complexity in linearization, and can fail to converge to the exact solution when clipping of the node-averaged values is used. The cell-centered schemes using least-square face gradient reconstruction have more compact stencils with a complexity similar to that of the node-centered scheme. For simulations on highly anisotropic curved grids, the least-square methods have to be amended either by introducing a local mapping based on a distance function commonly available in practical schemes or modifying the scheme stencil to reflect the direction of strong coupling. The major conclusion is that accuracies of the node centered and the best cell-centered schemes are comparable at equivalent number of degrees of freedom.
Significant progress has been made in the development of subgrid scale (SGS) closures based on a filtered density function (FDF) for large eddy simulations (LES) of turbulent reacting flows. The FDF is the counterpart of the probability density function (PDF) method, which has proven effective in Reynolds averaged simulations (RAS). However, while systematic progress is being made advancing the FDF models for relatively simple flows and lab-scale flames, the application of these methods in complex geometries and high speed, wall-bounded flows with shocks remains a challenge. The key difficulties are the significant computational cost associated with solving the FDF transport equation and numerically stiff finite rate chemistry. For LES/FDF methods to make a more significant impact in practical applications a pragmatic approach must be taken that significantly reduces the computational cost while maintaining high modeling fidelity. An example of one such ongoing effort is at the NASA Langley Research Center, where the first generation FDF models, namely the scalar filtered mass density function (SFMDF) are being implemented into VULCAN, a production-quality RAS and LES solver widely used for design of high speed propulsion flowpaths. This effort leverages internal and external collaborations to reduce the overall computational cost of high fidelity simulations in VULCAN by: implementing high order methods that allow reduction in the total number of computational cells without loss in accuracy; implementing first generation of high fidelity scalar PDF/FDF models applicable to high-speed compressible flows; coupling RAS/PDF and LES/FDF into a hybrid framework to efficiently and accurately model the effects of combustion in the vicinity of the walls; developing efficient Lagrangian particle tracking algorithms to support robust solutions of the FDF equations for high speed flows; and utilizing finite rate chemistry parametrization, such as flamelet models, to reduce the number of transported reactive species and remove numerical stiffness. This paper briefly introduces the SFMDF model (highlighting key benefits and challenges), and discusses particle tracking for flows with shocks, the hybrid coupled RAS/PDF and LES/FDF model, flamelet generated manifolds (FGM) model, and the Irregularly Portioned Lagrangian Monte Carlo Finite Difference (IPLMCFD) methodology for scalable simulation of high-speed reacting compressible flows.
The flow fields and boundary erosion that are associated with scour at bridge piers are very complex. Direct measurement of the boundary shear stress and boundary pressure fluctuations in experimental scour research has always been a challenge and high spatial resolution and fidelity have been almost impossible. Most researchers have applied an indirect process to determine shear stress using precise measured velocity profiles. Laser Doppler Anemometry and Particle Image Velocimetry are common techniques used to accurately measure velocity profiles. These methods are based on theoretical assumptions to estimate boundary shear stress. In addition, available turbulence models cannot very well account for the effect of bed roughness which is fundamentally important for any CFD simulation. The authors have taken on the challenge to advance the magnitude level to which direct measurements of the shear stress in water flow can be performed. This paper covered the challenges and the efforts to develop a higher accuracy and small spatial resolution sensor. Also, preliminary sensor designs and test results are presented.
A computational study was performed to explore the aerodynamic design and performance of streamline-traced, external-compression (STEX) inlets for Mach 2.0. The performance metrics included inlet flow rates, total pressure recovery, and total pressure distortion. The study explored the use of round and flattened capture cross-sections and a bleed slot. The design of the inlet and generation of the inlet geometry was performed using the Supersonic Inlet Design and Analysis(SUPIN) Tool. Computational grids were generated, and methods of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) were applied to solve the three-dimensional, turbulent flow through the inlets using the Wind-US CFD flow solver. It was found that the use of a bleed slot with about 5% bleed resulted in an inlet total pressure recovery of 95% at Mach 2 with acceptable radial and circumferential total pressure distortion. It was also found that there was only a slight decrease in performance between a round and flattened capture cross-section. This suggests that the use of streamline tracing offers flexibility in shaping the inlet capture cross-section for a more favorable integration with an aircraft wing or fuselage. This flexibility and the good performance of the inlet provides a novel inlet design for future commercial supersonic aircraft.