Interaction Of Flow Field Research Articles

Vented ethanol-gasoline vapor explosions initiated by two symmetric sparks in a channel

Although accidental fire scenes and explosions are frequently caused by more than one spark, the influencing mechanism of explosion evolution under the case of more than one spark has yet to be determined. Hence a small cuboid channel with two symmetrical sparks was deigned to investigate the effects of spark locations (IpD) and vent coefficient (Kv) on explosion flames propagation and pressures formation, which were simulated to reveal the symmetrical flame fronts and flow field interaction using a large-eddy simulation (LES). Following ignition, two symmetrical flames developed practically simultaneously until they merged to expel, at which moment, due to flow vortexes, a hollow area formed near the channel bottom beneath each configuration. The proposed correlation in this work may adequately explain the trend of experimental flame propagation velocity (v) vsKv following membrane burst. The vent pressure (Pb) and associated peak (dp/dt) remained constant while IpD changed, yet rose as Kv decreased. Surprisingly, the pressure would continue to grow after flame ejection under small IpD and Kv. The increasing trend between the maximum pressure (Pmax) and IpD was found to be met with a sigmoid function, and the Pmax also grew as the Kv climbed, a quadratic relation was discovered. This research can further understand influencing mechanism of explosion evolution in the event of more than one spark.

Режимы взрывного горения при аварийных взрывах газовых облаков в открытом пространстве

Emergency explosions of steam clouds in the open space occur in the deflagration combustion mode. Destructive force of the explosive waves is mainly determined by the rate of combustion in the steam cloud. Therefore, the issue of explosive combustion rate is the key one for predicting explosion parameters. To form the waves of destructive force, it is required that the combustion rate of the substance in the cloud increase by 30 or more times compared to laminar. The main and generally recognized mechanism of combustion intensification is turbulization of the process as a result of interaction of the gas flow field with various obstacles located in the area of the exploding cloud. In the work, the analysis focuses on the combustion processes in the obstacles with continuously changing blocking of space. Under such conditions, the combustion is not structured, it smoothly changes its characteristics, and not jerks at the locations of blocking barriers. That is, explosive combustion can be considered as a classic turbulent combustion of a homogeneous mixed mixture. The work gives preference to the analysis of works, in which the turbulent combustion rate is presented as allowing a change in the scale of turbulence. The results of these works are presented in the form of functions ff(U¢/Sl, l/d) of the ratio of the pulsation component of turbulence to the laminar combustion rate, and the ratio of the integral scale of turbulence to the thickness of the laminar flame. The work gives a comparison of the turbulent combustion velocity depending on the U¢/SL ratio for three values l/d = 100, 1000, 10 000. On the basis of the turbulent combustion modes diagram, the zones of applicability of various methods for determining the turbulent combustion rate are shown. The paper expresses preference for the Peters theory as the most universal and giving a realistic value of the turbulent combustion rate at l/d >> 1.

A comparative study on equilibrium scour volume around circular cylinders in clay–sand mixed cohesive beds, at near threshold velocity of sand – an experimental approach

Abstract Local scour around a bridge pier is a complex phenomenon resulting from the interaction of the three-dimensional turbulent flow field around hydraulic structures. An accurate estimation of scour depth below the stream-bed is important during design since it determines the foundation levels and the expansion of the bridge foundation structures. The present study reveals the results of flume experiments on equilibrium scour depth and scour volumes around circular bridge pier models in clay–sand sediment mixtures. The scouring process in a cohesive sediment mixture is a complex interaction between clay–sand network structure and bed shear stresses. The bed shear stress reduces inside the scour hole as scour depth increases, and this is related to the different modes of scouring in clay–sand mixtures. An exponential equation for the non-dimensional scour volume is proposed considering all the experimental runs to get a specific understanding of the surrounding volume of scour hole from maximum equilibrium scour depth in a clay–sand mixed cohesive bed, when the approach flow velocity is near to the critical velocity for mixed sand. The proposed equations are validated using the pre-existing data from the literature dealing with experimental investigations on bridge scour using clay–sand mixed cohesive sediment and show good agreement with observed data.

Numerical simulation of flow field characteristics and the improvement of pressure oscillation of rotating detonation engine

Due to the inherent working mode of rotating detonation engine (RDE), the detonation flow field has the characteristics of pressure oscillation and axial kinetic energy loss, which makes it difficult to design nozzle and improve propulsion performance. Therefore, in order to improve the characteristics of detonation flow field, the three-dimensional numerical simulation of annular chamber and hollow chamber is carried out with premixed hydrogen/air as fuel in this paper, and then tries to combine the two chambers to weaken the oscillation characteristics of detonation flow field through the interaction of detonation flow field, which is a new method to regulate the detonation flow field. The results show that there are four states of velocity vectors at the outlet of annular chamber and hollow chamber, which makes RDE be affected by rolling moment and results in the loss of axial kinetic energy. In the external flow field of combined chamber, the phenomenon of cyclic reflection of expansion wave and compression wave on the free boundary is observed, which results in Mach disk structure. Moreover, the pressure monitoring points are set at the external flow field. The pressure signal shows that the high-frequency pressure oscillation at the external flow field of the combined chamber has been greatly weakened. Compared to the annular chamber, the relative standard deviation (RSD) has been reduced from 14.6% to 5.6%. The results thus demonstrate that this method is feasible to adjust the pressure oscillation characteristics of the detonation flow field, and is of great significance to promote the potential of RDE and nozzle design.

Numerical Simulation of Orbit Controlled Hot-gas Lateral Jet of the triangular plate with rudder

Hypersonic interception weapons have high requirements for the efficiency and accuracy of the control system. As an effective control approach, the thermochemical non-equilibrium effect of jet flow must be considered in order to accurately predict the aerodynamic characteristic. At present, relevant researches are mostly focused on the low-flow rate hot jet, while numerical simulation and wind tunnel test studies on high-flow rate hot jet are rare. In this paper, the interaction flow field of the rail-controlled jet at the altitude of 60Km and 70Km has been simulated by solving the three-dimensional viscous fluid governing equations. The influence of the thermalchemical non-equilibrium effect of the jet interaction on the flow field characteristics and aerodynamic characteristics of the aircraft was analyzed. The primary results show that: (1) The flow fields of the cold-gas jet, frozen-gas jet and hot-gas jet have significant differences under the high-flow rate jet condition, which is mainly reflected the size and the pressure value of the separation region before the nozzle. The separation region length of the cold-gas jet is approximately twice that of the hot-gas jet and the length of the frozen-gas jet is between them; (2)Jet interaction will increase the surface pressure of the aircraft and reduce the skin-friction. When Ma=25, the aerodynamic interaction of hot jet is only about 30% of that of cold jet; (3) Jet interaction on aerodynamic characteristics increases with altitudes. With the increase of Mach number, the difference between the predicted results of hot jet and cold jet is enlarged because of the enhancement of the thermochemical non-equilibrium effect.

Control of flow separation over an axisymmetric flared body using ramped vanes

Experiments were performed at Mach 2 to assess the effectiveness of Ramped Vanes (RVs) in delaying the onset of shock-induced flow separation due to an axisymmetric compression corner. A cone–cylinder-flare model with a 24° flow deflection angle at the cylinder/flare juncture was selected for this study. A single row of RVs was placed 50 mm (10δ) upstream of the compression corner, to manipulate the incoming boundary layer and thereby bring alterations to the shock–boundary layer interaction flowfield. RVs with three sub-boundary layer heights viz. 1.4 mm, 2.1 mm and 2.8 mm (h/δRV=0.33, 0.50 and 0.67 respectively) were employed and their separation control performance was compared. Counter-rotating vortices originated from these devices, generating alternate upwash and downwash bands within the boundary layer. When the shorter devices were used, early and delayed onset of separation were noticed along the upwash and downwash regions respectively. However, as the devices grew taller, the increase in separation length along the upwash region seemed to diminish. Ultimately, when the tallest devices (h=2.8 mm) were introduced, the entire corrugated separation line was successfully pushed downstream of the uncontrolled separation line. Besides instigating these variations in the separation scale, the vortices also caused topological changes within the separation region. But, despite achieving a substantial delay in separation, the RVs were unable to shift the separation shock’s oscillations to higher frequencies.

Muzzle Arc Flow Field Simulation of a Small Caliber Launcher

Muzzle arc is a general phenomenon when the armature leaves the muzzle, and it is also a reason for the complexity of intermediate ballistic of electromagnetic launchers. In this article, a 3-D model has been developed to investigate muzzle arc flow field in a smaller caliber launcher. The coupled interaction of electromagnetic, flow, and thermal fields is realized by the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) theory in conjunction with a renormalization group (RNG) <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$ </tex-math></inline-formula> - <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\varepsilon $ </tex-math></inline-formula> turbulence model. The arc boundary conditions, arc root radius, and time-dependent current density are reasonably set on the basis of the experimental data and physical process. Simulation results reveal the relationship between muzzle arc and muzzle voltage. The rising edge of muzzle voltage corresponds to the arc expansion stage. The falling edge corresponds to the muzzle breakdown stage. And the turning point from rising edge to falling edge is the moment of muzzle breakdown. The flat section corresponds to the arc extinguishing stage. The muzzle blowback is the consequence of the arc expansion which produces a compression wave moving toward the breech. The velocity of blowback flow decreases from 670 to 270 m/s during the arc expansion stage. Then, it increases to about 350 m/s and tends to be stable due to the muzzle breakdown.

Numerical simulation method of submerged arc surfacing process of rollers

The submerged arc surfacing process involves complex behaviors such as metal heat transfer, melting, flow, phase transformation, and solidification and involves the interaction of electric field, thermal field, magnetic field, and flow field. At present, it is impossible to reveal the transient mechanism of multi-field coupling in submerged arc surfacing by experience or trial and error, which is not conducive to shorten the development cycle and save the cost. Moreover, it is difficult to measure the molten pool velocity, von Mises stress, and phase transformation zone in real-time. However, these factors are the key to obtain a high-quality surfacing layer. Therefore, a three-dimensional mathematical model of heat force flow multi-field coupling for roller submerged arc surfacing is established in this article. The distribution and variation of welding temperature, von Mises stress, molten pool flow field, and phase transformation zone are revealed by solving the model. The maximum von Mises stress of the rollers during submerged arc surfacing is 432 MPa. The depth of the phase transformation is 2.50 mm, and the width is 1.98 mm. Zeiss-IGMA HD FESEM was used to observe the welding microstructure. The results show that the main microstructure is martensite and a small amount of ferrite.

Flow field and vortex interactions in the near wake of two counter-rotating propellers

The wake hydrodynamics of counter-rotating propellers (CRP) is studied via phase-locked particle image velocimetry for three operating conditions featuring distinct flow dynamics. We focus our work on the flow field and the associated vortex dynamics that take place in the near wake, using a special on-line/off-line phase-locking technique that allows the velocity measurements to be phase-averaged based on both forward and aft propeller angular positions. The effect of propellers relative position on the flow features is investigated with support from high-speed visualizations of the vortex system, which is observed by inducing cavitation in the cores of the vortices. We report the relevant interactions that take place between the forward and aft propellers’ tip vorticity, in particular the regular patterns of vortex reconnection and break-up that depend on the advance coefficient, as well as the unique formation of isolated vortex rings and a highly coherent vortex wake.

On-site drag analysis of drafting cyclists

The aerodynamic drag of a trailing cyclists in a tandem formation is investigated at different lateral and longitudinal separations. A Ring of Fire (RoF) experiment is conducted at the Tom Dumoulin bike park of Sittard-Geleen in the Netherlands. The method is based on stereoscopic Particle Image Velocimetry (Stereo-PIV) measurements followed by invoking the conservation of momentum expressed in a control volume to evaluate the drag force of the cyclists. Three cyclists perform a series of individual tests as well as four different drafting tests, varying their order in the group. All tests were performed at a nominal riding speed of 45 km/h; the longitudinal displacement of the drafters varied between 0.32 m and 0.85 m and the lateral displacement varied between ±0.20 m among different runs. The results from the RoF measurements show the flow field interactions between the two drafting cyclists as well as the wake of the second cyclist. It is observed that the amount of drag reduction for the trailing rider is mainly caused by the change in inflow conditions. The drag reductions of the trailing cyclist are in the range from 27% to 66% depending on the longitudinal and lateral separation from the leading rider. The aerodynamic advantage of the drafting rider decreases with increasing lateral and longitudinal separation between riders, with the lateral separation found to be more relevant. Furthermore, based on the analysis of the individual wakes, the drag reductions found by the RoF, and the drag reduction measured by Barry et al. (2014), a model is introduced that predicts the aerodynamic gain of the trailing rider based on his or her position with respect to the leading rider. Validation of the model with data from literature shows that in the near wake the model prediction is in line with literature, with an overestimation of the drag reduction when the longitudinal distance is between 0.1 m and 0.3 m.

Thrust Characteristics of Ducted Propeller and Hydrodynamics of an Underwater Vehicle in Control Motions

A numerical technique to simulate the hydrodynamic behavior of ducted propellers attached to an underwater vehicle traveling under the mutually interacting flow fields of the vehicle and the propellers is proposed; the hydrodynamic performance of the propellers and the hydrodynamic loading on the main body of the vehicle when it is in different kinds of motion is investigated numerically. In the research, 3D geometric models of the duct, propeller, and main body of the vehicle are first constructed according to their geometrical features. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique based on the hybrid algorithm of dynamic mesh-nested sliding mesh is applied to solve the Navier–Stokes equations that govern the fluid motion around the duct, propeller, and main body of the vehicle when it is in motion. These equations are solved numerically with the CFD code Fluent. With the proposed numerical simulation technique, the hydrodynamic characteristics of the thrusts generated by the ducted propellers and the loading on the main body in the vehicle system under the mutually interacting flow fields are observed. The results of our numerical simulation indicate that the hybrid algorithm of dynamic mesh-nested sliding mesh can simulate multiple degrees of freedom of motion in underwater vehicle systems. In different motion states, the main body exerts a significant influence on the investigated flow fields; during the vehicle motions, negative wakes are formed on both sides of the main body, which lead to a decrease in the thrusts generated by the propellers on both sides. The thrust of the middle propeller is greater than that of the normal single one because of the obstructing effect in the tunnel caused by the main body.

Flame flow field interaction in non-premixed CH4/H2 swirling flames

Alternative fuels and stocks like biomass or chemical and refinery waste, may potentially be used in gas turbines and industrial applications after gasification. Thus, understanding the role of hydrogen in these fuels is critical to the broader aim of utilising alternative fuels for power generation. In this work, the interaction between the flame and the flow field was studied in a quarl-stabilised swirl non-premixed flame burning CH4 and H2–enriched CH4. Simultaneous high-speed OH-PLIF/PIV imaging at 5 kHz was carried out on these flames to explore the flame-flow interaction. The instantaneous flow fields in the CH4 or CH4+H2 flames showed a small scale vortical structure near the shear layers, which were not apparent in the time-averaged flow fields. Increasing H2% in the fuel jet was observed to dampen the velocity fluctuations. The fuel composition affected the spatial location of the reaction zone; in the CH4 flames, the axial position of the reaction zone is seen to track the relatively large-magnitude axial velocity fluctuations while remaining in locally low-speed regions of the flow. In contrast, in H2-enriched flames, where the flame is more robust, the reaction zone was able to survive longer, in terms of axial distance, in the vicinity of high swirling jet velocity, with less sensitivity to velocity fluctuations. With increasing the H2%, the reaction zone steadily leaves the IRZ towards the swirling jet flow and localised between its outer and inner vortices. This acts as a stabilisation factor where the internal vortices convect hot product towards the fresh mixture. Moreover, the flame curvatures, the vorticity and compressive strain fields interactions with the reaction zone are presented and discussed. This article outlines results that yield more in-depth insight into hydrogen-enriched hydrocarbon non-premixed swirling flames' combustion, which is essential to accelerate the fuel switching from hydrocarbons to hydrogen.

Dynamics of a pair of paramagnetic particles in shear flows under a uniform magnetic field

We numerically investigated the particle–particle interaction and relative motion of a pair of equal-sized magnetic particles in simple shear and plane Poiseuille flows. Two-dimensional numerical models were created by using direct numerical simulations, which are based on the finite element method and arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian approach with full consideration of particle–particle, particle–magnetic field, particle–flow field interactions. The effects of direction and strength of magnetic field on the dynamics of the particles in simple shear and plane Poiseuille flows were investigated, respectively. In the simple shear flow, the presence of magnetic field can show stabilizing or destabilizing effect on the particle trajectories, depending on the direction of the magnetic field. Specifically, the particles initially located at closed trajectories moved closer and closer when the magnetic field is applied at 0°and 135°, while they moved further apart and separated when the field is applied at 90°. In the plane Poiseuille flow, the magnetic field changed the relative motion of two particles: it induced two particles to form a chain when a strong magnetic field is applied at 0°and 135°; it separated the two particles when a strong magnetic field is applied at 45°and 90°. This work offers insights toward understanding the mechanisms of particle–particle interaction in magnetorheological fluids in simple shear or plane Poiseuille flows under a uniform magnetic field.

Topological modifications due to ramped vanes in a flare-induced shock–boundary layer interaction flowfield

Effect of ′ramped vane′-type vortex generators on a shock-induced flow separation in the vicinity of an axisymmetric compression corner was evaluated. Numerical simulations were performed at Mach 2 on a cone–cylinder–flare model with a flare angle of 24°. The undisturbed boundary layer thickness (δ) at the location of the compression corner was 5 mm. A single array of these vortex generators with a device height of 0.28δ (1.4 mm) was placed on the cylinder surface at different streamwise positions, viz. 5δ, 10δ and 15δ upstream of the compression corner, and their ability to manipulate the shock–boundary layer interaction flowfield was compared. The presence of these devices caused substantial changes in the interaction region and the separation bubble structure. The separation bubble transformed into a series of spade-shaped structures with pockets of attached flow in between them. The ramped vanes increased the separation length along the device centreline, but this effect was attenuated considerably, by bringing them closer to the interaction region. Moving the ramped vanes closer also had a collapsing effect on the spade-shaped structures, which simultaneously widened the attached flow zones in between them.

The Turbulent Dynamo.

The generation of magnetic field in an electrically conducting fluid generally involves the complicated nonlinear interaction of flow turbulence, rotation and field. This dynamo process is of great importance in geophysics, planetary science and astrophysics, since magnetic fields are known to play a key role in the dynamics of these systems. This paper gives an introduction to dynamo theory for the fluid dynamicist. It proceeds by laying the groundwork, introducing the equations and techniques that are at the heart of dynamo theory, before presenting some simple dynamo solutions. The problems currently exercising dynamo theorists are then introduced, along with the attempts to make progress. The paper concludes with the argument that progress in dynamo theory will be made in the future by utilising and advancing some of the current breakthroughs in neutral fluid turbulence such as those in transition, self-sustaining processes, turbulence/mean-flow interaction, statistical and data-driven methods and maintenance and loss of balance.

Calculation and analysis of interaction flowfield over tiltrotor aircraft in conversion mode

Aiming at solving the complicated aerodynamic interaction problem of conversion mode, the preconditioning method is applied. Combined with the unstructured hybrid technique and the overlapping grid interpolation technique, a numerical simulation method for tiltrotor aircraft in conversion mode is established. On this basis, the validity of the numerical method is verified. Then, with the numerical simulation of isolated rotor, isolated fuselage and tiltrotor aircraft, the laws of the aerodynamic interaction of rotor/fuselage/wing/tail are analyzed with tilting process. The calculation results show that the rule of the influence of the rotor wake on the aerodynamic performance of the wing is different between the inner side and the outer side of the wing. Compared with the isolated rotor, the thrust coefficient of the rotor of the aircraft increases slightly by 0 ∼ 5% during the tilting process due to wing and the fuselage.

Influence of rotor speed, discharge pressure, and clearance size on the unsteady flow dynamics and heat interaction of roots blower

The geometry of the 2-lobe rotors of a roots blower is proposed by the combination of three arcs and is parameterized by two independent variables. By considering a standard combination of these variables, attempts are made to grasp the unsteady interior flow phenomena and thermal interaction in the blower as well as to comprehend the effect of main influencing factors on the performance of the blower using a transient finite volume-based dynamic-mesh-rearrangement method. A grid-independent test is conducted, and the adopted methodology is validated. At first, an endeavor is made to realize the transient internal flow field and heat interaction within the roots blower. Then, individual efforts are made to apprehend the effect of rotor speed, discharge pressure, and clearance size (provided in between the rotors or in between the rotors and casing) on the said transient flow dynamics and heat interaction. Time variation of the discharge velocity, mass flowrate, and discharge temperature are found to be fluctuating in nature. Pressure, velocity, and temperature distributions in the blower, as well as the leakages, backflow, vortices in the blower, etc., at different moments, are found to be strongly dependent on the rotor speed, discharge pressure, clearance size between the rotors or between the rotor and housing. The nature and amplitude of the time variation of exhaust velocity, discharge mass flowrate, outlet-temperature, and the blower performance are also found to be very much sensitive to the chosen rotor speed, discharge pressure, and clearance size.

Integrated wind farm layout and control optimization

Abstract. The objective of this paper is to investigate the joint optimization of wind farm layout and wind farm control in terms of power production. A successful fulfilment of this goal requires the following: (1) an accurate and fast flow model, (2) selection of the minimum set of design parameters that rules or governs the problem, and (3) selection of an optimization algorithm with good scaling properties. For control of the individual wind farm turbines with the aim of wind farm production optimization, the two most obvious strategies are wake steering based on active wind turbine yaw control and wind turbine derating. The present investigation is limited to wind turbine derating. A high-speed linearized computational fluid dynamics (CFD) Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) solver models the flow field and the crucial wind turbine wake interactions inside the wind farm. The actuator disc method is used to model the wind turbines, and utilizing an aerodynamic model, the design space of the optimization problem is reduced to only three variables per turbine – two geometric and one carefully selected variable specifying the individual wind turbine derating setting for each mean wind speed and direction. The full design space is spanned by these (2N+NdNsN) parameters, where N is the number of wind farm turbines, Nd is the number of direction bins, and Ns is the number of mean wind speed bins. This design space is decomposed into two subsets, which in turn define a nested set of optimization problems to achieve a significantly faster optimization procedure compared to a direct optimization based on the full design space. Following a simplistic sanity check of the platform functionality regarding wind farm layout and control optimization, the capability of the developed optimization platform is demonstrated on a Swedish offshore wind farm. For this particular wind farm, the analysis demonstrates that the expected annual energy production can be increased by 4 % by integrating the wind farm control into the design of the wind farm layout, which is 1.2 % higher than what is achieved by optimizing the layout only.

Multidimensional simulations of Mckenna-driven flow tube configuration: Investigating non-ideality in NOx formation flow tube experiments

Abstract Multidimensional simulations have been conducted to simulate atmospheric pressure, flat-flame/McKenna-burner-driven-flow tube experiments targeted to obtain NOx speciation data for predicting/analyzing syngas combustion emissions. In a prior work, we demonstrated the impacts of multidimensional transport on post flame region prediction departures from those assuming unidimensional flow/transport conditions. Here we develop and utilize a multidimensional laminar reacting flow solver to simulate the fully coupled flame and post flame regions to further elucidate the impacts of the earlier unidimensional modeling assumptions on interpreting post flame NOx experimental data. The model is used to simulate a lean, premixed syngas/air flame and its associated post flame regions within a cylindrical flow-tube-like arrangement. The combustion process takes place under atmospheric condition with trace amount of NOx seeding fed into the inlet gas stream. The spatial evolution of NOx species (NO and NO2) in the flame and in the post-combustion zone suggests two distinct regions: 1) a region encompassing the flame structure itself; and 2) a post flame region in which the temperature decays due to both axial and radial transport processes. The predictions show that for the conditions studied, a pulsatile flow field exists due to the formation of an expanding and contracting recirculation zone in the outer periphery of the flow tube. By resolving the nature of the flow, the resulting time-averaged temperature and species concentrations show improved agreement with existing experimental measurements. The flow-field interaction results in radial inhomogeneities in the NO2 profiles with the maximum concentration offset from the flow centerline. The location of the peak in NO2 is coupled with radial temperature gradients from wall cooling effects and their significant influence on NO/NO2 interconversion kinetics, producing notable NO2 accumulation in regions near the wall. Geometrical configurations capable of suppressing/minimizing the pulsatile nature are also investigated and the results are compared. Other experimental configurations could be considered in parametric simulations to determine the optimal configuration that would minimize non-idealities in the observations. The work shows the value in performing such computations in advance of settling on a particular design for flow tube/flow reactor experiments.

Numerical investigation on hydrodynamic performance of new canard-configuration tandem propellers

The complex flow field interference between the front and rear propellers will affect the efficiency of the tandem propeller. To reduce or utilize this kind of interference and improve efficiency, inspired by the excellent aerodynamic performance (lift-drag ratio) of the plane with canard-configuration wings, an exploratory numerical study has been carried out to investigate the hydrodynamic performance of new canard-configuration tandem propellers based on RANS method with SST k-ω turbulence model and moving reference frame using the STAR-CCM+ solver. The effect of diameter ratio, axial distance and angular displacement on the hydrodynamic performance of the tandem propeller has been widely investigated. In order to get a general conclusion, the new tandem propellers were designed based on two traditional tandem propellers, CLAU3-30-1-10-20-0 and CLB4-55-1-10-21-23.7. The numerical approach was applied to simulate the open water performance of the two traditional propellers first and the comparison of numerical results with the experimental data was in a good agreement. The study reveals that the efficiency of the tandem propeller can be improved by decreasing the diameter of the front propeller to a certain extent. Generally, the efficiency is also increasing with the increase of axial distance, but an extreme small axial distance with a specified angular displacement can improve the efficiency significantly, and the flow field interaction between the front and rear propeller blades was investigated to explain the efficiency improvement. The optimum angular displacement, which is important for a tandem propeller design, is related to the axial distance and the working condition (advance coefficient) of the propeller. Furthermore, the redistribution of the negative pressure on the front and rear propeller blades using the canard-configuration may lead to a better cavitation performance than that of the traditional tandem propeller. Generally, this study presents a comprehensive study on the effect of three important geometrical parameters on the performance of the tandem propellers and demonstrates some advantages of the new canard-configuration tandem propellers over the tradition tandem propellers. The results have certain significance for the design and development of new tandem propellers.