Hot-wire Anemometry Research Articles

Comparison of LDA and hot-wire measurements at moderate subsonic mach numbers

A detailed comparison of Hot-Wire-Anemometry (HWA) and Laser-Doppler-Anemometry (LDA) measurements in the wake of an airfoil is presented. An evaluation of the capabilities of both techniques in measuring three-dimensional turbulence in turbomachinery applications is made and potential application pitfalls are highlighted. It is shown that the HWA tends to underestimate the turbulence intensity due to damping effects, while the LDA tends to overestimate the turbulence intensity due to the optical setup. The wake flow of a single airfoil at inflow Mach numbers of 0.35 and 0.45 and corresponding Reynolds numbers of 480,000 and 630,000 are used as a reference case. Different HWA probe head designs and various wire diameter are considered, as well as different setups for the LDA measurement device. In a comparison of the two techniques, the turbulence intensity measured differs by up to <inline-formula><mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline" overflow="scroll"><mml:mn>1.3</mml:mn></mml:math></inline-formula> percentage points (pp) in the freestream region and 4.0 pp within the wake. This is primarily due to the resolution of high-frequency fluctuations. For both measuring techniques, potential sources of errors are highlighted, especially regarding the application to turbomachinery flows.

The flow and heat transfer behavior of synthetic jets with star shaped orifice of different lobes

In the present experimental investigation, the flow and heat transfer characteristics of synthetic jet (SJ) issuing from different lobed (3–10) star-shaped orifices are studied. Tests are performed by actuating the SJ actuator at constant input power of 4Vrms, with varied range of orifice to surface spacings (1–16) and numerous values of Reynolds number (8692–10746). The synthetic jet's flow characteristics are studied using hot-wire anemometry, while the thermal characteristics are analyzed using an IR camera. Distinct peaks in turbulence intensity are observed in major and minor planes for different lobed (3–6) star orifices; this may be due to the development of two shear layers in such orifices, which consequently merges into a single shear layer for higher lobed (8–10) star orifice. The 6-lobed star orifice is found to exhibit maximum heat transfer performance at z/d varying between 2 and 14. At z/d = 2, the 6-lobed star orifice exhibit 7.6% and 10.1% improvement in average Nusselt number compared to circular and 10-lobed star orifice respectively, which may be due to formation of vortical structures along the lobed edges and subsequent switching of axes between the major and minor planes. To comprehend the energy associated with the issuing vortices, the power spectral density of the velocity signal at the orifice exit is examined. A unified correlation for the average Nusselt number is also derived for various star-shaped orifices.

Experimental analysis of a propeller noise in turbulent flow

This paper presents a comprehensive experimental aeroacoustic investigation of a propeller under turbulence ingestion. Two turbulence-generating passive grids were utilized to quantify the effect of turbulence intensity on the aeroacoustic characteristics of the propeller. A two-component hot-wire anemometry was employed to study the flow field. The flow field results demonstrate a substantial increase in fluctuating velocity components in both axial and radial directions, concentrated at the mid-span of the blade and near the tip, respectively. Energy spectral analysis in the vicinity of the propeller blade shows significantly higher broadband energy levels with multiple haystacking peaks at the harmonics of the blade passage frequency. Far-field noise and load measurement results show that turbulence ingestion has a strong effect on the aerodynamic loading and acoustic response at the blade passage frequency. The directivity of noise radiation at low frequency shows a significant tonal noise contribution. Meanwhile, broadband noise radiation is more dominant at a higher range of frequency, especially when the propeller is operated with turbulence ingestion and at higher advance ratio settings. The far-field noise results revealed the haystacking trends in the low frequency domain of the spectra and are most significant for propellers operating in turbulent inflows.

Mechanisms of Plasma Actuators Controlling High-Aspect-Ratio Rectangular Jet Width for Automobile Air Conditioning Systems

High-aspect-ratio (HAR) rectangular jets have attracted attention in automobile air conditioning (A/C) systems and turbulent jet applications owing to their excellent air delivery and mixing and attractive interior design. Active flow control (AFC) of rectangular jets using plasma actuators (PAs) has proven to be a promising technique because the actuator is simple, has low energy consumption, and can create flow features without interference. This research aims to understand the interaction between PAs and flow from a HAR rectangular nozzle using hot-wire anemometry, particle image velocimetry, and theoretical studies. Understanding how PAs affect the flow is beneficial for designing air vents to fit automobile A/C systems and various engineering applications by recreating the flow features with other AFC techniques and actuators. The combination of periodic excitation and vectoring effects transfers the flow’s mean energy to organized structures—known as spanwise vortexes—as large as 6 mm. The interaction between these coherent structures and the dissipative environment compresses the vortexes, resulting in the flow converging on the spanwise–streamwise (X–Z) plane and diverging on the transverse–streamwise (X–Y) plane. HAR rectangular jet flow features controlled by PAs can be predicted for specific cases by calculating the Strouhal number based on PA operating parameters.

Experimental Detection of Organised Motion in Complex Flows with Modified Spectral Proper Orthogonal Decomposition

Spectral proper orthogonal decomposition (SPOD) has seen renewed interest in recent years due to its unique ability to decouple organised motion at different timescales from large datasets with limited available information. This paper investigated the unsteady components of the flow field within a simplified turbine centre frame (TCF) model by applying SPOD to experimental, time-resolved flow speed data captured by particle image velocimetry (PIV). It was observed that conventional methods failed to capture the two significant active bands in the power spectrum predicted by preliminary hot wire anemometry measurements. Therefore, a modification to the SPOD procedure, which employs subsampling of the time sequence recorded in the experiment to artificially lower the PIV data acquisition frequency, was developed and successfully deployed to analyse the TCF flow field. The two dynamically active bands were identified in the power spectra, resulting in a closer match to the preceding analyses. Within these bands, SPOD’s ability to capture spatial coherence was leveraged to detect several plausible coherent, fluctuating structures in two perpendicular planes. A partial three-dimensional reconstruction of the flow phenomena suggested that both bands were associated with a distinct mode of organised motion, each contributing a significant percentage of the system’s total fluctuating energy.

131 An Alternative Method for Measuring Sample Pump Pulsation

Abstract Sampling pumps are an essential part of the chemical exposure assessment process, as the flowrate is used for the calculation of the atmospheric concentration of pollutants. Flowrate stability is important for its contribution to uncertainty, but also because some of sample trains require a specific flow rate value to properly operate, especially for particle sampling. Pump principles are based on rotary or alternative movements which involves a very short variation in flowrate, called “pulsation”, which lasts few milliseconds and is not perceptible with a conventional flowmeter. This pulsation is a critical parameter to be measured for the characterization of the pump. The international standard ISO 13137 specifies the method for evaluating the pulsation which is based on the use of a rapidly responding hotwire anemometer. This method is particularly precise and sensitive but complex to set up and calibrate. We have developed an alternative method for measuring pump pulsation based on the determination of acoustic pressure. Assuming that the sample pumps connected to a solid tube are plane wave generators with infinite impedance, the acoustic pressure measurement is the sum of the incident and reflected waves. Using five microphones in the the acoustic pressure can be measured in the tube to calculate the acoustic velocity and therefore the dynamic flow with a very high frequency. 13 different individual pumps were tested with both hotwire anemometry and acoustic pressure methods. Pulsation result comparison with both methods exhibits a great agreement. Acoustic pressure measurement is therefore a very convenient alternative method for the personal pump pulsation determination.

CFD-supported data reduction of hot-wire anemometry signals for compressible organic vapor flows

For obtaining turbulent fluctuations in compressible organic vapor flows, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis tools were used to support the data reduction process of hot-wire anemometry signals. It was found that CFD can help during the calibration process of actual hot-wire probes operated in the constant-temperature mode. Such an approach is beneficial for determining the dependency of the sensitivity coefficients on Reynolds and Mach numbers. Due to the small Kolmogorov scales, corrections are needed for probes with finite wire lengths. The experimental and numerical analysis considering the decay of turbulence downstream a grid indicated that the correction scheme proposed by Wyngaard leads to consistent results for compressible organic vapors. The new developments provide recommendations for obtaining turbulent quantities of compressible organic vapor flows utilizing hot-wire anemometry.

Experimental study of two side-by-side decaying grid turbulent fields at different mean velocities

A Hot-wire anemometry experiment is conducted to investigate how two turbulent fields decaying with different mean velocities interact at their interface. A grid with different mesh sizes and solidities on either side of the grid centerline is used to generate two turbulent fields. It is found that the resulting turbulent shear layer created at the interface of the two fields evolves in a self-preserving manner. Further, the Taylor microscale Reynolds number, increases linearly while and become constants as the distance x downstream of the grids increases. Off the centerline one observes the classical decay of turbulence, e.g. varies like (n is negative) and decreases. It is observed that the transport equation for is dominated by the production and pressure-velocity correlation in the central region of the turbulent shear layer while production, dissipation, and turbulent diffusion of the transport equation for dominate in the central part of the shear layer. The pressure-velocity correlation term for is negligible on the centreline of the shear layer and important on the edges. The measurements of the scale-by-scale (SBS) energy terms on the shear layer centerline reveal that the energy transfer from large to small scales occurs in a non-trivial manner.

Experimental Investigation Techniques for Non-Ideal Compressible Fluid Dynamics

The rising number of applications of the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) or supercritical CO2 (sCO2) power systems have shaped a new branch of fluid mechanics called non-ideal compressible fluid dynamics (NICFD). This field of fluid mechanics is concerned with flows of vapors or gases, which are characterized by substantial deviations from the perfect gas model. In extreme cases, even non-classical gas dynamic phenomena could occur. Although these non-ideal compressible flows are the subject of sophisticated numerical simulation studies today, there is also a growing need for experimental data for validating purposes. In the last couple of years, new experimental test rigs designed for investigating non-ideal compressible fluid dynamics have been developed and commissioned. Classical practical measurement techniques are currently being re-developed and applied to non-ideal compressible flows. Despite its substantial relevance, information about these measurement techniques and their differences from conventional methods in the open literature is scarce. The present review article is an attempt to reduce that gap. After briefly discussing the thermodynamics and fluid dynamics of non-ideal compressible flows, the currently available test rigs and their utilized measurement techniques are reviewed. This review discusses schlieren optical investigations, pneumatic and laser-optical methods, and hot-wire anemometry for non-ideal compressible flows.

Effect of non-uniform heating on temperature and velocity profiles of buoyancy driven flow in vertical channel of prismatic modular reactor core

To overcome the lack of experimental results of buoyancy-driven flow fields in vertical core channels of prismatic modular reactors, hot wire anemometry; micro foil sensors; and T-type thermocouples were integrated simultaneously at six axial positions along an electrically heated stainless steel channel of a test facility designed and developed with a representative geometry of prismatic modular gas-cooled reactor. At each axial position, nine radial measurements were obtained from the wall to the centerline of the channel. Fluid measurements display typical temperature and velocity profiles throughout the inlet- and mid-section of the channel. However, wall-to-fluid temperature differences along with axial variation of velocity fields indicate flow instabilities at the top section of the channel. This could be attributed to heat losses by conduction through the thickness of channel’s wall in addition to interactions occurring between heated air jets exiting the core channel and cooled air plumes cooled in the upper plenum which is anticipated to take place more rigorously in real prismatic facilities. Additionally, a new definition of the characteristic temperature difference is proposed to calculate a modified Grashof number that can be used to indicate such flow instabilities. Distortion factors between the developed facility and reference modular gas-cooled reactor are found to range from 18% to 24%. Current results are crucial for guiding and validating the commercial computational fluid dynamics codes.

Automotive cabin vent: Comparison of RANS and LES approaches with analytical-empirical equations and their validation with experiments using Hot-Wire Anemometry

The velocity field downstream of an automotive vent is one of the key parameters of passenger comfort. Two theoretical approaches (using analytical-empirical equations, and based on computational fluid dynamics) were applied to calculate the velocity of a jet emerging from a real rectangular benchmark ventilation outlet with adjustable blades. The computational simulations were performed by solving the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations (RANS) with the realizable k-ε turbulence model and by Large Eddy Simulation (LES). The results were validated by experimental data acquired by constant temperature anemometry (CTA). The validation comprised a comparison of axial velocity decay, scalar velocity field, angles of jet inclination, and profiles of velocity and turbulence intensity.The study was performed for the isothermal free jet and attached jet, where surrounding walls simulated confinement in a car cabin. The analytical empirical equation by Rajaratnam can be successfully used also to determine the throw of the jet, which is favourable, especially in light of the fact that both computational methods were not very accurate in velocity decay predictions. Root mean square errors for the free jet, and attached jet (expressed for calculations made according to Rajaratnam, and by LES and RANS with respect to the experimentally measured values) were 0.50, 0.85, 0.87 m s−1, and 0.52, 0.30, 0.65 m s−1, respectively. The LES method was more accurate than RANS in predicting the velocity profiles. The average percentage error of LES, and RANS is 6.3%, and 17.4%, respectively however, the calculation time was almost 27 times higher for LES.

Disturbance growth in a laminar separation bubble subjected to free-stream turbulence

Experiments were conducted to study the transition and flow development in a laminar separation bubble (LSB) formed on an aerofoil. The effects of a wide range of free-stream turbulence intensity ( $0.15\,\%< Tu<6.26\,\%$ ) and streamwise integral length scale ( $4.6\ {\rm mm}<\varLambda _{u}<17.2\ {\rm mm}$ ) are considered. The co-existence of modal instability due to the LSB and non-modal instability caused by streaks generated by free-stream turbulence is observed. The flow field is measured using hot-wire anemometry, which showed that the presence of streaks in the boundary layer modifies the mean-flow topology of the bubble. These changes in the mean flow field result in the modification of the convective disturbance growth, where an increase in turbulence intensity is found to dampen the growth of the modal instability. For a relatively fixed level of $Tu$ , the variation of $\varLambda _{u}$ has modest effects. However, a slight advancement of the nonlinear growth of disturbances and eventual breakdown with the decrease in $\varLambda _{u}$ is observed. The data show that the streamwise growth of the disturbance energy is exponential for the lowest levels of free-stream turbulence and gradually becomes algebraic as the level of free-stream turbulence increases. Once a critical turbulence intensity is reached, there is enough energy in the boundary layer to suppress the laminar separation bubble, resulting in the non-modal instability taking over the transition process. Linear stability analysis is conducted in the fore position of the LSB. It accurately models incipient disturbance growth, unstable frequencies and eigenfunctions for configurations subjected to turbulence intensity levels up to 3 %, showing that the mean-flow modification due to the non-modal instability dampens the modal instability.

Pressure-velocity measurements of a small automotive fan at different working conditions. A noise generation perspective.

Although noise from large fans has been extensively studied by the scientific community, few experimental studies have been performed on small-scale fans, where aerodynamic effects due to low Reynolds numbers needs be taken into account. For this reason, some preliminary experimental investigations have been carried out on cooling fans for automotive applications. The experimental campaign has been focused on the characterization of the flow outlet first, using a static Pitot on a 5.5-inch five-bladed fan, with and without its protective grid. After this preliminary phase, simultaneous measurements of velocity with hot-wire anemometry (HWA) and pressure fluctuations with microphones have been also carried out, the HWA probe being located downstream and two microphones positioned in the nearfield and far-field of the fan. The fan has been also studied at different working conditions, varying the rotational speed and applying specific fine grids at the intake, in order to well reproduce the presence of the cooler. Analyses in the time and frequency domain have been performed on the measured data, including cross-correlation between pressure and velocity signals, in order to find the main driving mechanisms that are related to the noise generation.

Spanwise Coherence Measurements of Porous Coated Cylinders in Uniform Flow

A porous coated cylinder (PCC) generates weaker vortex shedding noise than a smooth cylinder placed in uniform flow. A key understanding of how the porous media relates to vortex shedding reduction is linked to the spanwise coherence length of the PCC at the near-wall region. To date, few studies estimate the PCC spanwise coherence to be five-to-six outer diameters in length, yet a more comprehensive study is needed. This paper presents an experimental investigation conducted in an anechoic wind tunnel using a set of polyurethane PCCs tested with varying porosity, thickness and at several Reynolds numbers. Spanwise coherence is estimated at various circumferential angles using (1) flush-mounted microphones distributed along the bare cylinder span, beneath the porous layer, to record surface pressure fluctuations, and (2) two hot-wire anemometry probes in the near-wall flow field, where one probe remains in place and the other is shifted along the span. A transfer function of the porous layer is estimated based on the surface pressure and velocity fluctuations. The results presented here give some new visions of the spatial structure of vortex shedding caused by porous materials, noise generating mechanisms and a fitting formula of spanwise coherence length of PCCs.

On the effect of streamwise and spanwise spacing to height ratios of three-dimensional sinusoidal roughness on turbulent boundary layers

A developing zero pressure gradient (ZPG) turbulent boundary layer (TBL) over different three-dimensional (3D) sinewave roughnesses is investigated experimentally using single hot-wire anemometry. Seven different sinewave profiles are fabricated with the same amplitude and with different wavelengths in the streamwise (sx) and spanwise (sz) directions. The effects of varying sx and sz on turbulence statistics and the drag coefficient (Cf) are assessed. The wall-unit normalized streamwise mean velocity profile is shifted downward compared with the smooth wall profile for all roughnesses. The streamwise spacing to height ratio sx/k has a more significant effect on the roughness function ΔU+ and Cf compared with the spanwise spacing to height ratio sz/k. However, sz/k has a large impact on the streamwise turbulence intensities in the log and outer layer. An excellent collapse is observed among the mean streamwise velocity profiles plotted in defect form in the outer region. However, a lack of similarity between TBLs over different rough surfaces is observed in the outer region for the turbulence intensities profiles. For isotropic 3D sinusoidal roughness (equal streamwise and spanwise spacing to height ratios), the contours of premultiplied streamwise turbulent energy spectrograms show an increase in energy in the outer layer with increasing spacing to height ratios. For anisotropic 3D sinusoidal roughness (unequal streamwise and spanwise spacing to height ratios), the contours of premultiplied streamwise turbulent energy spectrograms show an increase in energy in the outer layer with increasing sz/sx from half to two in this study.

On the application of statistical turbulence models to the simulation of airflow inside a car cabin

Computational fluid dynamics simulations of airflow inside a full-scale passenger car cabin are performed using the Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equations. The performance of a range of turbulence models is examined by reference to experimental results of the streamwise mean velocity and turbulence intensity profiles, obtained using the hot-wire anemometry technique at different locations inside the car cabin. The models include three linear eddy-viscosity-based variants, namely, the realizable k–ε, the renormalization group k–ε, and the shear-stress transport k–ω models. The baseline Reynolds stress model (BSL-RSM), a second-moment-closure variant, and an Explicit Algebraic Reynolds Stress Model (BSL-EARSM) are also investigated. Visualization of velocity vectors and streamlines in different longitudinal planes shows a similar airflow pattern. The flow topology is mainly characterized by jet flows developing from the dashboard air vents and extending to the back-seats compartment resulting in a large vortex structure. Additionally, a comparison between numerical and experimental results shows a relatively good agreement of the mean velocity profiles. However, all models exhibit some limitations in predicting the correct level of turbulence intensity. Moreover, the realizability of the modeled Reynolds stresses and the structure of turbulence are analyzed based on the anisotropy invariant mapping approach. All models reveal a few amounts of non-realizable solutions. The linear eddy-viscosity-based models return a prevailing isotropic turbulence state, while the BSL-RSM and the BSL-EARSM models display pronounced anisotropic turbulence states.

Characterizing porous disk wakes in different turbulent inflow conditions with higher-order statistics

The wakes of a uniform and a non-uniform porous disk exposed to two different turbulent flows are investigated experimentally. The disks are representative of static wind turbine models found in literature. Six wake profiles were collected through hot-wire anemometry between three and 30 diameters downstream of the disks. Both one-point and two-point statistics are studied. The results show that higher freestream turbulence affects the wake of the uniform disk more than that of the non-uniform disk, also changing the wake’s shape and recovery rate. Furthermore, we confirm earlier findings that the turbulence at the centerline in the developed part of the wake is independent of both the design of the wake-generating object and the inflow. Similar to findings in the wake of a wind turbine, a ring of high intermittency is found at the very edge of the wakes of both disks and in both inflow conditions. We identify the existence of this ring over a range of scales. The results show that, even for higher-order two-point statistics, the developed wake of different porous disks qualitatively agrees well with the wake of wind turbine models.Graphical abstract

Effect of Operating Parameters on the Characteristics of Active-Grid-Generated Flows

The characteristics of active-grid-generated flows are investigated. The streamwise flow velocities are measured using a hot-wire anemometry. The turbulence intensity, integral length scale, and power spectrum density are evaluated to understand the influence of active-grid-operating parameters such as the rotation rate of the grid's agitators and the duration of the agitator's constant-rate rotation. The effects of randomized rotation and the test-section type are also investigated. It is found that the randomization of the rotation rate improves the spectrum distribution of velocity fluctuation, while the statistical quantities of turbulence are not sensitive to the randomized rotation rate. The randomized duration does not affect the generated flow characteristics. The turbulence intensity and integral length scale can be correlated with a non-dimensional parameter expressed by the rotation rate, mesh size, and free-stream velocity. When the non-dimensional parameter is small, the test-section type shows no influence on the turbulence intensity and integral length scale.

EFFECTS OF ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURED SURFACE ROUGHNESS ON SMALL DIAMETER PLENUMS WITH MULTIPLE SIDE DISCHARGES FOR HIGH TEMPERATURE GAS TURBINE BLADE COOLING APPLICATIONS

Combined heat and power (CHP) applications have significant environmental and economic benefits that are consistent with the goals of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). One area that is currently being studied includes the potential benefits of CHP turbine operation at higher turbine inlet temperatures. Internal cooling concepts enabled by additive manufacturing (AM) are of primary interest. The effectiveness of internal cooling is hindered by many factors such as velocity distribution of the cooling air to the hot surface considering impingement cooling. To simulate cooling air exiting from a series of orifices for internal cooling in an airfoil, a straight smooth wall tubing with multiple side discharging orifices is used and compared to additively manufactured tubing (Ti6Al4V Grade 23) with orifice size and spacing as well as inner and outer diameters identical to the smooth wall tubing. Similar to flow discharging form perforated pipes, the flow discharged from individual orifices along the tubes in this study is found to be nonuniformly distributed, and the horizontal (axial direction) momentum can be observed from the experimental data. Discharge velocities have been measured with two-dimensional (2D) particle imaging velocimetry (PIV) and single element hot wire anemometry. Numerical analysis has also been conducted to predict the velocity distributions along the orifices in the smooth wall and additive manufacturing (AM) tubing, which are inherited with surface roughness. Numerical and measured results in this study are compared, presented, and discussed.

Method for simultaneous measurement of velocity and direction of fluid flow using fiber Bragg gratings

This work is devoted to the development and research of a new optical method for measuring the velocity of a fluid flow and determining the orthogonal directions of such a flow. Comparing with gas flow, measuring the fluid flow rate requires higher heating power and insulation, which is taken into account in this work. The standard hot-wire anemometry method is taken as a basis, but instead of a metal thread, optical fiber is used for measurements. The article presents the design of a sensitive element consisting of two optical fibers. The first fiber contains an array of fiber Bragg gratings and is used as a measurement element. The second fiber has a region with a tapered structure and is used to create a heated area. Velocity measurements are given for the range of 0.02–0.05 m/s, but are limited only by the capabilities of the measuring stand. A unique method for identifying the orthogonal flow direction, which has not been described in the literature before, is presented. Differences in the shapes of the curves for the dependences of flow rates moving in the direction and orthogonally to the axis of the sensitive element are presented. The stability of the device is also confirmed by continuous experiments for 70 min.