Increase In Drag Research Articles

Investigation of tyre rim protectors on the aerodynamics of a passenger vehicle

The wheels of a passenger vehicle contribute to a significant part of the vehicle’s aerodynamic drag. The previous research has shown that the flow is sensitive to small geometrical variations of the tyre, such as its shoulder profile and tread pattern. This work investigates the effect of altering the tyre profile in the transition region between the tyre and the rim by adding a so-called rim protector. Full-scale wind tunnel tests capturing forces, flow fields and surface pressures were conducted for three tyre variants in combination with two rim configurations on a crossover SUV. With a low rim protector, the forces and flow fields were similar to the reference tyre without a rim protector for both rims. With a wide, protruding, rim protector on the open rim, a larger and more outwashed front wheel wake was obtained with differences in the vortex structures, resulting in a drag penalty of 0.017CD\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$0.017~C_D$$\\end{document}. The altered front wheel wake reduced the shielding of the rear wheel, resulting in differences in the rear wheel wake and base pressure. With a closed rim, the differences with the wide rim protector were much smaller with only a slight drag increase compared to the reference, demonstrating that there can be a strong interaction between the tyre and rim design.

Investigation of the resistance characteristics of the transverse groove for laminar flows

Transverse grooves are known to significantly affect drag reduction. However, additional investigation is required to understand the impact of groove geometry and flow velocity on resistance and flow characteristics. This study examines the impact of transverse grooves on laminar flow over a plate at various velocities. By conducting numerical simulations in three-dimensional domains, we analyze the evolution of resistance and flow characteristics over surfaces containing rectangular grooves perpendicular to the flow. The focus lies on understanding the interaction mechanisms between the evolution of the transverse groove resistance law and the flow characteristics of the external flow field of the groove. A detailed parametric study is conducted, considering a total of 32 groove size combinations, comprising 4 groove depths and 8 widths. The results demonstrate that transverse grooves in laminar flows can reduce total drag by up to 15.5% compared to a flat plate, while also causing a thousandfold increase in drag under specific operating conditions. These findings have practical implications for industries such as aerospace, automotive, and hydraulic systems to improve overall performance by reducing drag and enhancing fluid flow efficiency using transverse grooves in laminar flows.

Effects of cornering conditions on the aerodynamic characteristics of a high-performance vehicle and its rear wing

This study investigates the aerodynamic behavior of a high-performance vehicle and the interaction with its rear wing in straight-line and steady-state cornering conditions. Analyses are performed with Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes based computational fluid dynamics simulations using a moving reference frame and overset mesh technique, validated against moving ground wind tunnel experiments. The results indicate a significant 20% decrease in downforce and 35% increase in drag compared to straight-line conditions at the smallest considered corner radius of 2.9 car-lengths. Downforce losses primarily stem from performance deficits on the underbody and rear wing, alongside elevated upper body lift. Drag penalties mainly result from additional pressure drag induced by a recirculation wake vortex generated behind the vehicle's inboard side. The vehicle's lateral pressure distribution is also affected, introducing a centripetal force that increases with smaller corner radii. Additionally, analyses of the rear wing reveal alternations of its aerodynamic characteristics in cornering, particularly impacting vortical flow and suction on the lower surface. Throughout the operating conditions, the rear wing's individual downforce contribution falls off beyond its stall angle. At higher angles of attack, the rear wing primarily generates downforce by pressurizing the vehicle's upper surfaces, but its interaction with the near-wake leads to a substantially increased pressure drag. Overall, these findings provide crucial insights into the intricate aerodynamic interactions of high-performance vehicles in diverse operating conditions as well as form an essential foundation for future research on static and active aerodynamic designs in the pursuit to optimize vehicle performance in dynamic driving conditions.

Prediction of Coaxial Rotor Hub Flow Using Mercury Framework

Rotor hubs are predominantly responsible for the parasitic drag encountered by high-speed rotorcraft. To gain a deeper understanding of the fluid dynamics around rotor hubs, simulations of counter-rotating coaxial rotor-hub flows were conducted, which was subsequently followed by a corroborative experiment at Pennsylvania State University. The simulation process employed a computational fluid dynamics framework termed “Mercury,” which utilizes an unstructured/Cartesian multimesh paradigm. This process incorporated Spalart???Allmaras delayed detached eddy simulation turbulence modelling for an accurate representation of the flow. The investigation into the coaxial hub flow physics was conducted at two different advance ratios: 0.25 and 0.6, constructed by building up the hub components. The interaction between the hub and fairing components led to an increase in the average hub drag and caused unsteady harmonics in the hub and fairing drags. Furthermore, it was noted that different advance ratios affected the drag and wake structures. The complete hub model was then simulated in a water tunnel with an advance ratio of 0.25. Predictions of mean and unsteady drag, as well as mean wake velocity fields, were compared with the experimental results. Overall, the mean wake velocity field from the simulation qualitatively aligned with the experimental results, especially in the near-wake region. Additionally, the buildup model analysis significantly aided in understanding the intricate wake structures surrounding the hub.

Influence of inflow conditions on simplified heavy vehicle wake

In the current study, the impact of various inflow conditions, including turbulent wind profiles and turbulent intensity, on the wake flow topology of a simplified ground transportation system (GTS) model was investigated using the improved delayed detached eddy simulation. The reliability and accuracy of the numerical method adopted in this paper were verified against the results comprising the aerodynamic drag and the wake flow structure of the GTS model obtained from the large eddy simulation and the experimental data. The research results indicate that turbulent winds characterized by logarithmic and uniform velocity profiles resulted in significantly different wake flow topologies yet exhibit the same dominant frequency. The turbulent intensity also plays a crucial role in the wake of the GTS model. It is observed that an increase in turbulence intensity corresponds with a rise in the aerodynamic drag. Specifically, when the turbulence intensity is set at 15%, there is a 3.68% increase in the aerodynamic drag of the GTS model compared to a case where the turbulence intensity was only 5%. In addition, the turbulent intensity is critical to the dominant frequency characteristics of the wake region of the GTS model. These results demonstrate that both the velocity profiles and the turbulence intensities significantly influence the wake flow topology and aerodynamic drag of the GTS model, providing a valuable reference for establishing appropriate inflow conditions and exploring the formation mechanism of flow topology in the wake of the GTS model.

The role of nonlinear interactions in the onset of drag increase in flow over riblets

Characterizing the mechanisms that contribute to the onset of drag increase over micro-grooves (riblets) as the spacing increases is critical to design strategies for riblet-based drag reduction. This study decomposes the roughness function to investigate different mechanisms associated with the breakdown of drag reduction as riblet spacing is increased. We obtain the roughness function through direct numerical simulations (DNS) in a minimal channel and restricted nonlinear (RNL) models. Both the traditional RNL decomposition and an augmented RNL (ARNL) model that includes additional nonlinear interactions are employed as computationally tractable, reduced order representations of the flow field. RNL and ARNL results are compared to those of DNS in minimal channels to investigate the role of the different scale-dependent nonlinear interactions contributing to the roughness function. A comparison of the co-spectra arising from the minimal channel DNS with that from RNL and ARNL simulations indicates that general trends are captured by both reduced order models. However, the additional nonlinearity introduced in the ARNL model produces closer correspondence in the observed structural features of the DNS results. In particular, the ARNL better captures the signatures of the dispersive flow and the texture-coherent fluctuations. There is also a noticeable improvement observed in the profiles of the added stress contributions obtained with the ARNL model versus the RNL model.

Flying fast improves aerodynamic economy of heavier birds

A paradox of avian long-distance migrations is that birds must greatly increase their body mass prior to departure, yet this is presumed to substantially increase their energy cost of flight. However, here we show that when homing pigeons flying in a flock are loaded with ventrally located weight, both their heart rate and estimated energy expenditure rise by a remarkably small amount. The net effect is that costs per unit time increase only slightly and per unit mass they decrease. We suggest that this is because these homing flights are relatively fast, and consequently flight costs associated with increases in body parasite drag dominate over those of weight support, leading to an improvement in mass-specific flight economy. We propose that the relatively small absolute aerodynamic penalty for carrying enlarged fuel stores and flight muscles during fast flight has helped to select for the evolution of long-distance migration.

Experimental study of aerodynamic coefficients of a combined blade

Magnus wind turbines have a number of advantages in the form of electricity generation at low wind values, ranging from 3-4 m/s. However, at high speeds around the existing blades of wind turbines, there is a phenomenon of separation of vortices, which entails the destruction of the structure, as well as an increase in drag. Based on this, an urgent issue is the regulation of the flow around cylindrical bodies, along with a decrease in drag force. The novelty of the work is the elimination of vortices, as well as their control, by adding a fixed blade to the cylinder. Authors of the article for this purpose created a mock-up of the cylinder blade with a fixed blade. A number of experimental studies were carried out to determine the aerodynamic forces and coefficients depending on the angle of inclination with respect to the incoming flow at U = 5 m/s. It was found that at an angle of inclination of 0° and 180°, the combined blade has a maximum lifting force of 2.7 N and 2.75 N, respectively. It is determined that at these angles, the drag force is the lowest and is 1.26 N and 1.08 N.

Numerical simulation of windsurfing sail aerodynamics: Insights into forces and flow characteristics

In windsurfing, the sail is the primary source of propulsive force. Due to the unique shape and structure, the aerodynamic performance of a windsurfing sail is not well understood. This study aims to investigate the aerodynamic performance of a windsurfing sail under various angles of attack and sail heights using steady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes simulations. The simulations were validated with wind tunnel measurements. The study finds that the local maximum lift coefficient and stall angle are different at different sections along the sail height. Further investigations on the pressure distributions and sectional flow fields indicate that the different sectional lift coefficients and stall are significantly influenced by the geometric profiles and orientations of the luff pocket. The sectional geometric profile consists of a reduced camber near the sail tip, which is prone to flow separation. Thus, flow separation first occurred at the sail tip with increasing angle of attack, then extended towards the sail foot. During flow separation, a recirculation region was found on the suction side of the sail, leading to a reduction in lift and increase in drag. The findings of this study provide insights into the aerodynamic forces and flow characteristics of windsurfing sails, which can be applied to improve sail design and performance.

Investigation of pulsed direct-current plasma jets in a turbulent boundary layer

Characteristics of the plasma jet produced by a pulsed direct-current (pulsed-DC) dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) and its interaction with a turbulent boundary layer (TBL) are investigated in detail using stereo particle imaging velocimetry. Quiescent-flow characterization results show that a positive starting vortex and a negative near-wall jet structure are induced by the pulsed-DC DBD plasma actuator. With increasing pulse width and discharge frequency, the jet velocity magnitude increases monotonously, as a direct result of the extension of fluid particle acceleration time. During the interaction with a cross-flow TBL, two streamwise vortices with opposite signs are observed at the two sides of the electrode junction, which essentially originate from the starting vortex and negative jet in quiescent air. The skin-friction drag variations are dominated by the cross-stream momentum transportation of streamwise vortices, with drag reduction in the vortex upwash zone and drag increase in the downwash zone. Compared with the conventional alternating-current DBD plasma actuators, the turbulent fluctuations produced by pulsed-DC DBD are much higher, which also affects the skin-friction drag. Further proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) analysis reveals that two distinctly different flow patterns are produced by pulsed-DC DBD working at small and large pulse widths. The dominant POD modes causing the most velocity fluctuation are the spanwise translation and deformation of plasma-induced streamwise vortices. These results provide insights into the basic phenomenon of pulsed-DC plasma jets in cross flow, which recently has demonstrated its promising applications in turbulent skin-friction reduction.

Turbulent drag reduction in compressible flows using streamwise traveling waves

Skin-friction drag reduction (DR) in supersonic turbulent channel flows using streamwise traveling waves of spanwise velocity (STWSV) has been studied using direct numerical simulations. In the present study, simulations are carried out for different phase speeds of the upstream and downstream traveling waves for a bulk Mach number Mab=1.5 and bulk Reynolds number Reb = 3000. The efficacy of the control has been investigated for other bulk Reynolds numbers as well. The Stokes layer generated by the control affects the near-wall statistics primarily by modifying the coherent structures, thereby either reducing or aggravating the skin-friction drag. For Reb = 3000 and Mab=1.5, a maximum drag reduction (DRmax) of 49% is achieved, primarily due to suppression of sweeps and ejections on application of control. The efficacy of skin-friction drag reduction varies in a small range when Reb is varied from 3000 to 6000; however, the maximum drag reduction is observed for Reb = 4000, owing to a drastic decrease in sweep events. Quadrant analysis reveals that for drag reduction (DR) cases, STWSV reduce magnitude of streamwise u′ and wall-normal w′ velocity fluctuations magnitude and stacks them around zero. In contrast, w′ is increased for drag increase (DI) cases. Skin-friction decomposition using Fukagata, Iwamoto and Kasagi (FIK) identity suggests that the control alters the turbulent component significantly. The behavior of the control is also studied at Mab = 0.3 and 2.5, and it is observed that the maximum drag reduction obtained decreases for high bulk Mach numbers.

Experimental Propeller Performance Analysis of Distributed, Single and Isolated configurations

Distributed propulsion (DP) configurations are a promising concept for future aircraft systems. The main objective of the presented experiment is to investigate aerodynamic interactions of such configurations in detail and compare DP results to a single propeller configuration. The experimental setup at the Propulsion Test Facility, TU Braunschweig, features three co-rotating propellers. These are not attached directly to the wing, but are mounted on a separate carrier. This decoupling allows the forces and moments acting on wing and propeller to be considered separately. Additionally, different relative propeller positions are set up easily. In order to eliminate side wall effects, only the centre propeller and the centre wing element are subject of investigation for the distributed configuration. The periodically repeating outboard propellers reduce the wind tunnel interference while providing a true DP setup for the instrumented centre. Additionally to the DP setup, tests for conventional propeller wing configurations (only centre propeller installed) as well as isolated propeller and clean wing tests were performed. Thus, the DP effects on wing and propeller and the effect of the downstream wing on the propeller are clearly identified. The comparison between single propeller and distributed propulsion configurations shows that with distributed propulsion the drag increase is reduced from 326% to 216% compared to a clean wing. This effect is intensified by a greater thrust level and higher angles of attack. In order to identify the distributed propulsion effects, the forces acting on the propeller as well as the resulting efficiency of the propeller are compared between the distributed and single propeller configuration for two different relative propeller positions. The efficiency of the centre propeller is increased due to the outer propellers by approx. 2% to 3%.

Effects of surface roughness on the propulsive performance of pitching foils

The hydrodynamic influence of surface texture on static surfaces ranges from large drag penalties (roughness) to potential performance benefits (shark-like skin). Although it is of wide-ranging research interest, the impact of roughness on flapping systems has received limited attention. In this work, we explore the effect of roughness on the unsteady performance of a harmonically pitching foil through experiments using foils with different surface roughness, at a fixed Strouhal number and within the Reynolds number ( $Re$ ) range of $17\,000\unicode{x2013}33\,000$ . The foils’ surface roughness is altered by changing the distribution of spherical-cap-shaped elements over the propulsor area. We find that the addition of surface roughness does not improve the performance compared with a smooth surface over the $Re$ range considered. The analysis of the flow fields shows near-identical wakes regardless of the foil's surface roughness. The performance reduction mainly occurs due to an increase in profile drag. However, we find that the drag penalty due to roughness is reduced from $76\,\%$ for a static foil to $16\,\%$ for a flapping foil at the same mean angle of attack, with the strongest decrease measured at the highest $Re$ . Our findings highlight that the effect of roughness on dynamic systems is very different than that on static systems; thereby, it cannot be estimated by only using information obtained from static cases. This also indicates that the performance of unsteady, flapping systems is more robust to the changes in surface roughness.

Numerical investigation on flow and heat transfer of the rotating spherical particle in a supercritical water crossflow environment

The supercritical water gasification reactor provides a green and efficient method for the utilization of organic resources such as coal and biomass. It is important to note that collision-induced particle rotation in the reactor will affect the flow and heat transfer characteristics between the particles and the fluid. At present, there is a lacking consideration of particle rotation in the supercritical water environment. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of dimensionless rotation rate (Ω∗) and particle Reynolds number (Rep) on drag coefficient (Cd), lift coefficient (Cl) and average Nusselt number (Nu) for the single particle in a supercritical water crossflow under two rotation modes, with rotation axes parallel and perpendicular to the jet direction. The flow field, temperature field, boundary layer, and surface pressure coefficient (Cp) were analyzed to interpret the variation of the particle dimensionless coefficients (Cd, Cl and Nu). It was found that the value of ∣Cp∣ on the particle surface rose at different locations for the two rotation modes, leading to an increase in the pressure drag and dominating the total drag force. However, the two rotation modes produced different deviating effects on the average Nusselt number. Ultimately, new correlation formulas of Cd, Cl and Nu for a rotating spherical particle in a supercritical water environment were proposed based on the results of numerical simulations, with a maximum deviation of 8.52%.

Helicopter airfoil aerodynamic characteristics and rotor trim in sandy environments

PurposeThe sandy environment is one of the typical environments in which helicopters operate. Air-sand two-phase flow in sandy environments may be an important factor affecting flight safety. Taking a typical example, this paper aims to investigate the aerodynamic and rotor trim characteristics of the UH-60 helicopter in sandy environments.Design/methodology/approachA computational study is conducted to simulate the air-sand flow over airfoils based on the Euler–Lagrange framework. The simulation uses the S-A turbulence model and the two-way momentum coupling methodology. Additionally, the trim characteristics of the UH-60 rotor are calculated based on the isolated rotor trim algorithm.FindingsThe simulation results show that air-sand flow significantly affects the aerodynamic characteristics of the SC1095 airfoil and the SC1094R8 airfoil. The presence of sand particles leads to a decrease in lift and an increase in drag. The calculation results of the UH-60 helicopter rotor indicate that the thrust decreases and the torque increases in the sandy environment. To maintain a steady forward flight in sandy environments, it is necessary to increase the collective pitch and the longitudinal cyclic pitch.Originality/valueIn this paper, the aerodynamic characteristics of airfoils and the trim characteristics in the air-sand flow of the UH-60 helicopter are discussed, which might be a new view to analyse the impact of sandy environments on helicopter safety and manoeuvring.

Towards adaptive drag reduction of a flat-back 3D bluff body in variable pitch and crosswind by flow orientation at the base separation

The sensitivity of the drag to the rear design of a flat-back body is investigated under different body attitudes defined by the pitch (-1.5∘,0∘,+1.5∘\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$-1.5^\\circ , 0^\\circ , +1.5^\\circ$$\\end{document}) and yaw (up to 15∘\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$15^\\circ$$\\end{document}). The rear design consists of taper angles at the top and bottom trailing edge varying from 0∘\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$0^\\circ$$\\end{document} (no taper) to 12.5∘\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$12.5^\\circ$$\\end{document}. Compared to the fixed optimal rear design that minimizes drag at the wind-aligned body attitude, the rear design adaptation to the change of attitude produces a noticeable drag reduction up to 5% depending on the pitch angle within a yaw range smaller than 2∘\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$2^\\circ$$\\end{document}. It is shown that this drag reduction is related to the vertical wake steady instability interfering with the rear design. For yaw larger than 2∘\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$2^\\circ$$\\end{document} and up to 12∘\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$12^\\circ$$\\end{document}, an almost constant drag reduction of 2% is found and shown to be a compromise between a beneficial pressure recovery on the flat base and a detrimental pressure drag on the tapers. At larger yaw angles and whatever the pitch angle is, there is no compromise anymore such that any taper angle different from 0∘\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$0^\\circ$$\\end{document} produces a drag increase leading eventually to the squareback rear design as the optimal design. Overall, the study emphasizes the potential of adaptive control of the top and bottom trailing edge tapers to arbitrary body attitude even at small yaw angles when the pitch is varied.

Added mass analysis of submersible using computational fluid dynamics

An estimation of the resistance acting on a manned submersible can be performed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The resistance force acting on a vehicle can be steady state or transient state drag. Steady state drag comes when a vehicle moves at a constant velocity but drag value increases or decreases when the vehicle accelerates or decelerates. Transient state drag acts on a vehicle when velocity changes. The addition or reduction in drag value is due to the added mass. This paper discusses two CFD approaches to calculate longitudinal added mass. The second CFD method is preferred due to the inaccuracy and assumptions involved in the first method. The preferred CFD method can be used to obtain the added mass for both standard shapes, as well as for complicated geometries like manned submersibles. The drag and added mass of the ellipsoid are calculated using CFD and compared with analytical and experimental results for validation. Additionally, an acceleration sensitivity study indicates that added mass is independent of acceleration. CFD methods proposed here are simple and time-efficient. By using this method, a submersible’s added mass can be calculated without employing expensive experimental methods or other CFD methods. Highlights A vehicle’s steady-state drag develops when moving at constant velocity, but the amount of drag increases or decreases when accelerating or decelerating The CFD method can be used to obtain the added mass of more complicated geometries like manned submersibles and standard shapes like spheres and cylinders An acceleration sensitivity study indicates that added mass is independent of acceleration

Impact of sandpaper grit size on drag reduction and plastron stability of super-hydrophobic surface in turbulent flows

In this work, we experimentally investigated the impact of surface roughness on drag reduction as well as the plastron stability of superhydrophobic surfaces (SHSs) in turbulent flows. A series of SHSs were fabricated by spraying hydrophobic nanoparticles on sandpapers. By changing the grit size of sandpapers from 240 to 1500, the root mean square roughness height (krms) of the SHSs varied from 4 to 14 μm. The experiments were performed in a turbulent channel flow facility, where the mean flow speed (Um) varied from 0.5 to 4.4 m/s, and the Reynolds number (Rem) based on Um and channel height changed from 3400 to 26 400. The drag reduction by SHSs was measured based on pressure drops in the fully developed flow region. The plastron status and gas fraction (φg) were simultaneously monitored by reflected-light microscopy. Our results showed a strong correlation between drag reduction and krms+ = krms/δv, where δv is the viscous length scale. For krms+ < 1, drag reduction was independent of krms+. A maximum 47% drag reduction was observed. For 1 < krms+ < 2, less drag reduction was observed due to the roughness effect. And for krms+ > 2, the SHSs caused an increase in drag. Furthermore, we found that surface roughness influenced the trend of plastron depletion in turbulent flows. As increasing Rem, φg reduced gradually for SHSs with large krms, but reduced rapidly and maintained as a constant for SHSs with small krms. Finally, we found that as increasing Rem, the slip length of SHS reduced, although φg was nearly a constant.

Roughness effects on compressible turbulent boundary layers under different Mach numbers and wall temperature conditions

Compressible turbulent boundary layers over a zero-pressure gradient flat plate with three-dimensional sinusoidal roughness are simulated by direct numerical simulation. The roughness effects on surface drag, velocity transformation, and turbulence fluctuation characteristics are analyzed in a wide range of Mach numbers (Ma∞ = 2.25–7.25) and different ratios of wall-to-recovery temperature (Tw/Taw = 0.43 and 0.84) conditions. It is found that the roughness significantly amplifies the surface drag coefficient due to the extra pressure drag induced by roughness, and the relative increase in surface drag induced by the roughness rises by 31.1% when Ma∞ changes from 2.25 to 7.25. Current compressible velocity transformations cannot make the logarithmic region of velocity profiles independent of Tw/Taw conditions for rough cases due to the strong wall heat transfer effect below roughness peak. Therefore, a new velocity transformation (Uρt+) is proposed to make the logarithmic region of Uρt+ profiles and roughness induced a downward shift of Uρt+ profiles (ΔUρt+) in a logarithmic region independent of Ma∞ and Tw/Taw conditions. Further numerical experiments validate that, in hypersonic boundary layers, the relation between ΔUρt+ and equivalent sand-grain roughness height Reynolds number still satisfies the roughness function proposed earlier for incompressible flows. Moreover, roughness significantly changes the distribution of mean turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) in compressible turbulent boundary layers: TKE is suppressed at the bottom of roughness, while reaching its maximum at the roughness peak, which is 50%–60% larger than that in smooth case. Finally, the expansion/compression wave patterns induced by roughness alter the turbulence fluctuations in outer layer.

Water tunnel testing of downwind yacht sails

Downwind yacht sails, such as spinnakers, are low-aspect-ratio highly cambered wings with a sharp leading edge. They are characterised by substantial three-dimensional flow separation and are thus modelled with difficulty with numerical simulations. Furthermore, accurate full-scale validation data are not available. The first quantitative flow measurements have only recently been achieved in water tunnels. In this study, we aim to provide guidelines on this emerging sail testing methodology. We consider six model-scale rigid models at average-chord-based Reynolds numbers ranging from 5 870 to 61 870. A critical Reynolds number is identified, below which relaminarisation of the reattached boundary layer downstream of the leading edge separation bubble occurs. Both lift and drag increase monotonically at subcritical Reynolds numbers while remaining about constant at transcritical Reynolds numbers. The critical Reynolds number decreases with increasing incidence and is insensitive to the blockage ratio. Spinnakers are normally sailed in front of the mainsail, whose circulation is found to generate an approximately 3∘\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$3^{\\circ }$$\\end{document} upwash on the spinnaker and higher flow velocity on both sides of it. These findings provide guidelines for the experimental testing of spinnaker-like wings in water tunnels and provide new insights into the flow and experimental testing of highly cambered wings with massive flow separation at low Reynolds numbers.