Unsteady Flow Physics Research Articles

Analysis and Prediction of Shock-Induced Vortex Circulation in Transonic Compressors

Multiple high-fidelity time-accurate computational fluid dynamics simulations were performed to investigate the effects of upstream stator loading and rotor shock strength on vortex shedding characteristics in a single-stage transonic compressor. Three loadings on the upstream stator row of decreased, nominal, and increased loading in conjunction with three axial spacings of close, mid, and far were studied for this analysis. The time-accurate urans code turbo was used to generate periodic, quarter annulus simulations of the blade row interaction (BRI) compressor rig. It was observed that vortex shedding was synchronized to the passing of a rotor bow shock. Results show that vortex strength increases linearly with stator loading and rotor bow shock strength. “Normal” and “large” shock-induced vortices formed on the stator trailing edge (TE) immediately after the shock passing, but the large vortices were strengthened at the TE due to a low-velocity region on the suction surface. This low-velocity region was generated upstream on the suction surface from a shock-induced thickening of the boundary layer or separation bubble. The circulation of the large vortices was greater than the normal vortices by a factor of 1.7, 1.83, and 2.04 for decreased, nominal, and increased deswirler loadings. At decreased loading, only 24% of the measured vortices were considered large, while at nominal loading 58% were large. A model was developed to predict shock-induced vortex circulation from a known rotor bow shock strength, stator diffusion factor, and near-wake parameters. The model predicts the average vortex circulation very well, with 5% difference between predicted and measured values. An understanding of the unsteady interactions associated with blade loading and rotor shock strength in transonic stages will help compressor designers account for unsteady flow physics at design and off-design operating conditions.

Simulation of chaotic electrokinetic transport: Performance of commercial software versus custom-built direct numerical simulation codes

Many microfluidic and electrochemical applications involve chaotic transport phenomena that arise due to instabilities stemming from coupling of hydrodynamics with ion transport and electrostatic forces. Recent investigations have revealed the contribution of a wide range of spatio-temporal scales in such electro-chaotic systems similar to those observed in turbulent flows. Given that these scales can span several orders of magnitude, significant numerical resolution is needed for accurate prediction of these phenomena. The objective of this work is to assess accuracy and efficiency of commercial software for prediction of such phenomena. We have considered the electroconvective flow induced by concentration polarization near an ion selective surface as a model problem representing chaotic elecrokinetic phenomena. We present detailed comparison of the performance of a general-purpose commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and transport solver against a custom-built direct numerical simulation code that has been tailored to the specific physics of unsteady electrokinetic flows. We present detailed statistics including velocity and ion concentration spectra over a wide range of frequencies as well as time-averaged statistics and computational time required for each simulation. Our results indicate that while accuracy can be guaranteed with proper mesh resolution and avoiding numerical dissipation, commercial solvers are generally at least an order of magnitude slower than custom-built direct numerical simulation codes.

Numerical Simulation of Airfoil Flow at High Angle of Attack

A NACA 4412 airfoil tested in wind tunnel at flow conditions close to maximum lift is used for testing the accuracy of various turbulence models. What makes this test case unique is the appearance of a stable separation vortex on the upper surface of the airfoil, near the trailing edge. The linear k-ω turbulence model, a non-linear Explicit Algebraic Stress Model and a modified version of the algebraic Baldwin-Lomax model are tested using the same grid and input file. It is found that the tested turbulence models capture the physics of unsteady separated flow. However, the size and shape of the predicted separation vortex are different for each tested turbulence model. Also, good agreement between computational and experimental surface pressures is observed. The results support the view that such a simple configuration is appropriate to be used as benchmark for validating turbulence and LES models.

Time-Resolved Heat Transfer and Surface Pressure Measurements for a Fully Cooled Transonic Turbine Stage

The flow field in axial gas turbines is driven by strong unsteady interactions between stationary and moving components. While time-averaged measurements can highlight many important flow features, developing a deeper understanding of the complicated flows present in high-speed turbomachinery requires time-accurate measurements that capture this unsteady behavior. Toward this end, time-accurate measurements are presented for a fully cooled transonic high-pressure turbine stage operating at design-corrected conditions. The turbine is run in a short-duration blowdown facility with uniform, radial, and hot streak vane-inlet temperature profiles as well as various amounts of cooling flow. High-frequency response surface pressure and heat-flux instrumentation installed in the rotating blade row, stator vane row, and stationary outer shroud provide detailed measurements of the flow behavior for this stage. Previous papers have reported the time-averaged results from this experiment, but this paper focuses on the strong unsteady phenomena that are observed. Heat-flux measurements from double-sided heat-flux gauges (HFGs) cover three spanwise locations on the blade pressure and suction surfaces. In addition, there are two instrumented blades with the cooling holes blocked to isolate the effect of just blade cooling. The stage can be run with the vane and blade cooling flow either on or off. High-frequency pressure measurements provide a picture of the unsteady aerodynamics on the vane and blade airfoil surfaces, as well as inside the serpentine coolant supply passages of the blade. A time-accurate computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation is also run to predict the blade surface pressure and heat-flux, and comparisons between prediction and measurement are given. It is found that unsteady variations in heat-flux and pressure are stronger at low to midspan and weaker at high span, likely due to the impact of secondary flows such as the tip leakage flow. Away from the tip, it is seen that the unsteady fluctuations in pressure and heat-flux are mostly in phase with each other on the suction side, but there is some deviation on the pressure side. The flow field is ultimately shown to be highly three-dimensional, as the movement of high heat transfer regions can be traced in both the chord and spanwise directions. These measurements provide a unique picture of the unsteady flow physics of a rotating turbine, and efforts to better understand and model these time-varying flows have the potential to change the way we think about even the time-averaged flow characteristics.

Large Eddy Simulation on the Interactions of Wake and Film-Cooling Near a Leading Edge

The unsteady flow physics due to interactions between a separated shear layer and film cooling jet apart from excitation of periodic passing wake are studied using large eddy simulation (LES). An aerofoil of constant thickness with rounded leading edge induced flow separation, while film cooling jets were injected normal to the crossflow a short distance downstream of the blend point. Wake data extracted from precursor LES of flow past a cylinder are used to replicate a moving bar that generates wakes in front of a cascade (in this case, an infinite row of the model aerofoils). This setup is a simplified representation of rotor-stator interaction in a film cooled gas turbine. The results of numerical simulation are presented to elucidate the formation, convection and breakdown of flow structures associated with the highly anisotropic flow involved in film cooling perturbed by convective wakes. The various vortical structures namely, horseshoe vortex, roller vortex, upright wake vortex, counter rotating vortex pair (CRVP), and downward spiral separation node (DSSN) vortex associated with film cooling are resolved. The effects of wake on the evolution of these structures are then discussed.

Unsteady pulsating characteristics of the fluid flow through a sudden expansion microvalve

This paper investigates the unsteady characteristics of flow in a specific type of microvalve with sudden expansion shape. The resultant vortex structures cause different flow resistance in forward and backward flow directions. This may be used in applications such as a microvalve in micropump system and MEMS-based devices. A time-varying sinusoidal pressure was set at the inlet of the microchannel to produce unsteadiness and simulate the pumping action. The existence of block obstacle and expansion shoulders leads to various sizes of vortex structures in each flow direction. All simulation results are based on the numerical simulation of two-dimensional, unsteady, incompressible and laminar Navier–Stokes equations. Two fundamental parameters were varied to investigate the vortex growth throughout the time: the frequency of the inlet actuating mechanism (1 Hz ≤ f ≤ 1,000 Hz) and the amplitude of the inlet pressure. In this way, one can see the effect of actuation mechanism on the onset of separation and follow the size and duration of the vortex growth. In order to better understand the effect of geometry and frequency on flow field, the pressure and velocity distributions are studied through one cycle. Strouhal number is calculated for frequency, and a critical value of f = 250 Hz is found for St = 1. The obtained results provide a deep insight into the physics of unsteady flow in valveless micropumps and leads to better use of current design as a part of microfluidic system.

Numerical Investigation of the Unsteady Interaction Within a Close-Coupled Centrifugal Compressor Used in an Aero Engine

Abstract The present work forms part of a research project of the Institute of Jet Propulsion and Turbomachinery at the RWTH Aachen University in collaboration with GE Aviation. The subject is the detailed numerical analysis of the unsteady flow field, focusing on the interaction between the impeller and the passage diffuser of a close-coupled transonic centrifugal compressor used in an aero engine. The centrifugal compressor investigated is characterized by a close-coupled impeller and passage diffuser with a radial gap of only 3.6%. The close coupling tends to provide a high aerodynamic efficiency but simultaneously cause a high unsteady interaction between the impeller and the diffuser. These unsteady effects can have a significant impact on the performance of both components and present a challenge to state-of-the-art numerical methods. With increasing compressor efficiency, the more important it is to have an understanding of the detailed unsteady flow physics. Experimental data was obtained from a state-of-the art centrifugal compressor test rig located at the Institute of Jet Propulsion. Steady and unsteady pressure measurements within the impeller and diffuser are used to gain detailed information on the temporal, time-averaged, and spectral pressure distributions within the stage to validate the CFD. The work presented here shows the unsteady phenomena caused by the interaction and the location and propagation of these phenomena within the centrifugal stage. Within the impeller, the exducer is in first order excited by the blade passing frequency (BPF) of the diffuser, whereas in the diffuser both the BPF and the passage passing frequency (PPF), are present up until the end of the pipe-diffuser. Significant effects on the integral component performance could only be identified for the impeller. Special focus is paid to evaluate the diffuser upstream pressure field, since this is the major source of unsteadiness within the impeller. The performance of the rotor decreases due to the unsteady interaction. This effect is traced back to the unsteady tip-clearance flow, in which the time-averaged mass transport decreases, whereas the specific entropy production increases in a nonlinear way. Within the diffuser, local effects counteracting with respect to the integral performance are found. In front of the throat, there is less decay in the total pressure as a result of tangentially expanding pressure waves. Within the passage a decrease in flow uniformity in the unsteady flow is identified as the reason for the lower diffusion up until the throat and higher losses within the downstream diffuser passage.

Effects of Angles of Attack and Throttling Conditions on Supersonic Inlet Buzz

A series of numerical simulations are carried out to analyze a supersonic inlet buzz, which is an unsteady pressure oscillation phenomenon around a supersonic inlet. A simple but efficient geometry, experimentally adopted by Nagashima, is chosen for the analysis of unsteady flow physics. Among the two sets of simulations considered in this study, the effects of various throttling conditions are firstly examined. It is seen that the major physical characteristic of the inlet buzz can be obtained by inviscid computations only and the computed flow patterns inside and around the inlet are qualitatively consistent with the experimental observations. The dominant frequency of the inlet buzz increases as throttle area decreases, and the computed frequency is approximately 60Hz or 15% lower than the experimental data, but interestingly, this gap is constant for all the test cases and shock structures are similar. Secondly, inviscid calculations are performed to examine the effect regarding angle of attack. It is found that patterns of pressure oscillation histories and distortion due to asymmetric (or three-dimensional) shock structures are substantially affected by angle of attack. The dominant frequency of the inlet buzz, however, does not change noticeably even in regards to a wide range of angle of attacks.

Prediction of the flow around the X-31 aircraft using three different CFD methods

Recent results from numerical investigations regarding the complex steady state and unsteady flow physics of the X-31 configuration within the low speed flow regime are presented. These investigations are established as a contribution to the RTO/AVT-161 Task Group focusing on “Assessment of Stability and Control Prediction Methods for NATO Air and Sea Vehicles”. The status of the ability to predict the steady state and unsteady flow comparing three different CFD methods will be presented. The validation process is based on essential experimental steady and unsteady tests. These tests are done with the focus of integrating CFD and Experiment by detailed determination of wind tunnel test boundary conditions, influences on specific components of the wind tunnel model and support as well as on data acquisition process. The aim is to evaluate the status of the ability for giving a contribution to S&C analyses for configurations with non-linear aerodynamic behavior.

3D Unsteady Simulation of a Modern High Pressure Turbine Stage Using Phase Lag Periodicity: Analysis of Flow and Heat Transfer

Unsteady 3D Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations have been performed on a highly loaded transonic turbine stage, and results are compared with steady calculations and experiments. A low Reynolds number k-ε turbulence model is employed to provide closure for the RANS system. A phase lag boundary condition is used in the tangential direction. This allows the unsteady simulation to be performed by using only one blade from each of the two rows. The objective of this paper is to study the effect of unsteadiness on rotor heat transfer and to glean any insight into unsteady flow physics. The role of the stator wake passing on the pressure distribution at the leading edge is also studied. The simulated heat transfer and pressure results agree favorably with the experiment. The time-averaged heat transfer predicted by the unsteady simulation is higher than the heat transfer predicted by the steady simulation everywhere, except at the leading edge. The shock structure formed, due to stator-rotor interaction, is analyzed. Heat transfer and pressure at the hub and casing are also studied. Thermal segregation is observed that leads to the heat transfer patterns predicted by steady and unsteady simulations to be different.

Yaw Angle Effect on Flow Structure over the Nonslender Diamond Wing

Yaw Angle Effect on Flow Structure over the Nonslender Diamond Wing

Conjugate conduction-natural convection in an enclosure with time-periodic sidewall temperature and inclination

The unsteady conjugate conduction-natural convection in enclosure is of great theoretical significance and is widely encountered in engineering applications in the areas of fluid dynamics and heat transfer. However, there are relatively few efforts to investigate the unsteady flow physics and heat transfer characteristics in the inclined enclosure of finite thickness walls. In the present work, this problem is numerically investigated by a high accuracy multidomain temporal–spatial pseudospectral method. The enclosure is filled with Boussinesq fluid and is bounded by four finite thickness and conductive walls; one of the vertical sidewall is exposed to time-periodic temperature environment while the opposite sidewall holds constant temperature; the top and bottom walls are assumed to be adiabatic. Particular efforts are focused on the effects of three types of influential factors: the wall thermophysical properties, the time-periodic temperature patterns and the inclination, and the time-periodic flow patterns and heat transfer characteristics are presented. Numerical results reveal that within the present parameter range, the heat transfer rate increases almost linearly with the thermal conductivity ratio and thermal diffusivity ratio but decreases with the inclination angle. Moreover, the heat transfer could be enhanced or weakened by selecting different temperature pulsating period in the case of finite thickness wall, while it is always enhanced if the walls are zero thickness. The back heat transfer and heat transfer resonance phenomena are observed, and their relationships with the time-periodic flow patterns and temperature distributions are analyzed. The findings are helpful to the understandings of the fluid flow and heat transfer mechanisms in the related enclosure configurations, and may be of engineering use in thermal design improvement.

이원 추진 시스템 고압 시험시의 파열 안전성 고찰

The geostationary satellite COMS is going to be launched in 2010, and, in the series of test, there are some high-pressure tests concerning the vessel tank filled with helium gas of hundreds atmospheric pressure. In this paper, authors evaluates risk associated with accidental rupture of the test system. Two possible scenarios are considered: 1) the 310-bar helium tank ruptures at the center of the acoustic chamber, and 2) the 116-bar reduced-pressure helium tank ruptures in the test room shielded by bullet-proof glasses. Using the theory of blast wave propagation and computational simulation, the dynamics of wave reflected in a confined space is investigated for highly complex unsteady flow physics.

Numerical prediction of aerodynamic tonal noise radiated from a centrifugal fan

The aerodynamic tonal noise radiated from a centrifugal fan is calculated using a hybrid computational aeroacoustics approach that couples numerical flow with an implementation of the acoustic analogy. The turbulent near field is computed by solving the two-dimensional unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier—Stokes equations, with k—ɛ turbulence model. The second-order spatial and temporal discretization schemes with multi-domain structural grids in the computational domain and a small time step are used to capture the unsteady flow physics and pressure fluctuation on the wall of volute casing. The solution to the inhomogeneous wave equation is expressed in the frequency domain by making use of the fast Fourier transform and the acoustic far field, taking into account the scattering effect of volute casing, is computed using an acoustic thin-body boundary-element method. The calculated tonal sound pressure levels (SPLs) are compared with the experimental data. The calculated results accord well with the experimental data at blade-passing frequency (BPF) and its second harmonic, but are unsatisfactory at the higher frequency components. Finally, the free, scattering, and total acoustic fields in the volute casing are compared at BPF, and its fifth and tenth harmonic. The result shows that the scattering of the volute casing has an obvious effect on sound propagation with the increase in sound frequency.

Unsteady Strong Shock Interactions in a Transonic Turbine: Experimental and Numerical Analysis

The aerothermal performance of highly loaded high-pressure turbines is abated by the unsteady impact of the vane shocks on the rotor. This paper presents a detailed physical analysis of the stator-rotor interaction in a state-of-the-art transonic turbine stage at three pressure ratios. The experimental characterization of the steady and unsteady flowfield was performed in a compression tube test rig. The calculations were performed using ONERA's code elsA. This original comparison leads to an improved understanding of the complex unsteady flow physics of a high-pressure turbine stage. The vane shock impingement on the rotor originates a separation bubble on the rotor crown that is responsible for the generation of high losses. A model based on rothalpy conservation has been used to assess the pressure loss. The analysis of the unsteady forcing relates the shock patterns with the force fluctuations.

Quasi-One-Dimensional Unsteady-Flow Procedure for Real Fluids

The numerical solution techniques, including explicit, point-implicit, and fully implicit schemes, used in a new quasi-one-dimensional procedure for the transient solution of real-fluid flows in system lines and volumes are presented. The procedure is coupled with a real-fluid properties database so that both compressible and incompressible fluids may be considered using the same code. The procedure was implemented in Matlab/Simulink and Fortran95 to allow for application on a wide variety of computer platforms. The computational efficiency of the various numerical methods is discussed to aid in selection of specific applications. Results for the transient flows of gaseous nitrogen and water in a simple pipe network are presented to demonstrate the capability of the current techniques and the unsteady-flow physics that can occur in system lines.

Unsteady Flow Physics and Performance of a One-and-1∕2-Stage Unshrouded High Work Turbine

This paper presents an experimental study of the flow mechanisms of tip leakage across a blade of an unshrouded turbine rotor. It shows the design of a new one-and-1∕2-stage, unshrouded turbine configuration, which has been developed within the Turbomachinery Laboratory of ETH Zurich. This test case is a model of a high work (Δh∕u2=2.36) axial turbine. The experimental investigation comprises data from unsteady and steady probe measurements, which has been acquired around all the bladerows of the one-and-1∕2-stage, unshrouded turbine. A newly developed 2-sensor Fast Response Aerodynamic Probe (FRAP) technique has been used in the current measurement campaign. The paper contains a detailed analysis of the unsteady interaction between rotor and stator blade rows, with particular attention paid on the flow in the blade tip region. It has been found that the interaction of the rotor and the downstream stator has an influence on the development of the tip leakage vortex of the rotor. The vortex is modulated by the stator profiles and shows variation in size and relative position to the rotor trailing edge when it stretches around the stator leading edge. Thereby a deflection of the tip leakage vortex has been observed, which expresses in a varying circumferential distance between two neighboring vortices of ±20% of a rotor pitch. Furthermore, a significant influence of quasi-stationary secondary flow features of the upstream stator row on the secondary flow of the rotor has been detected. The geometry and flow field data of the one-and-1∕2-stage turbine will be available to the turbomachinery community for validation and improvement of numerical tools.

A consistent splitting scheme for unsteady incompressible viscous flows I. Dirichlet boundary condition and applications

AbstractA well‐recognized approach for handling the incompressibility constraint by operating directly on the discretized Navier–Stokes equations is used to obtain the decoupling of the pressure from the velocity field. By following the current developments by Guermond and Shen, the possibilities of obtaining accurate pressure and reducing boundary‐layer effect for the pressure are analysed. The present study mainly reports the numerical solutions of an unsteady Navier–Stokes problem based on the so‐called consistent splitting scheme (J. Comput. Phys. 2003; 192:262–276). At the same time the Dirichlet boundary value conditions are considered. The accuracy of the method is carefully examined against the exact solution for an unsteady flow physics problem in a simply connected domain. The effectiveness is illustrated viz. several computations of 2D double lid‐driven cavity problems. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Impingement of a von Karman Vortex Street on a Delta Wing

Introduction H IGH-PERFORMANCE military aircraft oftentimes employ delta-shaped wings. It is well documented that delta wings at a fixed angle of attack generate lift by separating a shear layer of fluid (air or water) at the leading edge, and this shear layer forms two strong counter-rotating vortices on either side of the wing.1−5 These leading-edge (LE) vortices are critical to the generation of lift, as they produce a large suction peak on the surface. Under certain conditions, the LE vortices are prone to undergo a change in their coherent structure. The vortex expands around the core, slows down axially, and forms either a bubble or a spiral, with the spiral form being more predominant at Reynolds numbers of interest to aircraft designers. This change, called vortex burst or breakdown, is dependent on the aspect ratio of the wing, angle of attack, pressure gradient, yaw angle, and swirl angle of the vortex, among others.6−8 Delta wings have evolved over the years and are now used primarily in the form of leading-edge extensions on many fighter aircraft. As these aircraft become more and more maneuverable, the understanding of the physics of time-dependent unsteady flows is becoming more important. The vortex burst has such a detrimental effect on the lift generation of delta wings that it is important to correctly model the flow, predict it with accuracy, and control the movement of the burst location. If accurate computational models of these maneuvers are to be developed, it is necessary to understand the mechanisms involved in vortex bursting and mixing on the lee side of the delta wing. This is true of so-called “hyperagile” maneuvers (like the Cobra maneuver), where research has been intense.9−13 The behavior of the burst location is sensitive to yaw. Aircraft performing the Cobra maneuver (or other high-angle-of-attack maneuvers) can be unstable in yaw.14−17 Sometimes, the wake of an aircraft’s forebody can have vortices at very high angles of attack.18 In other cases, close proximity of the delta wing to the wake of another aircraft would subject the delta to an external vortical flow. This inspired the authors to consider the effect of an impingement from another set of vortices upon the delta-wing’s leading-edge vortices. Because a von Karman vortex street has a well-known behavior,

타원형 실린더 주위의 비정상 유동 해석

타원형 실린더 주위를 흐르는 비정상 점성 유동을 해석하기 위해서 SIMPLER 방법을 사용한 이차원 비압축성 나비어-스??스 유동 해석 프로그램을 개발하였다. 실린더 직경에 대한 두께의 비가 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2인 실린더 주위의 점성 흐름을 레이놀즈 수 200, 400, 1000인 조건에서 해석하였다. 본 논문은 실린더 두께와 레이놀즈 수가 실린더에 작용하는 양력 및 항력에 미치는 영향을 파악하는데 주 관심을 두었다. 개발된 해석 프로그램의 검증을 위해서 가용한 실험 자료와 수치 해석 자료가 개발된 해석 프로그램의 수치 결과와 비교되었으며, 잘 일치하는 경향을 보여주었다. 본 연구를 통해서 실린더 두께와 레이놀즈수가 항력과 양력의 진동 주기뿐만 아니라 크기나 진폭에 큰 영향을 미치게 됨을 알 수 있었다. Two-dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes flow solver is developed using SIMPLER method to study the unsteady viscous flow physics over two-dimensional ellipses. Unsteady viscous flows over various thickness-to-chord ratios of 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, and 1.2 elliptic cylinders are simulated at different Reynolds numbers of 200, 400, and 1,000. This study is focused on the understanding the effects of Reynolds number and elliptic cylinder thickness on the drag and lift forces. The present numerical solutions are compared with available experimental and numerical results and show a good agreement. Through this study, it is observed that the Reynolds number and the cylinder thickness affect not only the frequency of the force oscillations but also the mean values and the amplitudes of the total drag and lift forces significantly.