Base Drag Reduction Research Articles

A Periodically Rotating Distributed Forcing of Flow over a Sphere for Drag Reduction

In the present study, we propose a periodically rotating distributed forcing for turbulent flow over a sphere for its drag reduction. The blowing/suction forcing is applied on a finite slot of the sphere surface near the flow separation, and unsteady sinusoidal forcing velocities are azimuthally distributed on the sphere surface. This forcing profile periodically rotates in the azimuthal direction over time with a forcing frequency, satisfying the instantaneous zero net mass flux. The Reynolds number considered is Re=104 and large eddy simulations are conducted to assess the control performance. It is shown that the drag reduction performance varies with the forcing frequency, and the control results are classified into low-frequency ineffective, effective drag reduction, and high-frequency saturation regimes. With forcing frequencies in the effective drag reduction regime, a helical vortex is generated from the forcing on the sphere and evolves in the shear layer, and this vortex is responsible for the separation delay and flow reattachment resulting in the base pressure recovery and drag reduction. The maximum drag reduction is about 44% with the forcing frequency in the effective drag reduction regime, while controls in other regimes do not produce a drag reduction.

CFD analysis of base drag reduction using indent modification in suddenly expanded nozzle

The total drag is the combination of skin friction, wave and base region drags. With all moving projectiles, rockets, missiles, and launch vehicles, the base pressure at the base or back face is a common concern. Base drag increase in unexpectedly bigger flows due to a sudden expansion of duct size at exhaust. At the duct’s outflow, the base pressure is vacuum or sub-atmospheric. To lower the base drag, the vacuum must be increased to near atmospheric pressure to reduce total drag. Base drag is undesirable since it accounts for a large portion of the total drag. The reduction in base drag benefits the space and defense programmers greatly. This is highly responsible to major losses of energy as a result of drag. Out of the different types of drag, base drag, commonly known as wake drag is responsible for increased drag in case of high velocity flow through the nozzles. Henceforth it is imperative to have drag reduction techniques. There are active or passive methods used to reduce base drag. The proper recovery of base pressure can be done by optimum indent geometry and position optimization. In this numerical analysis, different geometric shape and position indents are used on the exhaust duct so at to reduce base drag. It was found from the analysis that the outlet velocity radically alters from the inlet to outlet. Furthermore, the magnitude of velocity was high for the nozzle with a circular indent when compared with other indent geometries in the analysis.

Inward turning base-bleed technique for base drag reduction

AbstractThis paper consists of CFD and experimental study for shell projectile at angle of attack 00 and at various Mach numbers (0.7, 0.9, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0), without spin effect. Passive method of base modification is used to reduce base drag. The goal of this study is to reduce base drag by utilising a base bleed approach called the Inward Turning Base Bleed Method (IWTB). The concept of IWTB is to draw relatively high-pressure air behind the driving band and allow it to pass through the bleed holes and direct it into the low-pressure base. This will in turn raise the base pressure and lower the base drag. The study comprises of (i) basic model with a boattail angle of $8^{\circ}$ , (ii) eight different cavity models having different lip thickness and depth thickness ratios and (iii) nine different IWTB configurations for the optimised cavity model. At first, cavity model is optimised by varying the lip thickness and depth thickness ratio. Later IWTB parameters such as the bleed hole entry angles $10^{\circ}$ , $12^{\circ}$ & $15^{\circ}$ , exit bleed hole angles $30^{\circ}$ , $45^{\circ}$ & $60^{\circ}$ , bleed hole diameters 3mm, 4mm, 5mm & 6mm and number of bleed holes i.e., 4 & 8 were studied and optimised. Based on this study, the model with 8 holes, 3mm base bleed hole diameter, $15^{\circ}$ entry and $60^{\circ}$ exit angle gives comparatively lower base drag. CFD result shows, in supersonic region the base drag reduction for optimised shell projectile is $3.08\%$ ; at Mach number 0.9 the base reduction is $75.63\%$ ; and in subsonic region it reduces to $23.53\%$ . CFD results were compared with experimental result, is found to be good and the differences lies within $3.85\%$ .

Prediction of Drag Coefficient of a Base Bleed Artillery Projectile at Supersonic Mach number

An artillery projectile in flight produces aerodynamic drag in base region known as base drag. By injecting hot gases into the base region at low speed, base drag can be reduced. The reduction in base drag significantly increases the range of the projectile. In the present work. Numerical simulations over 155 mm artillery projectiles are performed with and without base bleed. The free stream Mach number is 2.26. Simulations are performed with commercial CFD package, ANSYS-FLUENT. The numerical method is based on density-based algorithm and K-ω SST turbulence model was chosen for calculation of turbulent stresses. Computations are performed for Angle of Attack (AOA) for 0° and 10°. The predicted drag coefficient for AOA=0° is validated with experimental data. The hot gases are injected at a Mach number and pressure of 2.26 and 101325 respectively. With the base bleed, 14.4% reduction in drag coefficient for AOA=0° is observed. The effect of base bleed on flow field and surface pressure is analyzed and presented in the paper.

Investigation of Reduction in Base Drag using Experiment and CFD at Subsonic Speed Regimes

Base drag, arising from flow separation at the blunt base of a body can be a sizeable fraction of total drag in the context of projectiles, missiles and after bodies of fighter aircrafts. The base drag is the major contribution of total drag for low speed regimes, flight tests have shown that the base drag may account for up to 50% of the total drag. Computational and experimental investigation for a hemispherical flight vehicle body of length 500mm and diameter 50mm was conducted for the purpose of investigating the base drag. Three case studies were conducted to investigate the properties of the flow field around the flight vehicle at different flow velocities of 20m/s, 30m/s and 50m/s at zero angle of attack (AoA). The three cases were (i) a flight vehicle with flat base configuration, (ii) a flight vehicle with a nozzle at the base and (iii) a flight vehicle configuration with a boat tail, Fig 1. Also, the three configurations were investigated at different AoA of -2ï‚°, 0ï‚° and +2ï‚°. The base drags for three configurations are calculated and the experimental results are compared with the CFD results.

Computational Analysis of Base Drag Reduction for a Subsonic Missile Projectile at Different Flow Velocity Conditions

Base drag is arising from flow separation at blunt base of a body. It can be a sizeable fraction of total drag in context of projectiles, missiles and after bodies of fighter aircrafts. The base drag is the major contribution of total drag for low speed regimes, flight tests have shown that the base drag may account for up to 50% of total drag. In this paper an experimental investigation for simple semi-circular flight vehicle body of length 500mm and diameter 50mm was conducted for the purpose of investigating base drag. The base drags for three configurations are calculated and the results are compared with CFD data. The three configurations used for testing are flat base configuration, closed nozzle configuration and boat tail configuration. The evaluation of base drag for three different flow velocities such as (i) 20m/s, (ii) 35m/s and (iii) 50m/s at different angle of attack such as -2ï‚°, 0ï‚° and 2ï‚° are experimented and compared.

Aerotunelska verifikacija efekata isticanja mlaza na aerodinamičke karakteristike osnosimetričnog projektila

Experimental verification of base-bleed effects on aerodynamic characteristics for the supersonic flight stages was requested during the development of an axi-symmetric projectile. The experimental setup for testing base-bleed configurations of the projectile was designed, built and tested in the T-38 trisonic blowdown wind tunnel of the Military Technical Institute (VTI), Belgrade. Gas-generator was formed from a simple chamber with a single manifold pneumatically connected to a high-pressure air supply. Wind tunnel tests comprised measurement of aerodynamic forces and moments of the projectile with active base-bleed. Flow visualization was performed using the Schlieren method. It was of interest to verify the base drag reduction in the wind tunnel tests and to compare it with numerical predictions. In addition, the experience gained during these tests has been found to be helpful in the design of the future similar wind tunnel setups

Base Drag Reduction and Generation of the Lifting Force Using a Microwave Discharge in a Supersonic Flow

We report on the results of experimental investigation of forced action of a deeply subcritical microwave discharge initiated in a quasi-optical electromagnetic beam on bodies placed into a supersonic air flow.

Unsteady Coanda effect and drag reduction for a turbulent wake

Abstract

Base drag reduction concept for commercial road vehicles

An Active Flow Control drag reduction device concept is presented and a numerical study of the proposed device is carried out. The operating principle of the device is based on the Coanda effect. The device is tested by means of the Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) analysis and the Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (DDES) analysis. A hybrid multiblock hexagonal mesh with tetrahedral farfield is created. The resolution of the mesh is fitted so as to fulfill the DDES requirements of resolving 80% of the turbulent kinetic energy. The proposed device achieved 11% reduction of drag coefficient. An 8% discrepancy of results between the methods used is presented. Comparisons of flow-field for baseline and concept case is presented. Differences between RANS and DDES results are given. The presented concept is in line with requirements of the EU directive No. 2015/719 [1].

A numerical study on the enhanced drag reduction and wake regime control of a square cylinder using dual splitter plates

In this paper, a dual splitter plate flow separation control device is introduced for a low Reynolds number flow (Re = 100) around the square cylinder of length L to achieve higher drag reduction and improved wake regime control compared to the conventional single splitter plate control devices. Here, two splitter plates of the same length W (ranging from 0.25 L to 2.50 L) are symmetrically attached on the rear surface along the horizontal centerline of the square cylinder with a spacing H (ranging from 0.0 L to 1.0 L) between them. The numerical study is performed using the in-house developed flexible forcing immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann solver [1] to investigate the effects of dual splitter plate on the flow regime and flow-induced forces. The shear layer interaction with the splitter plates, as well as the vorticity and pressure distribution in the near wake region, are significantly modified by varying W and H, and four different flow regimes (Type I to Type IV) are identified from the observations. Among these flow types, the Type III flow pattern displays an accelerating flow in the wake region that is found to be most beneficial for higher base pressure recovery and drag reduction. Furthermore, dual splitter plates suppress von-Karman vortex shedding and lift force fluctuation, and produce higher drag reduction (≈ 21%) at less than half of the plate length of a single splitter plate. It is also noticed that a dual splitter plate configuration seems to be an optimum arrangement, since adding more splitter plates (up to 5 numbers were tested) on the rear surface of the square cylinder does not change the wake characteristics nor shows any improvements in the drag reduction.

Experimental analysis of the effect of local base blowing on three-dimensional wake modes

Wake modes of a three-dimensional blunt-based body near a wall are investigated at a Reynolds number . The targeted modes are the static symmetry-breaking mode and two antisymmetric periodic modes. The static mode orientation is aligned with the horizontal major -axis of the base and randomly switches between a positive and a negative state leading to long-time bistable dynamics of the turbulent wake. The modifications of these modes are studied when continuous blowing is applied at different locations through four slits along the base edges (denoted L for left, R for right, T for top and B for bottom) in either four single asymmetric configurations or two double symmetric configurations (denoted LR and TB). Two regimes, referred to as mass and momentum, are clearly identifiable for all configurations. The mass regime, which is fairly insensitive to blowing momentum and location, is characterized by the growth of the recirculating bubble as the total injected flow rate is increased, and is associated with a base drag reduction and interpreted as resulting from the equilibrium between mass fluxes feeding and emptying the recirculating region. A simple budget model is shown to be in agreement with entrainment velocities measured for isolated turbulent mixing layers. The strength of the static mode is reduced up to 20 % when the bubble length is maximum, whereas no change in the periodic mode frequencies is found. On the other hand, the momentum regime is characterized by the deflating of the recirculating bubble, leading to base drag increase, and it is interpreted by the free shear layer forcing, which increases the entrainment velocity, thus emptying the recirculating bubble. In this regime the static mode orientation is imposed by the blowing symmetry. Lateral L and R (respectively top/bottom T and B) blowing configurations select or states in the horizontal (respectively vertical) direction, while bistable dynamics persists for the symmetric LR and TB configurations. The shape of periodic modes follows the changes in wake static orientation. The transition between the two regimes is governed by both the total injected flow rate and the location of the injection.

Large eddy simulation of base drag reduction using jet boat tail passive flow control

This study conducts an implicit large eddy simulation (ILES) of jet boat tail (JBT) flows to investigate its drag reduction mechanism. The concept of JBT passive flow control is to create a circumferential jet around a bluff body toward the center of the base area. It forms a jet cone to have the similar effect of a solid boat tail. The LES is performed for a baseline bluff body and a JBT model modified from the baseline. The LES predicts that the JBT reduces the averaged drag coefficient by 19.3%, a reasonable agreement with the experimental drag reduction of 22.5%. The reduced averaged wake area is also observed for the JBT model, resulting in a decreased drag. In addition, the unsteady flow structures of the baseline and JBT flow are analyzed to study the flow mixing and entrainment mechanism. For the baseline configuration, the coherent vortex structures occur far downstream of the base surface. It hence does not have strong entrainment and energy transfer from freestream to the base area. For the JBT flow, a pulsative jet is induced by the vortex shedding of the shear layer and interacts immediately with the shear layer near the base surface. It generates the small structures that are substantially larger than those of the baseline configuration. The larger vortex structures of JBT enhance the flow entrainment and transfer more energy from the freestream to the base area. It results in higher static pressure in the base area that substantially reduces the pressure drag. Proper orthogonal decomposition of flow field reveals the periodic jet pulsation pattern in the azimuthal direction.

Flow computations past a triangular boattailed projectile

This paper presents a computational study of the air flow past a triangular boattailed projectile. The study shows that there is a single normal shock wave impinges the projectile at transonic speeds. At supersonic speeds, the formed shock waves are smeared compared to a conical boattailed projectile. Also, there is a reduction of the wake region behind the triangular base and the rear stagnation point is nearer to the projectile base resulting in base drag reduction. Moreover, there is an improvement of the stability of the triangular boattailed projectile since a lower overturning moment is incurred.

Optimization of artillery projectiles base drag reduction using hot base flow

The CFD numerical simulations were carried out to investigate the base drag characteristics of a projectile with base bleed unit with a central jet. Different base bleed grain types with different combustion temperatures were used. The goal was to find a way to effectively control the base flow for base drag reduction and optimisate the latter using an adequate CFD software. Axisymmetric, compressible, mass-averaged Navier-Stokes equations are solved using the k-? SST, transition k-kl-?, and RSM turbulence models. The various base flow characteristics are obtained by the change in the non-dimensionalized injection impulse. The results obtained through the present study show that there is an optimum bleed condition for all base bleed grains tested. That optimum is dependent on the temperature of the grain combustion products. The optimum reduces the total drag for 6,9% in the case of air injection at temperature of 300 K and reaches up to 28% in the case of propellant combustion products injection at almost 2500 K. Besides, the increasing of molecular weight has a role no less important than temperature of the combustion products in terms of base drag reduction.

Experimental Validation for Globally Optimized Tractor-Trailer Base Flaps

Using wind-tunnel testing, this study validates a design that was globally optimized under uncertainty and used computational fluid dynamics. The computational study determined a design for a 3-D tractor-trailer base (back-end) drag-reduction device that reduces the wind-averaged drag coefficient by 41% at 57 mph (92 km/h). The wind-tunnel testing applies the same method of including some uncertainties, such that the design is relatively insensitive to variation in wind speed and direction, elevation, and installation accuracy. The validation testing shows a 20.1% reduction in wind-averaged drag coefficient, or 1.3% better than a non-optimized commercial design, and is conducted on a 1/24-scale model of the simplified tractor trailer at a trailer-width-based Reynolds number (<i>Re_W</i>) of 4.9x10⁵. Test data include both force and pressure measurements on the simplified tractor trailer, as well as pressure measurements on the tunnel wall. Measurements are taken at static side-slip angles to enable wind-averaged calculations. Since the original computations are conducted for a full-scale tractor-trailer at <i>Re_W</i> = 4.4x10⁶, this study does not fully validate the computational design due to the wind tunnel limitations and resulting inability to match the <i>Re_W</i>; however, the results show qualitative and quantitative improvement over the non-optimized design.

Low-frequency wake dynamics for a square-back vehicle with side trailing edge tapers

In this paper, the effects of side trailing edge tapering on the wake of a simplified square-back vehicle are investigated. The tapered surfaces are reported to trigger a switch from a laterally asymmetric bi-stable wake to a vertically asymmetric stable wake. The wake structure reported in the literature for lateral symmetry breaking states is seen to rotate by 90∘ as the angle of the tapered surfaces ϕs is increased. A 6% drag reduction over the simple square-back case is reported for 6∘<ϕs<12∘. This gain is found to be the result of the stretching of the circular vortex responsible for the suction zone visible in any symmetry breaking state. A downwash dominated wake is observed in these conditions. The sensitivity of such a wake to small variations of the model pitch angle (for ϕs=12∘) is also assessed. As the pitch angle α is reduced from 0∘ to −2∘, the time averaged wake is reported to switch from a downwash dominated topology to an upwash dominated topology. A strengthening of the long-time instability is observed when the symmetry in the vertical direction is recovered and is accompanied with a 4.9% reduction in base drag over the same model tested at α=0∘.

An overview of passive and active drag reduction methods for bluff body of road vehicles

This paper is an overview of results done on bluff body road vehicle’s base drag reduction either by experimental or numerical methods. Two categories of devices are divided that prove certain degrees of effectiveness in reducing the base drag, namely passive and active. The reduction of drag coefficient achieved in existing research ranging from 5% to 50%, which varies for each method and device. However, the higher the achieved drag reduction is, the greater the compensation required is. The compensation comes in various forms to achieve the desirable drag reduction. For passive drag reduction, hump shaped bluff body with boat-tail shows significant drag reduction by 50.9% compared to the other methods. Meanwhile, one of the potential of active drag reductions is by utilizing rotating cylinder. The rotating can reduce the drag on the bluff body by influencing the separation of boundary layer. The drag can be further reduced by enhancing the rotating cylinder with surface roughness and rotation speed. A notable 23% reduction of drag coefficient using rough surface on bluff body vehicle’s is achieved compared to the smooth surface. Â

Counter Clockwise Rotation of Cylinder with Variable Position to Control Base Flows

Experimental study of supersonic base flow at Mach 2 has been carried out to see the effect of cylinder when rotated counter clockwise inside the dead zone at variable locations near its base to control base pressure for different level of expansion for area ratio 9. Active cylinder of 2 mm diameter rotating counter clockwise when seen from top, is mounted as a controller. Three locations are chosen from the side wall of square duct namely at 2, 4, 6 mm respectively and 8 mm from square nozzle exit in the base region to mount the controller. Base pressure in recirculation zone and wall pressure along the square duct length has been measured with and without control. The experiments were carried out for NPR 2, 3, 6, 7.8 and 8.5. Cylinder when rotated counter clockwise as an active controller were found to reduce the base drag as high as 62 percent at NPR 8.5 when located near to duct wall and 50 percent when located away from duct wall for the same NPR. For perfectly expanded flows at NPR 7.8 the reduction in base drag was 53 percent near duct wall and 44 percent near duct wall. The active controller was up to 19 percentage effective for over expanded flows near to duct wall and up to 12 percent when located away from duct wall. Also, the control did not adversely affect the flow field.

Numerical Study of Base Drag Reduction Using Locked Vortex Flow Management Technique for Lower Subsonic Regime

Numerical Study of Base Drag Reduction Using Locked Vortex Flow Management Technique for Lower Subsonic Regime