Turbulent Temperature Fluctuations Research Articles

On the isotropy of temperature fluctuations in passive scalar turbulence

We use direct numerical simulation to investigate the scalar gradient skewness downstream of a square grid element. The passive scalar is generated by applying a constant heat flux on the grid element. We primarily focus on the far-downstream grid-element centerline, where the scalar turbulence is homogeneous, and there are no mean velocity or scalar gradients. In this region, some discrepancy exists in the literature concerning the isotropy of the scalar. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that measures scalar gradients in all three directions. We detect nonzero skewness for the lateral scalar gradients, while in the streamwise direction, the skewness is zero. We show, through statistical analysis, that the nonzero values are solely due to steep gradients called cliffs. The cliffs originate from the bars of the grid-element that generate sharp mean scalar gradients along the lateral directions in the near wake. These mean gradients decay as the flow develops downstream, but the convected cliffs remember the generating upstream conditions and, in particular, the direction of the mean scalar gradient. Due to this memory effect, the cliffs align preferentially along a specific direction despite the absence of a local mean scalar gradient, thus making the homogeneous scalar field anisotropic. We also report some hitherto undocumented properties of cliffs and ramps through conditional statistical analysis. Finally, we corroborate our conclusions with two additional simulations, one involving grid-element turbulence in the presence of a transverse mean scalar gradient and the other scalar turbulence due to a heated cylinder.

Effects of different momentum ratios and Reynolds number in a T-junction with an upstream elbow

This study focuses on analysing thermal mixing in T-junctions with varying momentum and Reynolds number ratios, utilizing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The T-junction is a critical component of the primary nuclear thermal–hydraulic circuit within a pressurized water-cooled reactor (PWR). The T-junction connects the pressurizer (PRZ) with the steam generator (SG) and the reactor pressure vessel (RPV). Water from the PRZ and the SG are at different temperatures and incomplete thermal mixing occurs when these two fluid streams meet at the T-junction. This incomplete thermal mixing can induce thermal stratification of the water within the T-junction as well as thermal striping phenomena. Thermal striping phenomena can lead to fluctuations of the temperature at the inner pipe wall of the T-junction. Thermal stratification and thermal striping phenomena can induce thermo-mechanical fatigue and eventual pipe failure which can affect the safety of the reactor. Therefore, a high-fidelity, mechanistic understanding of the turbulent thermo-fluid mixing within T-junctions of PWRs might lead to improvements in component reliability and safety within nuclear power plants (NPPs).The primary aim of the research, presented in this paper, is to understand and quantify the effect of variations in the momentum ratio on the turbulent fluid flow within T-junctions. This is achieved by either varying the branch pipe diameter while keeping the inlet velocity constant (part one) or by adjusting the branch pipe inlet velocity while maintaining a constant diameter (part two). Despite the different variations in momentum ratios, the specific momentum ratios under consideration in both parts of the study remain consistent (namely 98 and 66.4). It is also noteworthy that the momentum ratios considered in the paper can be classified as wall-jet and impinging-jet, according to the definition in (Hosseini, Yuki, & Hashizume, 2008). It should be noted that the momentum ratio is manipulated by adjusting the flow parameters, leading to variations in the Reynolds number ratio between the main pipe inlet and the upstream branch pipe at the T-junction. The turbulent flows in the cases that are considered are simulated using the Improved delayed detached eddy simulation (IDDES-SST) model. The numerical results from these simulations indicate, for the considered momentum ratios, that maintaining the same momentum ratio does not produce similar mean flow behaviour and turbulent quantities of interest (QoI). For instance, the size of the flow recirculation zone is more likely linked to the diameter of the branch pipe. Moreover, the turbulent QoI and temperature fluctuations at the determined locations are likely affected by the changed flow recirculation zone as well as the Reynolds number of the branch pipe flow.

Can Recurrence Quantification Analysis Be Useful in the Interpretation of Airborne Turbulence Measurements?

AbstractIn airborne data or model outputs, clouds are often defined using information about Liquid Water Content (LWC). Unfortunately LWC is not enough to retrieve information about the dynamical boundary of the cloud, that is, volume of turbulent air around the cloud. In this work, we propose an algorithmic approach to this problem based on a method used in time series analysis of dynamical systems, namely Recurrence Plot (RP) and Recurrence Quantification Analysis (RQA). We construct RPs using time series of turbulence kinetic energy, vertical velocity and temperature fluctuations as variables important for cloud dynamics. Then, by studying time series of laminarity (LAM), a variable which is calculated using RPs, we distinguish between turbulent and non‐turbulent segments along a horizontal flight leg. By selecting a single threshold of this quantity, we are able to reduce the number of subjective variables and their thresholds used in the definition of the dynamical cloud boundary.

Amplification of turbulent kinetic energy and temperature fluctuation in a hypersonic turbulent boundary layer over a compression ramp

In this paper, direct numerical simulations in a Mach 6.0 hypersonic turbulent boundary layer over a 30 ° compression ramp are performed. The influence of shock wave/boundary layer interactions on the amplification of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and temperature fluctuation (TF) is explored, to provide an insight into the physical mechanism. In the initial part of the interaction region before the detachment of the shear layer, the amplification of the TKE and TF is found, via a frequency spectrum analysis, to be closely related to the low-frequency unsteadiness of the shock wave. Once the free shear layer is established, the shear component of the TKE production defined in the shear layer coordinate appears to act as the main contributor for the TKE amplification, owing to the mixing layer turbulence and the resultant Kelvin–Helmholtz instability. This is consistent with the result from the spectrum analysis that the TKE and TF amplification and their streamwise evolution are dominated by the spectral energy in the median-frequency range, arising from the mixing layer turbulence. As the flow moves downstream along the shock wave, the high-frequency spectral energy content of TF shows a decreasing trend, while the low-frequency spectral energy tends to increase gradually, implying that the shock wave low-frequency unsteadiness exists not only in the initial stage of the interaction region but also around the main shock wave. Under the combined influence of the shock wave intensity and interaction intensity, the median-frequency content appears to weaken first and then tends to increase before decreasing again. The variation amplitude appears to be small and generally dominates the distribution of the TF intensity.

Modeling acoustic propagation on Mars

It is important to understand how the atmospheric conditions affect the propagation of sound waves on Mars, both for the study of the acoustic sources and of the atmosphere itself. As 3 microphones are already on Mars (2 on NASA/Perseverance and 1 on CNSA/Zhurong) and potentially more to come, a model of the propagation of sound in the Martian surface layer was needed. A first-principle acoustic attenuation model is used to quantify the excess attenuation of the Martian atmosphere. Thanks to inputs extracted from a global circulation model of Mars (the LMD Martian Climate Database), we are able to compare the magnitude of attenuation at different places and times, from 10 Hz to 20 kHz. Propagation effects are also considered by adapting a parabolic equation code to the Martian conditions. This accounts for strong temperature gradients near the surface, as well as gradients of wind speed. The acoustic reflection on the ground assumes a semi-porous medium. The turbulent fluctuations of temperature and wind speed are implemented using the frozen medium approach. The model shows that characteristics of sound waves propagation depend drastically on the local time. It provides a useful framework to interpret acoustic signal recorded on Mars. The model shows that characteristics of sound waves propagation depend drastically on the local time. It provides a useful framework to interpret acoustic signal recorded on Mars.

Database study of turbulent electron temperature fluctuation measurements at ASDEX Upgrade

In this work, an automated method for the analysis of data from the correlation electron cyclotron emission (CECE) diagnostic is applied to discharges in the ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) tokamak. This recently developed, automated method provides an efficient means of accurately analysing large quantities of experimental turbulence data, enabling the development of the largest database of CECE measurements of tokamak plasmas to-date. The turbulence database provides the opportunity to search for large-scale trends in experimental data to improve our understanding of transport-relevant plasma turbulence. The results of physics-based investigations utilizing this turbulence database will be reported on separately from this work.

Statistics of temperature and velocity fluctuations in supergravitational convective turbulence

Statistics of temperature and velocity fluctuations in supergravitational convective turbulence

Analysis method for calculating radial correlation length of electron temperature turbulence from correlation electron cyclotron emission radiometer.

The radial correlation length (Lr) is one of the essential quantities to measure in order to more fully characterize and understand turbulence and anomalous transport in magnetic fusion plasmas. The analysis method for calculating Lr of electron temperature (Te) turbulence from correlation electron cyclotron emission (correlation ECE or CECE) radiometer measurements has not been fully developed partly due to the fact that the turbulent electron temperature fluctuations are generally imbedded in much larger amplitude thermal noise, which leads to a greatly reduced cross correlation coefficient (ϱ) between two spatially separated ECE signals. This work finds that this ϱ reduction factor due to thermal noise is a function of the local relative temperature fluctuation power and CECE system bandwidths of intermediate and video frequencies, independent of radial separations. This indicates that under the approximation of constant relative temperature fluctuation power for a small radial range of local CECE measurements, the original shape of ϱ as a function of radial separation without thermal noise is preserved in the CECE data with thermal noise present. For Te turbulence with a Gaussian radial wavenumber spectrum, a fit function using the product of Gaussian and sinusoidal functions is derived for calculating Lr. This analysis method has been numerically tested using simulated ECE radiometer data over a range of parameters. Using this method, the experimental temperature turbulence correlation length Lr in a DIII-D L-mode plasma is found to be ∼10 times the local ion gyroradius.

Energy- and flux-budget theory for surface layers in atmospheric convective turbulence

The energy- and flux-budget (EFB) theory developed previously for atmospheric stably stratified turbulence is extended to the surface layer in atmospheric convective turbulence. This theory is based on budget equations for turbulent energies and fluxes in the Boussinesq approximation. In the lower part of the surface layer in the atmospheric convective boundary layer, the rate of turbulence production of the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) caused by the surface shear is much larger than that caused by the buoyancy, which results in three-dimensional turbulence of very complex nature. In the upper part of the surface layer, the rate of turbulence production of TKE due to the shear is much smaller than that caused by the buoyancy, which causes unusual strongly anisotropic buoyancy-driven turbulence. Considering the applications of the obtained results to the atmospheric convective boundary-layer turbulence, the theoretical relationships potentially useful in modeling applications have been derived. The developed EFB theory allows us to obtain a smooth transition between a stably stratified turbulence to a convective turbulence. The EFB theory for the surface layer in a convective turbulence provides an analytical expression for the entire surface layer including the transition range between the lower and upper parts of the surface layer, and it allows us to determine the vertical profiles for all turbulent characteristics, including TKE, the intensity of turbulent potential temperature fluctuations, the vertical turbulent fluxes of momentum and buoyancy (proportional to potential temperature), the integral turbulence scale, the turbulence anisotropy, the turbulent Prandtl number, and the flux Richardson number.

Turbulent premixed hydrogen/air flame-wall interaction with heterogeneous surface reactions

A premixed H2/air flame impinging onto a flat surface in statistically stationary state is studied for both reactive and inert wall cases to gain insights into the effects of the heterogeneous surface reactions. Direct numerical simulation (DNS) results with detailed gas-phase chemistry and surface adsorption and desorption mechanisms indicate differences in the flame front topology and near-wall flame dynamics between these two cases. In the reactive surface case, gas-phase free radicals are inclined to be adsorbed with much reduced near-wall concentration. Consequently, the gas-phase heat release rate (HRR) close to the wall decreases as well because of the low availability of free radicals. However, extra heat released from the reactive surface partially compensates for such difference. Moreover, wall reactions will intensify the turbulent fluctuations of the wall temperature and wall heat flux, while for these two cases the mean temperature profile along the flame propagating direction remains similar.

Transient three-dimensional radiative heat transfer analysis of a turbulent diffusion flame-with a focus on the effect of angular discretization scheme

Radiation modeling is a challenging and computational expensive task for turbulent combustion modeling of various fuels. Radiative intensity varies greatly in the angular direction due to turbulent fluctuations of temperature and species fields. A large number of rays are needed in the discrete ordinates method (DOM) or the finite volume method (FVM) to describe the angular variations. Determining the adequate number of rays is essential for the efficient modeling of radiation heat transfer. For this purpose, the effect of angular scheme on predicting the transient three-dimensional radiation heat transfer of a turbulent diffusion flame is investigated. Results show that a smaller number of rays produce strong ray effects and may generate significant errors for radiative heat flux prediction on surrounding walls, while the angular scheme has negligible influence on the radiative heat source. Transient radiative heat fluxes on different walls are also analyzed in detail, and they show completely different contours with unimodal frequency behavior. Recommendation for radiation modeling strategies is proposed for turbulent combustion modeling.

Predictive models for near-wall velocity and temperature fluctuations in supersonic wall-bounded turbulence

Predictive models for near-wall velocity and temperature fluctuations in compressible wall-bounded turbulence are developed in the present study based on the model proposed by Marusic et al. (Science, vol. 329 (5988), 2010, pp. 193–196), which incorporates the superposition and amplitude modulation effects of the large-scale motions in the outer region on near-wall turbulence. The density variation is involved in the predictive model for velocity fluctuations to achieve Mach number independence. The predictive model for temperature fluctuations is derived to keep its consistency with the strong Reynolds analogy, in which the modulation effect is supposed to be cast as the quadratic function of the large-scale velocity fluctuations. An algebraic method is proposed to directly determine the modulation coefficients and extract the universal signals. A direct numerical simulation (DNS) of turbulent channel flow at the friction Reynolds number of $1170$ and bulk Mach number of $2.88$ is carried out for parameter calibration and validations. The variances and joint probability density functions of the predicted velocity and temperature fluctuations agree well with the DNS results.

Coherent structures in turbulent mixed convection flows through channels with differentially heated walls

The occurrence and shape of turbulent structures in mixed convection flows through a differently heated vertical channel are investigated in terms of thermally induced attenuation and amplification of turbulent velocity, pressure, and temperature fluctuations using direct numerical simulations. It is shown that the wall-normal momentum transport is decreased and increased near the heated and cooled wall, respectively, and that this leads to a reduced and elevated production of turbulent velocity fluctuations in the streamwise velocity component in the aiding and opposing flow, respectively. The corresponding flow structures are smoother, faster and warmer in the aiding flow and aligned along the main flow, while the colder structures in the opposing flow are more frayed and less directed. The warmer flow structures in the aiding flow are overall more stable than the colder structures in the opposing flow. Besides, the study reveals that the position of the maximum temperature fluctuations moves toward the heated wall, so that the sweeps produced at the two walls are affected differently by the former. As a consequence, the distance and time period over which the fluctuations develop in the aiding flow are shorter than in the opposing flow. It is further shown that vortex structures oriented in the streamwise direction usually arise with an offset to the right or left above a sweep or an ejection, whereby the decreasing values of the correlation coefficients with increasing Grashof number indicate a weakening of the vortex structures. Since none of the evaluated vortex criteria, that is, the distributions of the vorticity, λ 2 - value or Rortex-value correlate well with the evaluated minima of the pressure fluctuations, they do not allow a clear identification of the vortex structures. Finally, analyzing the budget of the turbulent kinetic energy it is confirmed that the velocity fluctuations are only indirectly influenced by the buoyancy force. Thus, the attenuation and amplification of the turbulent velocity fluctuations is reflected in the reduction and exaggeration of the Reynolds shear stresses in the aiding and opposing flow, respectively.

Measurement of Turbulent Temperature Fluctuations by Fine-Wire Temperature Sensors with Various Shapes

In a turbulent thermal boundary layer, to accurately measure the temperature fluctuation near the wall, a thin-wire temperature sensor with high spatial resolution is indispensable for capturing small-scale temperature fluctuations in the immediate vicinity of the wall. On the other hand, in order to minimize the deterioration in the dynamic response of the thin-wire sensor, its length-to-diameter ratio need generally exceed 1000. To meet these conflicting requirements, the wire diameter of the sensor must be extremely thin. In this study, as a novel approach, we proposed a new temperature probe consisting a V-shaped thin tungsten wire, and verified its measurement accuracy by using a standard cold-wire probe as a reference. As a result, the turbulence characteristics measured in a fully-developed thermal boundary layer—r.m.s. values, power spectra, instantaneous signal traces of temperature fluctuations, etc.—show that the V-shaped thin-wire temperature sensor can improve the spatial resolution of the sensor while enabling us to take full advantage of the response compensation technique developed for the standard cold-wire probe.

Compressibility effects on hypersonic turbulent channel flow with cold walls

Compressibility effects on velocity and temperature fluctuations in hypersonic turbulence over cold walls are investigated by exploiting a direct numerical simulation database. We found that the compressibility effects are enhanced by the decrease in wall temperature, which is directly reflected by the rapid increase in velocity divergence and turbulent Mach number. Helmholtz decomposition is adopted to evaluate the genuine compressibility effects by splitting the velocity fluctuation into a solenoidal component and a dilatational component. As the wall temperature decreases, the vertical motion is gradually dominated by the dilatational component, while the wall-parallel motions still by the solenoidal component. The dilatational components tend to decrease the skin friction by around 4%–6%. The instantaneous and conditionally averaged field around strong compressive motions further suggests that the dilatational structures behave as traveling-wave packets surrounded by vortex clusters. To improve the strong analogy between temperature and velocity fluctuations, their correlation in spectral space is studied. The results show that they are strongly correlated at the scales of energy-containing motions, but they are mutually independent at small scales.

The effect of static pressure-wind covariance on vertical carbon dioxide exchange at a windy subalpine forest site

Accounting for turbulent temperature and water vapor fluctuations on the vertical flux of CO2 measured by an open-path infrared gas analyzer are commonly known as the Webb–Pearman–Leuning (WPL) corrections. Static pressure fluctuations also affect air sample density, but the magnitude and effect of these changes on CO2 flux is not usually considered. In our study, the turbulent static pressure p and the vertical wind component w covariance w′p′¯ from just-above a Rocky Mountain subalpine forest are examined. The magnitude of w′p′¯ was highly correlated to the mean horizontal wind speed U with similar characteristics during the daytime and nighttime. The pressure term was calculated from w′p′¯ and compared to other terms in the equation for the vertical net ecosystem exchange of CO2 (NEE). We found the following: (1) for U≲6 m s−1, the pressure term was small, (2) as U increased beyond 6 m s−1, the pressure term became more and more important reaching a magnitude of ≈ 2 μmol m−2 s−1 at U of 12 m s−1 (for leaf area index LAI ≈ 2.6 m2 m−2), (3) for a more dense forest (LAI ≈ 4.8 m2 m−2), the magnitude of the pressure term at U of 12 m s−1 was ≈ 1 μmol m−2 s−1, or about half the open forest value, and (4) based on 14 years of measurements, the interannual mean and standard deviation of the yearly cumulative pressure and NEE terms were −32.8± 24.5 g C m−2 year−1 and −147.4± 231.7 g C m−2 year−1, respectively. Therefore, on average, including the pressure term in the NEE calculation reduces the annual carbon uptake by the GLEES forest from 147.4 g C m−2 year−1 to 114.6 g C m−2 year−1. This implies that carbon uptake by forests in windy locations that ignore the pressure term can be overestimated by as much as 20%. However, the year-to-year variability of both NEE and the pressure term was large due to changes in the forest structure and LAI from beetle attack and tree die-off. Finally, we present results from sensor-manipulation experiments examining the effect of tilting the quad-disk pressure ports on the turbulent static pressure.

Feasibility study for a high-k temperature fluctuation diagnostic based on soft x-ray imaging

A new pseudolocal tomography algorithm is developed for soft X-ray(SXR) imaging measurements of the turbulent electron temperature fluctuations (δ Te) in tokamaks and stellarators. The algorithm overcomes the constraints of limited viewing ports on the vessel wall (viewing angle) and limited number of lines of sight (LOS). This is accomplished by increasing the number of LOS locally in a region of interest. Numerical modeling demonstrates that the wavenumber spectrum of the turbulence can be reliably reconstructed, with an acceptable number of viewing angles and LOS and suitable low SNR detectors. We conclude that a SXR imaging diagnostic for measurements of turbulent δ Te using a pseudolocal reconstruction algorithm is feasible.

Characterization of temperature distributions in a swirled oxy-fuel coal combustor using tomographic absorption spectroscopy with fluctuation modelling

Oxy-fuel combustion promises efficient and inexpensive carbon dioxide sequestration and is therefore subject to active experimental research. However, the transfer of mature, non-intrusive diagnostic methods for temperature measurement like Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Spectroscopy (CARS) from air-fed to oxy-fuel systems is challenging due to the deficiency in diatomic species suitable for thermometry. Although not limited to oxy-fuel atmospheres, we demonstrate the application of linear hyperspectral absorption tomography on water vapor in a swirled oxy-fuel coal combustor as a complementary diagnostic method, supplementing reference and validation data sets. Due to the burner design an axisymmetric reconstruction of the time-averaged temperature field is conducted. To compensate the temperature bias expected when evaluating time-averaged spectroscopic data we incorporate turbulent temperature fluctuations into our spectroscopic model, providing a fluctuation measure in addition to mean temperatures. The results quantitatively agree with vibrational O2-CARS measurements and qualitatively recreate spatial structures known from particle image velocimetry (PIV) flow fields.

New, improved analysis of correlation ECE data to accurately determine turbulent electron temperature spectra and magnitudes (invited).

Turbulent electron temperature fluctuation measurement using a correlation electron cyclotron emission (CECE) radiometer has become an important diagnostic for studying energy transport in fusion plasmas, and its use is widespread in tokamaks (DIII-D, ASDEX Upgrade, Alcator C-Mod, Tore Supra, EAST, TCV, HL-2A, etc.). The CECE diagnostic typically performs correlation analysis between two closely spaced (within the turbulent correlation length) ECE channels that are dominated by uncorrelated thermal noise emission. This allows electron temperature fluctuations embedded in the thermal noise to be revealed and fluctuation level and spectra determined. We have demonstrated a new, improved CECE coherency-based analysis for calculating the temperature fluctuation frequency spectrum and level, which has been verified both numerically through the simulation of synthetic ECE radiometer data and through analysis of experimental data from the CECE system on DIII-D. The new formulation places coherency-based analysis on a firm foundational footing and corrects some currently published methodologies. This new method accurately accounts for bias error in the coherence function and correctly calculates noise levels for a fixed data record length. It provides excellent accuracy in determining temperature fluctuation level (e.g., <10% error) even for a small realization number in the ensemble average. The method also has a smaller uncertainty (i.e., error bar) in the power spectrum when compared to the more standard cross-power method when evaluated at low coherency. Direct calculation of system noise level using correlation between randomized intermediate frequency signals is recommended.

On Yaglom's Law for the Interplanetary Proton Density and Temperature Fluctuations in Solar Wind Turbulence.

In the past decades, there has been an increasing literature on the presence of an inertial energy cascade in interplanetary space plasma, being interpreted as the signature of Magnetohydrodynamic turbulence (MHD) for both fields and passive scalars. Here, we investigate the passive scalar nature of the solar wind proton density and temperature by looking for scaling features in the mixed-scalar third-order structure functions using measurements on-board the Ulysses spacecraft during two different periods, i.e., an equatorial slow solar wind and a high-latitude fast solar wind, respectively. We find a linear scaling of the mixed third-order structure function as predicted by Yaglom’s law for passive scalars in the case of slow solar wind, while the results for fast solar wind suggest that the mixed fourth-order structure function displays a linear scaling. A simple empirical explanation of the observed difference is proposed and discussed.