Time-resolved Particle Image Velocimetry Research Articles

Experimental investigation on cylinder noise and its reductions by identifying aerodynamic sound sources in flow fields

Through anechoic wind tunnel tests, this study comprehensively investigates the noise and drag reductions on a circular cylinder with dimples. Dimples built on a surface pattern fabric cover the cylinder surface as one of the passive flow control methods. The force, noise, and flow field measurements are performed at diameter-based Reynolds numbers ranging from 3×104 to 1.3×105, covering the sub-critical, critical, and supercritical regimes. The force and noise measurement results show that dimple fabric simultaneously reduces noise and drag in the critical regime. The changes in flow structures were characterized by the Time-resolved Particle Image Velocimetry (TR-PIV) measurements. Based on the vortex sound theory, the flow analysis shows that the dominant sound sources are found to be concentrated near the cylinder surface, which is caused by the unsteady vortex motions near the separation locations during the process of vortex shedding. The cross-correlation between the synchronized TR-PIV and microphone measurements further supports the conclusions. Moreover, the cylinder noise reductions controlled by the dimples are directly associated with the reduced sound sources in the critical and supercritical regimes, corresponding to the reduced strength of the vortex shedding.

Experimental investigation on flow field around a flapping plate with single degree of freedom

Undesirable flapping motion of discs can cause the failure of swing check valves in nuclear passive safety systems. Time-resolved particle image velocimetry (PIV) was employed to investigate the flow characteristics around a free-to-rotate plate and the motion response, with the Reynolds numbers, based on the hydraulic diameter of the channel, from 1.32 × 104 to 3.95 × 104. Appreciable flapping motion (±3.52°) appeared at the Reynolds number of 2.6 × 104 with the frequency of 5.08 Hz. In the low-Reynolds-number case, the plate showed negligible flapping. In the high-Reynolds-number case, the deflection angle increased with reduced flapping amplitude. The torque from the fluid determined the flapping amplitude. In the low-Reynolds-number case, Karman vortices were absent. With increasing Reynolds numbers, Karman vortices developed behind the plate with larger deflection angles. Strong interaction between the wake flow from the leading and trailing edge of the plate was observed. Based on power spectrum density (PSD) analysis, the vortex shedding frequency coincided with the flapping frequency, and the amplitude was positively correlated to the strength of the vortices. Proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) modes evince that, in the case of appreciable motion, coherent structures exhibited a larger spatial scale, enhancing the magnitude of the external torque on the plate.

Characteristics of geometry-and pressure-induced laminar separation bubbles at an enhanced level of free-stream turbulence

Responses of a geometry-induced separation bubble (GISB) and a pressure-induced separation bubble (PISB) at enhanced levels of free-stream turbulence (FST) have experimentally been investigated for a comparative study using the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique. The outlines of separation bubbles based on the dividing streamlines are self-similar for different levels of FST and Reynolds numbers. The spectral analyses of the time-resolved PIV data show that the vortex shedding frequency of a separated shear layer remains unchanged for the GISB cases even with an enhanced level of FST. In contrast, it is different for the PISB cases. We propose a criterion that determines whether the frequency will remain the same even for the cases with FST. Linear stability analyses reveal that the inviscid-inflectional instability dominates the transition process, and the linear stages of transition are not completely bypassed even at an enhanced level of FST. The most amplified frequencies, while scaling with the displacement thickness and the boundary layer edge velocity, collapse in a single curve for all the cases. Furthermore, measurements in the spanwise plane show that the streamwise velocity streak/Klebanof mode at an enhanced level of FST is not a general flow feature for all types of separation bubbles. However, at an enhanced level of FST for the PISB case, the boundary layer streaks are found to distort the two-dimensional vortex structure associated with the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability, eventually leading to a three-dimensional $\varLambda$ -like structure in the spanwise plane.

Vortex dynamics and associated turbulence production in the separated transitional flow and the wake at a moderate Reynolds number

The vortex dynamics in the separated transitional flow and the near-wake over a C4 compressor blade at Rec = 24,000 and incidence angles of 0°, 2.5°, 5°, 7.5°, and 10° are investigated experimentally. The laminar separation vortex shedding, the trailing edge vortex shedding, and the interaction of the two vortices are captured using the time-resolved particle image velocimetry. To separate the contributions to the overall turbulence production due to various flow dynamics, the orthonormality of proper orthogonal decomposition modes of the velocity components is utilized. When the laminar separation is close to the trailing edge, the laminar separation vortex locks in the wake instability with an approximately subharmonic of the von Karman frequency. Approximately 80 % of the turbulence is produced by the large-scale flow structure governed by the laminar separation vortex and trailing edge vortex. When the shear layer separates near the leading edge, the laminar separation vortex shedding frequency is lower with a smaller streamwise wavelength. The turbulence production rate contributed by the laminar separation vortex shedding increases with incidences. These novel experimental findings offer insight into transition mechanisms and turbulence modeling of the separated flow located near periodic wake flow.

Gap ratio effects on the coherent structures surrounding a near-wall square cylinder

Turbulent flow around a square cylinder offset at different heights from an upstream rough wall are investigated using time-resolved particle image velocimetry. The Reynolds number based on the freestream velocity and cylinder height was 12750 and the incoming turbulent boundary layer thickness was 7.2 times the cylinder height. The examined gaps beneath the cylinder were 0.0, 0.3, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, and 8.0 times the cylinder height. The results show that the mean recirculation length remains relatively constant for cases with a gap size greater than or equal to 1.0 times the cylinder height. Flow acceleration through the gap under the cylinder is strongest with a gap size of 2.0 times cylinder height. Downstream of the cylinder, the vertical velocity fluctuations contribute strongly to the production of turbulent kinetic energy by interacting with mean wall-normal velocity gradient in the vertical direction. The dominant frequency embedded in the incoming turbulent boundary layer persists in the wake of the cylinder when the gap size is less than 1.0 cylinder height. Kelvin-Helmholtz vortices originating from the top leading edge of cylinder occur at Strouhal numbers of 2.77-3.11 for the cases with gap ratio ranging from 0.3-8.0 cylinder heights, while spectral migration towards lower frequencies is observed for cases with gap sizes equal to 0.3 and 0.5 cylinder heights. The spatial trajectory of top Kelvin-Helmholtz vortices extends further away from the cylinder as the gap size increases. Spectral proper orthogonal decomposition analysis shows that the von Kármán vortex shedding structures possess the highest spectral energy for all offset cases despite regular vortex shedding being disrupted when the gap size is 0.3 times the cylinder height.

Experimental investigation of three-dimensional effects in cavitating flows with time-resolved stereo particle image velocimetry

The present paper is devoted to characterizing the three-dimensional effects in a cavitating flow generated in a venturi-type profile. Experimental measurements based on 2D3C (two-dimensional-three-component) stereoscopic particle image velocimetry are conducted to obtain the three components of the velocity field in multiple vertical planes aligned with the main flow direction, from the center of the channel to the side walls. Time-resolved acquisitions are conducted, so not only time-averaged quantities but also velocity fluctuations can be discussed. The attention was focused on configurations of cloud cavitation, where the attached cavity experiences large-scale periodical oscillations and shedding of clouds of vapor. Although the water channel is purely two-dimensional, some significant flow velocities in the third direction (depth of the test section) were measured. Some of those velocities were found to be related to small differences between the boundary conditions on the two sides, such as minor gaps between the sides and the bottom wall, while others reflect intrinsic three-dimensional mechanisms inside the cavitation area, such as side jets that contribute to the periodical instability process. These mechanisms are discussed, and a possible 3D (three-dimensional) structure of the cavitating flow is proposed.

Data-driven determination of low-frequency dipole noise mechanisms in stalled airfoils

An aeroacoustic investigation of planar time-resolved particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements in the streamwise surface-normal plane of a NACA 0012 airfoil in static stall is presented at chord-based Reynolds number textrm{Re}_c=7.1times 10^4. Instantaneous planar pressure reconstructions are obtained using a Poisson solver and the dipole noise emanating from the surface is extrapolated via Curle’s acoustic analogy. To correlate structure in the velocity field to the generation of noise, a data-driven framework utilising the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) and the spectral Linear Stochastic Estimation (sLSE) is employed. The flow structures responsible for noise are found to concentrate in proximity to the trailing edge. In addition, a conditional analysis for the extreme noise events reveals that downwash and upwash events in proximity to the trailing edge, coupled with slow and fast-moving fluid at the incipient shear layer, are correlated to local maxima and minima in the acoustic fluctuations, respectively.Graphical abstract

Experimental study on influence of sharkskin denticles structure on the hydrodynamic performance of airfoil

The hydrodynamics properties of sharkskin have been studied for the past few decades, demonstrating the drag-reducing effect of the sharkskin surface denticle structure. This study explores the influence of the sharkskin denticles structure on the hydrodynamic performance of airfoil and the drag reduction mechanism using time-resolved particle image velocimetry (TR-PIV) by arranging the sharkskin denticles on the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) 0012 airfoil. The change in lift and drag of the airfoil was measured by a six-dimensional force sensor. The effects of angle of attack, sharkskin denticles location, Reynolds number, and arrangement on the hydrodynamic performance of the airfoil were mainly analyzed. The results show that for the single-row sharkskin denticles structure, the closer the bionic structure is arranged to the trailing edge of the airfoil, the better the drag reduction effect is. The maximum drag reduction is up to 25.4% by arranging the bionic denticles at 0.38L of the airfoil, when Re = 1.62 × 105 (U = 0.8 m/s) and α = 0°. For the double-row sharkskin denticles structure, the staggered arrangement is less effective in reducing drag than the aligned arrangement due to the influence of form resistance. The velocity field of the turbulent boundary layer on the airfoil surface was obtained by TR-PIV. The experiment results show that the sharkskin denticles structure can change the boundary layer of the airfoil, and the static flow area formed at the tail can reduce the disturbance of the airfoil by the turbulent flow.

Gappy spectral proper orthogonal decomposition

Experimental spatio-temporal flow data often contain gaps or other types of undesired artifacts. To reconstruct flow data in the compromised or missing regions, a data completion method based on spectral proper orthogonal decomposition (SPOD) is developed. The algorithm leverages the temporal correlation of the SPOD modes with preceding and succeeding snapshots, and their spatial correlation with the surrounding data at the same time instant. For each gap, the algorithm first computes the SPOD of the remaining, unaffected data. In the next step, the compromised data are projected onto the basis of the SPOD modes. This corresponds to a local inversion of the SPOD problem and yields expansion coefficients that permit the reconstruction in the affected regions. This local reconstruction is successively applied to each gap. After all gaps are filled in, the procedure is repeated in an iterative manner until convergence. This method is demonstrated on two examples: direct numerical simulation of laminar flow around a cylinder, and time-resolved PIV data of turbulent cavity flow obtained by Zhang et al. (2019) [47]. Randomly added gaps correspond to 1%, 5%, and 20% of data loss. Even for 20% data corruption, and in the presence of measurement noise in the experimental data, the algorithm recovers 97% and 80% of the original data in the corrupted regions of the simulation and PIV data, respectively. These values are higher than those achieved by established methods like gappy POD and Kriging.

Tail-shake risks assessment & mitigation by wind-tunnel tests on air-intake installation on a heavy-weight H/C configuration

AbstractIn this work, the key role of the upper-deck design including engine installation as a potential source of tail-shake is at focus. The work is based on a Wind-Tunnel Test (WTT) campaign performed at the Airbus Helicopters’ Marignane wind-tunnel facilities on a high-fidelity minibody fuselage at scale 1:3.5 representing a generic heavy-helicopter upper deck.Two different engine intake installations for a Power Unit (PU) have been investigated; in a first configuration, the air intake is implemented at the pylon-fairing trailing edge. The second configuration consists in positioning two air intakes on each side of the pylon fairing, close to the maximum cross-section location. Different measurement methods to evaluate aerodynamic interactions and wake sources are proposed: flow-separation assessments from surface oil flow visualisations, time-resolved Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements and unsteady skin-pressure measurements at the cowlings. Tail-shake-related indicators are then proposed. Basically, a configuration that produces strong vortices characterised by a broadband spectral signature is believed to gather all the conditions for tail-shake to emerge.The flow over the clean configuration is first analysed for various combinations of angle-of-attack and sideslip, highlighting four different areas of flow separation at the cowlings. The complex flow topology around the upper deck is then assessed, which includes a spectral analysis of the flow in the PIV planes. The influence of the air intakes (operating or not) is then evaluated. When located at the pylon-fairing trailing edge and operating, the air intake has a spectacular impact on the flow-field topology. It is responsible for the generation of an intense broadband wake interacting with the pylon-fairing lip vortices, which is believed to be a potential source of tail-shake. The second air-intake configuration is also not favourable, as it requires enlarging the pylon fairing by 100mm, which causes an intense wake similarly to a blunt body. At last, a mitigation mean is proposed for the first configuration. It demonstrates a significant reduction of the wake intensity and broadband signature at the source.

Vortex-induced vibrations of a cantilevered blunt plate: POD of TR-PIV measurements and structural modal analysis

Vortex-induced vibrations sustained by immersed bodies may induce early structural fatigue and acoustic noise radiation. The present study consists of an experimental characterization of the vortex shedding and induced vibrations of a cantilevered blunt rectangular aluminium plate of chord to thickness ratio 16.7, immersed in a uniform water flow in the hydrodynamic tunnel of the French Naval Academy Research Institute. Experiences have been conducted at zero degrees incidence for Reynolds numbers Rec (based on chord length) ranging from 2.5×105 to 9.5×105, leading to turbulent wake conditions. The hydrodynamic properties of the wake have been evaluated by statistical analysis, Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) and vortex core identification of Time Resolved Particle Image Velocimetry fields. The structural response of the plate has been examined by laser vibrometry through modal analysis. The fluid–structure interactions have been analysed for three different vibration regimes: out of resonance, lock-off resonance and lock-in resonance with the 1st twisting mode. The features of the first nine POD modes were analysed according to the different vibration regimes to understand the physics proper to the near wake. In the out of resonance regime, the strength of the primary Karman vortices is preferentially controlled by the Strouhal and Reynolds numbers. The thickness based Strouhal number is 0.195. A secondary hydrodynamic excitation source of characteristic Strouhal number 0.227 coexists with the primary Karman vortex shedding mode. At the lock-off resonance, this secondary excitation source is identified as a second Karman vortex shedding mode which is coupled with the natural frequency. A local maximum of vibration magnitude is attained for this regime. The coexistence of these two Karman modes is responsible for the early occurrence of resonance. The lock-in resonance occurs when the primary vortex shedding mode locks with the natural frequency. It is characterized by an enlargement of the wake and by a reinforcement of the primary Karman vortices strength.

Effects of sheltering on the unsteady wake dynamics of tandem cylinders mounted in a turbulent boundary layer

The unsteady wake dynamics of two finite wall-mounted cylinders of unequal height and arranged in tandem are investigated using time-resolved particle image velocimetry (TR-PIV). The cylinders were fully submerged in a turbulent boundary layer with a Reynolds number based on the cylinder diameter (d) of 5540 and boundary layer thickness of$\delta /d = 8.7$. The centre-to-centre spacing between the cylinders was fixed at 4d. The degree of sheltering was studied by varying the height of the upstream cylinder (UC)$(h/d \in [0.7\unicode{x2013} 7.0])$while keeping the height of the downstream cylinder (DC) constant at$H/d\; = \; 7.0$. The resulting height ratios were$h/H = 0.10,0.25,0.50,0.75$and$1.00$denoted as HR10, HR25, HR50, HR75 and HR100, respectively. The wake dynamics of the DC were also compared to those of an isolated single cylinder (SC) with similar Reynolds number, aspect ratio and submergence ratio. TR-PIV measurements were performed in the symmetry plane for all test cases and five spanwise planes along the height of HR75. The results showed that as the height ratio increases, the downwash from the free end of the UC impinges directly on the frontal surface of the DC and induces a strong upwash on the opposite rear side of the DC. The induced upwash impedes the downwash from the free end of the DC much earlier than observed behind the SC, resulting in a reduced reverse flow area and high velocity deficit in the sheltered portion of the DC. Nonetheless, the reverse flow area behind the UC and DC undergoes a quasi-periodic pumping motion with frequencies that are synchronized for HR25 to HR100. Spectral analysis and proper orthogonal decomposition also reveal that the attachment of the shear layers of the UC on the DC also promotes a lock-in anti-symmetric vortex shedding behaviour.

Pulsed Velocity Created by a Plasma Actuator in the Vicinity of the Wall

Surface dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuators, which have a few advantages and are involved in continuous and burst modes, have attracted worldwide attention for aircraft flow control in the last two decades. It is believed that understanding the flowfield generated by surface dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuators has a great effect on promoting the control effects of plasma actuators. Nevertheless, the details of the flowfield close to the wall remain unclear. Motivated by this requirement, the flowfield created by a single asymmetrical plasma actuator is investigated in still air by using the two-dimensional time-resolved particle image velocimetry device. Interestingly, a pulsed velocity created by the plasma actuator with the continuous mode near the dielectric surface is first observed, which might cause the impact effect by creating large-size disturbances, and benefits flow control. It is speculated that the formation of the pulsed velocity is related to the coupling effect between the entrainment of the starting vortex and the induced body force at the initiation stage closely. In addition, the present results reveal the underlying mechanism that the control effect of the burst pattern has significantly outperformed that of the continuous one.

Experimental investigation of the dynamic characteristics of the flow generated by a sliding dielectric barrier discharge in the flat plate boundary layer flow

The sliding dielectric barrier discharge (SL-DBD) has attracted attention due to its ability to suppress flow separation. This paper investigated the effect of SL-DBD on the flow field in the flat plate boundary layer by time-resolved particle image velocimetry. We obtained the finite-time Lyapunov exponent field and the Lagrangian coherent structures of the flow field through the velocity field. The results show the effect of SL-DBD has spatial differences, and SL-DBD will produce a “strong–weak–strong” spatial effect on the flow field. The directionality of the flow structure induced by SL-DBD is the main reason for the difference. SL-DBD will induce a large number of vortex structures in the local downstream area of the electrode. The vortex structure enhances the mixing and squeezing effects between the upper and lower flow fields. The upper flow field moves the lower flow field downward by about 0.1 mm through the squeezing effect. In addition, at the downstream region adjacent to the electrode, the oblique momentum injection of the SL-DBD is the dominant effect. At one electrode distance from the electrode, the SL-DBD induces a large number of vortex structures. However, when the distance from the electrode is twice the electrode spacing, the number of vortex structures decreases, and the structure becomes larger. The results show spatial differences in the perturbation of the flow field by SL-DBD, which cannot be ignored when SL-DBD is used to suppress flow separation.

Evolution and control of multiscale vortical structures in a wall-mounted cube wake

In this study, multiscale flow features in a wall-mounted cube wake are investigated experimentally based on two-dimensional time-resolved particle image velocimetry measurements and wavelet transform. Moreover, the control mechanism of the horizontal control hole (HCH) on the cube wake is studied. The width of the cube model is D = 50 mm, and the corresponding Reynolds number is ReD=7800. The flow control cases include nine kinds of HCHs with three different diameters and three different heights. The results show that the shear layer contains a continuous merging process of multiscale vortices, which leads to the momentum deficit. Particularly, the evolution of large-scale vortices causes exponential growth of momentum deficit. In the xy-plane, the large spanwise vortices cause fluctuations in the near wake (x/D ≲ 3), which are stronger than those in the shear layer but are not present in the xz-plane. The downstream wake is anisotropic due to its strong downwash flows and weak inward flow. The HCH issuing flow weakens the intermediate- and large-scale vortices in the shear layer and hinders the interacting shear flows in the wake, thus reducing the momentum deficit in the near wake. In the downstream wake, the effect of HCH is also anisotropic: in xz-plane, the momentum recovery is slow due to the decrease in the downwash flow by HCH; in the xy-plane, the momentum recovery is fast due to the increase in the range of the inward flow by HCH.

Experimental investigation of vortex evolution around oscillating water column wave energy converter using particle image velocimetry

Although the oscillating water column (OWC) wave energy converter has been extensively studied in recent decades, the understanding of the flow field around the OWC converter is still in its infancy due to the complexity of the wave–structure interaction, especially with the vortex evolution. In this study, the characteristics of the flow field around the OWC converter were investigated by using the time-resolved particle image velocimetry technique to analyze the temporal development of the vortex in the vicinity of the OWC converter. The Q criterion was calculated to highlight the vortex intensity, and the entropy was used to analyze the energy dissipation. The results indicated a close relation between the energy dissipation and the formation of vortices. The temporal processes of vortex generation and development were elaborated in terms of phase-averaged results, including their variations with wave heights and wave periods. It was found that the vortex intensity and structure were clearly affected by the wave heights. As the wave period increased, the position of the seaward vortex shifted downward, while that of the leeward vortex shifted upward and deeper into the chamber. In addition, the detailed flow field results provided insight into the effect of vortex evolution on the energy extraction rate of OWC, showing that the leeward vortex led to a decrease in the energy extraction rate, while the seaward vortex led to more energy dissipation as the water leaving the OWC converter and had a relatively small effect on the energy extraction rate.

Unsteady RANS-based DMD analysis of airfoil NACA0015 with Gurney flap

The present investigation summarizes the numerical prediction and DMD analysis of the flow in the vicinity of a Gurney flap set on an airfoil NACA0015 at Re = 10,300 tested in a water tunnel with time-resolved Particle Image Velocimetry. A series of two-dimensional U-RANS simulations has been accomplished using an incompressible, time-accurate solver of OpenFOAM. A purely data-based DMD analysis has followed to extract the spatio-temporal coherent structures from the time-evolving flowfields, to mimic the experiments. It is stressed that this work focuses on the analysis of this kind of flap by applying DMD to datasets generated with numerical simulations, which has not been previously investigated, but using experimental datasets. Under this approach, the comparison of the numerics with the experimental counterpart shows a remarkable agreement for both the structures and major frequencies, which stresses the suitability of the incompresible U-RANS approach in this class of studies. Special attention has been focused on the modelling of the experimental facility, and a quantification of the prediction accuracy is provided by assessing the deviation of the spectral content. The simulations clearly show the key role of having a good characterization of the water tunnel to be successful at capturing the spectrum and flow unsteadiness. Furthermore, they reveal quite promising for those industrial oriented simulations, which deal with lift-enhancement devices and lift-to-drag ratio optimization of airfoils since they permit an accurate prediction.

Experimental Study on the Effect of Porous Media on the Aerodynamic Performance of Airfoils

Porous media has potential applications in fluid machinery and in aerospace science and engineering due to its excellent drag-reduction properties. We carried out experimental time-resolved particle image velocimetry (TR-PIV) research, laying porous media with different pore densities on the suction side of an airfoil in the low-turbulence recirculation wind tunnel of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics to study the effects and mechanisms of porous media on airfoil aerodynamic performance. We also used a smooth airfoil model in the experiment for comparison. Comparing the aerodynamic forces, pressure distributions, and the airfoil’s suction side flow field, we found that the porous media with different pore densities had different effects on the airfoil’s aerodynamic performance. Although the porous media with 20PPI (pores per inch) increased the pressure drag and reduced the airfoil lift, it considerably reduced the friction drag, thus significantly improving the airfoil’s aerodynamic force. The flow visualization results indicated that, although the porous media with 20PPI reduced the circulation of flow velocity around the suction side of airfoil, it also destroyed the vortex structure, broke the low-frequency large-scale vortex into a high-frequency granular vortex, inhibited the amplitude of vortex fluctuation, reduced the shear stress on the airfoil surface, weakened the vortex energy of different modes, and accelerated the vortex’s spatio-temporal evolution.

Coherent Flow Structures Near Tongue Region in a Centrifugal Fan With Forward-Curved Blades

Abstract The unsteady characteristics of the velocity field around the tongue of the volute in a centrifugal fan with forward-curved blades were investigated by time-resolved particle image velocimetry and mode decomposition analysis, i.e., proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) and spectral proper orthogonal decomposition (SPOD). Both POD and SPOD analysis reveal the existence of two types of unsteadiness in the flow field in the volute, one is the large-scale fluctuations at rotation frequency and its high-order harmonics in the main outlet flow, the other is due to the jet–wake structures at blade passing frequency in the cutoff clearance region. Additionally, SPOD analysis reveals a third type of disturbance, which is characterized as strip-like velocity structures at the intermediate frequency. The geometric and dynamic features of these coherent flow structures are inspected by the eigenfunction and their reduced-order reconstruction. In comparison with the POD analysis, the SPOD analysis enables the examination of the spatial pattern of each frequency component due to its dual-orthogonality nature. These structures direct impact the tongue, and thus might be responsible for the generation of strong wall-pressure fluctuation on the nose of the tongue. Due to the frequency mixing limitation of POD analysis, they cannot be easily identified from the leading-order POD modes. Furthermore, the frequency range of these three groups of disturbances, as well as their spatial extension, are determined via SPOD analysis and reduced-order reconstruction.

Hydrodynamics characteristics of non-uniform inflow in reactor coolant pump based on time-resolved tomographic particle image velocimetry

Non-uniform inflow at the inlet of a reactor coolant pump generates performance variations, such as in the head, efficiency, cavitation, and vibrations. The three-dimensional velocity and pressure for non-uniform inflow are reconstructed via time-resolved tomographic particle image velocimetry to evaluate its effect on the reactor coolant pump. Five volume velocity fields were reconstructed through the multiplicative algebraic reconstruction technique, which constitutes the entire non-uniform flow field. The statistics of the velocity fields were used to study the non-uniform inflow characteristics. The non-uniform inflow contains two large-scale vortices in the form of counter-rotating vortex pairs. The influence of non-uniform inflow on the performance of the pump may be caused by the non-uniform pressure field. For power fluctuations during reactor operations, this non-uniform pressure distribution may generate a low-pressure region on the impeller, which induces cavitation. The non-uniform inflow shown by inhomogeneous vectors was evaluated statistically through the turbulent kinetic energy, which represents the velocity variance in each direction. For a constant head, the non-uniformity of the flow field increased with the flow rate, and the scale of small-scale turbulent vortices decreased. With proper orthogonal decomposition analysis, 90% of the energy region and flow structures were dominated by the previous 412 modes. Furthermore, the temporal modes 1, 2, 3, 100, 200, and 400 show that the frequency of large-scale eddy turnover was about 6.6–13.2 Hz. However, the large-scale eddy could be characterized within the first mode of the spatial distribution.