Wall Pressure Field Research Articles

A hybrid numerical approach to predict the vibrational responses of panels excited by a turbulent boundary layer

In this work, a hybrid numerical approach to predict the vibrational responses of planar structures excited by a turbulent boundary layer is presented. The approach combines an uncorrelated wall plane wave technique with the finite element method. The wall pressure field induced by a turbulent boundary layer is obtained as a set of uncorrelated wall pressure plane waves. The amplitude of these plane waves are determined from the cross spectrum density function of the wall pressure field given either by empirical models from literature or from experimental data. The response of the planar structure subject to a turbulent boundary layer excitation is then obtained from an ensemble average of the different realizations. The numerical technique is computationally efficient as it rapidly converges using a small number of realizations. To demonstrate the method, the vibrational responses of two panels with simply supported or clamped boundary conditions and excited by a turbulent flow are considered. In the case study comprising a plate with simply supported boundary conditions, an analytical solution is employed for verification of the method. For both cases studies, numerical results from the hybrid approach are compared with experimental data measured in two different anechoic wind tunnels.

Vibroacoustic responses of a heavy fluid loaded cylindrical shell excited by a turbulent boundary layer

A fully coupled structural–acoustic model of a cylindrical shell under external turbulent boundary layer excitation is herein developed. The numerical process requires computation of the wall pressure cross spectral density function as well as sensitivity functions for the fluid-loaded cylindrical shell. A semi-empirical model from literature is used to describe the wall pressure field induced by the turbulent boundary layer in the wavenumber–frequency domain. An analytical expression of the wall pressure field for a flat surface is adapted to describe the wall pressure field for a cylindrical surface. Circumferential sensitivity functions are derived using a wavenumber-point reciprocity principle. Results for the near-field and far-field acoustic pressure spectra are presented. Contributions of individual circumferential modes to the acoustic pressure spectra are examined, showing distinct trends below and above the ring frequency. The proposed method is computationally efficient and provides an effective approach to investigate vibroacoustic responses for maritime platforms.

Identification of coherent flow structures and experimental analysis of the hydroacoustic emission of a hubless propeller

The progress in drive technology and the increasing needs for compact ship propulsion systems has brought a new class of hubless propellers into the field of operation. So far, no detailed analyses have been done concerning the unsteady flow structures which are important for the hydroacoustic emission. The objective of this paper is to analyze the unsteady flow topology and the related hydroacoustic emission of a hubless propeller with numerical and experimental methods. In order to capture the unsteady wake flow structures, a stress-blended eddy simulation (SBES) has been done. Experimental investigations in a circulating water channel provided the validation data in terms of integral quantities like thrust, wall pressure fluctuation and the hydroacoustic noise emission. The wake flow can be characterized by a multi-helix vortex system which develops from the blade root and tip region as well as from the trailing edge. The transition length of the helixes is larger compared to hub propellers in conjunction with an accelerated dissipation. The application of the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) onto the unsteady wall pressure fields obtained from the SBES simulation was capable to assign different flow structures to the measured hydroacoustic emissions.

Experimental Assessment of the Effect of Temperature Gradient Across an Aeroacoustic Liner

This study investigates the temperature effect on the impedance of conventional single-degree-of-freedom liners, both without and with grazing flow. Experiments are performed in a controlled environment, with a detailed monitoring of the temperature all along the liner sample. The liner impedance is either derived from the reflection coefficient measured in a normal impedance tube or is educed with an inverse method from acoustic velocity or wall pressure fields measured in the ONERA grazing flow duct. The influence of the acoustic source level on the temperature of the sample is also addressed, which enlightens a strong multiphysics coupling between acoustics, flow, and thermal phenomena.

Numerical prediction of turbulent boundary layer noise from a sharp‐edged flat plate

SummaryAn efficient hybrid uncorrelated wall plane waves–boundary element method (UWPW‐BEM) technique is proposed to predict the flow‐induced noise from a structure in low Mach number turbulent flow. Reynolds‐averaged Navier‐Stokes equations are used to estimate the turbulent boundary layer parameters such as convective velocity, boundary layer thickness, and wall shear stress over the surface of the structure. The spectrum of the wall pressure fluctuations is evaluated from the turbulent boundary layer parameters and by using semi‐empirical models from literature. The wall pressure field underneath the turbulent boundary layer is synthesized by realizations of uncorrelated wall plane waves (UWPW). An acoustic BEM solver is then employed to compute the acoustic pressure scattered by the structure from the synthesized wall pressure field. Finally, the acoustic response of the structure in turbulent flow is obtained as an ensemble average of the acoustic pressures due to all realizations of uncorrelated plane waves. To demonstrate the hybrid UWPW‐BEM approach, the self‐noise generated by a flat plate in turbulent flow with Reynolds number based on chord Rec = 4.9 × 105 is predicted. The results are compared with those obtained from a large eddy simulation (LES)‐BEM technique as well as with experimental data from literature.

Phase-locking particle image velocimetry measurement of unsteady flow behaviors: Online dynamic mode decomposition using field-programmable gate array

A novel online dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) approach using a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), which takes full advantage of the DMD to extract multiple unsteady events and the FPGA system for signal sampling and fast computation, was developed for phase-locking particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements of unsteady flow behaviors. The turbulent separated and reattaching flow around a finite blunt plate with a length-to-height-ratio L/D = 6.0 was examined to demonstrate this novel approach. The wall-pressure field and the velocity field were measured using arrayed microphones and the conventional planar PIV setup, respectively. Offline DMD analysis of the wall-pressure fluctuation field was first used to identify the dominant modes corresponding to the energetically unsteady events. For each mode, the eigenmode and its mode coefficient reflected the spatial footprint pattern and temporal strength of the unsteady event, respectively. Next, trained machine learning of the mode coefficient was used to establish a phase prediction strategy. Finally, in the online analysis, the relevant eigenmode was cast into the FPGA device to serve as the reference mode for reconstruction with the sampled wall-pressure data, determining the phase signal to fire the PIV setup. High-resolution spatiotemporal evolutions of the dominant flow structures (i.e., the flapping separation bubble, the impinging leading-edge vortex, and the trailing-edge vortex street) were separately assembled. Further measurements demonstrated a clear panoramic view of the synchronous behavior of the enlarging separation bubble and the impinging leading-edge vortex. The proposed online FPGA-DMD approach can serve as a sophisticated strategy for phase-locking PIV measurements of unsteady flow behaviors.

Numerical simulations of an intake-compressor system

Integrated propulsion plays a major role in future civil and military aircraft design. A key component of these systems are highly bent intake geometries. As the flow passes through such ducts, combined total pressure and swirl distortions are generated which have a negative impact on compressor performance, safety margin, and durability. Due to weight and space limitations, a close coupling of intake and compressor is necessary. An experimental test case including a highly bent intake geometry and a state of the art turbofan engine was established and extensive measurement data was acquired. This publication compares results of three different numerical approaches to this test data: Isolated intake simulations, isolated compressor simulations with distorted inflow conditions, and a coupled simulation of intake and three stage compressor. The isolated intake simulation is able to reproduce the static wall pressure field of the intake as well as the occurring flow separation. Towards the interface plane to the compressor however, significant deviations are observed. The upstream effect of the compressor working under the combined pressure swirl distortion is assessed via the second simulation approach. The influence of the swirl and total pressure distortion on the compressor is first simulated separately and then compared to the impact of the combined distortion. The coupled intake-compressor simulation reveals the manipulation of the intake flow field by an upstream static pressure field. In contrast to experiments a slightly unsteady operation point and an asymmetric intake flow field were observed.

CFD analysis of convergent-divergent nozzle flow and base pressure control using micro-JETS

This paper presents numerical study was undertaken to identify the use of the micro-jets to regulate the pressure in the region from two-dimensional convergent-divergent (CD) Nozzle. At the exit of the divergent nozzle in the base region 1 mm of two micro-jets orifice diameter has been arranged at ninety degrees at pcd 13 mm to control base pressure. The inertia level at the inlet to suddenly expanded duct was 1.87. The micro-jets are suddenly expanded into a two-dimensional planar area ratio of 3.24. The L/D of the duct was 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10. The total wall pressure distribution from inlet to the outlet too was recorded. The results indicate that the micro-jets can oblige as the effective regulators of the pressure in the base area. The duct wall pressure field is not negatively affected by the dynamic control. Nozzles were operated with the NPR in the range from 3 to 11. The results show that we can fix the flow parameter which will result in the maximum gain in the base pressure, velocity and temperature. The convergent-divergent nozzle geometry has been modeled and simulated employing turbulence models: K-ε standard wall function turbulence model from the code was validated with the commercial computational fluid dynamics.

Estimating the sound transmission loss of a single partition using vibration measurements

The sound transmission loss of a homogeneous, isotropic, thin panel under a diffuse acoustic field excitation is derived from a measurement of its airborne induced vibration field. Using this single dataset, the virtual fields method allows identifying the wall pressure field exciting the panel and estimating the corresponding incident acoustic power, provided that the differential operator governing the plate dynamics and its material properties are known a priori. Using the same dataset, the radiated acoustic power is calculated using the radiation resistance matrix method. For an aluminium plate, a comparison of transmission loss values obtained using this approach and a standardized measurement shows good agreement off resonance but large discrepancies on resonance and close to resonance, due to ill conditioning of the virtual fields method. A simple correction is proposed on resonance.

Wall pressure and vorticity in the intermittently turbulent regime of the Stokes boundary layer

In this paper we study the wall pressure and vorticity fields of the Stokes boundary layer in the intermittently turbulent regime through direct numerical simulation (DNS). The DNS results are compared to experimental measurements and a good agreement is found for the mean and fluctuating velocity fields. We observe maxima of the turbulent kinetic energy and wall shear stress in the early deceleration stage and minima in the late acceleration stage. The wall pressure field is characterized by large fluctuations with respect to the root mean square level, while the skewness and kurtosis of the wall pressure show significant deviations from their Gaussian values. The wall vorticity components show different behaviours during the cycle: for the streamwise component, positive and negative fluctuations have the same probability of occurrence throughout the cycle while the spanwise fluctuations favour negative extrema in the acceleration stage and positive extrema in the deceleration stage. The wall vorticity flux is a function of the wall pressure gradients. Vorticity creation at the wall reaches a maximum at the beginning of the deceleration stage due to the increase of uncorrelated wall pressure signals. The spanwise vorticity component is the most affected by the oscillations of the outer flow. These findings have consequences for the design of wave energy converters. In extreme seas, wave induced fluid velocities can be very high and extreme wall pressure fluctuations may occur. Moreover, the spanwise vortical fields oscillate violently in a wave cycle, inducing strong interactions between vortices and the device that can enhance the device motion.

Detached eddy simulations of rising Taylor bubbles

A numerical study of turbulent flow induced by Taylor bubbles rising in a stagnant liquid column is presented in this paper. Predictions of the void fraction, mean velocity and turbulent fluctuations are compared with available experimental results. In addition, we analysed the wall pressure and differential wall pressure fields as well as the temperature field produced by the interaction of a Taylor bubble with a heated tube wall. Implications for pressure measurements and thermal fluctuations in two-phase systems are discussed. A second simulation was performed to shed light on Taylor bubble coalescence, specifically highlighting the distinct mechanisms that operate in different parts of the wake region.

Inverse measurement of wall pressure field in flexible-wall wind tunnels using global wall deformation data

The Kevlar-wall anechoic wind tunnel offers great value to the aeroacoustics research community, affording the capability to make simultaneous aeroacoustic and aerodynamic measurements. While the aeroacoustic potential of the Kevlar-wall test section is already being leveraged, the aerodynamic capability of these test sections is still to be fully realized. The flexibility of the Kevlar walls suggests the possibility that the internal test section flow may be characterized by precisely measuring small deflections of the flexible walls. Treating the Kevlar fabric walls as tensioned membranes with known pre-tension and material properties, an inverse stress problem arises where the pressure distribution over the wall is sought as a function of the measured wall deflection. Experimental wall deformations produced by the wind loading of an airfoil model are measured using digital image correlation and subsequently projected onto polynomial basis functions which have been formulated to mitigate the impact of measurement noise based on a finite-element study. Inserting analytic derivatives of the basis functions into the equilibrium relations for a membrane, full-field pressure distributions across the Kevlar walls are computed. These inversely calculated pressures, after being validated against an independent measurement technique, can then be integrated along the length of the test section to give the sectional lift of the airfoil. Notably, these first-time results are achieved with a non-contact technique and in an anechoic environment.

Wall Pressure and External Velocity Field Relation in Overexpanded Supersonic Jets

Truncated ideal contour nozzles operating at offdesign conditions encounter offaxis loads for which the exact origin remains unclear. Although these loads are usually attributed to the nonaxisymmetric motion of the adaptation shock wave, the unsteady pressure field in the downstream separated region may also be of importance: as the distance from the nozzle’s structural attachment increases, small wall pressure fluctuations can generate undesired torque. Experiments are conducted on a truncated ideal contour nozzle operated at overexpanded conditions. The study investigates the unsteady characteristics of the pressure fluctuations in the downstream separation region and their links with the downstream developing jet flow dynamics. The analysis of the pressure fluctuations inside the nozzle reveals the existence of highly organized structures, both in time and in the azimuthal direction. It is shown that these organized fluctuations dominate the pressure signals in the separated region and that they correspond to an azimuthal mode responsible for the side-load generation. Moreover, it is shown that these specific pressure modes have a clear signature in the exiting jet flowfield. A discussion is given in the paper on the possible origins of these organized structures.

Multivariate and conditioned statistics of velocity and wall pressure fluctuations induced by a jet interacting with a flat plate

The increasing size of aircraft engines is leading to reconsideration of their conventional integration in the under-wing configuration due to the strong interaction between the jet and the airframe components. As a consequence, more insight is needed into the complex mechanisms underlying the interaction phenomenon between the jet flow and a surface. The objective of this paper is to carry out a series of experimental tests on a simplified laboratory-scale model to approach/deepen the problem. This analysis is the continuation of a previous study (Di Marco et al., J. Fluid Mech., vol. 770, 2015, pp. 247–272) on a rigid flat plate installed tangentially to the axis of an incompressible jet. In the present work, the velocity and wall pressure fields were simultaneously measured for different radial distances of the plate from the nozzle axis. Pointwise hot-wire anemometer measurements were carried out to characterize the effect of the plate on the velocity field statistics up to the fourth-order moment. The analysis revealed that the presence of the plate brings about a deflection of the mean aerodynamic field over the surface and a reduction of the turbulence intensity. Wall pressure fluctuations induced by the jet flow over the plate were measured by a linear array of cavity-mounted microphones placed along the streamwise direction. The velocity/pressure cross-statistics are achieved in the time and frequency domains using cross-correlations and Fourier analysis. A wavelet-based conditional sampling procedure is applied as well to characterize the flow signatures related to the velocity and wall pressure fluctuations, revealing that the surface induces the breakdown of the large-scale turbulent structures. The dependence of the multivariate and conditioned statistics on the plate distance from the jet as well as on the streamwise and crosswise probe positions is extensively discussed. Different organized flow motions over the surface are found based on the wall pressure events detected. A scaling criterion for velocity signatures is also presented addressing the governing parameters of the jet–plate interaction phenomenon.

Influence of the Local Cross-Streamlined Obstacles on the Velocity and Pressure Fluctuations

Background. Developing means to enhance the effectiveness of mass and heat transfer processes on streamlined surfaces and their hydroacoustic qualities in the objects of power, aerospace and marine engineering. Objective. The purpose of the research is to determine the formation features and space-time characteristics of the velocity and wall-pressure fluctuation fields in flows above and on the streamlined surfaces with local obstacles as the cross-streamlined half-cylindrical trench on a flat surface and circular obstacle on the flexible longitudinal hydroacoustic antenna surface. Methods. The research was carried out by means of hot-wire and hydroacoustic measuring in flows on streamlined obstacles and spectral analysis of statistical characteristics of the velocity and wall-pressure fluctuations in investigating systems. Results. It has been determined experimentally the zones and conditions of vortices formation by various frequency ranges, the extremes of power spectrum densities of the velocity and wall-pressure fluctuations, vortex interaction, ejections and stalls near streamlined surfaces with local obstacles at rather wide Reynolds number ranges. Conclusions. Basing on received space-time characteristics of the velocity and wall-pressure fluctuations and discovered typical features of their spectra the hydromechanical mechanisms of heat and mass exchange and hydroacoustic processes in the investigated systems have been determined. The results of the study can be used for designing of such systems and they reveal the perspective of directed control by mentioned processes for increase of their efficiency.

POD and Fourier analyses of a fluid-structure-acoustic interaction problem related to interior car noise

In order to approach a flow configuration revealing the aerodynamic noise contribution in the interior of road vehicles due to the A-pillar vortex, a numerical simulation of a Forward Facing Step (FFS) coupled with a vibrating structure is performed. This numerical study is based on a weak coupling of three solvers to compute (i) the flow field in interaction with the FFS, (ii) the vibration of the structure and (iii) the acoustic radiation in the open cavity. The purpose of this work is then to evaluate the ability of two different post-processing methods: Proper Orthogonal Decomposition and Fourier Decomposition to identify the origin of the noise radiated into a cavity surrounded by an unsteady flow. Fourier and POD decompositions are then successively performed to extract the part of the aeroacoustic wall pressure field impacting the upper part of an upward step mainly related to the radiated acoustic pressure in the cavity. It is observed that the acoustic part, extracted from the wavenumber frequency decomposition (Fourier analysis) of the wall pressure field generates a non-negligible part of the interior cavity noise. However, this contribution is of several orders smaller than the one related to the aerodynamic part of the pressure field. Moreover, it is shown that the most energetic part of the pressure field (POD analysis) is due to the shear flapping motion and mainly contributes to the low-frequency noise in the cavity. Such post-processing results are of particular interest for future analyzes related to the noise radiated inside a car.

Smart role of Al2O3-water suspension on laminar heat transfer in entrance region of a channel with transverse in-line baffles

This study aims to two dimensionally evaluate laminar flow and heat transfer characteristics of Al2O3-water nanofluid in the entrance region of a baffled parallel plate channel. The mixture model, based on a single fluid two phase approach, with temperature-dependent properties is adopted to simulate nanofluid. A constant heat flux is imposed on the walls. The effect of Reynolds number, nanoparticle volume fraction and heat flux on wall temperature, velocity and pressure fields, and thermal-hydraulic performance are numerically investigated. It is found that the intensity and length of recirculation regions of flow in the baffled channel increases and decreases, respectively, as nanofluid is applied. The results reveal more uniform wall temperature profiles are obtained using nanofluid, especially for lower Reynolds number and higher volume fraction. Using nanofluid has more remarkable effect on reducing temperature in front of baffles in which hot spots occur. Because of this superior feature, the nanofluid under study plays an intelligent role in cooling applications of baffled channel. Both heat transfer and pressure drop increase when nanoparticles are dispersed in basefluid. The baffled channel shows better cooling performance at the presence of nanoparticle while imposed heat flux is increased. This potential of nanofluids proves that it can be called “smart fluid”. It means that nanfluid plays automatically more effective role as heat transfer medium when temperature increases and then higher heat dissipation is required. It is also found that the effect of nanofluid on both heat transfer and pressure drop is approximately independent from baffle shape and the baffled channel presents a better thermal-hydraulic performance under the condition of constant inlet velocity.

Comparison of physiological and post-endovascular aneurysm repair infrarenal blood flow

Endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) of abdominal aortic aneurysms results in redirection of blood through the deployed endograft (EG). Even though EVAR is clinically effective, the absolute flow restoration is not warranted. Our purpose was to compare the physiological with the post-EVAR infrarenal flow conditions. We developed patient-specific models based on computed tomography data of five healthy volunteers and ten patients treated with the Endurant® stent-graft system. Wall shear stress (WSS), helicity, pressure and velocity fields were calculated using computational fluid dynamics. The results showed a decrease of peak WSS on the part of the EG that resides in the iliac arteries, compared to the physiological value (p = 0.01). At the abdominal part, the average helicity seems to increase after EVAR, while at the iliac arteries part, the intensity of helical flow seems physiological. Pressure drop and peak velocity in the iliac arteries part are lower than the physiological values (p = 0.04). The comparison revealed that most hemodynamic properties converge to normal levels at the abdominal part whereas statistically significant variations were observed in the iliac arteries part. The delineation of the differences between physiological and postoperative flow data could pave the way for the improvement of EG designs.

Simulation of the pressure field beneath a turbulent boundary layer using realizations of uncorrelated wall plane waves.

This paper investigates the modeling of a vibrating structure excited by a turbulent boundary layer (TBL). Although the wall pressure field (WPF) of the TBL constitutes a random excitation, the element-based methods generally used for describing complex mechanical structures consider deterministic loads. The response of such structures to a random excitation like TBL is generally deduced from calculations of numerous Frequency Response Functions. Consequently, the process is computationally expansive. To tackle this issue, an efficient process is proposed for generating realizations of the WPF corresponding to the TBL. This process is based on a formulation of the problem in the wavenumber space and the interpretation of the WPF as uncorrelated wall plane waves. Once the WPF has been synthesized, the local vibroacoustic responses are calculated for the different realizations and averaged together in the last step. A numerical application of this process to a plate located beneath a TBL is used to verify its efficiency and ability to reproduce the partial space correlation of the excitation. To further illustrate the proposed method, a stiffened panel modeled using the finite element method is finally examined.

Flow-induced pressure fluctuations of a moderate Reynolds number jet interacting with a tangential flat plate

The increase of air traffic volume has brought an increasing amount of issues related to carbon and NOx emissions and noise pollution. Aircraft manufacturers are concentrating their efforts to develop technologies to increase aircraft efficiency and consequently to reduce pollutant discharge and noise emission. Ultra High By-Pass Ratio engine concepts provide reduction of fuel consumption and noise emission thanks to a decrease of the jet velocity exhausting from the engine nozzles. In order to keep same thrust, mass flow and therefore section of fan/nacelle diameter should be increased to compensate velocity reduction. Such feature will lead to close-coupled architectures for engine installation under the wing. A strong jet-wing interaction resulting in a change of turbulent mixing in the aeroacoustic field as well as noise enhancement due to reflection phenomena are therefore expected. On the other hand, pressure fluctuations on the wing as well as on the fuselage represent the forcing loads, which stress panels causing vibrations. Some of these vibrations are re-emitted in the aeroacoustic field as vibration noise, some of them are transmitted in the cockpit as interior noise. In the present work, the interaction between a jet and wing or fuselage is reproduced by a flat surface tangential to an incompressible jet at different radial distances from the nozzle axis. The change in the aerodynamic field due to the presence of the rigid plate was studied by hot wire anemometric measurements, which provided a characterization of mean and fluctuating velocity fields in the jet plume. Pressure fluctuations acting on the flat plate were studied by cavity-mounted microphones which provided point-wise measurements in stream-wise and spanwise directions. Statistical description of velocity and wall pressure fields are determined in terms of Fourier-domain quantities. Scaling laws for pressure auto-spectra and coherence functions are also presented.