Adverse pressure gradient turbulent flows over rough walls

An experimental study of a fully developed turbulent channel flow and an adverse pressure gradient (APG) turbulent channel flow over smooth and rough walls has been performed using a particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique. The rough walls comprised two-dimensional square ribs of nominal height, k = 3 mm and pitch, p = 2k, 4k and 8k. It was observed that rib roughness enhanced the drag characteristics, and the degree of enhancement increased with increasing pitch. Similarly, rib roughness significantly increased the level of turbulence production, Reynolds stresses and wall-normal transport of turbulence kinetic energy and Reynolds shear stress well beyond the roughness sublayer. On the contrary, the distributions of the eddy viscosity, mixing length and streamwise transport of turbulence kinetic energy and Reynolds shear stress were reduced by wall roughness, especially in the outer layer. Adverse pressure gradient produced a further reduction in the mean velocity (in comparison to the results obtained in the parallel section) but increased the wall-normal extent across which the mean flow above the ribs is spatially inhomogeneous in the streamwise direction. APG also reinforced wall roughness in augmenting the equivalent sand grain roughness height. The combination of wall roughness and APG significantly increased turbulence production and Reynolds stresses except in the immediate vicinity of the rough walls. The transport velocities of the turbulence kinetic energy and Reynolds shear stress were also augmented by APG across most part of the rough-wall boundary layer. Further, APG enhanced the distributions of the eddy viscosity across most of the boundary layer but reduced the mixing length outside the roughness sublayer.     

Separated flow structures around a cylindrical obstacle in a narrow channel

A detailed experimental study is performed on the separated flow structures around a low aspect-ratio circular cylinder (pin-fin) in a practical configuration of liquid cooling channel. Distinctive features of the present arrangement are the confinement of the cylinder at both ends, water flow at low Reynolds numbers (Re = 800, 1800, 2800), very high core flow turbulence and undeveloped boundary layers at the position of the obstacle. The horseshoe vortex system at the junctions between the cylinder and the confining walls and the near wake region behind the obstacle are deeply investigated by means of Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). Upstream of the cylinder, the horseshoe vortex system turns out to be perturbed by vorticity bursts from the incoming boundary layers, leading to aperiodical vortex oscillations at Re = 800 or to break-away and secondary vorticity eruptions at the higher Reynolds numbers. The flow structures in the near wake show a complex three-dimensional behaviour associated with a peculiar mechanism of spanwise mass transport. High levels of free-stream turbulence trigger an early instabilization of the shear layers and strong Bloor–Gerrard vortices are observed even at Re = 800. Coalescence of these vortices and intense spanwise flow inhibit the alternate primary vortex shedding for time periods whose length and frequency increase as the Reynolds number is reduced. The inhibition of alternate vortex shedding for long time periods is finally related to the very large wake characteristic lengths and to the low velocity fluctuations observed especially at the lowest Reynolds number.     

Direct numerical simulation of a NACA0012 in full stall

This work aims at investigating the mechanisms of separation and the transition to turbulence in the separated shear-layer of aerodynamic profiles, while at the same time to gain insight into coherent structures formed in the separated zone at low-to-moderate Reynolds numbers. To do this, direct numerical simulations of the flow past a NACA0012 airfoil at Reynolds numbers Re = 50,000 (based on the free-stream velocity and the airfoil chord) and angles of attack AOA = 9.25° and AOA = 12° have been carried out. At low-to-moderate Reynolds numbers, NACA0012 exhibits a combination of leading-edge/trailing-edge stall which causes the massive separation of the flow on the suction side of the airfoil. The initially laminar shear layer undergoes transition to turbulence and vortices formed are shed forming a von Kármán like vortex street in the airfoil wake. The main characteristics of this flow together with its main features, including power spectra of a set of selected monitoring probes at different positions on the suction side and in the wake of the airfoil are provided and discussed in detail.     

DNS and LES of turbulent flow in a closed channel featuring a pattern of hemispherical roughness elements

Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) and Large Eddy Simulations (LES) were performed for fully-developed turbulent flow in channels with smooth walls and walls featuring hemispherical roughness elements at shear Reynolds numbers Re_τ = 180 and 400, with the goal of studying the effect of these roughness elements on the wall-layer structure and on the friction factor. The LES and DNS approaches were verified first by comparison with existing DNS databases for smooth walls. Then, a parametric study for the hemispherical roughness elements was conducted, including the effects of shear Reynolds number, normalized roughness height (k⁺ = 10–20) and relative roughness spacing (s⁺/k⁺ = 2–6). The sensitivity study also included the effect of distribution pattern (regular square lattice vs. random pattern) of the roughness elements on the walls. The hemispherical roughness elements generate turbulence, thus increasing the friction factor with respect to the smooth-wall case, and causing a downward shift in the mean velocity profiles. The simulations revealed that the friction factor decreases with increasing Reynolds number and roughness spacing, and increases strongly with increasing roughness height. The effect of random element distribution on friction factor and mean velocities is however weak. In all cases, there is a clear cut between the inner layer near the wall, which is affected by the presence of the roughness elements, and the outer layer, which remains relatively unaffected. The study reveals that the presence of roughness elements of this shape promotes locally the instantaneous flow motion in the lateral direction in the wall layer, causing a transfer of energy from the streamwise Reynolds stress to the lateral component. The study indicates also that the coherent structures developing in the wall layer are rather similar to the smooth case but are lifted up by almost a constant wall-unit shift y⁺ (∼10–15), which, interestingly, corresponds to the relative roughness k⁺ = 10.     

Positive frictional pressure gradient in vertical gas-high viscosity oil slug flow

The present study describes the wall shear stress and the falling liquid film behavior in upward vertical slug flow of air and high viscosity oil. The frictional pressure gradient is directly related to the wall shear stress, and it is usually negative (opposite to the overall flow direction). However, in vertical slug flow, the average total wall shear stress of a slug unit may be negative (in the same direction of the overall flow), resulting in a positive frictional pressure gradient. However, this does not mean, by any way, generation of additional energy or violation of the second law of thermodynamics.The positive frictional pressure gradient phenomenon, reasons and required conditions were explained in this paper. A simplified model was developed and validated against recent experimental data of air-high viscosity oil slug flow in a 50.8 mm ID vertical pipe. The oil viscosity was in the range of 127 mPa s to 580 mPa s. Positive frictional pressure gradient appears when the liquid film wall shear stress supersede the wall shear stress in the slug body. The rate of increase of both wall shear stresses (with respect to the mixture Reynolds number) depend, not only, on the mixture Reynolds number but also, highly, on the liquid viscosity.     

Comparison of flow structures in the downstream region of a cylinder and sphere

An experimental investigation of flow structures downstream of a circular cylinder and sphere immersed in a free-stream flow is performed for Re = 5000 and 10,000 using qualitative and quantitative flow visualization techniques. The obtained results are presented in terms of time-averaged velocity vectors, patterns of streamlines, vorticity, Reynolds stress correlations and turbulent kinetic energy distributions. Flow data reveal that the size of wake flow region, the location of singular and double points, the peak values of turbulence quantities, such as Reynolds stress correlations, vorticity fluctuations and turbulent kinetic energy vary as a function of models’ geometry and Reynolds Numbers. The concentration of small scale vortices is more dominant in the wake of the sphere than that of the cylinder. The maximum value of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) occurs close to the saddle point for the cylinder case while two maximum values of TKE occur along shear layers for the sphere one because of the 3-D flow behavior.     

Comparison of flow structures in the downstream region of a cylinder and sphere

An experimental investigation of flow structures downstream of a circular cylinder and sphere immersed in a free-stream flow is performed for Re = 5000 and 10,000 using qualitative and quantitative flow visualization techniques. The obtained results are presented in terms of time-averaged velocity vectors, patterns of streamlines, vorticity, Reynolds stress correlations and turbulent kinetic energy distributions. Flow data reveal that the size of wake flow region, the location of singular and double points, the peak values of turbulence quantities, such as Reynolds stress correlations, vorticity fluctuations and turbulent kinetic energy vary as a function of models’ geometry and Reynolds Numbers. The concentration of small scale vortices is more dominant in the wake of the sphere than that of the cylinder. The maximum value of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) occurs close to the saddle point for the cylinder case while two maximum values of TKE occur along shear layers for the sphere one because of the 3-D flow behavior.     

Investigation of slip boundary conditions in the T-shaped microchannel

Flow regimes and mixing performance in a T-type micromixer at high Reynolds numbers were studied by numerical solution of the Navier–Stokes equations. The Reynolds number was varied from 1 to 1000. The cross section of the mixing channel was 100 μm × 200 μm, and its length was 1400 μm. The transverse inlet channels were symmetric about the mixing channel, and their cross-section was 100 μm × 100 μm, and the total length was 800 μm. Five different flow regimes were identified: (i) stationary vortex-free flow (Re < 5); (ii) stationary symmetric vortex flow with two horseshoe vortices (5 < Re < 150); (iii) stationary asymmetric vortex flow (150 < Re < 240); (iv) non-stationary periodic flow (240 < Re < 400); and (v) stochastic flow (Re > 400). Maximum mixing efficiency is obtained for nonstationary asymmetric vortex flow. In this case, an S-shaped vortex structure is formed in the flow field. The effect of the slip conditions on the flow pattern and mixing efficiency is studied. The slip length varied from 1 to 70 μm in the calculations. It was shown that the mixing can be controlled by hydrophobic coating.     

Flow structure around perforated cylinders in shallow water

The experimental investigations were carried out in order to have detailed information on the flow structure around perforated cylinders using high-image density Particle Image Velocimetry technique in shallow water flow. The depth-averaged free-stream velocity was kept constant as U_∞=100 mm/s corresponding to the Reynolds number of Re=10 000 based on the perforated cylinder diameter. In order to analyze the effect of porosity, β on the flow structure, the porosities in the range of 0.1≤β≤0.8 with an increment of 0.1 were used and the results were compared with the bare cylinder case by means of velocity and vorticity contours, turbulent kinetic energy, Reynolds shear stress and streamline topologies. It was concluded that the porosity, β had a substantial effect on the control of large-scale vortical structures downstream of the cylinder in which the shear layers were elongated, fluctuations were significantly attenuated and formation of Karman Vortex Street was successfully prevented by the use of perforated cylinders.     

Flow around submerged structures subjected to shallow submergence over plane bed

The results of an experimental investigation on the flow field around submerged structures on horizontal plane beds, measured by an acoustic Doppler velocimeter (ADV), are presented. Experiments were conducted for various conditions of submergence, having submergence factors ranging from 1.0 to 2.0 and average flow velocity ranging from 0.25 to 0.51 m/s. The Froude number and the Reynolds number of the approaching flow for different runs are in the range of 0.18–0.42 and 50 000–76 500, respectively. The vertical distributions of time-averaged three dimensional velocity components and turbulence intensity components at different radial distances from the submerged structures are plotted. Deceleration and acceleration of the approaching flow around the submerged body are evident from the vertical distributions of the horizontal velocity component, whereas the lifting and diving nature of the flow are indicated by the vertical velocity component distributions. The vertical distributions of the horizontal velocity component indicate reduction of 30% of the non-dimensional time-averaged horizontal velocity component magnitude for the cylinder of diameter 11.5 cm in comparison to the cylinder of diameter 10 cm. Also, there is an increase of 10–25% in the horizontal velocity component at different radial sections. The flow is three dimensional in the downstream of the submerged structure. The velocity and the turbulent intensity components are also well predicted by FLUENT. The flow characteristics in the wake and the induced bed shear stress are also analyzed with FLUENT.The profiles of non-dimensional shear velocity deviate from the log law in the wake and the far downstream directions. The scour prone regions may be identified from the profiles of the induced bed shear stress around the submerged structure.     

The effect of incidence angle on the mean wake of surface-mounted finite-height square prisms

The mean wake of a surface-mounted finite-height square prism was studied experimentally in a low-speed wind tunnel to explore the combined effects of incidence angle (α) and aspect ratio (AR). Measurements of the mean wake velocity field were made with a seven-hole pressure probe for finite square prisms of AR = 9, 7, 5 and 3, at a Reynolds number of Re = 3.7 × 10⁴, for incidence angles from α = 0° to 45°. The relative thickness of the boundary layer on the ground plane, compared to the prism width, was δ/D = 1.5. As the incidence angle increases from α = 0° to 15°, the mean recirculation zone shortens and the mean wake shifts in the direction opposite to that of the mean lift force. The downwash is also deflected to this side of the wake and the mean streamwise vortex structures in the upper part of the wake become strongly asymmetric. The shortest mean recirculation zone, and the greatest asymmetry in the mean wake, is found at the critical incidence angle of α_critical ≈ 15°. As the incidence angle increases from α = 15° to 45°, the mean recirculation zone lengthens and the mean streamwise vortex structures regain their symmetry. These vortices also elongate in the wall-normal direction and become contiguous with the horseshoe vortex trailing arms. The mean wake of the prism of AR = 3 has some differences, such as an absence of induced streamwise vorticity near the ground plane, which support its classification as lying below the critical aspect ratio for the present flow conditions.     

The effect of mixed convection on the structure of channel flow at low Reynolds numbers

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the effect of bottom wall heating on the flow structure inside a horizontal square channel at low Reynolds numbers (Re) and high Grashof numbers (Gr). The flow field was found to be complex and three-dimensional due to the interactions of buoyancy-induced rising plumes of warm fluid, falling parcels of cold fluid and the shear flow. The mean streamwise velocity profiles were altered by bottom wall heating; and back flow was induced in the upper half of the channel when Gr/Re² > 55. The bottom wall temperatures were found to have more significant influence on the turbulent velocity magnitudes than the flow rate. The Reynolds stress became negative in the channel core region indicating the momentum transfer from the turbulent velocity field to the buoyancy field. The POD analysis revealed the presence of convective cells primarily in the lower half of the channel.     

Experimental investigation of turbulence modulation in particle-laden coaxial jets by Phase Doppler Anemometry

The effect of solid particles on the flow characteristics of axisymmetric turbulent coaxial jets for two flow conditions was studied. Simultaneous measurements of size and velocity distributions of continuous and dispersed phases in a two-phase flow are presented using a Phase Doppler Anemometry (PDA) technique. Spherical glass particles with a particle diameter range from 102 to 212 μm were used in this two-phase flow, the experimental results indicate a significant influence of the solid particles and the Re on the flow characteristics. The data show that the gas phase has lower mean velocity in the near-injector region and a higher mean velocity at the developed region. Near the injector at low Reynolds number (Re = 2839) the presence of the particles dampens the gas-phase turbulence, while at higher Reynolds number (Re = 11 893) the gas-phase turbulence and the velocity fluctuation of particle-laden jets are increased. The particle velocity at higher Reynolds number (Re = 11 893) and is lower at lower Reynolds number (Re = 2839). The slip velocity between particles and gas phase existed over the flow domain was examined. More importantly, the present experiment results suggest that, consideration of the gas characteristic length scales is insufficient to predict gas-phase turbulence modulation in gas-particle flows.     

PIV study of large-scale flow organisation in slot jets

The paper reports on particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements in turbulent slot jets bounded by two solid walls with the separation distance smaller than the jet width (5–40%). In the far-field such jets are known to manifest features of quasi-two dimensional, two component turbulence. Stereoscopic and tomographic PIV systems were used to analyse local flows. Proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) was applied to extract coherent modes of the velocity fluctuations. The measurements were performed both in the initial region close to the nozzle exit and in the far fields of the developed turbulent slot jets for Re ⩾ 10,000. A POD analysis in the initial region indicates a correlation between quasi-2D vortices rolled-up in the shear layer and local flows in cross-stream planes. While the near-field turbulence shows full 3D features, the wall-normal velocity fluctuations day out gradually due to strong wall-damping resulting in an almost two-component turbulence. On the other hand, the longitudinal vortex rolls take over to act as the main agents in wall-normal and spanwise mixing and momentum transfer. The quantitative analysis indicates that the jet meandering amplitude was aperiodically modulated when arrangement of the large-scale quasi-2D vortices changed between asymmetric and symmetric pattern relatively to the jet axis. The paper shows that the dynamics of turbulent slot jets are more complex than those of 2D, plane and rectangular 3D jets. In particular, the detected secondary longitudinal vortex filaments and meandering modulation is expected to be important for turbulent transport and mixing in slot jets. This issue requires further investigations.     

Dynamics of heavy particles in two swirling jets

We report flow visualisations and laser Doppler anemometry (LDA) velocity measurements in the near field of two swirling jets. The Reynolds number based on jet diameter and bulk velocity at the nozzle exit is 1.4 × 10⁵. In the first jet, a small recirculation region is formed around the jet axis, while, in the second, the streamwise velocity remains positive and overshoots near the jet centre. In both cases, flow visualisations show that the vortex core of the jets is depleted of seeding particles. By using time-averaged distributions of the streamwise and tangential velocities measured at the nozzle outlet, the dynamics of the particles is simulated, by integrating their simplified equations of motion. The particles trajectory thus computed agrees well with that observed in the flow visualisations. Although the turbulence intensity is substantially different in the core of the two jets, its effect on the seeding concentration is localised near the edge of the core.     

Dynamics of disk-like particles in turbulent vertical channel flow

The dynamical behavior of inertial disk-like particles in turbulent vertical channel flow is investigated by an Eulerian–Lagrangian point-particle approach. Gravity effects on distribution, translation, rotation and orientation statistics of non-spherical particles modeled as oblate spheroids have been studied both in an upward and a downward flow and compared with results obtained in the absence of gravity. Altogether 12 different particle classes have been studied, with inertia and shape parameterized by means of Stokes number St and aspect ratio λ ≤ 1. The St = 5 disk-like particles distribute more evenly across the channel in upward than in downward flow. The gravity effect on the particle concentration diminishes with large inertia and the spheroid shape has only a modest influence. Although the gravity significantly affects the streamwise and wall-normal mean slip velocities with increasing inertia, the particle shape rarely has any impact on the translational motion, except for the mean wall-normal velocity. The fluctuations of the velocity of disk-like particles are mainly ascribed to inertia, whereas the gravity and shape only have marginal effects. The presence of gravity is moreover found to have a negligible effect on the particles’ orientation and rotation, in spite of the striking effect of λ on the orientation and rotation seen in the near-wall region. The tendency of the disks to align their symmetry axis orthogonal to the fluid vorticity in the channel center is stronger for particles with modest inertia. In the near-wall region, however, oblate spheroids preferentially align with the fluid vorticity for St >> 1. The observed behavior is believed to be caused by the influence of the gravity force on the turbophoresis; i.e. that inertial particles move towards low-turbulence regions.     

Flow structures around an equilateral triangle arrangement of three spheres

This paper represents the results of an experimental study on the flow structure around a single sphere and three spheres in an equilateral-triangular arrangement. Flow field measurements were performed using a Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique and dye visualization in an open water channel for a Reynolds number of Re = 5 × 10³ based on the sphere diameter. The distributions and flow features at the critical locations of the contours of the velocity fluctuations, the patterns of sectional streamlines, the vorticity contours, the turbulent kinetic energy, the Reynolds stress correlations and shedding frequency are discussed. The gap ratios (G/D) of the three spheres were varied in the range of 1.0 ⩽ G/D ⩽ 2.5 where G was the distance between the sphere centers, and D was the sphere diameter which was taken as 30 mm. Due to the interference of the shedding shear layers and the wakes, more complex features of the flow patterns can be found in the wake region of the two downstream spheres behind the leading sphere. For G/D = 1.25, a jet-like flow around the leading sphere through the gap between the two downstream spheres occurred, which significantly enhanced the wake region. It was observed that a continuous flow development involving shearing phenomena and the interactions of shedding vortices caused a high rate of fluctuations over the whole flow field although most of the time-averaged flow patterns were almost symmetric about the two downstream spheres.     

Transient phenomena in separation control over a NACA 0015 airfoil

We present the transient phenomena occurring during the impulsive control of flow separation over a NACA0015 airfoil at an incidence angle of 11° and a chord Reynolds number of 1 million. Actuation is performed via pneumatic vortex generators, impulsively activated in order to analyze the transient phenomena corresponding to the attachment process and, conversely, to transient re-separation occurring when the actuators are switched off. Measurements are performed using a linear array of unsteady pressure transducers and a single traversing crosswire. The pressure transducers are positioned in the separated region of the airfoil, which extends ∼ 0.3c upstream of the trailing edge at the above flow condition. To control the flow, the angled fluidic vortex generators are positioned in a single spanwise array located 0.3c downstream of the leading edge of the airfoil. We establish a statistical relationship between pressure and velocity signals during both the uncontrolled steady state and the transient processes of attachment and separation. The unsteady behavior of the attachment process is also qualitatively analyzed via a 0.3 million Reynold number visualizations. The emission of a “starting vortex” is evidenced. This corresponds to a transient increase of drag.     

Extending the bounds of ‘steady’ RANS closures: Toward an instability-sensitive Reynolds stress model

The incapability of the conventional Unsteady RANS (Reynolds–Averaged Navier Stokes) models to adequately capture turbulence unsteadiness presents the prime motivation of the present work, which focuses on formulating an instability-sensitive, eddy-resolving turbulence model on the Second-Moment Closure level. The model scheme adopted, functioning as a ‘sub-scale’ model in the Unsteady RANS framework, represents a differential near-wall Reynolds stress model formulated in conjunction with the scale-supplying equation governing the homogeneous part of the inverse turbulent time scale ω_h (ω_h = ɛ_h/k). The latter equation was straightforwardly obtained from the model equation describing the dynamics of the homogeneous part of the total viscous dissipation rate ɛ, defined as ɛ_h = ɛ − 0.5ν∂²k/(∂x_j∂x_j) (Jakirlic and Hanjalic, 2002), by applying the derivation rules to the expression for ω_h. The model capability to account for vortex length and time scales variability was enabled through an additional term in the corresponding length-scale determining equation, providing a selective enhancement of its production, pertinent particularly to the highly unsteady separated shear layer region, modeled in terms of the von Karman length scale (comprising the second derivative of the velocity field) in line with the SAS (Scale-Adaptive Simulation) proposal (Menter and Egorov, 2010). The present model formulation, termed as SRANS model (Sensitized RANS), does not comprise any parameter depending explicitly on grid spacing. The predictive capabilities of the newly proposed length-scale determining model equation, solved in conjunction with Jakirlic and Hanjalic’s (2002) Reynolds stress model equation, are presently demonstrated by computing the flow configurations of increasing complexity featured by boundary layer separation from sharp-edged and continuous curved surfaces: backward-facing step flow, flow over a wall-mounted fence, flow over smoothly contoured periodically arranged hills and flow in a 3-D diffuser. The model performances are also assessed in capturing the natural decay of the homogeneous isotropic turbulence and the near-wall Reynolds stress anisotropy in a plane channel. In most cases considered the fluctuating velocity field was obtained starting from steady RANS results.     

Coherent and turbulent processes in the bistable regime around a tandem of cylinders including reattached flow dynamics by means of high-speed PIV

The turbulent flow around two cylinders in tandem at the sub-critical Reynolds number range of order of 10⁵ and pitch to diameter ratio of 3.7 is investigated by using time-resolved Particle Image Velocimetry (TRPIV) of 1 kHz and 8 kHz. The bi-stable flow regimes including a flow pattern I with a strong vortex shedding past the upstream and the downstream cylinder, as well as a flow pattern II corresponding to a weak alternating vortex shedding with reattachment past the upstream cylinder are investigated. The structure of this “reattachment regime” has been analyzed in association with the vortex dynamics past the downstream cylinder, by means of POD and phase-average decomposition. These elements allowed interconnection among all the measured PIV planes and hence analysis of the reattachment structure and the flow dynamics past both cylinders. The results highlight fundamental differences of the flow structure and dynamics around each cylinder and provide the ‘gap’ flow nature between the cylinders. Thanks to a high-speed camera of 8 kHz, the shear-layer vortices tracking has been possible downstream of the separation point and the quantification of their shedding frequency at the present high Reynolds number range has been achieved. This issue is important regarding fluid instabilities involved in the fluid–structure interaction of cylinder arrays in nuclear reactor systems, as well as acoustic noise generated from the tandem cylinders of a landing gear in aeronautics.