A cost‐effective curvature calculation approach for interfacial flows on unstructured meshes

We present a simple and cost‐effective curvature calculation approach for simulations of interfacial flows on structured and unstructured grids. The interface is defined using volume fractions, and the interface curvature is obtained as a function of the gradients of volume fractions. The gradient computation is based on a recently proposed gradient recovery method that mimicks the least squares approach without the need to solve a system of equations and is quite easy to implement on arbitrary polygonal meshes. The resulting interface curvature is used in a continuum surface force formulation within the framework of a well‐balanced finite‐volume algorithm to simulate multiphase flows dominated by surface tension. We show that the proposed curvature calculation is at least as accurate as some of the existing approaches on unstructured meshes while being straightforward to implement on any mesh topology. Numerical investigations also show that spurious currents in stationary problems that are dependent on the curvature calculation methodology are also acceptably low using the proposed approach. Studies on capillary waves and rising bubbles in viscous flows lend credence to the ability of the proposed method as an inexpensive, robust, and reasonably accurate approach for curvature calculation and numerical simulation of multiphase flows.     

Analyzing the stress–strain state of thick cylindrical shells

Two approaches to the analysis of the stress–strain state of thick cylindrical shells are elaborated. The shell is divided by concentric cross-sectional circles into several coaxial cylindrical shells. Each of these shells has its own curvature determined on its midline. The stress–strain state of the original shell is described by satisfying the interface conditions between the component shells. The distribution of unknown functions throughout the thickness is determined by finding the analytic solution of a system of differential equations in the first approach and is approximated by polynomial functions in the second approach. The stress–strain state of thick shells is analyzed. It is revealed that the effect of reduction becomes stronger with increasing curvature     

Local curvature measurements of a lean,partially premixed swirl-stabilised flame

A swirl-stabilised, lean, partially premixed combustor operating at atmospheric conditions has been used to investigate the local curvature distributions in lifted, stable and thermoacoustically oscillating CH₄-air partially premixed flames for bulk cold-flow Reynolds numbers of 15,000 and 23,000. Single-shot OH planar laser-induced fluorescence has been used to capture instantaneous images of these three different flame types. Use of binary thresholding to identify the reactant and product regions in the OH planar laser-induced fluorescence images, in order to extract accurate flame-front locations, is shown to be unsatisfactory for the examined flames. The Canny-Deriche edge detection filter has also been examined and is seen to still leave an unacceptable quantity of artificial flame-fronts. A novel approach has been developed for image analysis where a combination of a non-linear diffusion filter, Sobel gradient and threshold-based curve elimination routines have been used to extract traces of the flame-front to obtain local curvature distributions. A visual comparison of the effectiveness of flame-front identification is made between the novel approach, the threshold binarisation filter and the Canny-Deriche filter. The novel approach appears to most accurately identify the flame-fronts. Example histograms of the curvature for six flame conditions and of the total image area are presented and are found to have a broader range of local flame curvatures for increasing bulk Reynolds numbers. Significantly positive values of mean curvature and marginally positive values of skewness of the histogram have been measured for one lifted flame case, but this is generally accounted for by the effect of flame brush curvature. The mean local flame-front curvature reduces with increasing axial distance from the burner exit plane for all flame types. These changes are more pronounced in the lifted flames but are marginal for the thermoacoustically oscillating flames. It is concluded that additional fuel mixture fraction and velocimetry studies are required to examine whether processes such as the degree of partial-premixedness close to the burner exit plane, the velocity field and the turbulence field have a strong correlation with the curvature characteristics of the investigated flames.     

Laser Doppler anemometry measurements of laminar flow in helical pipes

Three-dimensional laser Doppler anemometry measurements are performed on developed laminar flow in three helical pipes. The experimental observations are compared to results of numerical calculations employing the fully elliptic numerical method. Good agreement is found between measured data and numerical results. The three helical pipes, with curvature ratios of 0.0734 and 0.1374 and non-dimensional pitches of 0.0793 and 0.193, are adopted to study the effects of curvature and pitch on laminar flow in the experimental approach. The range of Reynolds numbers is 500–2000 to ensure laminar flow in the entire helical pipe. Both the profile shapes of the normal components of the secondary flow and those of the axial flow along the same centerline present not only similar patterns but also similar change when pitch, curvature ratio, and Reynolds number vary. The results demonstrate comprehensive relationships between the axial flow and the secondary flow.     

An accurate finite element scheme with moving meshes for computing 3D‐axisymmetric interface flows

An accurate finite element scheme for computing 3D‐axisymmetric incompressible free surface and interface flows is proposed. It is based on the arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) approach using free surface/interface‐resolved moving meshes. Key features like the surface force, consisting of surface tension and the local curvature, and jumps in the density and viscosity over different fluid phases are precisely incorporated in the finite element formulation. The local curvature is approximated by using the Laplace–Beltrami operator technique combined with a boundary approximation by isoparametric finite elements. A new approach is used to derive the 3D‐axisymmetric form from the variational form in 3D‐Cartesian coordinates. Several test examples show the high accuracy and the robustness of the proposed scheme. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modeling rotation and curvature effects within scalar eddy viscosity model framework

Two approaches to incorporate the effects of rotation and curvature in scalar eddy viscosity models are explored. One is the “Modified coefficients approach” – to parameterize the model coefficients such that the growth rate of turbulent kinetic energy is suppressed or enhanced. The other is the “Bifurcation approach” – to parameterize the eddy viscosity coefficient such that the equilibrium solution bifurcates from healthy to decaying solution branches. Simple, yet, predictive models in each of these two approaches are proposed and validated on some benchmark test cases characterized by profound effects of system rotation and/or streamline curvature. The results obtained with both the models are encouraging.     

变曲率连续滚滑接触安定性的数值方法研究

针对接触表面变曲率的特点,引入局部坐标系,构造出局部坐标下残余应力应变场的分布状态,建立了变曲率连续啮合过程中安定状态残余应力的计算方法。该数值方法将弹塑性问题分解为弹性问题和特征应变决定的残余问题,并采用增量映射方法求解特征应变决定的残余问题,可直接得到接触安定状态下的接触残余应力,并随之进行安定极限的判定。采用该数值方法计算了不同曲率处接触点的安定极限,给出了安定极限与摩擦因数之间的关系,并与有关数值结果相比较,验证了该算法的有效性。     

磁场力及膜曲率对磁敏感薄膜-基底界面 黏附性能的影响与调控

界面黏附和脱黏的可调控在攀爬装置、黏附开关、机械抓手等方面具有重要的应用需求. 针对磁敏感薄膜-基底界面, 开展了薄膜初始曲率及外加磁场对界面黏附性能影响机制的研究. 首先实验制备了具有初始曲率的磁敏感薄膜, 分别开展了具有初始曲率的磁敏感薄膜-基底界面撕脱实验及理论研究, 研究了薄膜初始曲率、弯曲刚度和外加磁场强度对界面黏附性能的影响规律. 实验和理论结果一致表明: 具有初始曲率的磁敏感薄膜-基底界面黏附力随薄膜初始曲率的增大而减小, 而外加磁场能够有效提高界面黏附力;相比于初始零曲率薄膜-基底界面稳态撕脱力与薄膜弯曲刚度无关, 薄膜弯曲刚度减弱了具有初始曲率薄膜-基底界面的稳态撕脱力. 进一步从能量角度分析了界面等效黏附性能, 揭示了薄膜弯曲能、磁场势能、界面黏附能的相互竞争机制. 最后, 基于本文的实验及理论结果, 提出了一种磁场和薄膜初始曲率协同调控的简易机械抓手, 可连续实现物体的拾取、搬运和释放功能. 本文结果不仅有助于理解多场调控的界面可逆黏附机制, 对界面黏附可控的功能器件设计亦提供了一种新方法.      

Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Free Vibrations of Composite Sandwich Beams with Curvature and Debonds

In this paper experimental and numerical results concerning the dynamic response of composite sandwich beams with curvature and debonds are reported. Sandwich beams made of carbon/epoxy face sheets and polyurethane foam core material were manufactured with four different radii of curvature and debonds between the top and bottom interface of face sheet and foam core. Dynamic response was obtained using the impulse frequency response technique under clamped-clamped boundary condition. Experimental results were compared with numerical finite element model results. A combined experimental and numerical FE approach was used to determine the material properties of the skin and foam core materials based on modal vibration and static flexure tests. Results indicate that the fundamental frequency increases with increasing curvature angle, however, for higher frequencies; the natural frequencies are not significantly affected. Also, it is found that face/core debond causes reduction of the natural frequencies due to stiffness degradation.     

Influence of curvature on the stress state of hollow cylinders with complex-shaped noncircular cross-section

A developed approach based on discrete Fourier series is used to find the solution for and analyze the stress state of complex-shaped noncircular hollow cylinders depending on the cross-sectional curvature     

Spurious currents in finite element based level set methods for two‐phase flow

A study of spurious currents in continuous finite element based simulations of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations for two‐phase flows is presented on the basis of computations on a circular drop in equilibrium. The conservative and the standard level set methods are used. It is shown that a sharp surface tension force, expressed as a line integral along the interface, can give rise to large spurious currents and oscillations in the pressure that do not decrease with mesh refinement. If instead a regularized surface tension representation is used, exact force balance at the interface is possible, both for a fully coupled discretization approach and for a fractional step projection method. However, the numerical curvature calculation introduces errors that cause spurious currents. Different ways to extend the curvature from the interface to the whole domain are discussed and investigated. The impact of using different finite element spaces and stabilization methods is also considered. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Method of moments for laminar dispersion in an oscillatory flow through curved channels with absorbing walls

The unsteady dispersion of a solute, when the fluid is driven through a curved channel with absorbing walls by an imposed pulsatile pressure gradient, is studied using the method of moments. The study examines the effect of oscillatory Reynolds number, amplitude/frequency of the pressure pulsation and boundary absorption on the longitudinal dispersion. The methodology involves a set of unsteady integral moment equations obtained by applying the Aris-Barton method of moments on the convective-diffusion equation for a curved channel. Central moments are obtained from the moment equations which are solved by a finite-difference implicit scheme. The effect of curvature and boundary absorption on the effective dispersion coefficient from the initial to the stationary stage of the oscillatory flow is studied. Amplitude of the effective dispersion coefficient is found to increase with curvature and decrease with frequency of the pressure pulsation. For large Peclet number and Schmidt number, the amplitude of the dispersion coefficient can be 1.6 times that in a straight channel at large times. Also, for large times, the amplitude of the dispersion coefficient is twice the amplitude of the dispersion coefficient as α, the frequency parameter changes from 0.5 to 1.0. The axial distributions of mean concentration are determined from the first four central moments by using the Hermite polynomial representation. The effect of curvature is to delay the stationary state and also the approach to normality of the concentration distribution. The study has importance in understanding the spreading of pollutants in tidal basins and natural current fields.     

Wake-boundary layer interaction subject to convex and concave curvatures and adverse pressure gradient

Measurements of mean velocity and turbulent quantities have been carried out when the wake of a symmetrical airfoil interacts with the boundary layer on the (i) walls of a straight duct/diffuser and (ii) convex and concave walls of a curved duct/diffuser. The effects of adverse pressure gradient and of curvatures on the interaction are studied separately and in combination. Six cases are considered, viz. with (i) neither pressure gradient nor curvature, (ii) adverse pressure gradient and no curvature, (iii) and (iv) convex curvature with zero and adverse pressure gradients, respectively, (v) and (vi) concave curvature with zero and adverse pressure gradients, respectively. For the flows with curvature, the curvature parameter δ/R is 0.023, and for the flows with adverse pressure gradient, the Clauser pressure gradient parameter β is 0.62. The individual influences of adverse pressure gradient and convex and concave curvatures on the boundary layer are similar to those observed by earlier investigations. It is further observed that the combined effect of concave/convex curvature and the adverse pressure gradient causes higher turbulence intensities than the sum of the individual effects. The effect of curvature is to make the wake asymmetric, and in combination with adverse pressure gradient the asymmetry increases. It is observed that the adverse pressure gradient causes faster wake–boundary-layer interaction. Comparing measurements in a straight duct, a curved duct, a curved diffuser and a straight diffuser, it is seen that the convex curvature reduces the boundary layer thickness. The asymmetry in wake development compensates for this effect and the wake–boundary-layer interaction on a convex surface is almost the same as that on a straight surface. In the case of interaction with the boundary layer on a concave surface, the curvature increases the boundary layer thickness and causes enhanced turbulence intensities. However, the asymmetry in wake is such that the extent of wake is lower towards the boundary layer side. As a result, the wake–boundary-layer interaction on concave surface is almost the same as on a straight surface. The interaction is faster in the presence of adverse pressure gradient. Received: 16 June 2000 / Accepted: 17 May 2001     

Hummingbirds generate bilateral vortex loops during hovering: evidence from flow visualization

This article derives a method to estimate and correct the bias error of the shift vector’s absolute length in the presence of curved streamlines. The main idea is to identify the most likely streamline with constant curvature from the second-order shift vector and its gradient. The work establishes a theoretical framework including the systematic errors of the first-order and second-order shift vector’s absolute value and angle. Synthetic images of a stationary vortex are used to validate the proposed method. The curvature-correction is also applied to a synthetic flow field with non-constant curvature to demonstrate its potential for more realistic flow fields. The results reveal that second-order accurate vector fields suffer from a biased shift vector length depending on the streamline’s curvature and on the shift vector length. The bias error is negligible for vector fields with a shift vector length below the streamline curvature radius. For large shift vectors or strong curvatures, the bias error can be significantly reduced with the developed method. The approach is very general and can be applied to any vector field obtained from window-correlation particle image velocimetry (PIV), single-pixel ensemble-correlation PIV, particle tracking velocimetry or optical flow methods. It also works for all 3D extensions of the techniques, such as 3D-PTV or tomographic PIV.     

From wrinkling to global buckling of a ring on a curved substrate

We present a combined analytical approach and numerical study on the stability of a ring bound to an annular elastic substrate, which contains a circular cavity. The system is loaded by depressurizing the inner cavity. The ring is modeled as an Euler–Bernoulli beam and its equilibrium equations are derived from the mechanical energy which takes into account both stretching and bending contributions. The curvature of the substrate is considered explicitly to model the work done by its reaction force on the ring. We distinguish two different instabilities: periodic wrinkling of the ring or global buckling of the structure. Our model provides an expression for the critical pressure, as well as a phase diagram that rationalizes the transition between instability modes. Towards assessing the role of curvature, we compare our results for the critical stress and the wrinkling wavelength to their planar counterparts. We show that the critical stress is insensitive to the curvature of the substrate, while the wavelength is only affected due to the permissible discrete values of the azimuthal wavenumber imposed by the geometry of the problem. Throughout, we contrast our analytical predictions against finite element simulations.     

Dispersed Damages in Stability Problems for Doubly Curved Shells of Revolution

An approach is expounded to the study of the bifurcation stability of doubly curved shells of revolution. The microdamage of an isotropic material is considered as empty spherical pores randomly dispersed over the volume, their concentration increasing with load. A damaged inhomogeneous material is modeled by a continuous physically nonlinear medium whose nonlinear deformation depends on how the material fails and the microstrength is distributed. A bifurcation stability problem is formulated based on the concept of continuous loading within the framework of the Kirchhoff–Love hypotheses. As an example, a solution is given to the stability problem on shells of positive Gaussian curvature under external uniform pressure     

Simulating turbulent Dean flow in Cartesian coordinates

A simplified approach to simulate turbulent flows in curved channels is proposed. A set of governing equations of motion in Cartesian coordinates is derived from the full Navier–Stokes equations in cylindrical coordinates. Terms to first order in the dimensionless curvature parameter are retained, whereas higher‐order terms are neglected. The curvature terms are implemented in a conventional Navier–Stokes code using Cartesian coordinates. Direct numerical simulations (DNS) of turbulent flow in weakly curved channels are performed. The pronounced asymmetries in the mean flow and the turbulence statistics observed in earlier DNS studies are faithfully reproduced by the present simplified Navier–Stokes model. It is particularly rewarding that also distinct pairs of counter‐rotating streamwise‐oriented vortices are embedded in the simulated flow field. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relations Between Statistics of Three-Dimensional Flame Curvature and its Two-Dimensional Counterpart in Turbulent Premixed Flames

The relations between the actual flame curvature probability density function (PDF) evaluated in three-dimensions and its two-dimensional counterpart based on planar measurements have been analytically derived subject to the assumptions of isotropy and statistical independence of various angles and two-dimensional curvature. These relations have been assessed based on Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) databases of turbulent premixed (a) statistically planar and (b) statistically axisymmetric Bunsen flames. It has been found that the analytically derived relation interlinking the PDFs of actual three-dimensional curvature and its two-dimensional counterpart holds reasonably well for a range of curvatures around the mean value defined by the inverse of the thermal flame thickness for different turbulence intensities across different combustion regimes. The flame surface is shown to exhibit predominantly two-dimensional cylindrical curvature but there is a significant probability of finding saddle type flame topologies and this probability increases with increasing turbulence intensity. The presence of saddle type flame topologies affects the ratios of second and third moments of two-dimensional and three-dimensional curvatures. It has been demonstrated that the ratios of second and third moments of two-dimensional and three-dimensional curvatures cannot be accurately predicted based on two-dimensional measurements. The ratio of the third moments of two-dimensional and three-dimensional curvatures remains positive and thus the qualitative nature of curvature skewness can still be obtained based on two-dimensional curvature measurements. As the curvature skewness is often taken to be a marker of the Darrius-Landau instability, the conclusion regarding the presence of this instability can potentially be taken from the two-dimensional curvature measurements.

     

Spline-approximation solution of problems of the statics of orthotropic shallow shells with variable parameters

An approach to the solution of problems of the statics of shallow orthotropic shells is proposed. It is based on reducing a two-dimensional boundary value problem to a one-dimensional one using the spline-collocation method and solution of the problem by the stable numerical method of discrete orthogonalization. Solutions are presented for problems on the stress state of orthotropic shells of double curvature for several values of the elastic constants of the material. Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 36, No. 7, pp. 60–66, July, 2000.