Investigation of flow mechanism of a robotic fish swimming by using flow visualization synchronized with hydrodynamic force measurement

When swimming in water by flapping its tail, a fish can overcome the drag from uniform flow and propel its body. The involved flow mechanism concerns 3-D and unsteady effects. This paper presents the investigation of the flow mechanism on the basis of a 3-D robotic fish model which has the typical geometry of body and tail with periodic flapping 2-freedom kinematical motion testing in the case of St = 0.78, Re = 6,600 and phase delay mode (φ = −75°), in which may have a greater or maximum propulsion (without consideration of the optimal efficiency). Using a special technique of dye visualization which can clearly show vortex sheet and vortices in detail and using the inner 3-component force balance and cable supporting system with the phase-lock technique, the 3-D flow structure visualized in the wake of fish and the hydrodynamic force measurement were synchronized and obtained. Under the mentioned flapping parameters, we found the key flow structure and its evolution, a pair of complex 3-D chain-shape vortex (S–H vortex-rings, S₁–H₁ and S₂–H₂, and their legs L₁ and L₂) flow structures, which attach the leading edge and the trailing edge, then shed, move downstream and outwards and distribute two anti-symmetric staggering arrays along with the wake of the fish model in different phase stages during the flapping period. It is different with in the case of St = 0.25–0.35. Its typical flow structure and evolution are described and the results prove that they are different from the viewpoints based on the investigation of 2-D cases. For precision of the dynamic force measurement, in this paper it was provided with the method and techniques by subtracting the inertial forces and the forces induced by buoyancy and gravity effect in water, etc. from original data measured. The evolution of the synchronized measuring forces directly matching with the flow structure was also described in this paper.     

A GENERAL FORMULA FOR CALCULATING FORCES ON A 2-D ARBITRARY BODY IN INCOMPRESSIBLE FLOW

In the present paper, a general integral equation is presented to calculate the forces exerted on a two-dimensional (2-D) body of arbitrary shape immersed in unsteady, incompressible flows. By finding the general solutions of a set of Laplace equations with particular boundary conditions, the equation can be simplified to produce a simplified formula for calculating the forces. The simplified formula consists of three parts, representing contributions from different physical phenomena: added mass force and/or inertial force in inviscid flow, the force caused by the deformation of fluid and viscosity and the force caused by the convection of fluid with nonzero circulation. It can be applied to any 2-D arbitrary body in viscous or inviscid, steady or unsteady incompressible flow. As the formula excludes either temporal derivatives of velocity or spatial derivatives of vorticity in the flow field, the numerical errors contained in the numerical solution of velocity and vorticity fields will not be magnified, and therefore the resulting force calculated is more accurate. Most importantly, the formula presents an alternative method for obtaining the added mass of a 2-D body of arbitrary shape accelerating in a fluid. For bodies of simple shape, such as a circle, ellipse and plate, the added masses predicted using the present method are in agreement with that obtained by conventional methods. For bodies of complex shape, the present method only requires the calculation of the first two coefficients of the conformal transformation and cross-sectional area.     

3-D numerical modelling of greenwater loading on fixed ship-shaped FPSOs

This work is focused on the assessment of greenwater overtopping onto fixed ship-shaped FPSO models using three dimensional (3-D) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. Good agreement between the numerical results and published experimental data from Barcellona et al. (2003) indicates that 3-D CFD is an effective tool which may be used to assess greenwater associated with an incident wave group. Different wall-sided bow shapes are investigated numerically, and the results provide insight into how the bow shape influences the evolution of on-deck flows, and the horizontal force on a vertical wall spanning the full deck width for incident waves approaching normal to the bow. It is found that the horizontal force, thus, the horizontal momentum of greenwater flows, is a result of the combined action of water-front velocities and the corresponding water volume impacting on the structures. For the bow shapes considered in this study, although clear differences in on-deck flow are observed for different bow shape, differences in force on the vertical wall are relatively small. Simulations for a 2-D vertical rectangular box that has the same longitudinal section as the 3-D model FPSOs give somewhat similar results to 3-D predictions along the centre-line. This similarity may be due partly to the fact that increases in on-deck flow velocity due to increased freeboard exceedance in the 2-D simulations compensates for a lack of focusing of the on-deck flow observed in the 3-D simulations. This finding has implications for understanding how computationally cheaper 2-D greenwater simulations relate to more realistic 3-D greenwater events.     

Experimental study of flow patterns and regimes of condensation in horizontal three-dimensional micro-fin tubes

During condensation of R134a the flow patterns inside two three-dimensional (3-D) micro-fin tubes with different fin geometries were investigated. The flow patterns and their transitions were visibly observed and recorded. The experimental findings revealed the following results: a comparison of the condensation flow patterns in the 3-D micro-fin tubes with those in smooth tubes revealed no qualitative differences. The mist flow and the mist-annular flow that appeared in the smooth tube entrance region were not observed in 3-D micro-fin tubes. In the maps of the Mandhane flow regime and the Soliman flow regime, the area of annular flow region of the 3-D micro-fin tube extends towards lower Fr number range in the Soliman map and smaller vapor velocity range in the Mandhane map when compared with that of a smooth tube. The criterion of the flow regime transition between the annular flow and the wavy flow decreases from Fr=7 to Fr=2 in the Soliman flow regime map. However, no significant effect on the criterion for the plug flow transition was observed. The experimental data points of plug flow in the 3-D micro-fin tubes were also obtained in the same regime of smooth tube in Mandhane flow regime map. The Soliman flow regime map indicates the criterion for plug flow transition to be Fr=0.4.     

Computation of the 3-D Unsteady Flow Past Deforming Geometries

A 3-D incompressible unsteady flow solver based on simple finite elements with adaptive remeshing and grid movement for both moving and deforming surfaces is described. We demonstrate the combination of adaptive remeshing techniques with the incompressible flow solver with the computation of flow past an eel in 2-D and a blue-fin tuna in 3-D. The flow past a swimming tuna was computed for two extreme cases of the caudal fin frequency and swimming speed. A grid refinement study was performed and a grid converged solution for the force produced by the caudal fin was obtained.     

Three-dimensional numerical simulations of cross-flow around four cylinders in an in-line square configuration

This paper presents a numerical study of three-dimensional (3-D) laminar flow around four circular cylinders in an in-line square configuration. The investigation focuses on effects of spacing ratio (L/D) and aspect ratio (H/D) on 3-D flow characteristics, and the force and pressure coefficients of the cylinders. Extensive 3-D numerical simulations were performed at Reynolds number of 200 for L/D from 1.6 to 5.0 at H/D=16 and H/D from 6 to 20 at L/D=3.5. The results show that the 3-D numerical simulations have remedied the inadequacy of 2-D simulations and the results are in excellent agreement with the experimental results. The relation between 3-D flow patterns and pressure characteristics around the four cylinders is examined and discussed. The critical spacing ratio for flow pattern transformation was found to be L/D=3.5 for H/D=16, while a bistable wake pattern was observed at L/D=1.6 for the same aspect ratio. Moreover, a transformation of flow pattern from a stable shielding flow pattern to a vortex shedding flow pattern near the middle spanwise positions of the cylinders was observed and was found to be dependent on the aspect ratio, spacing ratio, and end wall conditions. Due to the highly 3-D nature of the flows, different flow patterns coexist over different spanwise positions of the cylinders even for the same aspect ratio. It is concluded that spacing ratio, aspect ratio, and the no-slip end wall condition have important combined effects on free shear layer development of the cylinders and hence have significant effects on the pressure field and force characteristics of the four cylinders with different spacing ratios and aspect ratios.     

参数激励耦合系统的复杂动力学行为分析

分析了耦合van der Pol振子参数共振条件下的复杂动力学行为．基于平均方程，得到了参数平面上的转迁集，这些转迁集将参数平面划分为不同的区域，在各个不同的区域对应于系统不同的解．随着参数的变化，从平衡点分岔出两类不同的周期解，根据不同的分岔特性，这两类周期解失稳后，将产生概周期解或3—D环面解，它们都会随参数的变化进一步导致混吨．发现在系统的混沌区域中，其混吨吸引子随参数的变化会突然发生变化，分解为两个对称的混吨吸引子．值得注意的是，系统首先是由于2—D环面解破裂产生混吨，该混吨吸引子破裂后演变为新的混吨吸引子，却由倒倍周期分岔走向3—D环面解，也即存在两条通向混沌的道路：倍周期分岔和环面破裂，而这两种道路产生的混吨吸引子在一定参数条件下会相互转换．     

Effect of temperature gradient within a solid particle on the rotation and oscillation modes in solid-dispersed two-phase flows

Liquid–solid two-phase flow with heat transfer is simulated, and the effect of temperature gradient within a solid particle on the particle behaviour and heat transfer is studied. The interaction between fluid and particles is considered with our original immersed solid approach on a rectangular grid system. The local heat flux at the fluid–solid interface is described with an anisotropic heat conductivity matrix, and the governing equation of temperature is time-updated with an implicit treatment for the diffusion term. The method is applied to a 2-D natural convection flow of a relatively low Rayleigh number including multiple particles. Heat transfer and particle behaviours are studied for different solid heat conductivities (ratio to the fluid conductivity ranging between 10⁻³ and 10³) and solid volume fractions. Under a condition of relatively low heat conductivity ratio, the particles show a simple circulating flow. By increasing the heat conductivity ratio, a transition of the particulate flow is observed to oscillation mode around the domain centre due to the buoyancy force as a restitution force. The oscillation period is found to vary with the heat conductivity ratio, and it is related to the time scales for the heat transfer via fluid and solid.     

风力机叶片的三维非定常气动特性估算

结合动量-叶素理论、非定常空气动力和动态失速模型来计算风力机叶片的二维非定常气动特性,并在此基础上经过适当修正后考虑三维旋转效应的非定常气动特性。分析比较二维和三维两种计算结果,给出更为合理的计算叶片非定常气动特性的方法。计算结果表明,风力机叶片的三维非定常气动特性计算结果与二维时的计算结果相比有较大改善。     

On the Possibility of Delaying Laminar-Turbulent Transition at High Reynolds Numbers by the Optimal Choice of Body Forces

The possibility of delaying laminar-turbulent transition on a flat plate in a longitudinal viscous incompressible flow by the optimal choice of the body force distribution in the boundary layer is discussed. It is shown that even for very high Reynolds numbers, Re 10¹⁰, a body force distribution can be found such that the corresponding boundary layer flow is absolutely stable, while the total drag of the body is less than that in the absence of body force action on the flow.     

An Embedding Method for Bluff Body Flows: Interactions of Two Side-by-Side Cylinder Wakes

We introduce a simple method for the numerical simulation of bluff body flows where the solid object is represented by a distributed body force in the Navier–Stokes equations. The body force density is found at every time step to reduce the velocity within the computational cells occupied by the rigid body to a prescribed value. The method combines certain ideas from the immersed boundary method which was developed to treat biofluid mechanical flows and the volume-of-fluid method for simulating flows with fluid–fluid interfaces. The main advantage of this embedding method is that the computations can be effected on a regular Cartesian grid, without the need to fit the grid to the bluff body surfaces. Thus, flow past several complex bodies can be treated as easily as flow past a single body. The method is validated by reproducing well-established results for vortex shedding from a stationary cylinder. The flow past two side-by-side cylinders is then investigated. When the distance between the cylinders is small, they are seen to shed vortices in-phase, whereas for larger distances, the shedding occurs in anti-phase. For intermediate distances, various shedding patterns are observed, including quasi-periodic, asymmetric and chaotic regimes. Mean values and phase portraits associated with the cylinder lift and drag coefficients, as well as spectral analysis of the same data, are used to describe the flow. A transition diagram that can be compared with experiments or models outlines the various dynamical regimes as a function of the distance between the cylinders and the Reynolds number.     

Interfacial flows in corrugated microchannels: Flow regimes,transitions and hysteresis

We report simulations of gas–liquid two-phase flows in microchannels periodically patterned with grooves and ridges. A constant effective body force is applied on both fluids to simulate a pressure-driven creeping flow, and a diffuse-interface model is used to compute the interfacial evolution and the contact line motion. Depending on the body force, capillary force and the level of liquid saturation, a number of flow regimes may appear in the corrugated microchannel: gas flow, blockage, liquid flow, bubble–slug flow, droplet flow, annular flow and annular-droplet flow. A map of flow regimes is constructed for a set of geometric and flow parameters starting from a prescribed initial configuration. Some of the regimes are new, while others have been observed before in straight tubes and pipes. The latter are compared with previous experiments in terms of the regime map and the holdup ratio. The transition among flow regimes shows significant hysteresis, largely owing to the pinning of the interface at sharp corners in the flow conduit. Hysteresis is reduced if the sharp corners are rounded. Under the same operating conditions, different flow regimes can be realized from different initial conditions. The roles of geometry and wettability of the channel walls are also elucidated.     

Effect of Large Scale 3-D Structures on the Flow Around a Heated Cylinder at Low Reynolds Number

This work presents results of flow around a heated circular cylinder in mixed convection regime and demonstrates that Prandtl number and angle of attack of the incoming flow have a large influence on the characterisation of the flow transition from 2-D to 3-D. Previous studies show that heat transfer can enhance the formation of large 3-D structures in the wake of the cylinder for Reynolds numbers between 75 and 127 and a Richardson number larger than 0.35. This transitional mode is generally identified as “mode E”. In this work, we compare the results for water-based flow (large Prandtl number) with the ones for air-based flows (low Prandtl number). The comparison is carried out at two Reynolds numbers (100 and 150) and at a fixed Richardson number of 1. It shows that at the low Reynolds number of 100 the low Prandtl number flow does not enter into transition. This is caused by the impairment of the baroclinic vorticity production provoked by the spanwise temperature gradient. At low Prandtl number temperature gradients are less steep. For an air-based flow at Reynolds number 150, several Richardson numbers have been simulated. In this situation, the flow enters into transition and exhibits the characteristics of “mode E”, with the development of Λ-shaped structures in the near wake and mushroom-like structures in the far wake. It is also observed that the transition is delayed at Richardson number of 0.5. Simulations are also carried to investigate the effect of the angle of attack on the incoming flow on the development of large coherent structures. When the angle of attack is positive, the development of the wake tends to return to a more bi-dimensional configuration, where large scale coherent structures are impaired. In contrast, when the angle of attack is negative, large scale tri-dimensional structures dominate the flow in the wake, but with a very chaotic behaviour and the regular pattern of zero angle of attack is destroyed. The different behaviour of the flow with the variation of the angle of attack is also related to the baroclinic vorticity production, where new terms appear in the equations, leading to a positive effect of the vorticity production in case of a negative angle of attack and the opposite for a positive angle of attack.     

Influence of inlet shear on the 3-D flow past a square cylinder at moderate Reynolds number

Unsteady three-dimensional (3-D) numerical simulations of linear shear flow past a square cylinder at moderate Reynolds number (Re=200) are performed. The shear parameter (K) considered in this study is varied as 0.0, 0.1, and 0.2. For the uniform flow (K=0.0) case, the chosen Re falls in the transition Reynolds number range. The low frequency force pulsations of square cylinder transition phenomena are observed to decrease with increasing shear parameter. The evolution of streamwise vortical structures indicates a mode A spanwise instability in the uniform flow. Unlike in uniform flow, mixed mode A and mode B spanwise instability is observed in the case of a shear flow. The autocorrelation function of the lift and the drag coefficients is improved for any particular separation distance with increasing K.     

Perturbation solution to 3-D nonlinear supercavitating flow problems

A 3-D nonlinear problem of supercavitating flow past an axisymmetric body at a small angle of attack is investigated by means of the perturbation method and Fourier-cosine-expansion method. The first three order perturbation equations are derived in detail and solved numerically using the boundary integral equation method and iterative techniques. Computational results of the hydrodynamic characteristics and cavity shapes of each order are presented for nonaxisymmetric supercavitating flow past cones with various apex-angles at different cavitation numbers. The numerical results are found in good agreement with experimental data. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China     

A time splitting fictitious domain algorithm for fluid–structure interaction problems (A fictitious domain algorithm for FSI)

A Finite Element Method in mixed Eulerian and Lagrangian formulation is developed to allow direct numerical simulations of dynamical interaction between an incompressible fluid and a hyper-elastic incompressible solid. A Fictitious Domain Method is applied so that the fluid is extended inside the deformable solid volume and the velocity field in the entire computational domain is resolved in an Eulerian framework. Solid motion, which is tracked in a Lagrangian framework, is imposed through the body force acting on the fluid within the solid boundaries. Solid stress smoothing on the Lagrangian mesh is performed with the Zienkiewicz–Zhu patch recovery method. High-order Gaussian integration quadratures over cut elements are used in order to avoid sub-meshing within elements in the Eulerian mesh that are intersected by the Lagrangian grid. The algorithm is implemented and verified in two spatial dimensions by comparing with the well validated simulations of solid deformation in a lid driven cavity and periodic elastic wall deformation driven by a time-dependent flow. It shows good agreement with the numerical results reported in the literature. In 3-D the method is validated against previously reported numerical simulations of 3-D rhythmically contracting alveolated ducts.     

Experimental study of R134A condensation heat transfer inside the horizontal micro-fin tubes

The Investigation of the two-phase flow patterns and their transitions during the condensation has gained increasing interest and importance from the well-known phenomenon that the heat transfer characteristics are strongly dependent on the flow patterns. Therefore, it is very important to study on which heat transfer enhancement approach is suitable for an individual flow pattern inside a condenser, so that an accurate heat transfer mechanism can be understood that is consistent with the flow patterns. The condensation heat transfer for R134a in the two kinds of in-tube three-dimensional (3-D) micro-fin tubes with different geometries is experimentally investigated. Based on the flow pattern observations, the flow patterns in the Soliman flow regime map are divided into two-flow regimes; one with the vapor-shear-dominant annular regime and the other with the gravitational-force-dominant stratified-wavy regime. The flow regime transition criterion between the annular regime and the stratified-wavy regime is at Fr equal to 2. In the annular regime, the heat transfer coefficients h of the two kinds of in-tube 3-D micro-fin tubes decreases as the vapor quality x decreases. The regressed condensation heat transfer correlation from the experimental data of the annular flow region is obtained. The dispersibility of the experimental data is inside the limits of ±25%. In the stratified-wavy regime, the average heat transfer coefficient h of the two kinds of in-tube 3-D micro-fin tubes increases as the mass flux increases and the number of micro fins in the 3-D micro-fin tube is not the controlling factor for the performance of a condensation heat transfer. The regressed condensation heat transfer correlation of the stratified-wavy flow regime is experimentally obtained. The dispersibility of the experimental data is inside the limits of ±22%. Combined with the criteria of flow pattern transitions, the correlations can be used for the design of a condenser with 3-D micro-fin tubes.     

Numerical simulation of force and wake mode of an oscillating cylinder

The turbulent flow behind a circular cylinder subjected to forced oscillation is numerically studied at a Reynolds number of 5500 by using three-dimensional Large Eddy Simulations (3-D LES) technique with the Smagorinsky model. The filtered equations are discretised using the finite volume method with an O-type structured grid and a second-order accurate method in both time and space. Firstly, the main wake parameters of a stationary cylinder are examined and compared in the different grid resolutions. Secondly, a transversely oscillating cylinder with a constant amplitude in a uniform flow is investigated. The cylinder oscillation frequency ranges between 0.75 and 0.95 of the natural Kármán frequency, and the excitation amplitude is moderate, 50% of the cylinder diameter. The flow characteristics of an oscillating cylinder are numerically examined and the corresponding wake modes are captured firstly in 3-D LES at Re=5500. A transition between different wake modes is firstly investigated in a set of numerical simulations.     

基于深度神经网络的横流转捩预测

基于深度神经网络DNN构建了从层流流场无量纲速度梯度、流向涡强度等物理量到横流转捩模态下间歇因子间的映射关系,获得一种新的数据驱动转捩模型.通过将数据驱动转捩模型与SST k-ω湍流模型耦合,有效简化了转捩模型输运方程求解,实现高效、准确的亚音速三维边界层横流转捩流场计算. DNN训练数据来自变雷诺数的NLF(2)-0415无限展长后掠翼计算结果,并以两种工况进行测试,数据驱动转捩模型预测精度与γ-Reθ转捩模型近似.将数据驱动转捩模型用于其他典型横流转捩算例的计算,以验证其泛化能力.对于变后掠角的NLF(2)-0415后掠翼,数据驱动转捩模型与γ-Reθt-CF模型预测的转捩位置几乎一致,并且能够预测出后掠角从45°增长到65°的过程中,转捩位置先向前再向后移动的现象;对于标准椭球体,使用低分辨率网格进行计算,数据驱动转捩模型依然能够实现转捩位置预测,对椭球体表面Cf的计算结果与多个平台的横流转捩模型、实验结果基本一致.研究表明,以横流转捩相关物理量作为输入对DNN进行训练,并将获得的数据驱动转捩模型与SST k-ω湍流模型耦合,可以实现对横流转捩的有效预测,且具有较强的泛化能力.数...     

Flow-induced vibrations of a tethered circular cylinder

One of the most basic examples of fluid-structure interaction is provided by a tethered body in a fluid flow. The tendency of a tethered buoy to oscillate when excited by waves is a well-known phenomenon; however, it has only recently been found that a submerged buoy will act in a similar fashion when exposed to a uniform flow at moderate Reynolds numbers, with a transverse peak-to-peak amplitude of approximately two diameters over a wide range of velocities. This paper presents results for the related problem of two-dimensional simulations of the flow past a tethered cylinder. The coupled Navier–Stokes equations and the equations of motion of the cylinder are solved using a spectral-element method. The response of the tethered cylinder system was found to be strongly influenced by the mean layover angle as this parameter determined if the oscillations would be dominated by in-line oscillations, transverse oscillations or a combination of the two. Three branches of oscillation are noted, an in-line branch, a transition branch and a transverse branch. Within the transition branch, the cylinder oscillates at the shedding frequency and modulates the drag force such that the drag signal is dominated by the lift frequency. It is found that the mean amplitude response is greatest at high reduced velocities, i.e., when the cylinder is oscillating predominantly transverse to the fluid flow. Furthermore, the oscillation frequency is synchronized to the vortex shedding frequency of a stationary cylinder, except at very high reduced velocities. Visualizations of the pressure and vorticity in the wake reveal the mechanisms behind the motion of the cylinder.