Tangential Slot Film Cooling in a Nozzle. Comparison of Calculation and Experiment

To test a method of calculating the boundary layer in liquid rocket engine (LRE) nozzles, developed by the authors and based on a differential three-parameter model of turbulence, nozzle flow with tangential-slot coolant injection in subsonic part of the nozzle is studied numerically. The effect of nozzle flow acceleration on the turbulence parameters and the dependence of the gas film effectiveness on the nozzle-inlet turbulence intensity are investigated. The numerical results are compared with available experimental data.     

Simulation and Modelling of a Skewed Turbulent Channel Flow

A time-dependent three-dimensionally skewed flow is investigated using direct numerical simulations of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. The effect on the instantaneous and mean turbulent field is investigated. Instantaneous flowfields reveal that the skewing has the effect of initially reducing the strength and height of quasi-streamwise vortices of both signs of rotation with respect to the skewing. A mechanism for this process is put forward. The mean flowfields show drops in turbulence quantities such as turbulence kinetic energy. In addition to this, two-equation turbulence modelling of the flow is carried out. This highlights a deficiency, in that the standard turbulence models are unable to capture the drop in turbulence intensity due to the skewing. A modification based on the exact dissipation equation is found to significantly improve the model behaviour for this flow. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Effect of Free-Stream Turbulence on the Reduction of Surface Friction in a Turbulent Boundary Layer Behind LEBU-Devices

The effect of increased free-stream turbulence on the reduction of the surface friction coefficient c _f in a turbulent boundary layer behind large-eddy break-up (LEBU) devices is investigated using a gravimetric method. The turbulence level was ε ≈ 1.9–4.9 % and the turbulence scale L _e ≈ 40–110 mm. The boundary layer Reynolds number Re** was varied from 2300 to 7500, with the boundary layer thickness being varied on the range δ = 33–44 mm. It is shown that an increase in the turbulence level ε has almost no impact on the relative reduction of friction behind LEBU-devices, whereas, under similar conditions of elevated free-stream turbulence, for another method, namely, the use of surface riblets, the friction reduction may be more strongly expressed.     

Investigation of turbulence modification in a non-reactive two-phase flow

In a two-phase flow the influence of a dispersed phase on the turbulence properties of a continuous phase, known as turbulence modification, is investigated. An experimental approach is discussed that is suitable for studying the decay of grid-generated turbulence in a vertically orientated wind tunnel with a cross-section large enough to avoid influences from walls. Phase Doppler anemometry is used to characterize both single and two-phase flow by measuring mean axial and radial velocity components, velocity fluctuations, turbulent kinetic energy, and integral time scales. By direct comparison of results from single- and two-phase flows, the feedback of the dispersed phase on the continuous phase can be isolated. The data is used to deduce a source term for particle-induced turbulence production appropriate for a numerical simulation of the flow, based on the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations. Although of special importance for a detailed understanding of turbulent two-phase combustion, additional complexity introduced by evaporation and chemical reactions is avoided by using glass beads as dispersed phase.     

On the liquid turbulence energy spectra in two-phase bubbly flow in a large diameter vertical pipe

The liquid turbulence structure of air–water bubbly flow in a 200 mm diameter vertical pipe was experimentally investigated. A dual optical probe was used to measure the bubble characteristics, while the liquid turbulence was measured using hot-film anemometry. Experiments were performed at two liquid superficial velocities of 0.2 and 0.68 m/s for gas superficial velocities in the range of 0–0.18 m/s, corresponding to an area averaged void fraction up to 13.6%. In general, there is an increase in the liquid turbulence energy when the bubbles are introduced into the liquid flow. The increase in the energy mainly occurs over a range of length scales that are on the order of the bubble diameter. A suppression of the turbulence was observed close to the wall at very low void fraction flows. Initially, the suppression occurs in the low wave number range and then extends to higher wave numbers as the suppression is increased.     

Turbulence modification in vertical upward annular flow passing through a throat section

Experimental studies on the turbulence modification in annular two-phase flow passing through a throat section were carried out. The turbulence modification in multi-phase flow due to the interactions between two-phases is one of the most interesting scientific issues and has attracted research attention. In this study, the gas-phase turbulence modification in annular flow due to the gas–liquid phase interaction is experimentally investigated. The annular flow passing through a throat section is under the transient state due to the changing cross sectional area of the channel and resultantly the superficial velocities of both phases are changed compared with a fully developed flow in a straight pipe. The measurements for the gas-phase turbulence were precisely performed by using a constant temperature hot-wire anemometer, and made clear the turbulence structure such as velocity profiles, fluctuation velocity profiles. The behavior of the interfacial waves in the liquid film flow such as the ripple or disturbance waves was also observed. The measurements for the liquid film thickness by the electrode needle method were also performed to measure the base film thickness, mean film thickness, maximum film thickness and wave height of the ripple or the disturbance waves.     

On the evolution of a vortical motion in a turbulent fluid

A model turbulence field consisting of essentially discrete but interacting eddies is presented. The development of a single eddy is described by considering its interaction with the remainder of the turbulence field. Vortex line stretching is found to produce initially an increase in the mean square vorticity of the eddy. Consideration of the decay rate of vorticity suggests that the rate of dissipation of turbulent energy per unit mass depends weakly upon the Reynolds number of the turbulence.     

Non-equilibrium turbulent phenomena in the ?ow over a backward-facing ramp

Non-equilibrium turbulence phenomena have raised great interests in recent years. Significant efforts have been devoted to non-equilibrium turbulence properties in canonical flows, e.g., grid turbulence, turbulent wakes, and homogeneous isotropic turbulence(HIT). The non-equilibrium turbulence in non-canonical flows, however, has rarely been studied due to the complexity of the flows. In the present contribution, a directnumerical simulation(DNS) database of a turbulent flow is analyzed over a backwardfacing ramp, the flow near the boundary is demonstrated, and the non-equilibrium turbulent properties of the flow in the wake of the ramp are presented by using the characteristic parameters such as the dissipation coefficient C and the skewness of longitudinal velocity gradient Sk, but with opposite underlying turbulent energy transfer properties. The equation of Lagrangian velocity gradient correlation is examined, and the results show that non-equilibrium turbulence is the result of phase de-coherence phenomena, which is not taken into account in the modeling of non-equilibrium turbulence. These findings are expected to inspire deeper investigation of different non-equilibrium turbulence phenomena in different flow conditions and the improvement of turbulence modeling.     

Evaporation of a droplet larger than the Kolmogorov length scale immersed in a relative mean flow

An experimental effort to understand the contribution of turbulence to the evaporation rate of fuel droplets has been performed with particular attention to conditions when the turbulence scale is smaller than the droplet diameter. N-heptane has been chosen as working fluid to give measurable evaporation rates from droplet images over relatively short experiment times. An active turbulence grid wind tunnel is built for the requirements of this experiment. A camera triggered by a pulse generator takes images of the droplets pinned on wires across the tunnel. The results show a small increase in evaporation rate with increasing turbulence intensity, and that mean flow around the droplets has more impact on evaporation than does the turbulence state.     

Relative particle velocity in a turbulent flow

On the basis of a statistical approach using a probability density function for the coordinates of two particles in a turbulent flow, the parameters of the relative particle motion are investigated. For the functions describing particle entrainment in the turbulence, rigorous results are obtained using a 3D turbulence spectrum. A method of calculating the particle relative-velocity rate with account for particle trajectory correlation is presented. The effects of particle inertia and velocity slip on the parameters of the relative particle motion are studied. Simple approximating formulas for calculating the relative particle motion in a turbulent flow are proposed. The calculation results are compared with the data of direct numerical simulation of stochastic particle trajectories in an isotropic turbulent field.     

Measuring turbulence energy with PIV in a backward-facing step flow

Turbulence energy is estimated in a backward-facing step flow with three-component (3C, stereo) particle image velocimetry (PIV). Estimates of turbulence energy transport equation for convection, turbulence transport, turbulence production, viscous diffusion, and viscous dissipation in addition to Reynolds stresses are computed directly from PIV data. Almost all the turbulence energy terms in the backward-facing step case can be measured with 3C PIV, except the pressure-transport term, which is obtained by difference of the other turbulence energy terms. The effect of the velocity spatial sampling resolution in derivative estimations is investigated with four two-dimensional PIV measurement sets. This sampling resolution information is used to calibrate the turbulence energies estimated by 3C PIV measurements. The focus of this study is on the separated shear layer of the backward-facing step. The measurements with 3C PIV are carried out in a turbulent water flow at Reynolds number of about 15,000, based on the step height h and the inlet streamwise maximum mean velocity U₀. The expansion ratio (ER) is 1.5. Turbulence energy budget profiles in locations x/h=4, x/h=6, and x/h=10 are compared with DNS data of a turbulent flow. The shapes of profiles agree well with each other. Different ERs between the PIV case (1.5) and the DNS case (1.2) cause higher values for the turbulence energies measured by PIV than the energies by DNS when x/h=10 is approached. PIV results also show that the turbulence energy level in these experiments is generally higher than that of the DNS data.     

Three-Dimensional Calculations of the Flow Field around a Turbine Blade with Film Cooling Injection near the Leading Edge

Injection of coolant air from a showerhead injection system at the leading edge of a high pressure turbine blade is investigated using a fully implicit three-dimensional finite-volume method on multi-block grids. For various blowing rates, the calculation results for the velocity and pressure fields and turbulence intensity are compared with available experimental data. The present method yields excellent agreement with the experiments for the isentropic Mach number distributions on the blade surface. The standardk–ε turbulence model with wall functions is already capable of capturing the major details of the flow field including the injection-induced secondary-flow vortices, particularly so on the suction side. On the pressure side, however, the lateral jet spreading is under-predicted somewhat together with an exaggeration of the near-wall sink-flow vortices. On this side with convex walls, where turbulence anisotropy is appreciable according to the experiments, overall better predictions were obtained with the anisotropy correction of Bergeles et al. [23] promoting the Reynolds stress in the lateral direction. The correction has no beneficial effect on the suction side with concave walls where the turbulence anisotropy was observed to be much smaller. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Effect of the freestream turbulence scale and the leading edge shape on boundary layer laminar-turbulent transition

The effect of the leading edge shape and the turbulence scale on laminar-turbulent transition in the flat-plate boundary layer due to grid turbulence is investigated. In the experiments, the turbulence scale was changed by a factor of three and the bluntness radius of the edge by a factor of four, all other factors being fixed. It is shown that on the plate with a sharp edge the fluctuation growth rate and the laminar-turbulent transition point depend nonmonotonically on the turbulence scale. On the blunt plate transition occurs considerably earlier than on the sharp plate.     

Turbulent Flow Produced by Piston Motion in a Spark-ignition Engine

Turbulence produced by the piston motion in spark-ignition engines is studied by 2D axisymmetric numerical simulations in the cylindrical geometry as in the theoretical and experimental work by Breuer et al. (Flow Turbul Combust 74:145, 2005). The simulations are based on the Navier–Stokes gas-dynamic equations including viscosity, thermal conduction and non-slip at the walls. Piston motion is taken into account as a boundary condition. The turbulent flow is investigated for a wide range of the engine speed, 1,000–4,000 rpm, assuming both zero and non-zero initial turbulence. The turbulent rms-velocity and the integral length scale are investigated in axial and radial directions. The rms-turbulent velocity is typically an order-of-magnitude smaller than the piston speed. In the case of zero initial turbulence, the flow at the top-dead-center may be described as a combination of two large-scale vortex rings of a size determined by the engine geometry. When initial turbulence is strong, then the integral turbulent length demonstrates self-similar properties in a large range of crank angles. The results obtained agree with the experimental observations of Breuer et al. (Flow Turbul Combust 74:145, 2005).     

Turbulence characterisation of a confined jet using PIV

The turbulence in the bulk free region of a confined jet is investigated using a simple video-based particle image velocimetry technique. The latter, which relies on the interlacing properties of video filming and simple particle tracking concepts, is suitable for less dense seeding levels and lower flow velocities. The results obtained for the turbulence intensity variation in the jet agree with known data from literature. Spatially resolved integral length scales are calculated, and a relation for Eulerian-type length scales is proposed.     

Effect of external turbulence on the development of a turbulent jet

The effect of external turbulent agitation on jet development has been investigated in [1–3]. The difference of the method employed in the present work lies in the assumption that the turbulence scale of the external flow is substantially larger than the turbulence scales in either the jet or the mixing layer. Utilizing this assumption, it becomes possible to solve separately the energy equations for the turbulence of the external flow and of the jet. Solutions obtained on the basis of this assumption are found to be in qualitative agreement with experimental data.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 24–29, January–February, 1977.     

Interaction of isotropic turbulence with a normal shock wave

The evolution of incompressible and compressible isotropic 2-d turbulent fields interacting with a normal shock wave up to Mach numbers of 2.4 was investigated by means of direct numerical simulation using an ENO scheme. A comparison of statistics with linear analysis results is presented. Vorticity amplification in the DNS agrees well with the linear theory. Energy spectra are enhanced more in the small scales than in the large scales for incoming incompressible turbulence. The amplification rate for initially compressible turbulence is comparatively small.     

Near-Wake Turbulence Properties in the High Reynolds Number Incompressible Flow Around a Circular Cylinder Measured by Two- and Three-Component PIV

The main objective of the present experimental study is to analyse the turbulence properties in unsteady flows around bluff body wakes and to provide a database for improvement and validation of turbulence models, concerning the present class of non-equilibrium flows. The flow around a circular cylinder with a low aspect ratio () and a high blockage coefficient () is investigated. This confined environment is used in order to allow direct comparisons with realisable 3D Navier–Stokes computations avoiding ‘infinite’ conditions. The flow is investigated in the critical regime at Reynolds number 140,000. A cartography of the velocity fields in the near wake of the cylinder is obtained by PIV and Stereoscopic PIV techniques. Statistical means and phase-averaged quantities are determined. Furthermore, POD analysis is performed on the data set in order to extract coherent structures of the flow and to compare the results with those obtained by the conditional sampling technique. The Reynolds stresses, the strain-rate and vorticity fields as well as the turbulence production terms are determined.     

Performance assessment of a non-linear eddy-viscosity turbulence model applied to the anisotropic wake flow of a low-pressure turbine blade

The wake flow produced by a low-pressure turbine blade is modeled using a non-linear eddy-viscosity turbulence model. The theoretical benefit of using a non-linear eddy-viscosity model is strongly related to the capability of resolving highly anisotropic flows in contrast to the linear turbulence models, which are unable to correctly predict anisotropy. The main aim of the present work is to practically assess the performance of the model, by examining its ability to capture the anisotropic behavior of the wake-flow, mainly focusing on the measured velocity and Reynolds-stress distributions and to provide accurate results for the turbulent kinetic energy balance terms. Additionally, the contribution of each term of its non-linear constitutive expression for the Reynolds stresses is also investigated, in order to examine their direct effect on the modeling of the wake flow. The assessment is based on the experimental measurements that have been carried-out by the same group in Thessaloniki, Sideridis et al. (2011). The computational results show that the non-linear eddy viscosity model is capable to predict, with a good accuracy, all the flow and turbulence parameters while it is easy to program it in a computer code thus meeting the expectations of its originators.