Rotating waves within a hollow vortex core

The rotating waves within a hollow vortex core (polygonal patterns) are generated under shallow water conditions inside a cylindrical tank by a revolving disk at its bottom. We previously reported some basic features of these polygonal patterns during transition and at the equilibrium states. The present paper includes a more comprehensive investigation into the transition process of these polygonal patterns and expands the recent partial results that have been previously reported. We show that the parent wave (or the N-gon pattern) to disk frequencies ratio is around one-third (1/3) regardless of the flow conditions. A detailed insight into the transition process from the parent wave N-gon to daughter wave (N + 1)-gon is provided, which consists of two regimes, quasi-periodic and synchronized. Based on these observations, we explained the shrinking of the disk speed subintervals over which the N-gon patterns occur, when N increases.     

Evolution of an initially columnar vortex terminating normal to a no-slip wall

The early evolution of an initially columnar vortex normal to a solid wall was examined. The vortex was generated by a pair of flaps in a water tank. Detrimental effects from the wall during the vortex generation were avoided by producing the vortex normal to a free surface and subsequently bringing a horizontal plate into contact with the surface. Digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) measurements of the velocity and vorticity, together with laser induced fluorescence (LIF) visualizations, in a meridional plane revealed a toroidal structure with the appearance of an axisymmetric vortex breakdown bubble. Agreement was found between the measurements and numerical simulations of the axisymmetric Navier–Stokes equations. The results show that the flow in the effusive corner region is dominated by a Bödewadt-type spatially oscillatory boundary layer within the core region and a potential-like vortex boundary layer at large radii. The toroidal structure results from the interaction between these two boundary layers, leading to the roll up of a dominant shear layer within the Bödewadt structure, and does not develop from the columnar vortex itself.     

Some Observations of Vortex Breakdown in a Confined Flow with Solid Body Rotation

The occurrence of breakdown in slender vortex flows as a ``bubble'' or ``spiral'' pattern depends on the degree of radial deflection of the vortex core from its original axis as shown in [1]. A smooth transition from a bubble to a spiral-type ``mode'' can be forced by inducing a small asymmetric disturbance which led to the conclusion, that the patterns do not represent different fundamental modes of breakdown. The subject presented herein addresses the following question: how does breakdown evolve in a swirling flow in which the vortex core is forced on a straight axis? In addition, what is the effect of turbulent inflow conditions? This type of vortex conditions is achieved in a spinning tube flow. The swirl is introduced at the entrance of the rotating tube with a honeycomb package and maintained by the viscous action in the boundary layer of the spinning tube. A diffuser at the end induces an adverse pressure gradient to force the breakdown. Flow visualization experiments are carried out to characterize the nature of breakdown over a range of different flow conditions. For some selected characteristic stages, detailed velocity fields were obtained using the method of Digital Particle-Image-Velocimetry (DPIV). The results show, that for the range of parameters investigated, breakdown is initiated at Rossby-numbers below a critical value of Ro ≈ 0.6 similar to those observed in other experiments. The bursted part of the vortex has a near axi-symmetric slender conical shape containing approximately stagnant flow. Its downstream end is characterized by a jump-like contraction where the flow evolves into a jet with enhanced swirl on the axis. It is only in this region downstream of the jump-like contraction that asymmetric instabilities and wavy flow patterns could be observed. Perturbations caused by them travel upstream but do not change the near-axisymmetric shape of the bursted part of the vortex.     

Nonlinear evolution of Görtler vortices in the near-wall part of a boundary layer

The evolution of Görtler vortices with wavelength smaller than the thickness of the boundary layer on a concave surface is modelled asymptotically at high Reynolds and Görtler numbers. It is known that in the initial linear stage of their evolution such vortices have the largest increment of amplitude growth. Numerical results demonstrate that taking the nonlinear interaction of the flow parameters into account considerably reduces the growth rate and leads to the forming of a perturbed vortex region core; profiles of the flow characteristics in the different stages of vortex evolution are presented.     

Transport of oil in a compound vortex

The oil redistribution pattern in a compound vortex created by a uniformly rotating disk located on the bottom of a cylindrical tank is investigated. At the initial instant, a round spot of a lightweight oil is deposited on the free surface of the liquid at the center of the tank. In the course of the formation of the compound vortex, the oil is partially entrained into the interior of the liquid and forms a body of revolution. On the free surface, the spot loses the round shape, spiral branches stretch out from the appeared protrusions and cusps. The orientation of these branches is opposite to the direction of fluid rotation in the tank. Geometrical parameters of the structures for different flow regimes are studied.     

Analysis of an organized turbulent structure using a pattern recognition technique in a drag-reducing surfactant solution flow

This work presents the investigation for an organized turbulent structure in a drag-reducing flow of dilute surfactant solution by utilizing a particle image velocimetry system to perform the pattern recognition technique on a trajectory in four quadrants of streamwise and wall-normal velocity fluctuations. The pattern recognition is added to a new algorithm in order to directly capture the spatial rotation motion. The Reynolds number based on the channel height and bulk mean velocity was set to 1.5 × 10⁴. Surfactant solution with a weight concentration of 150 ppm was employed and the drag reduction rate was 65%. In the drag-reducing flow, we observe increased frequencies of occurrence of the flow events that correspond to a meandering motion in the wall-normal direction of the high-and low-speed regions. Three findings from investigation of the ensemble-averaged Reynolds shear stress and vortex structure are as follows: (i) the Reynolds shear stress in the large fluctuation range occurs in the narrow region; (ii) Size, strength, arrangement and inclination in the spatial vortex structure in the drag-reducing flow differ from those of the water; and (iii) all trajectory contributions for the wall friction coefficient decrease. Finally, we interpreted that the viscoelasticity characterizing the viscoelastic stress and relaxation time in rheological properties of the flow changes specific elementary vortex for the drag-reducing flow, and the trajectories of each flow pattern change drastically.     

Phase-resolved flow characteristics between two shrouded co-rotating disks

Flow characteristics in the interdisk midplane between two shrouded co-rotating disks were experimentally studied. A laser-assisted particle-laden flow-visualization method was used to identify the qualitative flow behaviors. Particle image velocimetry was employed to measure the instantaneous flow velocities. The flow visualization revealed rotating polygonal flow structures (hexagon, pentagon, quadrangle, triangle, and oval) existing in the core region of the interdisk spacing. There existed a difference between the rotating frequencies of the polygon and the disks. The rotating frequency ratio between the polygonal flow structure and the disks depended on the mode shapes of the polygonal core flow structures—0.8 for pentagon, 0.75 for quadrangle, 0.69 for triangle, and 0.6 for oval. The phase-resolved flow velocities relative to the bulk rotation speed of the polygonal core flow structure were calculated, and the streamline patterns were delineated. It was found that outside the polygonal core flow structure, there existed a cluster of vortex rings—each side of the polygon was associated with a vortex ring. The radial distributions of the time-averaged and phase-resolved ensemble-averaged circumferential and radial velocities were presented. Five characteristic regions (solid-body rotation region, hub-influenced region, buffer region, vortex region, and shroud-influenced region) were identified according to the prominent physical features of the flow velocity distributions in the interdisk midplane. In the solid-body rotation region, the fluid rotated at the angular velocity of the disks and hub. In the hub-influenced region, the circumferential flow velocity departed slightly from the disks’ angular velocity. The circumferential velocities in the hub-influenced and vortex regions varied linearly with variation of radial coordinates. The phase-resolved ensemble-averaged relative radial velocity profiles in the interdisk midplane at various phase angles exhibited grouping behaviors in three ranges of polygon phase angles (θ = 0 and α/2, 0 < θ < α/2, and α/2 < θ < α) because three-dimensional flow induced similar flow patterns to appear in the same range of polygon phase angles.     

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.     

Transition process from one celled vortex to two celled vortex

Changes in the flow structure, the vorticity distribution and the stream function during the transition process from the one celled vortex to the two celled vortex following a rapid change in the radial Reynolds number have been examined. Starting from a thin filament-like structure corresponding to the one celled vortex. a thick vortex core first grew up from the outlet region and turned into a cylindrical structure corresponding to the two celled vortex. The vorticity distribution also changed from a single-summit type to a ring-summit type.     

Near-ground tornado-like vortex structure resolved by particle image velocimetry (PIV)

The near-ground flow structure of tornadoes is of utmost interest because it determines how and to what extent civil structures could get damaged in tornado events. We simulated tornado-like vortex flow at the swirl ratios of S = 0.03–0.3 (vane angle θ_v = 15°–60°), using a laboratory tornado simulator and investigated the near-ground-vortex structure by particle imaging velocimetry. Complicated near-ground flow was measured in two orthogonal views: horizontal planes at various elevations (z = 11, 26 and 53 mm above the ground) and the meridian plane. We observed two distinct vortex structures: a single-celled vortex at the lowest swirl ratio (S = 0.03, θ_v = 15°) and multiple suction vortices rotating around the primary vortex (two-celled vortex) at higher swirl ratios (S = 0.1–0.3, θ_v = 30°–60°). We quantified the effects of vortex wandering on the mean flow and found that vortex wandering was important and should be taken into account in the low swirl ratio case. The tangential velocity, as the dominant velocity component, has the peak value about three times that of the maximum radial velocity regardless of the swirl ratio. The maximum velocity variance is about twice at the high swirl ratio (θ_v = 45°) that at the low swirl ratio (θ_v = 15°), which is contributed significantly by the multiple small-scale secondary vortices. Here, the results show that not only the intensified mean flow but greatly enhanced turbulence occurs near the surface in the tornado-like vortex flow. The intensified mean flow and enhanced turbulence at the ground level, correlated with the ground-vortex interaction, may cause dramatic damage of the civil structures in tornadoes. This work provides detailed characterization of the tornado-like vortex structure, which has not been fully revealed in previous field studies and laboratory simulations. It would be helpful in improving the understanding of the interaction between the tornado-like vortex structure and the ground surface, ultimately leading to better predictions of tornado-induced wind loads on civil structures.     

Scanning PIV investigation of the laminar separation bubble on a SD7003 airfoil

A laminar separation bubble occurs on the suction side of the SD7003 airfoil at an angle of attack α =  4–8° and a low Reynolds number less than 100,000, which brings about a significant adverse aerodynamic effect. The spatial and temporal structure of the laminar separation bubble was studied using the scanning PIV method at α =  4° and Re = 60,000 and 20,000. Of particular interest are the dynamic vortex behavior in transition process and the subsequent vortex evolution in the turbulent boundary layer. The flow was continuously sampled in a stack of parallel illuminated planes from two orthogonal views with a frequency of hundreds Hz, and PIV cross-correlation was performed to obtain the 2D velocity field in each plane. Results of both the single-sliced and the volumetric presentations of the laminar separation bubble reveal vortex shedding in transition near the reattachment region at Re = 60,000. In a relatively long distance vortices characterized by paired wall-normal vorticity packets retain their identities in the reattached turbulent boundary layer, though vortices interact through tearing, stretching and tilting. Compared with the restricted LSB at Re = 60,000, the flow at Re = 20,000 presents an earlier separation and a significantly increased reversed flow region followed by “huge” vortical structures.     

Rankine combined vortex interaction with a rectangular prism

Large eddy simulation is utilised to study the three-dimensional interaction between a travelling Rankine combined vortex and a rectangular prism. The study examines the strength and the topology of a vortex during the interaction with a prism that is much wider than the vortex core diameter. The physics of the interaction is revealed for the straight (β = 0°) and the oblique (β = 45°) impacts. For both cases, the low-level portion of the vortex undergoes displacements in the streamwise and the lateral directions. Also the vortex shape and the core vorticity are substantially disrupted. Behind the prism the full vortex circulation is recovered after a considerable distance. This created a low-velocity region. The sheltering effect of the prism is noticed for both straight and oblique impacts. The flow velocities in the sheltering region, right behind the prism, are reduced by more than 42% compared to the maximum flow speeds before the interaction.     

Simultaneous mapping of the velocity and deformation field at a free surface

The oblique interaction of a turbulent vortex ring with a clean water surface is experimentally investigated during the transition stage using Digital Particle Image Velocimetry (DPIV) and the shadowgraph technique to map the surface velocity and deformation field simultaneously. The transitional vortex-ring/free-surface interaction leads to the formation of a trifurcation pattern at the free surface. Similar to the laminar flow case, the vortex ring initially bifurcates into two symmetric and separately connected vortex loops. The turbulent break-up of those vortex loops results in the formation of longitudinal wake vortices that symmetrically connect to the surface and eventually lead to a trifurcation pattern. In the absence of large-deformation surface waves, the simultaneous DPIV and shadowgraph measurements reveal good agreement between the surface vorticity and deformation field for small- and large-scale vortical structures. The simultaneous measurement technique is not restricted to the qualitative shadowgraph visualization, but can be easily extended to quantitative methods such as grating-imaging techniques, Color Schlieren, or Color Surface Mapping (CSM) techniques.This work has been supported by the Office of Naval Research, ONR-URI grant N00014-92-J-1610.     

Investigation of the variability of the structure of a stratified wake behind a horizontal cylinder using optical and acoustic methods

The shadow flow pattern behind a horizontal cylinder uniformly towed in a stratified fluid with constant buoyancy frequency (in the imbedded vortex and turbulent wake regime) is recorded synchronously with acoustic echo sounding (basic frequency equal to 1 MHz) in a laboratory tank. Using computer processing, the illumination profiles in the schlieren pattern are constructed on scales comparable with the sounding acoustic ray width. Although the optical and acoustic profiles are not similar, nevertheless they enable the basic structural elements of the wake, including its high-gradient core to be identified, and their time variability traced. The features of the integral acoustic scattering characteristic, in particular, the volume scattering strength, allow this characteristic to be used, together with optical images of the flow pattern, to distinguish the flow regime identification criteria. Moscow. Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 3, pp. 5–17, May–June, 1998. The work was partly financed by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (projects Nos. 96-05-64004 and 97-01-01013) and by INTAS Grant No. 93-1584.     

Characteristics of ventilating flow generated by a rotating swirler in a vortex vent

A vortex ventilation system with a rotating annular disk installed coaxially with the exhaust inlet is a very effective local ventilator. A swirling flow generated by a rotating swirler makes the ventilation flow concentrated around the axis of rotation, which can increase the ventilation depth by a factor of five compared to a conventional exhaust hood. Despite the well-documented excellent ventilation performance of such a system, detailed flow characteristics are not well understood. In this study, the swirling flow field in the vortex vent was tested, and a number of peculiar flow characteristics were observed. When the rotational speed was varied, a series of different flow patterns appeared, and the changes in the flow pattern showed rapid transition, hysteresis, and flow instability similar to the vortex. The transition of the flow pattern could be explained based on the ratio of the centrifugal force to exhaust pressure. Hysteresis of the flow transition occurred in an unstable equilibrium mode between the two forces, and an unstable flow pattern occurred when the secondary recirculating flow was located beneath the swirler. A formula for the critical rotational speed was derived, which showed satisfactory agreement with experimental observation.     

Structure of a bathtub vortex: importance of the bottom boundary layer

A bathtub vortex in a cylindrical tank rotating at a constant angular velocity Ω is studied by means of a laboratory experiment, a numerical experiment and a boundary layer theory. The laboratory and numerical experiments show that two regimes of vortices in the steady-state can occur depending on Ω and the volume flux Q through the drain hole: when Q is large and Ω is small, a potential vortex is formed in which angular momentum outside the vortex core is constant in the non-rotating frame. However, when Q is small or Ω is large, a vortex is generated in which the angular momentum decreases with decreasing radius. Boundary layer theory shows that the vortex regimes strongly depend on the theoretical radial volume flux through the bottom boundary layer under a potential vortex : when the ratio of Q to the theoretical boundary-layer radial volume flux Q _b (scaled by ${2\pi R^2 ( \Omega \nu )^\frac{1}{2}}$ ) at the outer rim of the vortex core is larger than a critical value (of order 1), the radial flow in the interior exists at all radii and Regime I is realized, where R is the inner radius of the tank and ν the kinematic viscosity. When the ratio is less than the critical value, the radial flow in the interior nearly vanishes inside a critical radius and almost all of the radial volume flux occurs only in the boundary layer, resulting in Regime II in which the angular momentum is not constant with radius. This criterion is found to explain the results of the laboratory and numerical experiments very well.     

Further study on vortex shedding flow by a circular cylinder

In the present paper the mechanism involved in vortex shedding flows is investigated in detail. In the early stage of the unsteady separated flow the interaction between secondary vortices and primary vortices is quite strong. In the later stage of the flow, corresponding to the vortex shedding the recirculating flow region on each side of the aft body goes through such a cycle: growth-contraction-growth, the secondary separation occurs periodically rather than continuously. The reduction of circulation is taken into account in three cases with different decay factors to study its influence on the prediction of main flow characteristics. Results show that to simulate vortex shedding flow it is necessary to include the reduction of circulation to bring the calculated results into good agreement with experiments. An improved discrete vortex model is suggested in which both the secondary separation and the reduction are incorporated. The processes of vortex shedding, the forces prediction and other flow characteristics are given and some discussions are made. Porject is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China.     

Experimental investigation of the unsteady structure of a transitional plane wall jet

 A laminar wall jet undergoing transition is investigated using the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique. The plane wall jet is issued from a rectangular channel, with the jet-exit velocity profile being parabolic. The Reynolds number, based on the exit mean velocity and the channel width, is 1450. To aid the understanding of the global flow features, laser-sheet/smoke flow visualizations are performed along streamwise, spanwise, and cross-stream directions. Surface pressure measurements are made to correlate the instantaneous vorticity distribution with the surface pressure fluctuations. The instantaneous velocity and vorticity field measurements provide the basis for understanding the formation of the inner-region vortex and the subsequent interactions between the outer-region (free-shear-layer region) and inner-region (boundary-layer region) vortical structures. Results show that under the influence of the free-shear-layer vortex, the local boundary layer becomes detached from the surface and inviscidly unstable, and a vortex is formed in the inner region. Once this vortex has formed, the free-shear-layer vortex and the inner-region vortex form a vortex couple and convect downstream. The mutual interactions between these inner- and outer-region vortical structures dominate the transition process. Farther downstream, the emergence of the three-dimensional structure in the free shear layer initiates complete breakdown of the flow. Received: 8 November 1995/Accepted: 6 November 1996     

Traversing field of view and AR-PIV for mid-field wake vortex investigation in a towing tank

Wake vortex flow experiments are performed in a water tank where a 1:48 scaled model of a large transport aircraft A340-300 is towed at the speed of 3 and 5 ms^-1 with values of the angle of attack !={2°, 4°, 8°}. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements are performed in a plane perpendicular to the towing direction describing the streamwise component of the wake vorticity. The instantaneous field of view (I-FOV) is traversed vertically with an underwater moving-camera device tracking the vortex core during the downward motion. An adaptive resolution (AR) image-processing technique is introduced that enhances the PIV interrogation in terms of spatial resolution and accuracy. The main objectives of the investigation are to demonstrate the applicability of PIV diagnostics in wake vortex research with towing-tank facilities. The specific implementation of the traversing field-of-view (T-FOV) technique and the AR image processing are driven by the need to characterize the vortex wake global properties as well as the vortex decay phenomenon in the mid- and far-field. Relevant aerodynamic information is obtained in the mid-field where the time evolution of the vortex structure (core radius and tangential velocity) and of the overall vortex wake (vortex trajectory, descent velocity, circulation) are discussed.