Flow visualization of compressible vortex structures using density gradient techniques

Mathematical results are derived for the schlieren and shadowgraph contrast variation due to the refraction of light rays passing through two-dimensional compressible vortices with viscous cores. Both standard and small-disturbance solutions are obtained. It is shown that schlieren and shadowgraph produce substantially different contrast profiles. Further, the shadowgraph contrast variation is shown to be very sensitive to the vortex velocity profile and is also dependent on the location of the peak peripheral velocity (viscous core radius). The computed results are compared to actual contrast measurements made for rotor tip vortices using the shadowgraph flow visualization technique. The work helps to clarify the relationships between the observed contrast and the structure of vortical structures in density gradient based flow visualization experiments.Nomenclature a Unobstructed height of schlieren light source in cutoff plane, m - c Blade chord, m - f Focal length of schlieren focusing mirror, m - C _T Rotor thrust coefficient, T/( ² R ⁴) - I Image screen illumination, Lm/m ² - l Distance from vortex to shadowgraph screen, m - n _b Number of blades - p Pressure,N/m ² - p Ambient pressure, N/m ² - r, , z Cylindrical coordinate system - r _c Vortex core radius, m - Non-dimensional radial coordinate, (r/r _c ) - R Rotor radius, m - Tangential velocity, m/s - Specific heat ratio of air - Circulation (strength of vortex), m ²/s - Non-dimensional quantity, ² 8²p r _c ² - Refractive index of fluid medium - ₀ Refractive index of fluid medium at reference conditions - Gladstone-Dale constant, m ³/kg - Density, kg/m ³ - Density at ambient conditions, kg/m ³ - Non-dimensional density, (/ ) - Rotor solidity, (n _b c/ R) - Rotor rotational frequency, rad/s     

Transient temperature measurement using embedded thermocouples

The response time of thermocouples is generally considered to be a limiting factor when transient temperature changes need to be assessed in solids. As an example, transient temperature changes which develop during dynamic straining of materials, adiabatic shear band formation, dynamic fracture and related fields are often investigated using sophisticated noncontact measurement techniques such as infrared detectors. In these phenomena, the time scale is of the order of the microsecond. In this paper, the authors revisit the application of thermocouples to such measurements using small embedded thermocouples (ETC). Experiments with dynamically loaded polymeric disks (characteristic strain rate of 10³ s^–1) show that the thermocouples record transient temperatures with a short typical rise time of 10 s as a result of the conversion of plastic deformation into heat. This observation is corroborated by the solution of the temperature distribution in a sphere subject to constant surface temperature which predicts the same fast reaction. Specifically, considering a sphere which is representative of the sensing bead, the average temperature is shown to rise in a few microseconds. These theoretical results can be used to deconvolve the experimental results with respect to a calculated impulse response of the sensor to recover the actual temperature variations. The results show that small thermocouples can be embedded to yield useful information about the transient temperature evolution in a solid. This technique is easy to use and provides an important complement to other noncontact techniques.     

Non-intrusive load characterization of an airfoil using PIV

An assessment is made of the feasibility of using PIV velocity data for the non-intrusive aerodynamic force characterization (lift, drag and pitching moment) of an airfoil. The method relies upon the application of control-volume approaches in combination with the deduction of the pressure from the PIV experimental data, by making use of the momentum equation. First, the consistency of the method is verified by means of synthetic data obtained from CFD. Subsequently, the procedure was applied in an experimental investigation, in which the PIV approach is validated against standard pressure-based methods (surface pressure distribution and wake rake).     

Experimental techniques for mechanical characterization of hydrogels at the microscale

Hydrogel actuators in microfluidic devices must endure the forces of aqueous flow, the constraint of device walls, and the restoring force of elastic membranes. In order to assess the capabilities of hydrogels, three experimental techniques for determining the uniaxial tensile properties and functional swelling properties of microscale hydrogel structures have been developed. Tensile tests were conducted to determine Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio at varying degrees of swelling equilibrium. Force response tests were performed to determine the force exerted by cylindrical hydrogel structures on compression platens held at fixed displacement. Particle image velocimetry, a method originally developed to measure velocity fields in fluid flows, was adapted to investigate the deformation rates at various times within hydrogel structures during volumetric swelling. The techniques and sample fabrication methods outlined are applicable to a variety of hydrogel chemistries.     

Factors affecting temperature measurement using phase measurement interferometry in small scale devices

This paper presents full-field temperature measurements of buoyancy opposing mixed convection flow within a miniscale fluidic geometry. The technique used is phase measurement interferometry and a Mach–Zehnder layout is employed. The popular two-dimensional microfluidic geometry of three streams merging at a junction is chosen for this analysis. The apparatus set-up is described and measures taken to limit experimental errors discussed. Also presented, are corresponding flow visualization images for comparison with the interferometric results. The results are compared for similar boundary conditions over the range of Richardson numbers of 0.5–1.7. The results of the interferometric study are presented in the form of full-field temperature maps depicting the type of thermal plume structure present through isotherms and are seen to compare well with the results of the flow visualization study. Some factors affecting the measurement technique at this scale are then discussed. These include the effect of using different transparent materials for sealing the fluidic device and temporal vibrations caused by either varying boundary conditions or by slight pulsations in the flow supplied. Also, due to discrepancies that exist in the literature for the temperature coefficient of the refractive index of the working fluid, thermocouples are embedded in the flow field and used to convert the measured phase change to a corresponding temperature change. The corresponding values of refractive index change with temperature are discussed and compared to published values. Overall, PMI is demonstrated to provide excellent full-field temperature plots that can be used to measure local heat transfer rates from this non-intrusive measurement technique.     

First visualization of temperature fields in liquids at high pressure using thermochromic liquid crystals

A first application of encapsulated thermochromic liquid crystals (TLCs) for visualizing temperature fields in pressurized liquids was studied experimentally. By means of a tempered high-pressure optical cell, investigations were performed in a wide temperature range and at pressures up to 7000 bar. The measured calibration curves of isochromes in the pressure/temperature domain as well as photographically documented temperature fields at high pressure are presented and discussed. The results found illustrate that TLCs provide an efficient instrument for investigating thermofluiddynamical processes even at high pressure. Received: 13 February 1998/Accepted: 9 December 1999     

Non-intrusive hybrid interval method for uncertain nonlinear systems using derivative information

This paper proposes a new non-intrusive hybrid interval method using derivative information for the dynamic response analysis of nonlinear systems with uncertain-butbounded parameters and/or initial conditions. This method provides tighter solution ranges compared to the existing polynomial approximation interval methods. Interval arithmetic using the Chebyshev basis and interval arithmetic using the general form modified affine basis for polynomials are developed to obtain tighter bounds for interval computation.To further reduce the overestimation caused by the "wrapping effect" of interval arithmetic, the derivative information of dynamic responses is used to achieve exact solutions when the dynamic responses are monotonic with respect to all the uncertain variables. Finally, two typical numerical examples with nonlinearity are applied to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid interval method, in particular, its ability to effectively control the overestimation for specific timepoints.     

Ensemble-averaging and correlation techniques for flow visualization images

Flow visualization using marking techniques such as timelines provides a basis for quantitative analysis of macroscale features of unsteady flows by global ensemble-averaging and correlation techniques. In the visual-ensemble-averaging technique described herein, the timeline positions are tracked and averaged in successive images. The phase reference for the averaging process can take the form of an analog pressure, velocity, or displacement signal, or a recurring coherent portion of the image. Global correlations of the timeline patterns are obtained using the same timelines defined for the ensemble-averaging process. A new type of visual correlation function, giving the correlation between two timelines in a given image or successive images, is proposed. Preliminary results are given.     

Experimental investigation of evaporation-induced convection in water using laser based measurement techniques

Recent studies have shown that the evaporation of water can induce surface tension gradients along the water surface that ultimately lead to a surface driven flow, known as Marangoni convection. To visualize and characterize the Marangoni convection in water, this study generated evaporation driven convection in pure water with a vacuum pump to control and increase the evaporation rate of water within a rectangular cuvette that was placed within a vacuum chamber, and investigated the velocity and temperature distributions of the generated convection. The investigation was performed as the vacuum chamber pressure ranged from ∼250 Pa to ∼820 Pa. The temperature field obtained from thermocouple measurements and temperature planar laser induced fluorescence (temp-PLIF) measurements indicated that no buoyancy driven motion was generated during the investigation. Velocity vector fields captured with stereo particle image velocimetry (stereo-PIV) demonstrated a convection pattern that was strong and symmetric with the centerline of the cuvette. The strength of the convection was found to be correlated with the mean evaporation rate of water. The estimated Marangoni number exceeded the critical value typically used to characterize the onset of Marangoni convection. The convection had a similar pattern as Marangoni convection observed in volatile liquids evaporated from capillary tubes. In both cases, the convection scaled with the width of the liquid container even though the sizes of the containers differ by an order of magnitude. In addition, the size of the convection in this study was much larger than the Marangoni convection in water that was observed in previous studies.     

Liquid crystal techniques of visualization in rotating annulus experiments

To the well-known rotating annulus experiments we applied liquid crystal techniques of visualization in order to obtain clear video-pictures of internal flow and temperature in the fluid. Then we developed the idea of simultaneously injecting several types of liquid crystals of different temperature ranges to observe the fluid with a wide temperature range. It was shown that with this idea it was possible to take clear video-pictures throughout the whole interior of the fluid. This revealed that the pattern of the bottom flow does not have the characteristics of the Eady type baroclinic waves. Furthermore, the typcial meridional gradient of temperature of the baroclinic wave was directly observed from isothermal lines appearing in the fluid as colour band lines.     

无陀螺捷联惯性导航技术

无陀螺捷联惯性测量装置与传统捷联惯导系统的主要区别是角速度的获取方式不同,角速度的解算精度是无陀螺捷联惯性导航系统的核心问题,决定了系统的性能及实际应用的可行性。本文剖析了无陀螺捷联惯性测量装置的误差来源,建立了无陀螺捷联惯性导航系统角速度解算数学模型,并重点探讨了加速度计元件误差对角速度解算精度的影响。进行了无陀螺捷联惯性测量装置试验,结果表明,尽管计算误差较大,但无陀螺捷联惯性测量装置可以反映出运动平台的角运动规律,实际应用中对加速度计精度和计算机速度要求较高,另外应寻找更好的算法尽量补偿角速度解算误差。     

Whole field measurement of temperature in water using two-color laser induced fluorescence

 A technique is described that measures the instantaneous three-dimensional temperature distribution in water using two-color laser-induced fluorescence (LIF). Two fluorescent dyes, Rhodamine B and Rhodamine 110, are used as temperature indicators. A laser light sheet scanned across the entire measurement volume excites the fluorescent dye, and an optical system involving a color beam splitter gives the intensity distribution of the individual fluorescent dyes on two separate monochrome CCD cameras. The ratio of these fluorescence intensities at each point of the image is calibrated against the temperature to eliminate the effect of the fluctuation of illuminating light intensity. A stable thermally stratified layer was measured by this system to evaluate the total accuracy of the measurement system. The random error of the measurement was ±1.4 K with 95% confidence. Measurements of thermal convection over a heated horizontal surface show temperature iso-surfaces having typical structures such as plumes, ridges and thermals. Received: 1 October 1997/Accepted: 23 March 1998     

Instantaneous concentration field measurement technique from flow visualization photographs

A method of measuring the instantaneous concentration field in a planar section of a dyed turbulent flow is described. Negatives of photographed laser-sheet induced fluorescence are digitized and then computer processed to give the concentration distribution of the dye. A simple calibration procedure to account for the film characteristics is presented. This calibration also compensates for non-uniformities in the illumination of the flow field, irregularities in the illumination of the photographic negative and differences between characteristics of the individual digitizing light sensors of the digitizer. The method is illustrated with a cross-section containing the jet axis of the instantaneous concentration field of the entrained fluid from a small source outside of a circular turbulent jet.     

Flow visualization using tobacco mosaic virus

A flow visualization technique using dilute solutions of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) is described. Rod-shaped TMV-particles align with shear, an effect that produces a luminous interference pattern when the TMV solution is viewed between crossed polarizers. Attractive features of this technique are that it is both transparent to the naked eye and benign to fish. We use it here to visualize the evolution and decay of the flows that they produce. We also report that dilute solutions of Kalliroscope are moderately birefringent and so may similarly be used for qualitative in situ flow visualizations. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

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.