Effect of Local DBD Plasma Actuation on Transition in a Laminar Separation Bubble

This work examines the effect of local active flow control on stability and transition in a laminar separation bubble. Experiments are performed in a wind tunnel facility on a NACA 0012 airfoil at a chord Reynolds number of 130 000 and an angle of attack of 2 degrees. Controlled disturbances are introduced upstream of a laminar separation bubble forming on the suction side of the airfoil using a surface-mounted Dielectric Barrier Discharge plasma actuator. Time-resolved two-component Particle Image Velocimetry is used to characterise the flow field. The effect of frequency and amplitude of plasma excitation on flow development is examined. The introduction of artificial harmonic disturbances leads to significant changes in separation bubble topology and the characteristics of coherent structures formed in the aft portion of the bubble. The development of the bubble demonstrates strong dependence on the actuation frequency and amplitude, revealing the dominant role of incoming disturbances in the transition scenario. Statistical, topological and linear stability theory analysis demonstrate that significant mean flow deformation produced by controlled disturbances leads to notable changes in stability characteristics compared to those in the unforced baseline case. The findings provide a new outlook on the role of controlled disturbances in separated shear layer transition and instruct the development of effective flow control strategies.     

A Combined Experimental/Numerical Study of Unsteady Phenomena in a Laminar Separation Bubble

A laminar boundary layer separates in a region of adverse pressure gradient on a flat plate and undergoes transition. Finally the turbulent boundary layer reattaches, forming a laminar separation bubble (LSB). Laminar-turbulent transition within such a LSB is investigated by means of Laser-Doppler-Anemometry (LDA), Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), and direct numerical simulation (DNS). The transition mechanism occurring in the flow-field under consideration is discussed in detail. Observations for the development of small disturbances are compared to predictions from viscous linear instability theory (Tollmien–Schlichting instability). Non-linear development of these disturbances and their role in final breakdown to turbulence is analyzed.     

Loss Production Mechanisms in a Laminar Separation Bubble

The present paper reports the results of a detailed experimental study, carried out by means of a two-component Laser Doppler Velocimeter, aimed at investigating the loss generation mechanisms induced by laminar separation bubble and transition process. Measurements have been performed along a flat plate installed within a double contoured test section, designed to produce an adverse pressure gradient typical of Ultra-High-Lift turbine blade profiles, which induces the formation of a laminar separation bubble. Results were detailed enough to allow calculating laminar and turbulent deformation works in the separated flow region. Normal and shear contributions of both viscous and turbulent deformation works have been analyzed and employed to explain the generation of total pressure losses in the separated flow region, where the generation and amplification of Kelvin–Helmholtz instability induces the separated shear layer roll-up, thus the bubble reattachment. Results obtained for different Reynolds number conditions have been employed for the formulation of a loss scaling procedure involving the separated shear layer thickness, which is directly correlated to the dynamics of Kelvin–Helmholtz roll-up vortices.     

Bubble Bursting and Laminar Separation Unsteadiness on a Multi-Element High Lift Configuration

The purpose of this work is to gain insight into the problem of the bursting of a laminar separation bubble in the nose region of a slotted flap on a multi-element airfoil configuration. The interest in bubble bursting, which, especially on multi-element configurations has not been thoroughly investigated yet, was raised by the experimental results obtained while testing a computer designed flap in the low speed low Turbulence wind tunnel of the Delft University of Technology. A sudden and dangerous stall was found to occur on the flap surface due to the bursting of a bubble in its nose region. CFD calculations, both laminar and RANS, were first performed on a single element configuration, namely the Eppler E387 airfoil (Re = 10⁵) and then on the multi-element configuration tested in the wind tunnel (Re = 2 ·10⁶). The results show that a strong vortex shedding can potentially originate from the separated shear layer, both on the flap and on the single element airfoil, suggesting a close connection between the two cases. The effect of transition on the structure of the bubble was investigated by imposing and then varying the transition point. The computational results suggest that the unsteady behavior of the laminar bubble has to be regarded as a major issue in order to find an effective bursting predictor method for airfoil design.     

DNS of a Laminar Separation Bubble in the Presence of Oscillating External Flow

A three-dimensional Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) of a laminar separation bubble in the presence of oscillating flow is performed. The oscillating flow induces a streamwise pressure gradient varying in time. The special shape of the upper boundary of the computational domain, together with the oscillating pressure gradient causes the boundary layer flow to alternately separate and re-attach. When the inflow decelerates, the shear layer starts to separate and rolls up. Simultaneously the flow becomes 3D. After a transient period, the phase-averaged reverse flow inside the separation bubble reaches speeds ranging from 20 up to 150% of the free-stream velocity. During these phases, the flow is absolutely unstable and self-sustained turbulence can exist. When the inflow starts to accelerate, a spanwise roll of turbulent flow is shed from the shear layer. Shortly after this, the remainder of the separation bubble moves downstream and rejoins with the shed turbulent roll. During the flow-acceleration phase, a patch of laminar boundary layer flow is obtained. Along the flat plate, a series of turbulent patches of flow travelling downstream, separated by laminar flow can be observed, reminiscent of boundary layer flow in a turbine cascade with periodically appearing free-stream disturbances.     

Effect of Inflow Turbulence on an Airfoil Flow with Laminar Separation Bubble: An LES Study

The present paper is concerned with numerical investigations on the effect of inflow turbulence on the flow around a SD7003 airfoil. At a Reynolds number Re_c =?60,000, an angle of attack α =?4^° and a low or zero turbulence intensity of the oncoming flow, the flow past the airfoil is known to be dominated by early separation, subsequent transition and reattachment leading to a laminar separation bubble with a distinctive pressure plateau. The objective of the study is to investigate the effect of inflow turbulence on the flow behavior. For this purpose, a numerical methodology relying on a wall-resolved large-eddy simulation, a synthetic turbulence inflow generator and a specific source term concept for introducing the turbulence fluctuations within the computational domain is used. The numerical technique applied allows the variation of the free-stream turbulence intensity (TI) in a wide range. In order to analyze the influence of TI on the arising instantaneous and time-averaged flow field past the airfoil, the present study evaluates the range 0% ≤ TI ≤?11.2%, which covers typical values found in atmospheric boundary layers. In accordance with experimental studies it is shown that the laminar separation bubble first shrinks and finally completely vanishes for increasing inflow turbulence. Consequently, the aerodynamic performance in terms of the lift-to-drag ratio increases. Furthermore, the effect of the time and length scales of the isotropic inflow turbulence on the development of the flow field around the airfoil is analyzed and a perceptible influence is found. Within the range of inflow scales studied decreasing scales augment the receptivity of the boundary layer promoting an earlier transition.     

The Influence of Periodic Excitation on a Turbulent Separation Bubble

Turbulent separation limits the performance in many engineering applications, for example creating pressure losses in diffuser like flows or stall on aircraft wings. In the present study the turbulent boundary layer flow over a flat plate separating due to an adverse pressure gradient is studied as a model problem and the effect of periodic excitation in both time and space is investigated through direct numerical simulations. Linear stability analysis is used to analyse the sensitivity of the flow with respect to time-periodic excitations. The dependence on position, amplitude and frequency of the forcing is investigated. For a certain frequency range at sufficiently high amplitudes, it is possible to eliminate the separated region. Furthermore, three-dimensional effects are studied by applying a steady spanwise forcing as well as a both time-dependent and spanwise varying forcing. A forcing varying in spanwise direction is shown to be the most effective in eliminating the separated region, whereas two-dimensional time-periodic excitation was not as efficient as it was expected.     

Two-Equation Turbulence Modelling of a Transitional Separation Bubble

Calculations of the Reynolds averaged equations using two different turbulence models have been compared with direct numerical simulation of a transitional separation bubble. Three methods of transition modelling were investigated. The first had no transition adjustment, the second involved fixing the transition point at the location observed in the simulation and the third was a direct transformation of a method proposed by Wilcox [1] which involved sensitising the eddy viscosity and transport equations to the local turbulent Reynolds number. The models captured the general features of the flow but were unable to show the recovery behaviour of the flow behind the bubble. Reasons for the failure are discussed using apriori analysis of terms in the model equations. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Acoustic Field Effect on Laminar Turbulent Transition on a Swept Wing in the Favorable Pressure Gradient Region

The development of disturbances in a three-dimensional boundary layer on a swept wing model is studied both under natural conditions and for artificial excitation of traveling waves by an acoustic field. It is found that steady-state streamwise structures are formed in the three-dimensional boundary layer; under natural conditions a wave packet leading to turbulence is detected. When the flow is exposed to the action of an acoustic field at a frequency from the wave packet, disturbances whose velocity along the streamwise structures is equal to 0.55 of the oncoming flow velocity are formed, while the laminar-turbulent transition is displaced upstream.     

低Re数下变弯度机翼的非定常气动特性实验研究

利用变弯度机翼模型及相关的风洞实验平台,开展了以弯度变化速率影响为重点的机翼非定常特性研究。实验结果显示,在低Re数(~105)下,机翼弯度非定常变化得到的升阻力系数曲线与准定常条件下的结果存在显著差异。具体表现为:准定常状态下,曲线表现出明显的可逆性;而弯度非定常变化时,曲线在弯度递增区和递减区之间存在明显的迟滞效应,而且随着变形速率的增加,这种迟滞也越明显。流场显示结果表明,这种小St数下出现的流动迟滞是由于弯度变形导致的流动分离的分离点相对机翼运动迟滞所造成的。这说明弯度变化时,分离流场结构的响应时间尺度与弯度变化周期相当,也揭示了该条件下机翼弯度变化对流动的抑制作用主要是通过改变分离区的大小来实现的。     

真空环境中油水分离的试验研究

针对真空环境中油水分离问题,以真空滤油机为研究对象,构建了多参数实时耦合的油水分离试验系统,并利用Labview软件进行了数据的采集和处理。分析了油水分离的主要影响因素,结果表明,在试验参数范围内,水的初始含水率对脱水率的影响较大,真空压力和温度对脱水率呈单调变化的趋势,运行时间存在一个较优值30s。上述结果可为深入研究真空滤油机油水分离机理提供参考。     

Limit Cycle Oscillations of a Wing Section with a Tip Mass

This paper presents an investigation into the limit cycleoscillation phenomenon for a nonlinear aeroelasticsystem under unsteady aerodynamics. The system consists of a sweptbackwing section carrying a tip mass with one degree of freedom. Thejunction stiffness considered between the wing and the tip mass istrilinear. The method of harmonic balance, which can be very practicalin the study of nonlinear flutter, is used for the theoretical analysisof limit cycle oscillations. Stable, unstable and semi-stable limitcycles are predicted in the system for both cases of hardening andsoftening springs. Results found by numerical simulation provide theamplitudes of limit cycles. The experimental results in wind tunneltests agree well with the predictions obtained both theoretically andnumerically.     

Experimental Study on Bubble Movement Characteristics during Underwater Pyrotechnic Combustion

High-speed photography was used to study bubble movement characteristics during underwater pyrotechnic combustion. The results show that bubble behaviors include bubble formation at the nozzle, departure from the nozzle, bubble coalescence, and bubble breakup. Compared with cavitation bubbles and fluidization bubbles, the nozzle bubbles formed during underwater pyrotechnic combustion feature larger diameters, up to centimeters, and darker, and more irregular shapes. During large bubble coalescence, two bubbles approach each other, generate a channel for transfer of mass and heat, and finally coalesce. The bubbles contain high-temperature gases and solid residues generated during pyrotechnic combustion, which lead to non-uniform forces on the bubble surface and make the bubbles more prone to breakup. Because of the high-temperature solid grains, the surrounding liquid vaporizes to form bubbles.     

Experimental Investigation of the Development of Secondary Perturbations on a Swept Wing

The development of traveling secondary perturbations on streamwise structures in the swept wing boundary layer is investigated when the perturbations are excited by a periodic blowing-suction through an orifice on the model surface. The streamwise structures were generated by a roughness glued to the model surface. Qualitative and quantitative results on the development of the flow instability are obtained.     

Experimental Study of Bending Behaviour of Reinforcements

In composite reinforcement shaping, textile preform undergo biaxial tensile deformation, in plane shear deformation, transverse compaction and out-of-plane bending deformations. Bending deformations have been neglected in some simulation codes up to now, but taking into account them would give more accurate simulations of forming especially for stiff and thick textiles. Bending behaviour is specific because the reinforcements are structural parts and out of plane properties cannot be directly deduced from in-plane properties, like for continuous material. Because the standard tests are not adapted for stiff reinforcements with non linear behaviour a new flexometer using optical measurements has been developed to test such reinforcements. This new device enables to carry out a set of cantilever tests with different histories of load. A series of tests has been performed to validate the test method and to show the capacities of the new flexometer to identify non linear non elastic behaviour.     

An Experimental and Numerical Study of Calliphora Wing Structure

Experiments are performed to determine the mass and stiffness variations along the wing of the blowfly Calliphora. The results are obtained for a pairs of wings of 10 male flies and fresh wings are used. The wing is divided into nine locations along the span and seven locations along the chord based on venation patterns. The length and mass of the sections is measured and the mass per unit length is calculated. The bending stiffness measurements are taken at three locations, basal (near root), medial and distal (near tip) of the fly wing. Torsional stiffness measurements are also made and the elastic axis of the wing is approximately located. The experimental data is then used for structural modeling of the wing as a stepped cantilever beam with nine spanwise sections of varying mass per unit lengths, flexural rigidity (EI) and torsional rigidity (GJ) values. Inertial values of nine sections are found to approximately vary according to an exponentially decreasing law over the nine sections from root to tip and it is used to calculate an approximate value of Young’s modulus of the wing biomaterial. Shear modulus is obtained assuming the wing biomaterial to be isotropic. Natural frequencies, both in bending and torsion, are obtained by solving the homogeneous part of the respective governing differential equations using the finite element method. The results provide a complete analysis of Calliphora wing structure and also provide guidelines for the biomimetic structural design of insect-scale flapping wings.     

Experimental Study of the Bottom Structure Effect on the Damping of Standing Surface Waves in a Rectangular Vessel

The damping coefficient is estimated for standing surface waves in a rectangular vessel: (1) with a smooth horizontal rigid bottom, (2) with developed sandy bottom structures, (3) with a profiled rigid bottom, and with thin bottom layers of (4) fine-grained sand and (5) glass spheres. The results obtained are compared with available theoretical models.     

Output Feedback Modular Adaptive Control of a Nonlinear Prototypical Wing Section

The paper presents nonlinear adaptive control systems for the control of limit cycle oscillations of a prototypical wing section with structural nonlinearities using only output feedback. The chosen model describes the plunge and pitch motion of a wing. The model includes plunge and pitch nonlinearities, and has a single control surface for the purpose of control. Using a canonical representation of the aeroelastic system, a modular output feedback adaptive control system consisting of an input-to-state stabilizing controller and a passive identifier (an observer and adaptation law) is derived. In the closed-loop system, asymptotic stabilization of the pitch and plunge motion is accomplished. Simulation results show that the control system is effective in regulating the state vector to the origin in spite of large parameter uncertainties.     

Numerical and Experimental Study of Bubble Dynamics in Contact with a Solid Surface

A complex numerical and experimental method is proposed for studying 3D dynamics of a bubble contacting with a surface in the presence of an acoustic field. The numerical approach is based on the boundary element method for potential flows, which is most efficient for solving the problems in a 3D formulation. The use of heterogeneous computer architectures consisting of central graphic processors and becoming more and more popular makes it possible to increase the scale of the problem and sufficiently reduce the calculation time. The mesh destabilization problems are solved using a spherical filter. To describe the contact line dynamics, a semi-empirical law of motion is used. The experimental method is based on high-speed recording and optical microscopy. An air bubble contacts with the inner surface of an experimental cell made from acrylic glass and filled with distilled water. The acoustic field in the cell generated by a disk-shaped acoustic radiator is measured using a hydrophone. The behavior of the bubble contacting with a hydrophillic surface is considered for the cases of a fixed or moving contact line. The shape and volume oscillations of the bubble are investigated. The results of numerical simulations agree qualitatively with the experimental data.     

带外挂三角机翼极限环颤振的实验研究

本文从实验方面来研究室外挂俯仰有预加载间隙对颤振的影响。风洞吹风中测出了单稳定极限环、双稳定极限环颤振的情况。实验结果与谐波平衡法计算值进行了比较。