Investigation of the unsteady flow velocity field above an airfoil pitching under deep dynamic stall conditions

The unsteady flow field above a NACA 0012 airfoil pitching under deep dynamic stall conditions has been investigated in a low-speed wind tunnel by means of particle image velocimetry. The measurements of the instantaneous flow velocity field show the characteristic features of the dynamic stall process: formation and development of an organized vortex structure for increasing incidences and the subsequent separation. Vorticity and divergence estimated from the measured data give a good insight into the complex flow behaviour during the downstroke motion. Furthermore, small-scale structures could be observed in the separated flow field and even within the dynamic stall vortex.The authors would like to thank Dr. Schäfer (ISL) for his support in organizing the cooperative measurements, Mr. Seyb (DLR) for his help during the recording of PIV images, Dr. Bretthauer (DLR) and Mr. Vollmers (DLR) for his assistance during the phase of evaluation and post processing of the PIV recordings and Dr. Geißler (DLR) for helpful discussions on the dynamic stall problem.     

风力机叶片翼型动态试验技术研究

风力机叶片动态振荡过程往往伴随着俯仰和横摆同时进行, 以前对许多动态问题不清楚的阶段, 工程上不惜以增加叶片重量为代价而采用偏安全的设计, 通常忽略横摆振荡的影响; 大型风力机设计对获取翼型更加全面、准确的动态载荷提出了更高要求, 研究横摆振荡对翼型动态气动特性的影响规律具有重要意义. 本文首次开展翼型横摆振荡动态风洞试验研究, 采用“电子凸轮”技术代替机械凸轮实现了振荡频率和振荡角度的无级变化, 基于设计的电子外触发装置实现了对动态流场的实时测量, 实现了风洞来流、模型角位移和动态压力数据的同步采集, 分别开展了翼型静态测压、俯仰/横摆动态测压、粒子图像测速和荧光丝线等试验研究, 试验结果准度较高、规律合理; 分析了动态试验洞壁干扰影响机制. 研究表明, 横摆振荡翼型的气动曲线也存在明显迟滞效应; 随着振荡频率升高, 翼型俯仰和横摆振荡下的气动迟滞性均增强; 翼型俯仰振荡正行程的动态失速涡破裂有所延迟; 洞壁与模型端部交界处的强三维效应对翼型压力分布影响较大; 建立的横摆振荡试验技术可为风力机动态掠效应的研究提供技术支撑.      

Investigation of three-dimensional dynamic stall on an airfoil using fast-response pressure-sensitive paint

Dynamic stall on a pitching OA209 airfoil in a wind tunnel is investigated at Mach 0.3 and 0.5 using high-speed pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) and pressure measurements. At Mach 0.3, the dynamic stall vortex was observed to propagate faster at the airfoil midline than at the wind-tunnel wall, resulting in a “bowed” vortex shape. At Mach 0.5, shock-induced stall was observed, with initial separation under the shock foot and subsequent expansion of the separated region upstream, downstream and along the breadth of the airfoil. No dynamic stall vortex could be observed at Mach 0.5. The investigation of flow control by blowing showed the potential advantages of PSP over pressure transducers for a complex three-dimensional flow.     

An experimental study of the effects of pitch-pivot-point location on the propulsion performance of a pitching airfoil

An experimental investigation was conducted to characterize the evolution of the unsteady vortex structures in the wake of a pitching airfoil with the pitch-pivot-point moving from 0.16C to 0.52C (C is the chord length of the airfoil). The experimental study was conducted in a low-speed wind tunnel with a symmetric NACA0012 airfoil model in pitching motion under different pitching kinematics (i.e., reduced frequency k=3.8–13.2). A high-resolution particle image velocimetry (PIV) system was used to conduct detailed flow field measurements to quantify the characteristics of the wake flow and the resultant propulsion performance of the pitching airfoil. Besides conducting “free-run” PIV measurements to determine the ensemble-averaged velocity distributions in the wake flow, “phase-locked” PIV measurements were also performed to elucidate further details about the behavior of the unsteady vortex structures. Both the vorticity–moment theorem and the integral momentum theorem were used to evaluate the effects of the pitch-pivot-point location on the propulsion performance of the pitching airfoil. It was found that the pitch-pivot-point would affect the evolution of the unsteady wake vortices and resultant propulsion performance of the pitching airfoil greatly. Moving the pitch-pivot-point of the pitching airfoil can be considered as adding a plunging motion to the original pitching motion. With the pitch-pivot-point moving forward (or backward), the added plunging motion would make the airfoil trailing edge moving in the same (or opposite) direction as of the original pitching motion, which resulted in the generated wake vortices and resultant thrust enhanced (or weakened) by the added plunging motion.     

Influence of pitching angle of incidence on the dynamic stall behavior of a symmetric airfoil

This study presents the influence of pitch angle of an airfoil on its near-field vortex structure as well as the aerodynamic loads during a dynamic stall process. Dynamic stall behavior in a sinusoidally pitching airfoil is usually analyzed at low to medium reduced frequencies and with the maximum angle of attack of the airfoil not exceeding 25°. In this work, we study dynamic stall of a symmetric airfoil at medium to high reduced frequencies even as the maximum angle of attack goes from 25° to 45°. The evolution and growth of the laminar separation bubble, also known as a dynamic stall vortex, at the leading edge and the trailing edge are studied as the pitch cycle goes from the minimum to the maximum angle of attack. The effect of reduced frequencies on the vortex structure as well as the aerodynamic load coefficients is investigated. The reduced frequency is shown to be a bifurcation parameter triggering period doubling behavior. However, the bifurcation pattern is dependent on the variation of the pitch angle of incidence of the airfoil.     

Turbulence modelling of the flow past a pitching NACA0012 airfoil at and Reynolds numbers

This paper provides a study of the NACA0012 dynamic stall at Reynolds numbers 10⁵ and 10⁶ by means of two- and three-dimensional numerical simulations. The turbulence effect on the dynamic stall is studied by statistical modelling. The results are compared with experiments concerning each test case. Standard URANS turbulence modelling have shown a quite dissipative character that attenuates the instabilities and the vortex structures related to the dynamic stall. The URANS approach Organised Eddy Simulation (OES) has shown an improved behaviour at the high Reynolds number range. Emphasis is given to the physical analysis of the three-dimensional dynamic stall structure, for which there exist few numerical results in the literature, as far as the Reynolds number range is concerned. This study has shown that the downstroke phases of the pitching motion are subjected to strong three-dimensional turbulence effects along the span, whereas the flow is practically two-dimensional during the upstroke motion.     

The onset of dynamic stall revisited

Dynamic stall on a helicopter rotor blade comprises a series of complex aerodynamic phenomena in response to the unsteady change of the blade’s angle of attack. It is accompanied by a lift overshoot and delayed massive flow separation with respect to static stall. The classical hallmark of the dynamic stall phenomenon is the dynamic stall vortex. The flow over an oscillating OA209 airfoil under dynamic stall conditions was investigated by means of unsteady surface pressure measurements and time-resolved particle image velocimetry. The characteristic features of the unsteady flow field were identified and analysed utilising different coherent structure identification methods. An Eulerian and a Lagrangian procedure were adopted to locate the axes of vortices and the edges of Lagrangian coherent structures, respectively; a proper orthogonal decomposition of the velocity field revealed the energetically dominant coherent flow patterns and their temporal evolution. Based on the complementary information obtained by these methods the dynamics and interaction of vortical structures were analysed within a single dynamic stall life cycle leading to a classification of the unsteady flow development into five successive stages: the attached flow stage; the stall development stage; stall onset; the stalled stage; and flow reattachment. The onset of dynamic stall was specified here based on a characteristic mode of the proper orthogonal decomposition of the velocity field. Variations in the flow field topology that accompany the stall onset were verified by the Lagrangian coherent structure analysis. The instantaneous effective unsteadiness was defined as a single representative parameter to describe the influence of the motion parameters. Dynamic stall onset was found to be promoted by increasing unsteadiness. The mechanism that results in the detachment of the dynamic stall vortex from the airfoil was identified as vortex-induced separation caused by strong viscous interactions. Finally, a revised criterion to discern between light and deep dynamic stall was formulated.     

等速上仰翼型分离流动结构的研究

本文通过在翼型上游和翼表面边界层内放置产生氢气泡的铂丝的方法,清楚地显示了上仰翼型分离剪切层的结构。揭示了在不同的翼型转动角速度范围内,存在三种分离流结构。研究了失速涡,剪切涡及起动涡随时间的演变,它们之间的相互作用和转动角速度等参数的影响,分离剪切层的流动显示结果,结合翼型上气动力与流场中涡量矩的关系的理论,定性地解释了上仰翼型产生非定常高升力的原因。     

风力机翼型动态失速等离子体流动控制数值研究

针对动态失速引起的风力机翼型气动性能恶化的问题,本文基于动网格和滑移网格技术, 开展了大涡模拟数值计算研究,探索了非定常脉冲等离子体的动态流动控制机理. 结果表明,等离子体气动激励能够有效控制翼型动态失速, 改善平均和瞬态气动力,减小力矩负峰值和迟滞环面积. 压力分布在等离子体施加范围内出现了负压"凸起",上翼面吸力峰值明显增大.脉冲频率和占空比这两个非定常控制参数对流动控制影响显著,无因次脉冲频率为1.5时等离子体控制效果较好,占空比为0.8时即可接近连续工作模式下的气动收益. 翼型深失速状态,等离子体促使流动分离位置明显向后缘移动, 抵抗了大尺度动态失速涡的发生,分离涡结构破碎耗散、重新附着, 涡流影响范围减小; 浅失速状态,等离子体激励具有较强的剪切层操纵能力, 诱导了翼型边界层提前转捩,促进了与主流的动量掺混. 等离子体气动激励诱导出前缘附近贴体翼面"涡簇",起到了虚拟气动外形的作用.不同尺度、频域的动态涡结构与等离子体气动激励的非线性、强耦合作用导致了气动力/力矩的谐波振荡.      

NUMERICAL STUDY ON DYNAMIC STALL FLOW CONTROL FOR WIND TURBINE AIRFOIL USING PLASMA ACTUATOR 1)

针对动态失速引起的风力机翼型气动性能恶化的问题,本文基于动网格和滑移网格技术, 开展了大涡模拟数值计算研究,探索了非定常脉冲等离子体的动态流动控制机理. 结果表明,等离子体气动激励能够有效控制翼型动态失速, 改善平均和瞬态气动力,减小力矩负峰值和迟滞环面积. 压力分布在等离子体施加范围内出现了负压"凸起",上翼面吸力峰值明显增大.脉冲频率和占空比这两个非定常控制参数对流动控制影响显著,无因次脉冲频率为1.5时等离子体控制效果较好,占空比为0.8时即可接近连续工作模式下的气动收益. 翼型深失速状态,等离子体促使流动分离位置明显向后缘移动, 抵抗了大尺度动态失速涡的发生,分离涡结构破碎耗散、重新附着, 涡流影响范围减小; 浅失速状态,等离子体激励具有较强的剪切层操纵能力, 诱导了翼型边界层提前转捩,促进了与主流的动量掺混. 等离子体气动激励诱导出前缘附近贴体翼面"涡簇",起到了虚拟气动外形的作用.不同尺度、频域的动态涡结构与等离子体气动激励的非线性、强耦合作用导致了气动力/力矩的谐波振荡.     

Dynamic stall behavior from unsteady force measurements

A direct force measurement technique employing piezoelectric load cells is used to experimentally investigate a two-dimensional airfoil (NACA 0012) undergoing dynamic stall. The load cells are installed at each end of the airfoil and give the force response in two directions in the plane normal to the airfoil axis during oscillations. Experiments are carried out at a Reynolds number based on the airfoil chord equal to 7.7×10⁴, and at four reduced frequencies, k=0.005, 0.01, 0.02, and 0.04. Phase-averaged lift of the airfoil undergoing dynamic stall is presented. It is observed that hysteresis loops of the lift occur both when the airfoil is pitched to exceed its static stall limit and when it is still within its static stall limit, and they grow in size with increasing k at the same pitching mean angle of attack and pitching amplitude. Both the lift and the drag induced by the pitching motion are further analyzed using the methods of higher order correlation analysis and continuous wavelet transforms to undercover their nonlinear and nonstationary features, in addition to classical FFT-based spectral analysis. The results are quantitatively illustrated by an energy partition analysis. It is found that the unsteady lift and drag show opposite trends when the airfoil undergoes transition from the pre-stall regime to the full-stall regime. The degree of nonlinearity of the lift increases, and the lift show a nonstationary feature in the light-stall regime, while the nonlinearity of the drag decreases, and the drag shows nonstationary feature in both the light-stall and the full-stall regimes. Furthermore, the lift and the drag have significant nonlinear interactions as shown by the correlation analysis in the light-stall regime.     

Toward dynamic separation without dynamic stall

Visualization of flow around a pitching airfoil with a rotating nose demonstrates the technically interesting concept of dynamic separation without dynamic stall.     

Dynamics of co-rotating vortices in a flow around a bio-inspired corrugated airfoil

Bio-inspired corrugated airfoils show favourable aerodynamic characteristics such as high coefficient of lift and delayed stall at low Reynolds numbers. Two-dimensional (2D) direct numerical simulation has been performed here on a corrugated airfoil at various angles of attack (0°, +5°, -5°) and Reynolds number of 280 to 6700. The objective is to analyse the pressure variation inside the corrugations and correlate it to the vortex movement across the corrugations and the overall aerodynamic characteristics of the corrugated airfoil. The flow characteristics have been examined based on the local Strouhal numbers in the corrugations of the airfoil. It is observed that the pressure variation in each corrugation is the result of vortex merging and separation in the corrugation which plays a major role in changing the flow characteristics. The Strouhal number of the flow is dictated by the most dominant local Strouhal number. The numerical results are further compared with experimental results obtained using particle image velocimetry, and the two set of results are found to match well. These results are significant because they elucidate the effect of corrugation, angle of attack, and Reynolds number on flow over a corrugated airfoil.     

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。     

等速上仰翼型尾部流动观察及动态失速机理探讨

在尾缘处置氢气泡铂丝,观察了上仰翼型自尾缘流入尾迹的涡层。基于尾涡层及(以往)上翼面分离涡的观察,用涡动力学理论,探讨了动态失速的机理,并解释了新的失速现象。     

等速上仰翼型动态失速现象研究

翼型大迎角绕流的静态失速将造成升力突降和气动性能急剧恶化，但利用非定常运动所产生 的动态失速效应，可以大大地延缓气流分离和失速现象的发生. 采用Rogers发 展的双时间步Roe格式，求解拟压缩性修正不可压N-S方程. 数值模拟了低雷诺数 ($Re=4.8 \times 10^{4}$)条件下NACA0015翼型作等速上仰($\alpha =0^{\circ} \sim 60^{\circ}$)的动态失速过程，同Walker的试验结果比 较，验证了计算结果的正确性. 研究了该过程中主涡、二次涡和三次涡的发展，升 力系数随攻角变化，以及不同上仰速度对动态失速效应所造成的影响.     

Unsteady PTV velocity field past an airfoil solved with DNS: Part 1. Algorithm of hybrid simulation and hybrid velocity field at <Emphasis Type="Italic">Re</Emphasis> ≈ 10<Superscript>3</Superscript>

We develop a hybrid unsteady-flow simulation technique combining direct numerical simulation (DNS) and particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) and demonstrate its capabilities by investigating flows past an airfoil. We rectify instantaneous PTV velocity fields in a least-squares sense so that they satisfy the equation of continuity, and feed them to the DNS by equating the computational time step with the frame rate of the time-resolved PTV system. As a result, we can reconstruct unsteady velocity fields that satisfy the governing equations based on experimental data, with the resolution comparable to numerical simulation. In addition, unsteady pressure distribution can be solved simultaneously. In this study, particle velocities are acquired on a laser-light sheet in a water tunnel, and unsteady flow fields are reconstructed with the hybrid algorithm solving the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations in two dimensions. By performing the hybrid simulation, we investigate nominally two-dimensional flows past the NACA0012 airfoil at low Reynolds numbers. In part 1, we introduce the algorithm of the proposed technique and discuss the characteristics of hybrid velocity fields. In particular, we focus on a vortex shedding phenomenon under a deep stall condition (α = 15°) at Reynolds numbers of Re = 1000 and 1300, and compare the hybrid velocity fields with those computed with two-dimensional DNS. In part 2, the extension to higher Reynolds numbers is considered. The accuracy of the hybrid simulation is evaluated by comparing with independent experimental results at various angles of attack and Reynolds numbers up to Re = 10⁴. The capabilities of the hybrid simulation are also compared with two-dimensional unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) solutions in part 2. In the first part of these twin papers, we demonstrate that the hybrid velocity field approaches the PTV velocity field over time. We find that intensive alternate vortex shedding past the airfoil, which is predicted by the two-dimensional DNS, is substantially suppressed in the hybrid simulation and the resultant flow field is similar to the PTV velocity field, which is projection of the three-dimensional velocity field on the streamwise plane. We attempt to identify the motion that originates three-dimensional flow patterns by highlighting the deviation of the PTV velocity field from the two-dimensional governing equations at each snapshot. The results indicate that the intensive spots of the deviation appear in the regions in which three-dimensional instabilities are induced in the shear layer separated from the pressure side.     

Non-symmetric bi-stable flow around the Ahmed body

The flow around the Ahmed body at varying Reynolds numbers under yawing conditions is investigated experimentally. The body geometry belongs to a regime subject to spanwise flow instability identified in symmetric flow by Cadot and co-workers (Grandemange et al., 2013b). Our experiments cover the two slant angles 25° and 35° and Reynolds numbers up to 2.784 × 10⁶. Special emphasis lies on the aerodynamics under side wind influence. For the 35° slant angle, forces and moments change significantly with the yawing angle in the range 10° ≤ |β| ≤ 15°. The lift and the pitching moment exhibit strong fluctuations due to bi-stable flow around a critical angle β of ±12.5°, where the pitching moment changes sign. Time series of the forces and moments are studied and explained by PIV measurements in the flow field near the rear of the body.     

Time-resolved and volumetric PIV measurements of a transitional separation bubble on an SD7003 airfoil

To comprehensively understand the effects of Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities on a transitional separation bubble on the suction side of an airfoil regarding as to flapping of the bubble and its impact on the airfoil performance, the temporal and spatial structure of the vortices occurring at the downstream end of the separation bubble is investigated. Since the bubble variation leads to a change of the pressure distribution, the investigation of the instantaneous velocity field is essential to understand the details of the overall airfoil performance. This vortex formation in the reattachment region on the upper surface of an SD7003 airfoil is analyzed in detail at different angles of attack. At a Reynolds number Re _c < 100,000 the laminar boundary layer separates at angles of attack >4°. Due to transition processes, turbulent reattachment of the separated shear layer occurs enclosing a locally confined recirculation region. To identify the location of the separation bubble and to describe the dynamics of the reattachment, a time-resolved PIV measurement in a single light-sheet is performed. To elucidate the spatial structure of the flow patterns in the reattachment region in time and space, a stereo scanning PIV set-up is applied. The flow field is recorded in at least ten successive light-sheet planes with two high-speed cameras enclosing a viewing angle of 65° to detect all three velocity components within a light-sheet leading to a time-resolved volumetric measurement due to a high scanning speed. The measurements evidence the development of quasi-periodic vortex structures. The temporal dynamics of the vortex roll-up, initialized by the Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) instability, is shown as well as the spatial development of the vortex roll-up process. Based on these measurements a model for the evolving vortex structure consisting of the formation of c-shape vortices and their transformation into screwdriver vortices is introduced.     

Visualization by PIV of dynamic stall on a vertical axis wind turbine

The aerodynamic behavior of a vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) is analyzed by means of 2D particle image velocimetry (PIV), focusing on the development of dynamic stall at different tip speed ratios. The VAWT has an unsteady aerodynamic behavior due to the variation with the azimuth angle θ of the blade’s sections’ angle of attack, perceived velocity and Reynolds number. The phenomenon of dynamic stall is then an inherent effect of the operation of a VAWT at low tip speed ratios, impacting both loads and power. The present work is driven by the need to understand this phenomenon, by visualizing and quantifying it, and to create a database for model validation. The experimental method uses PIV to visualize the development of the flow over the suction side of the airfoil for two different reference Reynolds numbers and three tip speed ratios in the operational regime of a small urban wind turbine. The field-of-view of the experiment covers the entire rotation of the blade and almost the entire rotor area. The analysis describes the evolution of the flow around the airfoil and in the rotor area, with special focus on the leading edge separation vortex and trailing edge shed vorticity development. The method also allows the quantification of the flow, both the velocity field and the vorticity/circulation (only the results of the vorticity/circulation distribution are presented), in terms of the phase locked average and the random component.