Aerodynamic forces and flow fields of a two-dimensional hovering wing

This paper reports the results of an experimental investigation on a two-dimensional (2-D) wing undergoing symmetric simple harmonic flapping motion. The purpose of this investigation is to study how flapping frequency (or Reynolds number) and angular amplitude affect aerodynamic force generation and the associated flow field during flapping for Reynolds number (Re) ranging from 663 to 2652, and angular amplitudes (α _A) of 30°, 45° and 60°. Our results support the findings of earlier studies that fluid inertia and leading edge vortices play dominant roles in the generation of aerodynamic forces. More importantly, time-resolved force coefficients during flapping are found to be more sensitive to changes in α _A than in Re. In fact, a subtle change in α _A may lead to considerable changes in the lift and drag coefficients, and there appears to be an optimal mean lift coefficient around α _A = 45°, at least for the range of flow parameters considered here. This optimal condition coincides with the development a reverse Karman Vortex street in the wake, which has a higher jet stream than a vortex dipole at α _A = 30° and a neutral wake structure at α _A = 60°. Although Re has less effect on temporal force coefficients and the associated wake structures, increasing Re tends to equalize mean lift coefficients (and also mean drag coefficients) during downstroke and upstroke, thus suggesting an increasing symmetry in the mean force generation between these strokes. Although the current study deals with a 2-D hovering motion only, the unique force characteristics observed here, particularly their strong dependence on α _A, may also occur in a three-dimensional hovering motion, and flying insects may well have taken advantage of these characteristics to help them to stay aloft and maneuver. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Unsteady two-dimensional rotation of a viscous fluid for steady source flow

We obtain the solution of the Navier-Stokes equations for one class of unsteady axisymmetric two-dimensional rotational flows for the case of a line source or sink of constant intensity in the fluid.     

Excitation,inertia, and drag forces on a cylinder vibrating transversely to a steady flow

We present a computational study of the forces on a cylinder oscillating harmonically in the direction perpendicular to a uniform flow. The two-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations are solved on a coordinate system fixed on the cylinder. The Reynolds number is equal to 400. Several oscillation frequencies are considered: (a) resonant forcing, (b) forcing at frequency below the natural frequency of the wake, and (c) forcing at frequency above the natural frequency of the wake. Once the flow has reached a statistical steady state, the lift and drag forces on the cylinder are computed. The lift force in particular is decomposed into one component that is in phase with the velocity (excitation force), and one component that is ${180}^{\circ }$ out of phase with the acceleration (inertia or added mass force). The variation of the forces as a function of the amplitude-over-diameter-ratio is studied in detail. It is found that the scaling of the so-called inertia component of the force with the acceleration of the cylinder can lead to serious problems at small amplitudes of oscillation, and that it is overall preferable to scale both components of the force with the dynamic pressure of the fluid. Through extensive flow visualization, it is shown that changes in the state of the flow are related to the abrupt changes of the forces with the amplitude-over-diameter-ratio. Moreover, qualitative differences are found between the results for the below resonance and the resonant or above resonance forcing. The former are characterized by smooth variation of the hydrodynamic force coefficients and spatially ordered vortex streets. The latter are characterized by continuous and sharp, even jump-like, changes of the forces, and a variety of vortex patterns in the wake, resulting for some combinations of frequency and amplitude of oscillation to spatially disordered vortex streets.     

A manufactured solution for a two-dimensional steady wall-bounded incompressible turbulent flow

This paper presents a manufactured solution (MS), resembling a two-dimensional, steady, wall-bounded, incompressible, turbulent flow for RANS codes verification. The specified flow field satisfies mass conservation, but requires additional source terms in the momentum equations. To also allow verification of the correct implementation of the turbulence models transport equations, the proposed MS exhibits most features of a true near-wall turbulent flow. The model is suited for testing six eddy-viscosity turbulence models: the one-equation models of Spalart and Allmaras and Menter; the standard two-equation k–ε model and the low-Reynolds version proposed by Chien; the TNT and BSL versions of the k–ω model.     

Dynamics and rheology of Janus drops in a steady shear flow

The behavior and rheology of a dispersion of Janus drops (or Janus emulsion) under a steady shear flow are explored in the infinite dilution limit. To achieve analytical progress, the Janus drops are assumed to consist of a pair of fluids bounded to hemispherical domains of equal radii. At ‘freely’ suspended conditions the Janus drops undergo periodic orbits in a shear flow that are intermediate to that of a solid sphere and a disk that depend on the viscosities of the internal fluids. Non-Newtonian behavior is found for this system on account of the anisotropic hydrodynamics of the Janus drops. The viscosity of the Janus emulsion that corresponds to the minimum energy of dissipation is analogous to that derived by Taylor (1932) for a dispersion of simple drops. It is also found that an external force can induce the Janus drops to adopt a preferential orientation in a shear flow. Interestingly, a neutrally buoyant Janus drop with a displaced center of gravity can migrate lateral to the undisturbed shear flow; it is inferred that this phenomenon can lead to spatial-dependent rheology in pressure-driven flows.     

Linear stability of two-dimensional steady flow in wavy-walled channels

Linear stability of fully developed two-dimensional periodic steady flows in sinusoidal wavy-walled channels is investigated numerically. Two types of channels are considered: the geometry of wavy walls is identical and the location of the crest of the lower and upper walls coincides (symmetric channel) or the crest of the lower wall corresponds to the furrow of the upper wall (sinuous channel). It is found that the critical Reynolds number is substantially lower than that for plane channel flow and that when the non-dimensionalized wall variation amplitude is smaller than a critical value (about 0.26 for symmetric channel, 0.28 for sinuous channel), critical modes are three-dimensional stationary and for larger , two-dimensional oscillatory instabilities set in. Critical Reynolds numbers of sinuous channel flows are smaller for three-dimensional disturbances and larger for two-dimensional disturbances than those of symmetric channel flows. The disturbance velocity distribution obtained by the linear stability analysis suggests that the three-dimensional stationary instability is mainly caused by local concavity of basic flows near the reattachment point, while the critical two-dimensional mode resembles closely the Tollmien–Schlichting wave for plane Poiseuille flow.     

Spurious velocities in the steady flow of an incompressible fluid subjected to external forces

We show that a non-physical velocity may appear in the numerical computation of the flow of an incompressible fluid subjected to external forces. A distorted mesh and the use of a numerical method which does not rigorously ensure the incompressibility condition turn out to be responsible for this phenomenon. We illustrate it with numerical examples and we propose a projection method which improves the results. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Construction of three-dimensional flow structure out of two-dimensional steady flow field velocity measurements

 Two-dimensional particle image velocimetry (PIV) is used to obtain a set of parallel vector maps in spanwise direction over the delta wing configuration ELAC. The out-of-plane velocity component is then constructed by application of continuity equation. This yields the whole three-dimensional separated flow field over the leeward side of the model. The spatial resolution of the measurements enables a detailed examination of the three-dimensional flow structure. The growth and the helical structure of primary vortex as well as smaller flow structures caused by secondary separation can be observed. Accuracy of the constructed velocity component is estimated with help of a numerically obtained three-dimensional dataset of the flow field around this configuration. The reconstruction procedure was applied to this data set taking the experimental uncertainty and the grid spacing of the PIV measurements into consideration. A comparison of reconstructed out-of-plane component and data of the numerical solution of Navier–Stokes equations results in a promising low error. A statistical analysis of different procedures allows interpretation of reconstruction capabilities. Received: 15 April 1998 / Accepted: 15 September 1998     

An efficient quasi-Newton method for two-dimensional steady free surface flow

Steady free surface flows are of interest in the fields of marine and hydraulic engineering. Fitting methods are generally used to represent the free surface position with a deforming grid. Existing fitting methods tend to use time-stepping schemes, which is inefficient for steady flows. There also exists a steady iterative method, but that one needs to be implemented with a dedicated solver. Therefore a new method is proposed to efficiently simulate two-dimensional (2D) steady free surface flows, suitable for use in conjunction with black-box flow solvers. The free surface position is calculated with a quasi-Newton method, where the approximate Jacobian is constructed in a novel way by combining data from past iterations with an analytical model based on a perturbation analysis of a potential flow. The method is tested on two 2D cases: the flow over a bottom topography and the flow over a hydrofoil. For all simulations the new method converges exponentially and in few iterations. Furthermore, convergence is independent of the free surface mesh size for all tests.     

Shock capturing for steady,supersonic, two-dimensional isentropic flow

A finite difference scheme is presented for the solution of the two-dimensional equations of steady, supersonic, isentropic flow. The scheme incorporates numerical characteristic decomposition, is shock-capturing by design and incorporates space marching as a result of the assumption that the flow is wholly supersonic in at least one space dimension. Results are shown for problems involving oblique hydraulic jumps and reflection from a wall.     

Variational iteration method for two-dimensional steady slip flow in micro-channels

In this paper, the two-dimensional steady slip flow in microchannels is investigated. Research on micro flow, especially on micro slip flow, is very important for designing and optimizing the micro electromechanical system (MEMS). The Navier-Stokes equations for two-dimensional steady slip flow in microchannels are reduced to a nonlinear third-order differential equation by using similarity solution. The variational iteration method (VIM) is used to solve this nonlinear equation analytically. Comparison of the result obtained by the present method with numerical solution reveals that the accuracy and fast convergence of the new method.     

First-order approximation in a steady fluid flow problem with surface forces taken into account

The plane problem of finding the shape of the free surface of an ideal incompressible fluid is considered for a fully developed discharge from an infinite layer through a point sink. The gravitational and surface stress forces are taken into account.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 6, pp. 166–169, November–December, 1974.The author thanks G. V. Shcherbina for formulation of the problem and valuable advice.     

Optimal design of fibers subject to steady heat conduction

Steady, 2D heat conduction is studied for a double-periodic lattice of homogeneous fibers. Sink-source approximation models the thermal contact zones. The rest of the fiber surface is adiabatic. Optimal shape is found by the method of boundary-value problems of holomorphic functions. The cross-sectional area is a criterion of optimization, microscale heat flow through the fiber and temperature at a fiducial point within the cell is constraints.     

Is the steady viscous incompressible two-dimensional flow over a backward-facing step at Re = 800 stable?

A detailed case study is made of one particular solution of the 2D incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. Careful mesh refinement studies were made using four different methods (and computer codes): (1) a high-order finite-element method solving the unsteady equations by time-marching; (2) a high-order finite-element method solving both the steady equations and the associated linear-stability problem; (3) a second-order finite difference method solving the unsteady equations in streamfunction form by time-marching; and (4) a spectral-element method solving the unsteady equations by time-marching. The unanimous conclusion is that the correct solution for flow over the backward-facing step at Re = 800 is steady—and it is stable, to both small and large perturbations.     

Lie-group method of solution for steady two-dimensional boundary-layer stagnation-point flow towards a heated stretching sheet placed in a porous medium

The boundary-layer equations for two-dimensional steady flow of an incompressible, viscous fluid near a stagnation point at a heated stretching sheet placed in a porous medium are considered. We apply Lie-group method for determining symmetry reductions of partial differential equations. Lie-group method starts out with a general infinitesimal group of transformations under which the given partial differential equations are invariant. The determining equations are a set of linear differential equations, the solution of which gives the transformation function or the infinitesimals of the dependent and independent variables. After the group has been determined, a solution to the given partial differential equations may be found from the invariant surface condition such that its solution leads to similarity variables that reduce the number of independent variables of the system. The effect of the velocity parameter λ, which is the ratio of the external free stream velocity to the stretching surface velocity, permeability parameter of the porous medium k ₁, and Prandtl number Pr on the horizontal and transverse velocities, temperature profiles, surface heat flux and the wall shear stress, has been studied.