Numerical simulation of turbulence transition and sound radiation for flow through a rigid glottal model

Large eddy simulation (LES)-based computational aeroacoustics techniques were applied to a static model of the human glottis, idealized here as a planar channel with an orifice, to study flow-acoustic interactions related to speech. Rigid models of both converging and diverging glottal passages, each featuring a 20 deg included angle and a minimal glottal diameter of 0.04 cm, with an imposed transglottal pressure of 15 cm H2O, were studied. The Favre-filtered compressible Navier-Stokes equations were integrated for this low-Mach-number flow using an additive semi-implicit Runge-Kutta method and a high-order compact finite-difference scheme with characteristic-based nonreflecting boundary conditions and a multiblock approach. Flow asymmetries related to the Coanda effect and transition to turbulence, as well as the far-field sound, were captured. Acoustic-analogy-based far-field sound predictions were compared with direct simulations and showed that dipole sources, arising from unsteady flow forces exerted on the glottal walls, are primarily responsible for the tonal sound observed in the divergent glottis case.     

A computational study of asymmetric glottal jet deflection during phonation

Two-dimensional numerical simulations are used to explore the mechanism for asymmetric deflection of the glottal jet during phonation. The model employs the full Navier-Stokes equations for the flow but a simple laryngeal geometry and vocal-fold motion. The study focuses on the effect of Reynolds number and glottal opening angle with a particular emphasis on examining the importance of the so-called "Coanda effect" in jet deflection. The study indicates that the glottal opening angle has no substantial effect on glottal jet deflection. Deflection in the glottal jet is always preceded by large-scale asymmetry in the downstream portion of the glottal jet. A detailed analysis of the velocity and vorticity fields shows that these downstream asymmetric vortex structures induce a flow at the glottal exit which is the primary driver for glottal jet deflection.     

Unsteady flow through in-vitro models of the glottis

The unsteady two-dimensional flow through fixed rigid in vitro models of the glottis is studied in some detail to validate a more accurate model based on the prediction of boundary-layer separation. The study is restricted to the flow phenomena occurring within the glottis and does not include effects of vocal-fold movement on the flow. Pressure measurements have been carried out for a transient flow through a rigid scale model of the glottis. The rigid model with a fixed geometry driven by an unsteady pressure is used in order to achieve a high accuracy in the specification of the geometry of the glottis. The experimental study is focused on flow phenomena as they might occur in the glottis, such as the asymmetry of the flow due to the Coanda effect and the transition to turbulent flow. It was found that both effects need a relatively long time to establish themselves and are therefore unlikely to occur during the production of normal voiced speech when the glottis closes completely during part of the oscillation cycle. It is shown that when the flow is still laminar and symmetric the prediction of the boundary-layer model and the measurement of the pressure drop from the throat of the glottis to the exit of the glottis agree within 40%. Results of the boundary-layer model are compared with a two-dimensional vortex-blob method for viscous flow. The difference between the results of the simpiflied boundary-layer model and the experimental results is explained by an additional pressure difference between the separation point and the far field within the jet downstream of the separation point. The influence of the movement of the vocal folds on our conclusions is still unclear.     

柯恩达表面形状对环量控制涡轮叶型性能影响

采用商业软件ANSYS CFX研究了具有圆形和椭圆形柯恩达表面的环量控制叶型在不同射流速度下的流场和性能。结果表明:小的射流速度和大的柯恩达表面型线曲率是导致射流分离的主要因素,采用高速射流绕流大曲率柯恩达表面能够获得较大气流角和膨胀比,但同时带来较大的能量损失,叶栅气动性能与柯恩达表面形状和射流条件密切相关。     

A theoretical model of the pressure field arising from asymmetric intraglottal flows applied to a two-mass model of the vocal folds

A theoretical flow solution is presented for predicting the pressure distribution along the vocal fold walls arising from asymmetric flow that forms during the closing phases of speech. The resultant wall jet was analyzed using boundary layer methods in a non-inertial reference frame attached to the moving wall. A solution for the near-wall velocity profiles on the flow wall was developed based on a Falkner-Skan similarity solution and it was demonstrated that the pressure distribution along the flow wall is imposed by the velocity in the inviscid core of the wall jet. The method was validated with experimental velocity data from 7.5 times life-size vocal fold models, acquired for varying flow rates and glottal divergence angles. The solution for the asymmetric pressures was incorporated into a widely used two-mass model of vocal fold oscillation with a coupled acoustical model of sound propagation. Asymmetric pressure loading was found to facilitate glottal closure, which yielded only slightly higher values of maximum flow declination rate and radiated sound, and a small decrease in the slope of the spectral tilt. While the impact on symmetrically tensioned vocal folds was small, results indicate the effect becomes more significant for asymmetrically tensioned vocal folds.     

Instantaneous orifice discharge coefficient of a physical, driven model of the human larynx

The quasisteady approximation is often made in the study of phonatory aerodynamics to facilitate the modeling of time-varying air flows through the self-oscillating vocal folds. The unsteady, pulsating flow is approximated by a sequence of steady flows through representative configurations of the vocal folds at rest. Previous studies have discussed the accuracy of this approximation for a range of orifice geometries, and flow conditions. The purpose of the present study was to further evaluate the quasisteady approximation experimentally using an improved procedure, from a direct comparison between the discharge coefficients of steady jets through fixed orifices and unsteady jets through modulated orifices of identical shape, area, and transglottal pressures at a given time. Life-scale convergent and divergent glottis-shaped rubber orifices were used in a rigid-walled tube and a low Mach number flow representative of human phonation. It was found that the quasisteady approximation is valid during 70% of the duty cycle, when the Reynolds number was above 3000, for a frequency of oscillations of 100 Hz. The steady form of Bernoulli's equation along a streamline, and Bernoulli's flow obstruction theory were found to be reasonably accurate for the unsteady flows. These models break down at low Reynolds numbers, near the beginning and the end of the duty cycle, due to viscous effects and to the influence of flow displaced by the motion of the walls.     

A flow waveform-matched low-dimensional glottal model based on physical knowledge

The purpose of this study is to explore the possibility for physically based mathematical models of the voice source to accurately reproduce inverse filtered glottal volume-velocity waveforms. A low-dimensional, self-oscillating model of the glottal source with waveform-matching properties is proposed. The model relies on a lumped mechano-aerodynamic scheme loosely inspired by the one- and multimass lumped models. The vocal folds are represented by a single mechanical resonator and a propagation line which takes into account the vertical phase differences. The vocal-fold displacement is coupled to the glottal flow by means of an aerodynamic driving block which includes a general parametric nonlinear component. The principal characteristics of the flow-induced oscillations are retained, and the overall model is able to match inverse-filtered glottal flow signals. The method offers in principle the possibility of performing transformations of the glottal flow by acting on the physiologically based parameters of the model. This is a desirable property, e.g., for speech synthesis applications. The model was tested on a data set which included inverse-filtered glottal flow waveforms of different characteristics. The results demonstrate the possibility of reproducing natural speech waveforms with high accuracy, and of controlling important characteristics of the synthesis such as pitch.     

Comparing turbulence models for flow through a rigid glottal model

Flow through a rigid model of the human vocal tract featuring a divergent glottis was numerically modeled using the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes approach. A number of different turbulence models, available in a widely used commercial computational fluid dynamics code, were tested to determine their ability to capture various flow features recently observed in laboratory experiments and large eddy simulation studies. The study reveals that results from unsteady simulations employing the k-omega shear stress transport model were in much better agreement with previous measurements and predictions with regard to the ability to predict glottal jet skewing due to the Coanda effect and the intraglottal pressure distribution or related skin friction coefficient, than either steady or unsteady simulations using the Spalart-Allmaras model or any other two-equation turbulence model investigated in this study.     

Flow separation in a computational oscillating vocal fold model

A finite-volume computational model that solves the time-dependent glottal airflow within a forced-oscillation model of the glottis was employed to study glottal flow separation. Tracheal input velocity was independently controlled with a sinusoidally varying parabolic velocity profile. Control parameters included flow rate (Reynolds number), oscillation frequency and amplitude of the vocal folds, and the phase difference between the superior and inferior glottal margins. Results for static divergent glottal shapes suggest that velocity increase caused glottal separation to move downstream, but reduction in velocity increase and velocity decrease moved the separation upstream. At the fixed frequency, an increase of amplitude of the glottal walls moved the separation further downstream during glottal closing. Increase of Reynolds number caused the flow separation to move upstream in the glottis. The flow separation cross-sectional ratio ranged from approximately 1.1 to 1.9 (average of 1.47) for the divergent shapes. Results suggest that there may be a strong interaction of rate of change of airflow, inertia, and wall movement. Flow separation appeared to be "delayed" during the vibratory cycle, leading to movement of the separation point upstream of the glottal end only after a significant divergent angle was reached, and to persist upstream into the convergent phase of the cycle.     

Influence of acoustic loading on an effective single mass model of the vocal folds

Three-way interactions between sound waves in the subglottal and supraglottal tracts, the vibrations of the vocal folds, and laryngeal flow were investigated. Sound wave propagation was modeled using a wave reflection analog method. An effective single-degree-of-freedom model was designed to model vocal-fold vibrations. The effects of orifice geometry changes on the flow were considered by enforcing a time-varying discharge coefficient within a Bernoulli flow model. The resulting single-degree-of-freedom model allowed for energy transfer from flow to structural vibrations, an essential feature usually incorporated through the use of higher order models. The relative importance of acoustic loading and the time-varying flow resistance for fluid-structure energy transfer was established for various configurations. The results showed that acoustic loading contributed more significantly to the net energy transfer than the time-varying flow resistance, especially for less inertive supraglottal loads. The contribution of supraglottal loading was found to be more significant than that of subglottal loading. Subglottal loading was found to reduce the net energy transfer to the vocal-fold oscillation during phonation, balancing the effects of the supraglottal load.     

What happens during vocal warm-up?

Most singers prefer to warm up their voices before performing. Although the subjective effect is often considerable, the underlying physiological effects are largely unknown. Because warm-up tends to increase blood flow in muscles, it seems likely that vocal warm-up might induce decreased viscosity in the vocal folds. According to the theory of vocal-fold vibration, such a decrease should lead to a lower phonation threshold pressure. In this investigation the effect of vocal warm-up on the phonation threshold pressure was examined in a group of male and female singers. The effect varied considerably between subjects, presumably because the vocal-fold viscosity was not a dominating factor for the phonation-threshold pressure.     

Laminar-Turbulent Transition: The Change of the Flow State Temperature with the Reynolds Number

Representing the fluid flow as a collection of coherent structures of various size, the statistical temperature of the flow state is determined as a function of the Reynolds number. It is shown that at small Reynolds numbers, associated with laminar states, the temperature is positive, while at large Reynolds numbers, associated with turbulent states, it is negative. At intermediate Reynolds numbers, the temperature changes from positive to negative as the size of the coherent structures increases, similar to what was predicted by Onsager for a system of parallel point-vortices in an inviscid fluid. It is also shown that in the range of intermediate Reynolds numbers the temperature exhibits a critical divergence.     

无缝襟翼吹气控制机理和地面效应分析

基于Coanda效应的无缝襟翼吹气控制能大幅度提升机翼升力, 改善大型运输类飞机起降性能, 因此研究起降阶段地面效应对吹气控制的影响十分必要。通过数值模拟方法, 从流场变化的角度分析了无缝襟翼吹气控制机理, 以及有/无襟翼吹气时地面效应对翼型气动性能的影响。襟翼吹气使Coanda表面产生局部低压区, 形成指向Coanda表面的压力梯度, 进而引起射流上方的主流偏转和加速, 使整个翼面近壁区产生顺时针方向的速度增量; 翼面压力面的压力增大, 吸力面的吸力增强, 其中主翼上翼面吸力增强是翼型升力增加的主要来源。无吹气时, 地面效应使翼型上/下翼面附近的流速均降低, 上/下翼面的压力均有所提高, 整体上使翼型升力降低。有地面效应时的襟翼吹气增强了下翼面对来流的阻滞作用, 进一步提高了下翼面的压力; 襟翼吹气使上翼面气流加速, 可抵消地面效应引起的上翼面气流减速, 一定程度上减小了地面效应引起的上翼面吸力损失。      

Scaling properties in the production range of shear dominated flows

In large Reynolds number turbulence, isotropy is recovered as the scale is reduced and homogeneous-isotropic scalings are eventually observed. This picture is violated in many cases, e.g., wall bounded flows, where, due to the shear, different scaling laws emerge. This effect has been ascribed to the contamination of the inertial range by the larger anisotropic scales. The issue is addressed here by analyzing both numerical and experimental data for a homogeneous shear flow. In fact, under strong shear, the alteration of the scaling exponents is not induced by the contamination from the anisotropic sectors. Actually, the exponents are universal properties of the isotropic component of the structure functions of shear dominated flows. The implications are discussed in the context of turbulence near solid walls, where improved closure models would be advisable.     

Cooling performance of a nanofluid flow in a heat sink microchannel with axial conduction effect

In this work, the forced convection of a nanofluid flow in a microscale duct has been investigated numerically. The governing equations have been solved utilizing the finite volume method. Two different conjugated domains for both flow field and substrate have been considered in order to solve the hydrodynamic and thermal fields. The results of the present study are compared to those of analytical and experimental ones, and a good agreement has been observed. The effects of Reynolds number, thermal conductivity and thickness of substrate on the thermal and hydrodynamic indexes have been studied. In general, considering the wall affected the thermal parameter while it had no impact on the hydrodynamics behavior. The results show that the effect of nanoparticle volume fraction on the increasing of normalized local heat transfer coefficient is more efficient in thick walls. For higher Reynolds number, the effect of nanoparticle inclusion on axial distribution of heat flux at solid–fluid interface declines. Also, less end losses and further uniformity of axial heat flux lead to an increase in the local normalized heat transfer coefficient.     

基于等离子体环量控制的翼型气动特性

为了研究等离子体环量控制对翼型的影响特性,采用基于唯象学的等离子体气动激励数学模型和二维雷诺平均N-S方程,选取NCCR 1510-7067N环量控制翼型,数值模拟后缘半径对升力和效费比的影响规律,并进行优化。设计最佳后缘半径模型进行低速风洞实验,获得迎角-4~12,速度6,10,15 m/s下的压力分布和升力特性。研究表明:后缘半径过大或过小都不利于Coanda效应的产生,确定最佳后缘半径与弦长的比值为0.048,效费比97.69。低雷诺数下,随着迎角的增加,出现了层流长泡分离和短泡分离,等离子体射流不仅改善了尾部流场,还通过环量增加抑制层流分离,提高了升力。     

Three-dimensional direct numerical simulation of turbulent channel flow catalytic combustion of hydrogen over platinum

The turbulent catalytic combustion of a fuel-lean hydrogen/air mixture (equivalence ratio ? = 0.24) was investigated by means of three-dimensional direct numerical simulation (DNS) in a platinum-coated plane channel with a prescribed wall temperature of 960 K and an incoming Reynolds number, based on the channel height, of 5700. Heat transfer from the hot catalytic walls laminarized the flow, as manifested by the progressive suppression of the high vorticity components of the flow aligned parallel to the channel walls at increasing streamwise distances. The impact of turbulence suppression on the mass transfer towards or away from the catalytic wall was subsequently assessed. Far upstream where high turbulence fluctuations persisted, the instantaneous local transverse gradient of the limiting hydrogen reactant (a quantity proportional to the catalytic reaction rate) as well as the instantaneous hydrogen concentration at the wall exhibited strong fluctuations by up to 300%, a result of finite-rate chemistry induced by the high inrush events towards the catalytic walls. Fourier analysis of the reaction rate fluctuations yielded peak frequencies of less than 1 kHz, values comparable to the thermal response frequencies of typical materials in commercial catalytic geometries. This has direct implications on the thermal stress of the reactor walls as well as on the decoupling between flow and solid thermal modeling currently used in practical catalytic reactors. Far downstream, the dampening of turbulence resulted in weaker hydrogen concentration fluctuations with nearly symmetric distributions. Finally, computed transverse turbulent species fluxes indicated inherent weaknesses of near-wall turbulence models in describing turbulent transport of species with disparate molecular diffusivities.     

Surface roughness effects on the turbulence statistics in a low Reynolds number channel flow

A high-resolution particle image velocimetry was used to characterize a low Reynolds number turbulent flow in a channel. Experiments were conducted over a sand grain-coated surface of large relative roughness, and the results were compared with measurements over a smooth surface. The roughness perturbation significantly modified the outer layer. Even though the streamwise Reynolds stress shows less sensitivity in the outer layer to the boundary condition, significant enhancements were observed in the wall-normal Reynolds stress and the Reynolds shear stress. These modifications were considered as footprints of the larger-scale eddies transporting intense wall-normal motions away from the rough wall. A quadrant decomposition shows that strong and more frequent ejections are responsible for the larger values of the mean Reynolds shear stress over the rough wall. The results also indicate that spanwise vortex cores with mean vorticity of the same sign as the mean shear are the dominant smaller-scale vortical structures over the smooth and rough walls. A linear stochastic estimation-based analysis shows that the average larger-scale structure associated with these vortices is a shear layer that strongly connects the outer layer flow to the near-wall flow. A proper orthogonal decomposition of the flow suggests that the large-scale eddy is more energetic for the rough wall, and contributes more significantly to the resolved turbulent kinetic energy and the Reynolds shear stress than the smooth wall.     

Direct numerical simulation of transitional flow in a finite length curved pipe

Transition to turbulent flow in a curved pipe has been well studied through experiments and numerical simulations. Numerical simulations often use a helical pipe with an infinite length such that the inlet and outlet boundary conditions can be modelled as periodic which greatly reduces computational time. In this study, we examined a finite length curved pipe with Poiseuille flow imposed at the inlet and a stress-free boundary condition at the outlet. Direct numerical simulation of the Navier-Stokes equations for rigid walls and a Newtonian fluid was performed using nek5000. Straight extensions were added to the inlet and outlet such to diminish the impact of boundary conditions on the flow field in the region with curvature. The examined model has a pipe radius of curvature that is three times the pipe radius. The model has ～355 million nodes and required an order of magnitude greater computational time when compared with an infinite length curved pipe. Results show that the critical Reynolds number, the lowest value with instabilities present in the flow, is much greater than that of a straight pipe and occurs near Re=5000–5200. This is larger than the critical Reynolds number typically reported for an infinite length curved pipe (Re=4200–4300).     

Provide a suitable range to include the thermal creeping effect on slip velocity and temperature jump of an air flow in a nanochannel by lattice Boltzmann method

The thermal creeping effect on slip velocity of air forced convection through a nanochannel is studied for the first time by using a lattice Boltzmann method. The nanochannel side walls are kept hot while the cold inlet air streams along them. The computations are presented for the wide range of Reynolds number, Knudsen number and Eckert number while slip velocity and temperature jump effects are involved. Moreover appropriate validations are performed versus previous works concerned the micro–nanoflows.The achieved results are shown as the velocity and temperature profiles at different cross sections, streamlines and isotherms and also the values of slip velocity and temperature jump along the nanochannel walls. The ability of the lattice Boltzmann method to simulate the thermal creeping effects on hydrodynamic and thermal domains of flow is shown at this study; so that its effects should be involved at lower values of Eckert number and higher values of Reynolds number especially at entrance region where the most temperature gradient exists.