Drag forces of interacting spheres in power-law fluids

Drag forces of interacting particles suspended in power-law fluid flows were investigated in this study. The drag forces of interacting spheres were directly measured by using a micro-force measuring system. The tested particles include a pair of interacting spheres in tandem and individual spheres in a cubic matrix of multi-sphere in flows with the particle Reynolds number from 0.7 to 23. Aqueous carboxymethycellulose (CMC) solutions and glycerin solutions were used as the fluid media in which the interacting spheres were suspended. The range of power-law index varied from 0.6 to 1.0. In conjunction to the drag force measurements, the flow patterns and velocity fields of power-law flows over a pair of interacting spheres were also obtained from the laser assisted flow visualization and numerical simulation.

Both experimental and computational results suggest that, while the drag force of an isolated sphere depends on the power-index, the drag coefficient ratio of an interacting sphere is independent from the power-law index but strongly depends on the separation distance and the particle Reynolds number. Our study also shows that the drag force of a particle in an assemblage is strongly positions dependent, with a maximum difference up to 38%.     

Pipe flow with solid particles fixed in space

A group of solid particles were hung by slender rods in a pipe to make a model of two-phase flow of coarse particles. Pressure gradient and velocities were measured for different types of the models. The drag on the particles (spheres) were obtained from measurements of pressure gradient with some assumptions. The results are summarized as follows. (1) Mean velocities of fluid are lower in the central part of the pipe than in the circumferential part. Turbulence is remarkably increased by particles. The spectrum distribution of turbulent velocity becomes flatter. These results are similar to the gas-solid flow of coarse particles in a vertical pipe. (2) At a large Reynolds number, the drag coefficient per one sphere in the group is larger than that of a single isolated sphere in a uniform flow. When the spheres are arranged along the same line in the longitudinal direction, the drag coefficient becomes smaller as the longitudinal distance between the spheres is shortened.     

Drag reduction using surfactants in a rotating cylinder geometry

Turbulent Couette flow between two circular cylinders has been used for drag reduction experiments using surfactants. In the experiments presented here, only the outer cylinder rotates, the inner cylinder remains at rest and accurate measurements of the torque at the inner cylinder are measured. Water is used as a reference fluid. A drag reducing surfactant called Arquad S-50 (Akzo Nobel Surface Chemistry LLC, Chicago, Ill., USA) (5 mM)+NaSal (12.5 mM) was used as the drag reduction agent. This surfactant can reduce the drag up to 70% (a Reynolds number of about 70,000–150,000) as measured by pressure drop in a pipe flow. Experiments in Couette flow also show drag reduction in the turbulent range. Two arrangements were used, (1) one small trip-wire on the inner cylinder, and (2) four larger trip-wires on the outer cylinder. These trips reduce the critical Reynolds number for transition from laminar to turbulent flow. In case (1), we obtained 18% drag reduction at 5,000<Re<15,000 and in case (2), we obtained an average reduction of about 20% at 2,000<Re<10,000, increasing up to 30% at Re=15,000. The paper also discusses two important problems. First, the shear rate is not constant in the radial gap in circular Couette flow. For non-Newtonian fluids, where the molecular viscosity is a function of the shear rate, this effect must be considered. Second, which viscosity should be used in the Reynolds number? For pipe flow measurements, most authors use the viscosity of the solvent (generally water and Newtonian). For measurements in the Couette flow, we use a different approach, which is described in this paper. We conclude that Couette flow is a useful method for drag reduction investigations. Its advantage is the much smaller geometry in comparison to those of conventional test facilities such as wind tunnels, water, or oil channels or in tubes.     

Drag and Separation Flow Past Solid Sphere with Porous Shell at Moderate Reynolds Number

Axisymmetric viscous, two-dimensional steady and incompressible fluid flow past a solid sphere with porous shell at moderate Reynolds numbers is investigated numerically. There are two dimensionless parameters that govern the flow in this study: the Reynolds number based on the free stream fluid velocity and the diameter of the solid core, and the ratio of the porous shell thickness to the square root of its permeability. The flow in the free fluid region outside the shell is governed by the Navier–Stokes equation. The flow within the porous annulus region of the shell is governed by a Darcy model. Using a commercially available computational fluid dynamics (CFD) package, drag coefficient and separation angle have been computed for flow past a solid sphere with a porous shell for Reynolds numbers of 50, 100, and 200, and for porous parameter in the range of 0.025–2.5. In all simulation cases, the ratio of b/a was fixed at 1.5; i.e., the ratio of outer shell radius to the inner core radius. A parametric equation relating the drag coefficient and separation point with the Reynolds number and porosity parameter were obtained by multiple linear regression. In the limit of very high permeability, the computed drag coefficient as well as the separation angle approaches that for a solid sphere of radius a, as expected. In the limit of very low permeability, the computed total drag coefficient approaches that for a solid sphere of radius b, as expected. The simulation results are presented in terms of viscous drag coefficient, separation angles and total drag coefficient. It was found that the total drag coefficient around the solid sphere as well as the separation angle are strongly governed by the porous shell permeability as well as the Reynolds number. The separation point shifts toward the rear stagnation point as the shell permeability is increased. Separation angle and drag coefficient for the special case of a solid sphere of radius r = a was found to be in good agreement with previous experimental results and with the standard drag curve.     

Influence of the orientation of a square cylinder on the wake properties

An experimental investigation of flow around a square cylinder placed at various angles with respect to the approach fluid velocity is reported. The focus of the study is toward examining the sensitivity of the wake properties to the cylinder orientation and Reynolds number. Angles of incidence in the range of 0-60° and Reynolds numbers of 1340, 4990, and 9980 have been considered. Velocity measurements have been carried out using an X-wire hotwire anemometer. The Strouhal number and the drag coefficient of the cylinder have been computed from the wake measurements. Utilizing the velocity traces at distinct probe locations in the near and the far wake, statistical properties such as the RMS velocities and the spectra have been obtained. Results obtained in the present work revealed that for a cylinder with zero inclination, flow separates from the corners on the face exposed to the incoming flow. For inclinations greater than zero, the points of separation on the cylinder move downstream and the wake size increases, but the separated shear layer rolls up over a shorter distance. These factors lead to a reduced drag coefficient and a higher Strouhal number. The center-line recovery of the time-averaged velocity and the decay rates of velocity fluctuations depend on the Reynolds number. A marginal effect of the cylinder orientation is also seen.     

On the interaction between two fixed spherical particles

The variation of the drag (C_D) and lift coefficients (C_L) of two fixed solid spherical particles placed at different positions relative each other is studied. Simulations are carried out for particle Reynolds numbers of 50, 100 and 200 and the particle position is defined by the angle between the line connecting the centers of the particles and the free-stream direction (α) and the separation distance (d₀) between the particles. The flow around the particles is simulated using two different methods; the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM), using two different computational codes, and a conventional finite difference approach, where the Volume of Solid Method (VOS) is used to represent the particles. Comparisons with available numerical and experimental data show that both methods can be used to accurately resolve the flow field around particles and calculate the forces the particles are subjected to. Independent of the Reynolds number, the largest change in drag, as compared to the single particle case, occurs for particles placed in tandem formation. Compared to a single particle, the drag reduction for the secondary particle in tandem arrangement is as high as 60%, 70% and 80% for Re = 50, 100 and 200, respectively. The development of the recirculation zone is found to have a significant influence on the drag force. Depending on the flow situation in-between the particles for various particle arrangements, attraction and repulsion forces are detected due to low and high pressure regions, respectively. The results show that the inter-particle forces are not negligible even under very dilute conditions.     

Large Eddy Simulation of Flow Control Around a Cube Subjected to Momentum Injection

The concept of Momentum Injection (MI) through Moving Surface Boundary layer Control (MSBC) applied to a cubic structure is numerically studied using Large Eddy Simulation at a Reynolds number of 6.7×10⁴. Two small rotating cylinders are used to add the momentum at the front vertical edges of the cube. Two configurations are studied with the yaw angle of 0° and 30°, respectively, with ratio of the rotation velocity of cylinders and the freestream velocity of 2. The results suggest that MI delays the boundary layer separation and reattachment, and thus reduces the drag. A drag reduction of about 6.2 % is observed in the 0° yaw angle case and about 44.1 % reduction in the 30° yaw angle case. In the case of 0° yaw angle, the main change of the flow field is the disappearance of the separation regions near the rotating cylinders and the wake region is slightly changed due to MI. In the 30° yaw angle case, the flow field is changed a lot. Large flow separations near one rotating cylinder and in the wake is significantly reduced, which results in the large drag reduction. Meanwhile, the yaw moment is increased about 50.5 %.     

Investigation of turbulent flow past a yawed wavy cylinder

A large eddy simulation (LES) study was conducted to investigate the three-dimensional characteristics of the turbulent flow past wavy cylinders with yaw angles from 0° to 60° at a subcritical Reynolds number of 3900. The relationships between force coefficients and vortex shedding frequency with yaw angles for both wavy cylinders and circular cylinders were investigated. Experimental measurements were also performed for the validation of the present LES results. Comparing with corresponding yawed circular cylinders at similar Reynolds number, significant differences in wake vortex patterns between wavy cylinder and circular cylinder were observed at small yaw angles. The difference in wake pattern becomes insignificant at large yaw angles. The mean drag coefficient and the Strouhal number obey the independence principle for circular cylinders at yaw angle less than 45°, while the independence principle was found to be unsuitable for yawed wavy cylinders. In general, the mean drag coefficients and the fluctuating lift coefficients of a yawed wavy cylinder are less than those of a corresponding yawed circular cylinder at the same flow condition. However, with the increase of the yaw angle, the advantageous effect of wavy cylinder on force and vibration control becomes insignificant.     

Isothermal flow past a blowing sphere

Steady, axisymmetric, isothermal, incompressible flow past a sphere with uniform blowing out of the surface is investigated for Reynolds numbers in the range 1 to 100 and surface velocities up to 10 times the free stream value. A stream-function-velocity formulation of the flow equations in spherical polar co-ordinates is used and the equations are solved by a Galerkin finite-element method. Reductions in the drag coefficients arising from blowing are computed and the effects on the viscous and pressure contributions to the drag considered. Changes in the surface pressure, surface vorticity and flow patterns for two values of the Reynolds number (1 and 40) are examined in greater detail. Particular attention is paid to the perturbation to the flow field far from the sphere.     

基于涡流发生器的翼型失速流动控制及雷诺数效应影响研究

针对所设计的三角形涡流发生器开展用于翼型失速流动控制的风洞实验研究,重点讨论涡流发生器几何参数、方向角、安装位置及实验雷诺数等因素对翼型失速流动控制的影响。实验结果表明:涡流发生器作用下,在干净翼失速迎角后能够形成一个升力几乎不随迎角变化的相对稳定的高升力状态,抑制了失速流动的发生,与此同时阻力大幅下降;本文所设计的涡流发生器方向角过大时会削弱翼型失速流动控制的效果;同一涡流发生器作用下雷诺数过大其失速流动控制效果会急剧恶化,第一种涡流发生器控制翼型失速的雷诺数有效范围略宽于第二种涡流发生器。     

Reduction in drag and vortex shedding frequency through porous sheath around a circular cylinder

A numerical study on the laminar vortex shedding and wake flow due to a porous‐wrapped solid circular cylinder has been made in this paper. The cylinder is horizontally placed, and is subjected to a uniform cross flow. The aim is to control the vortex shedding and drag force through a thin porous wrapper around a solid cylinder. The flow field is investigated for a wide range of Reynolds number in the laminar regime. The flow in the porous zone is governed by the Darcy–Brinkman–Forchheimer extended model and the Navier–Stokes equations in the fluid region. A control volume approach is adopted for computation of the governing equations along with a second‐order upwind scheme, which is used to discretize the convective terms inside the fluid region. The inclusion of a thin porous wrapper produces a significant reduction in drag and damps the oscillation compared with a solid cylinder. Dependence of Strouhal number and drag coefficient on porous layer thickness at different Reynolds number is analyzed. The dependence of Strouhal number and drag on the permeability of the medium is also examined. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parametric study of separation and transition characteristics over an airfoil at low Reynolds numbers

Time-resolved surface pressure measurements are used to experimentally investigate characteristics of separation and transition over a NACA 0018 airfoil for the relatively wide range of chord Reynolds numbers from 50,000 to 250,000 and angles of attack from 0° to 21°. The results provide a comprehensive data set of characteristic parameters for separated shear layer development and reveal important dependencies of these quantities on flow conditions. Mean surface pressure measurements are used to explore the variation in separation bubble position, edge velocity in the separated shear layer, and lift coefficients with angle of attack and Reynolds number. Consistent with previous studies, the separation bubble is found to move upstream and decrease in length as the Reynolds number and angle of attack increase. Above a certain angle of attack, the proximity of the separation bubble to the location of the suction peak results in a reduced lift slope compared to that observed at lower angles. Simultaneous measurements of the time-varying component of surface pressure at various spatial locations on the model are used to estimate the frequency of shear layer instability, maximum root-mean-square (RMS) surface pressure, spatial amplification rates of RMS surface pressure, and convection speeds of the pressure fluctuations in the separation bubble. A power-law correlation between the shear layer instability frequency and Reynolds number is shown to provide an order of magnitude estimate of the central frequency of disturbance amplification for various airfoil geometries at low Reynolds numbers. Maximum RMS surface pressures are found to agree with values measured in separation bubbles over geometries other than airfoils, when normalized by the dynamic pressure based on edge velocity. Spatial amplification rates in the separation bubble increase with both Reynolds number and angle of attack, causing the accompanying decrease in separation bubble length. Values of the convection speed of pressure fluctuations in the separated shear layer are measured to be between 35 and 50% of the edge velocity, consistent with predictions of linear stability theory for separated shear layers.     

Correlation of swirl number for a radial-type swirl generator

An experimental investigation was undertaken to derive a new correlation for the swirl number of a radial-type swirl generator under various Reynolds numbers and various vane angle conditions. A radial-type swirl generator with 16 rotary guide vanes was used to generate an annular swirling jet flow. The Reynolds numbers ranged from 60 to 6000, and the vane angles from 0° to 56°. Quantitative measurements for the velocities were made by using an optical method of laser-Doppler anemometry (LDA). Three-component velocity profiles of axial, radial, and azimuthal components at the swirling jet exit were measured for various flow conditions. A flow visualization method using smoke-wire and still photography was also applied to observe the flow patterns of the recirculation region behind the circular bluff body. Under low Reynolds number conditions, the swirl strength was found to be strongly dependent on the Reynolds number as well as on the guide vane angle. Based on the experimental results, a modified swirl number S is derived to characterize the swirling flow, which is useful for the design of a swirl generator.     

Numerical investigation of fluid flow past circular cylinder with multiple control rods at low Reynolds number

Laminar flow past a circular cylinder with multiple small-diameter control rods is numerically investigated in this study. The effects of rod-to-cylinder spacing ratio, rod and cylinder diameter ratio, cylinder Reynolds number, number of control rods and angle of attack on the hydrodynamics of the main circular cylinder are investigated. Four different flow regimes are identified based on the mechanism of lift and drag reduction. The range of rod-to-cylinder spacing ratio where significant force suppression can be achieved is found to become narrower as the Reynolds number increases in the laminar regime, but is insensitive to the diameter ratio. The numerical results for the case with six identical small control rods at Re=200 show that the lift fluctuation on the main cylinder can be suppressed significantly for a large range of spacing ratio and various diameter ratios, while the drag reduction on the main cylinder is also achieved simultaneously. The six-control-rod arrangement has shown better performance in flow control than the arrangements with less control rods, especially in terms of force reduction at various angles of attack.     

Numerical simulation of the accumulation of heavy particles in a circular bounded vortex flow

In present work, an Eulerian–Lagrangian CFD model based on the discrete element method (DEM) and immersed boundary method (IBM) has been developed, validated and used to investigate the accumulation of heavy particles in a circular bounded viscous vortex flow. The inter-particle and particle-wall collisions are resolved by a hard-sphere model. Effects of one-way and two-way coupling, Reynolds number, and particle diameter are systematically explored. Results show that, in case of one-way coupling, the majority of particles will spiral into an accumulation point located near the stagnation point of the flow field. The accumulation point represents a stable equilibrium point as the drag created by the flow field balances the destabilizing centrifugal force on the particle. However, in case of two-way coupling, there does not exist a stable accumulation point due to the strong interaction between the particles and fluid dynamics. Instead most particles are expelled from the circular domain and accumulate on the confining wall. The percentage of accumulated particles on the wall increases with increasing Reynolds number and particle diameter. Moreover, influence of three well-known drag models is also studied and they give consistent results on the particle accumulation behavior, although small quantitative differences can still be discerned.     

Interfacial instabilities in a stratified flow of two superposed fluids

Here we shall present a linear stability analysis of a laminar, stratified flow of two superposed fluids which are a clear liquid and a suspension of solid particles. The investigation is based upon the assumption that the concentration remains constant within the suspension layer. Even for moderate flow-rates the base-state results for a shear induced resuspension flow justify the latter assumption. The numerical solutions display the existence of two different branches that contribute to convective instability: long and short waves which coexist in a certain range of parameters. Also, a range exists where the flow is absolutely unstable. That means a convectively unstable resuspension flow can be only observed for Reynolds numbers larger than a lower, critical Reynolds number but still smaller than a second critical Reynolds number. For flow rates which give rise to a Reynolds number larger than the second critical Reynolds number, the flow is absolutely unstable. In some cases, however, there exists a third bound beyond that the flow is convectively unstable again. Experiments show the same phenomena: for small flow-rates short waves were usually observed but occasionally also the coexistence of short and long waves. These findings are qualitatively in good agreement with the linear stability analysis. Larger flow-rates in the range of the second critical Reynolds number yield strong interfacial waves with wave breaking and detached particles. In this range, the measured flow-parameters, like the resuspension height and the pressure drop are far beyond the theoretical results. Evidently, a further increase of the Reynolds number indicates the transition to a less wavy interface. Finally, the linear stability analysis also predicts interfacial waves in the case of relatively small suspension heights. These results are in accordance with measurements for ripple-type instabilities as they occur under laminar and viscous conditions for a mono-layer of particles.     

Experimental investigation on the aerodynamic behavior of square cylinders with rounded corners

The influence of corner shaping on the aerodynamic behavior of square cylinders is studied through wind tunnel tests. Beside the sharp-edge corner condition considered as a benchmark, two different rounded-corner radii (r/b=1/15 and 2/15) are studied. Global forces and surface pressure are simultaneously measured in the Reynolds number range between 1.7×10⁴ and 2.3×10⁵. The measurements are extended to angles of incidence between 0° and 45°, but the analysis and the discussion presented herein is focused on the low angle of incidence range. It is found that the critical angle of incidence, corresponding to the flow reattachment on the lateral face exposed to the flow, decreases as r/b increases and that an intermittent flow condition exists. In the case of turbulent incoming flow, two different aerodynamic regimes governed by the Reynolds number have been recognized.     

Two-dimensional unsteady laminar flow of a power law fluid across a square cylinder

The two-dimensional and unsteady free stream flow of power law fluids past a long square cylinder has been investigated numerically in the range of conditions 60≤Re≤160 and 0.5≤n≤2.0. Over this range of Reynolds numbers, the flow is periodic in time. A semi-explicit finite volume method has been used on a non-uniform collocated grid arrangement to solve the governing equations. The global quantities such as drag coefficients, Strouhal number and the detailed kinematic variables like stream function, vorticity and so on, have been obtained for the above range of conditions. While, over this range of Reynolds number, the flow is known to be periodic in time for Newtonian fluids, a pseudo-periodic flow regime displaying more than one dominant frequency in the lift is observed for shear-thinning fluids. This seems to occur at Reynolds numbers of 120 and 140 for n=0.5 and 0.6, respectively. Broadly speaking, the smaller the value of the power law index, lower is the Reynolds number of the onset of the pseudo-periodic regime. This work is concerned only with the fully periodic regime and, therefore, the range of Reynolds numbers studied varies with the value of the power law index. Not withstanding this aspect, in particular here, the effects of Reynolds number and of the power law index have been elucidated in the unsteady laminar flow regime. The leading edge separation in shear-thinning fluids produces an increase in drag values with the increasing Reynolds number, while shear-thickening fluid behaviour delays this separation and shows the lowering of the drag coefficient with the Reynolds number. Also, the preliminary results suggest the transition from the steady to unsteady flow conditions to occur at lower Reynolds numbers in shear-thinning fluids than that in Newtonian fluids.     

Dynamics of dual-particles settling under gravity

As a first step towards understanding particle–particle interaction in fluid flows, the motion of two spherical particles settling in close proximity under gravity in Newtonian fluids was investigated experimentally for particle Reynolds numbers ranging from 0.01 to 2000. It was observed that particles repel each other for Re>0.1 and that the separation distance of settling particles is Reynolds number dependent. At lower Reynolds numbers, i.e. for Re<0.1, particles settling under gravity do not separate.The orientation preference of two spherical particles was found to be Reynolds number dependent. At higher Reynolds numbers, the line connecting the centres of the two particles is always horizontal, regardless of the way the two particles are launched. At lower Reynolds numbers, however, the particle centreline tends to tilt to an arbitrary angle, even of the two particles are launched in the horizontal plane. Because of the tilt, a side migration of the two particles was found to exist. A linear theory was developed to estimate the side migration velocity. It was found that the maximum side migration velocity is approximately 6% of the vertical settling velocity, in good agreement with the experimental results.Counter-rotating spinning of the two particles was observed and measured in the range of Re=0–10. Using the linear model, it is possible to estimate the influence of the tilt angle on the rate of rotation at low Reynolds numbers. Dual particles settle faster than a single particle at small Reynolds numbers but not at higher Reynolds numbers, because of particle separation. The variation of particle settling velocity with Reynolds number is presented. An equation which can be used to estimate the influence of tilt angle on particle settling velocity at low Reynolds number is also derived.     

DRAG FORCE IN DENSE GAS—PARTICLE TWO—PHASE FLOW

Numerical simulations of flow over a stationary particle in a dense gas-particle two-phase flow have been carried out for small Reynolds numbers (less than 100). In order to study the influence of the particles interaction on the drag force, three particle arrangements have been tested: a single particle, two particles placed in the flow direction and many particles located regularly in the flow field. The Navier-Stokes equations are discretized in the three-dimensional space using finite volume method. For the first and second cases, the numerical results agree reasonably well with the data in literature. For the third case, i.e., the multiparticle case, the influence of the particle volume fraction and Reynolds numbers on the drag force has been investigated. The results show that the computational values of the drag ratio agree approximately with the published results at higher Reynolds numbers (from 34.2 to 68.4), but there is a large difference between them at small Reynolds numbers. The project supported by the Special Funds for Major State Basis Research Projects in China (G19990222).