Advances in the study of separated flows

This paper consists of three parts. The first deals with the separation conditions for three dimensional steady viscous separated flows, in which the behaviour of separated flow described by Navier-Stokes equations and boundary layer equations is studied. The second part involves an application of differential topology to qualitative analysis of flow fields. Here the distribution rule of singular points on the separation line is studied. The last part discusses the numerical method solving Navier-Stokes equations for separated flows. The obtained computational results are analysed by the above mentioned theories and methods.     

Topological analysis of plasma flow control on corner separation in a highly loaded compressor cascade

In this paper, flow behavior and topology structure in a highly loaded compressor cascade with and without plasma aerodynamic actuation (PAA) are investigated. Streamline pattern, total pressure loss coefficient, outlet flow angle and topological analysis are considered to study the effect and mechanism of the plasma flow control on corner separation. Results presented include the boundary layer flow behavior, effects of three types of PAA on separated flows and performance parameters, topology structures and sequences of singular points with and without PAA. Two separation lines, reversed flow and backflow exist on the suction surface. The cross flow on the endwall is an important element for the corner separation. PAA can reduce the underturning and overturning as well as the total pressure loss, leading to an overall increase of flow turning and enhancement of aerodynamic performance. PAA can change the topology structure, sequences of singular points and their corresponding separation lines. Types II and III PAA are much more efficient in controlling corner separation and enhancing aerodynamic performances than type I.     

Prediction of separation flows around a 6：1 prolate spheroid using RANS/LES hybrid approaches

This paper presents hybrid Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) and large-eddy-simulation (LES) methods for the separated flows at high angles of attack around a 6:1 prolate spheroid. The RANS/LES hybrid methods studied in this work include the detached eddy simulation (DES) based on Spalart–Allmaras (S–A), Menter’s k–ω shear-stress-transport (SST) and k–ω with weakly nonlinear eddy viscosity formulation (Wilcox–Durbin+, WD+) models and the zonal-RANS/LES methods based on the SST and WD+ models. The switch from RANS near the wall to LES in the core flow region is smooth through the implementation of a flow-dependent blending function for the zonal hybrid method. All the hybrid methods are designed to have a RANS mode for the attached flows and have a LES behavior for the separated flows. The main objective of this paper is to apply the hybrid methods for the high Reynolds number separated flows around prolate spheroid at high-incidences. A fourth-order central scheme with fourth-order artificial viscosity is applied for spatial differencing. The fully implicit lower–upper symmetric-Gauss–Seidel with pseudo time sub-iteration is taken as the temporal differentiation. Comparisons with available measurements are carried out for pressure distribution, skin friction, and profiles of velocity, etc. Reasonable agreement with the experiments, accounting for the effect on grids and fundamental turbulence models, is obtained for the separation flows. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10502030 and 90505005).     

Integral form of the skin friction coefficient suitable for experimental data

An integral method to evaluate skin friction coefficient for turbulent boundary layer flow is presented. The method replaces streamwise gradients with total stress gradients in the wall-normal direction and is therefore useful in cases when measurements at multiple streamwise locations are not available or feasible. It is also shown to be especially useful for experimental data with typical noisy shear stress profiles such as rough-wall boundary layer flows for which there are limited ways by which skin friction can be determined.     

Computing singular solutions of the Navier–Stokes equations with the Chebyshev‐collocation method

The solution of fluid flow problems exhibits a singular behaviour when the conditions imposed on the boundary display some discontinuities or change in type. A treatment of these singularities has to be considered in order to preserve the accuracy of high‐order methods, such as spectral methods. The present work concerns the computation of a singular solution of the Navier–Stokes equations using the Chebyshev‐collocation method. A singularity subtraction technique is employed, which amounts to computing a smooth solution thanks to the subtraction of the leading part of the singular solution. The latter is determined from an asymptotic expansion of the solution near the singular points. In the case of non‐homogeneous boundary conditions, where the leading terms of the expansion are completely determined by the local analysis, the high accuracy of the method is assessed on both steady and unsteady lid‐driven cavity flows. An extension of this technique suitable for homogenous boundary conditions is developed for the injection of fluid into a channel. The ability of the method to compute high‐Reynolds number flows is demonstrated on a piston‐driven two‐dimensional flow. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

NMS Flows on S 3 with no Heteroclinic Trajectories Connecting Saddle Orbits

In this paper we find topological conditions for the non existence of heteroclinic trajectories connecting saddle orbits in non singular Morse-Smale flows on S ³. We obtain the non singular Morse-Smale flows that can be decomposed as connected sum of flows and we show that these flows are those who have no heteroclinic trajectories connecting saddle orbits. Moreover, we characterize these flows in terms of links of periodic orbits.     

Thermal interaction between free convection and forced convection along a vertical conducting wall

A theoretical study is presented in this paper to investigate the conjugate heat transfer across a vertical finite wall separating two forced and free convection flows at different temperatures. It is assumed that the heat conduction in the wall is only in the transversal direction. We also assume that countercurrent boundary layers are formed on the both sides of the wall. The governing equations of this problem and their corresponding boundary conditions are all cast into a dimensionless form by using a non-similarity transformation. These resulting equations, which are singular at the points ξ_c=0 and 1, are solved numerically using a very efficient singular perturbation method. The effects of the resistance parameters and of the Prandtl numbers on heat transfer characteristics are investigated and presented in a table and ten figures. Received on 8 April 1998     

Skin friction fields on delta wings

The normalized skin friction fields on a 65° delta wing and a 76°/40° double-delta wing are measured by using a global luminescent oil-film skin friction meter. The detailed topological structures of skin friction fields on the wings are revealed for different angles of attack and the important features are detected such as reattachment lines, secondary separation lines, vortex bursting and vortex interaction. The comparisons with the existing flow visualization results are discussed.     

Unsteady boundary layer and its separation over a heated circular cylinder

A numerical method is developed to solve the coupled unsteady laminar momentum and thermal boundary layers over a circular cylinder impulsively started from rest. The present non-iterative finite difference method, which requires relatively fewer grid points in the reversed flow region than any other method, can easily handle the separating boundary layer flows. The results indicate that the present method has accuracy comparable with the earlier methods, while consuming computer time approximately one order of magnitude less. The present numerical method allowed investigation of the effect of buoyancy parameter on the starting boundary layer. The time-dependent behaviour of the boundary layer is studied in terms of the appearance of the singularity, the distribution of skin friction and wall heat flux, and the wall position of the inflection point of the velocity profile. The transient as well as buoyancy-dependent patterns of the streamlines and isotherms are also studied.     

Numerical investigations of radial jet reattachment flows

A finite volume computational scheme to solve the Navier-Stokes equations for the laminar flow fields of partially enclosed axial and radial jets impinging on a flat plate has been devised and tested. This scheme is based on the SIMPLEC technique. However, because of the backflow at the ‘outflow’ boundary, the SIMPLEC pressure correction technique has to be modified. The need for this modification, necessitated by the convergence failure, showed the ‘hidden’ pressure boundary condition of SIMPLE-type techniques. Test computations with the present scheme for flows in a channel with a built-in cylinder show that the location of the exit boundary affects very slightly the separated flow behind the cylinder. Computed Squire jet flows compare quite well with the available analytical solution. Finally, impinging radial jets have been computed for different Reynolds numbers. The results show the critical Reynolds number below which a steady solution is obtained and above which periodic and eventually chaotic flows result.     

Computation of shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interactions using a two-equation model with compressibility corrections

In this paper computational results for two different types of shock wave / turbulent boundary layer interaction flows are presented. It is shown that upstream effects of the shock induced separation cannot be reproduced by Wilcox's (1991) k--model, whereas downstream of the interaction, predictions of pressure distribution and skin friction are acceptable. The inclusion of the compressible part of the dissipation rate and the pressure dilatation in the model has noticeable, but not dramatic effects on wall pressure and skin friction in the selected flow cases.     

MHD effect of mixed convection boundary-layer flow of Powell-Eyring fluid past nonlinear stretching surface

Sufficient conditions are found for the existence of similar solutions of the mixed convection flow of a Powell-Eyring fluid over a nonlinear stretching permeable sur- face in the presence of magnetic field. To achieve this, one parameter linear group trans- formation is applied. The governing momentum and energy equations are transformed to nonlinear ordinary differential equations by use of a similarity transformation. These equations are solved by the homotopy analysis method （HAM） to obtain the approximate solutions. The effects of magnetic field, suction, and buoyancy on the Powell-Eyring fluid flow with heat transfer inside the boundary layer are analyzed. The effects of the non- Newtonian fluid （Powell-Eyring model） parameters ε and δon the skin friction and local heat transfer coefficients for the cases of aiding and opposite flows are investigated and discussed. It is observed that the momentum boundary layer thickness increases and the thermal boundary layer thickness decreases with the increase in ε whereas the momentum boundary layer thickness decreases and thermal boundary layer thickness increases with the increase in δ for both the aiding and opposing mixed convection flows.     

A nonintrusive laser interferometer method for measurement of skin friction

A method is described for monitoring the changing thickness of a thin oil film subject to an aerodynamic shear stress using two focused laser beams. The measurement is then simply analyzed in terms of the surface skin friction of the flow. The analysis includes the effects of arbitrarily large pressure and skinfriction gradients, gravity, and time-varying oil temperature. It may also be applied to three-dimensional flows with unknown direction. Applications are presented for a variety of flows including two-dimensional flows, three-dimensional swirling flows, separated flows, supersonic high-Reynolds-number flows, and delta-wing vortical flows.     

Determination of skin friction in strong pressure-gradient equilibrium and near-equilibrium turbulent boundary layers

The conventional Clauser-chart method for determination of local skin friction in zero or weak pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layer flows fails entirely in strong pressure-gradient situations. This failure occurs due to the large departure of the mean velocity profile from the universal logarithmic law upon which the conventional Clauser-chart method is based. It is possible to extend this method, even for strong pressure-gradient situations involving equilibrium or near-equilibrium turbulent boundary layers by making use of the so-called non-universal logarithmic laws. These non-universal log laws depend on the local strength of the pressure gradient and may be regarded as perturbations of the universal log law. The present paper shows that the modified Clauser-chart method, so developed, yields quite satisfactory results in terms of estimation of local skin friction in strongly accelerated or retarded equilibrium and near-equilibrium turbulent boundary layers that are not very close to relaminarization or separation.     

Boundary-layer separation on conical bodies

Some characteristics of the variation in the linear dimensions of the flow separation zones on conical bodies with expanding conical skirts and of variation of the pressure within these zones as a function of variation of the Mach number, Reynolds number, and intensity of the disturbance that causes the boundary layer separation are examined. Experiments were conducted in laminar, transitional, and turbulent flows in flow separation regions. The interaction of viscous and nearly inviscid flows is quite common. This phenomenon occurs in flow past a concave corner, when a compression shock impinges on a boundary layer, and in many other cases. The characteristics of this phenomenon in flow about two-dimensional bodies have been investigated experimentally in [1, 2] and other studies. Attempts have been made to analyze the interaction of compression shocks with the boundary layer theoretically. In “free” separated flows, when the points of separation and reattachment of the boundary layer are not fixed (for example, on a flat plate with a long wedge attached to it), theoretical studies are usually made within the framework of the boundary layer theory with use of the approximate integral methods [3, 4]. In this article we examine some results from studies of free separated flows on conical bodies with conical skirts in laminar, transitional, and turbulent flows (Fig. 1).     

Heat and mass transfer in stagnation-point flow towards a stretching surface in the presence of buoyancy force and thermal radiation

In this paper an analysis has been made to study heat and mass transfer in two-dimensional stagnation-point flow of an incompressible viscous fluid over a stretching vertical sheet in the presence of buoyancy force and thermal radiation. The similarity solution is used to transform the problem under consideration into a boundary value problem of nonlinear coupled ordinary differential equations containing Prandtl number, Schmidt number and Sherwood number which are solved numerically with appropriate boundary conditions for various values of the dimensionless parameters. Comparison of the present numerical results are found to be in excellent with the earlier published results under limiting cases. The effects of various physical parameters on the boundary layer velocity, temperature and concentration profiles are discussed in detail for both the cases of assisting and opposing flows. The computed values of the skin friction coefficient, local Nusselt number and Sherwood number are discussed for various values of physical parameters. The tabulated results show that the effect of radiation is to increase skin friction coefficient, local Nusselt number and Sherwood number.     

Interaction between longitudinal vortices and flat plate boundary layer

The interaction between longitudinal vortices and flat plate boundary layer has been studied numerically for both laminar and turbulent flow situations. The vortices are assumed to be placed in an otherwise two-dimensional boundary layer flow. The flow is assumed to be incompressible and steady. Considering the fact that the velocity, vorticity and temperature gradients in the transverse directions are much larger than the longitudinal (streamwise) gradients for these flows, the original Navier Stokes equations are parabolized in the streamwise direction. A simple model, based on Boussinesq hypothesis, is used for turbulent flow. The discretized equations are then solved step by step in the streamwise direction, using an iterative procedure at each station. Numerical solutions have been obtained for different parameters, such as the Reynolds number, the circulation and the initial position of the vortices. The computed flow patterns and the skin friction coefficient and Stanton number are found to be qualitatively consistent with available experimental results. It is shown that the interaction between the vortices and the boundary layer may severely disturb the boundary layer flow field and thus considerably increase the local skin friction and heat transfer rate on surface of an aircraft.     

An analysis on effect of transverse convex curvature on turbulent flow and heat transfer

An analysis based on a model of modified mixing length by Hornby, Mistry und Barrow [1] was made on the effect of transverse convex curvature in turbulent boundary layer for incompressible axial flows along circular cylinders. The deviation of various turbulent flow and heat transfer properties from those of flat plates is presented. The agreement between the analyses and the experimental results for skin friction and heat transfer rate is good. The study demonstrated that, for a given condition, both the friction coefficient and Stanton number increase with decreasing value of the cyclinder radius and that their values are always greater than those for the flow over a flat plate.     

A DES method applied to a Backward Facing Step reactive flow

Hybrid Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes–Large Eddy Simulation is a trend which is becoming of common use in aerodynamics but has seldom been employed to simulate reactive flows. Such methods, like the Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (DDES) presented in this article, have been created to treat near wall flows with a RANS approach while switching to LES in the separated flow region. It is indeed an affordable solution to simulate complex and unsteady compressible flows and to have access to accurate skin friction and wall thermal fluxes. In order to validate this technique in combustion, we chose a simple and well documented Backward Facing Step combustor. To account for turbulent combustion a Dynamic Thickened Flame was used. The results obtained on this case show a good agreement with the experimental database and are of the same quality as LES in the separated region for both inert and reactive flows. To cite this article: B. Sainte-Rose et al., C. R. Mecanique 337 (2009).