The mechanism of polymer thread drag reduction

One very effective method of reducing the drag of a turbulent fluid flow is through the use of soluble, viscoelastic, long-chain, high-molecular-weight polymer additives. These additives have produced drag reduction of up to 80% in pipe flows. Polymers are typically added by injecting high concentration solutions into an established Newtonian flow.This study investigated the mechanism of drag reduction that occurs when a long-chain, high-molecular-weight polymer is injected along the centerline of a pipe with a concentration high enough to form a single, coherent, unbroken thread. In the present experiments, the unbroken threads existed for more than 200 pipe diameters downstream of the injector and produced drag reductions on the order of 40%. Previous authors have contended that this type of drag reduction is caused by the interaction of the thread with the outer flow. However, it has been proven in cases where the polymer is mixed throughout the flow that drag reduction requires the existence of polymer in the near-wall region. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that drag reduction from a polymer thread is caused by transport of polymer molecules from the thread into the near-wall region of the pipe. The objective was realized through the measurement of the drag reduction, the radial location of the thread, and the polymer concentration in the near-wall region. The concentration was measured by laser-induced fluorescence utilizing fluorescein dye as the tracer. This study provides strong evidence that the drag reduction from a polymer thread is caused by the transport of very low concentrations of polymer from the thread into the near-wall region.     

Fatigue crack growth rate in ferrite-martensite dual-phase steel

An empirical study is made on the fatigue crack growth rate in ferrite-martensite dual-phase (FMDP) steel. Particular attention is given to the effect of ferrite content in the range of 24.2% to 41.5% where good fatigue resistance was found at 33.8%. Variations in ferrite content did not affect the crack growth rate da/dN when plotted against the effective stress intensity factor range ΔK_eff which was assumed to follow a linear relation with the crack tip stress intensity factor range ΔK. A high ΔK_eff corresponds to uniformly distributed small size ferrite and martensite. No other appreciable correlation could be ralated to the microstructure morphology of the FMDP steel. The closure stress intensity factor K_cl, however, is affected by the ferrite content with K_cl/Kmax reaching a maximum value of 0.7. In general, crack growth followed the interphase between the martensite and ferrite.Dividing the fatigue crack growth process into Stage I and II where the former would be highly sensitive to changes in ΔK and the latter would increase with ΔK depending on the R = σ_min/σ_max ratio. The same data when correlated with the strain energy density factor range ΔS showed negligible dependence on mean stress or R ratio for Stage I crack growth. A parameter α involving the ratio of ultimate stress to yield stress, percent reduction of area and R is introduced for Stage II crack growth so that the da/dN data for different R would collapse onto a single curve with a narrow scatter band when plotted against αΔS.     

Thermoacoustically driven flame motion and heat release variation in a swirl-stabilized gas turbine burner investigated by LIF and chemiluminescence

Laser-induced fluorescence and chemiluminescence, both phase-locked to the dominant acoustic oscillation, are used to investigate phenomena related to thermoacoustic instability in a swirl-stabilized industrial scale gas turbine burner. The observed sinusoidal phase-averaged flame motion in axial (main flow) direction is analyzed using different schemes for defining the flame position. Qualitative agreement between experimental data and theoretical analysis of the observed flame motion is obtained, interpreted as originating primarily from variation of the burning velocity. The heat release variation during an acoustic cycle is determined from the sinusoidally varying total OH* chemiluminescence intensity.

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On the applicability of some approximate similitude laws in hypersonic aerodynamics

The range of applicability of some similitude laws for heat transfer, friction and drag coefficients is discussed on the basis of numerical solutions of the complete viscous shock layer equations describing hypersonic flow past blunt bodies. Moscow. Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No.2, pp. 121–130, March–April, 1994.     

Splitting,merging and spanwise wavenumber selection of Dean vortex pairs

Splitting, merging and spanwise wavenumber selection are studied during the initial development of Dean vortex pairs in a channel with mild curvature, an aspect ratio of 40, and an inner to outer radius ratio of 0.979. Two types of splitting events, and four types of merging events are evident from flow visualizations at Dean numbers from 75 to 220. These events are described in detail along with observations that occurrances of these different events are tied to spatial and temporal variations of spanwise wavenumbers of vortex pair spacing. Also discussed are frequency spectra of different events, recurrent phenomena, and the part played by splitting and merging in laminar to turbulent transition in curved channels.This study was sponsored by the Propulsion Directorate, U.S. Army Aviation Research and Technology Activity-AVSCOM, NASA-Defense Purchase Request 030030-P. Professor C. S. Subramanian provided assistance in setting up the traversing system and data acquisition systems used for this study. Mr. R. E. Hughes assisted in obtaining some of the results presented.     

On the dynamic behaviour of a flexible beam carrying a moving mass

The behaviour of a system containing a mass traveling on a cantilever beam is considered. The mass is induced to move by an applied force as opposed to the case which has been considered in most literature where the position of the moving mass is assumed to be known and independent of the motion of the beam. Furthermore, the system to be discussed has the unique characteristic that the motions of the mass and the beam are coupled. The mathematical model of the system includes two coupled nonlinear integral/partial differential equations which are impossible to solve analytically and are difficult to solve numerically in their original form. As a remedy, the solution is discretized into space and time functions and the equations of motion are reduced to a set of ordinary differential equations. The shape function is chosen so that it satisfies the boundary conditions of the beam as well as the transient conditions imposed by the traveling mass. This choice of the shape function, which considers the mass-beam interaction, provides an improvement over the conventional method of using a simple cantilever beam mode shapes.The ordinary differential equations of motion using the improved shaped functions, are solved numerically to obtain the dynamic behaviour of the system. The results illustrate the validity of the model, and demonstrate the advantages of the improved model to the un-improved equations.     

An experimental study to determine fractal parameters for lean premixed flames

 In this study the fractal parameters of a lean, premixed methane-air flame were determined over a range of turbulence conditions. The focus of the present work was to improve the experimental technique so as to resolve the inner cutoff scale, the outer cutoff scale, and the fractal dimension. By adjusting the flow velocity through a set of three interchangeable grids in a steady-flow combustion tunnel, a range of turbulence intensities and scales was obtained within the test section. The integral scale varied from 2.5 to 5.5 mm and the turbulence intensity varied from 0.5 to 3.8 times the laminar burning velocity, while the equivalence ratio of the fuel–air mixture was 0.60. The flame was stabilized inside a 51 mm square, open-ended test section by means of a small, centrally-located, pilot burner. A 60 mm ×45 mm cross section of the flame was visualized by means of an argon-ion laser sheet and titanium dioxide seeding, and was recorded on high-sensitivity black and white film by a 35 mm camera using a shutter speed of 1/8000 s. The film negatives were digitized at 60 pixels/mm, equivalent to a resolution of 12 pixels/mm (83 μm per pixel) on the scale of the flame. Using commercially available software, the images were analyzed to identify the position of the flame front; custom software was used to determine the fractal dimension and the inner and outer cutoff scales of the turbulent flame. In the range of conditions reported in this paper, it was observed that the fractal dimension increased with turbulence level but the values were approximately 5% lower than those reported by others. The inner cutoff scale was found to increase with decreasing turbulence, thus confirming an earlier hypothesis about the smoothing effect of flame propagation at low turbulence levels. The outer cutoff scale varied from 11 to 16 mm and its value tended to decrease with increasing turbulence level. Received: 8 August 1995 / Accepted: 1 July 1996     

Polymer contribution to the thermal conductivity and viscosity in a dilute solution (Fraenkel Dumbbell model)

The phase-space kinetic theory for polymeric liquid mixtures is used to obtain an expression for the polymer contribution to the thermal conductivity of a nonflowing, dilute solution of polymers, where the polymer molecules are modeled as Fraenkel dumbbells. This theory takes into account three mechanisms for the energy transport: diffusion of kinetic energy (including the Öttinger-Petrillo term), diffusion of intramolecular energy, and the work done against the intramolecular forces. This paper is an extension of previous developments for the Hookean dumbbell model and the finitely-extensible dumbbell model. A comparison among the dumbbell results suggests that the thermal conductivity increases with chain stiffness. In addition, the zero-shear-rate viscosity and first normal-stress coefficient are also given for the Fraenkel dumbbell model.Dedicated to Prof. John D. Ferry on the occasion of his 85th birthday.     

Determination of specific thrust in unchoked regimes and design of a separationless convergent nozzle contour

The variation of the specific thrust R_Y on the angle of inclination of the wall is analyzed within the framework of the ideal gas model using the results of specific impulse and flow rate calculations for conical convergent nozzles. It is shown that in unchoked regimes nozzles with different have almost the same values of R_Y for both subcritical and supercritical pressure ratios _c. On the interval _C < 6 typical of convergent nozzles conical convergent nozzles with =30–90° have almost the same value of the specific thrust, maximal relative to the R_Y of nozzles with < 30°. In the presence of viscosity forces local boundary layer separation may occur in the neighborhood of the entrance section of the convergent nozzle. A method of constructing a separationless convergent nozzle contour with enhanced thrust is developed on the basis of a boundary layer separation criterion. The separationless contour is determined for given values of the flow rate, specific heat ratio, Reynolds number, wall temperature and initial boundary layer displacement thickness.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 158–164, January–February, 1990.     

Accuracy limits for planar measurements of flow field velocity, temperature and pressure using Filtered Rayleigh Scattering

 We present experimental results using Filtered Rayleigh Scattering to make planar measurements of velocity, temperature and pressure in ambient air and in a Mach 2 free jet. The ambient air measurements are used to identify and calibrate experimental uncertainties. The Mach 2 measurements demonstrate the usefulness of the technique for making accurate planar measurements in a high speed flow. The measured values for velocity, temperature and pressure in the Mach 2 jet ranged, through a shock system, from 205 to 235 m/s, 150 to 170 K and 700 to 1000 torr, with estimated uncertainties of ±5.4 m/s, ±3.2 K and ±38 torr (±2 to 3%, ±2% and ±4–5%, respectively). Received: 10 December 1996/Accepted: 14 July 1997