Post-transitional periodic flow in a straight square duct

2018 ◽  
Vol 859 ◽  
pp. 731-753
Author(s):  
S. Gavrilakis

Direct numerical simulation of incompressible turbulence in a straight square duct finds the post-transition flow evolving substantially, and for Reynolds numbers based on the friction velocity and duct hydraulic radius greater than 600 a two-structure secondary flow regime has been established, suggesting the coexistence of two distinct sources of mean streamwise vorticity. The nominal source terms in the equation for the mean streamwise vorticity involve turbulent variables only, that allow us to identify the dominant dynamical process that marks and/or sustains the transverse mean flow. Close to the corner a mean profile instability is dominant, while farther away turbulent streamwise vorticity intensification is broadly distributed near the duct walls. The instability-driven secondary velocity maximum on the duct diagonals scales with the friction velocity. There is limited scaling of turbulent intensities on the wall bisectors.

2010 ◽  
Vol 644 ◽  
pp. 107-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALFREDO PINELLI ◽  
MARKUS UHLMANN ◽  
ATSUSHI SEKIMOTO ◽  
GENTA KAWAHARA

We have performed direct numerical simulations of turbulent flows in a square duct considering a range of Reynolds numbers spanning from a marginal state up to fully developed turbulent states at low Reynolds numbers. The main motivation stems from the relatively poor knowledge about the basic physical mechanisms that are responsible for one of the most outstanding features of this class of turbulent flows: Prandtl's secondary motion of the second kind. In particular, the focus is upon the role of flow structures in its generation and characterization when increasing the Reynolds number. We present a two-fold scenario. On the one hand, buffer layer structures determine the distribution of mean streamwise vorticity. On the other hand, the shape and the quantitative character of the mean secondary flow, defined through the mean cross-stream function, are influenced by motions taking place at larger scales. It is shown that high velocity streaks are preferentially located in the corner region (e.g. less than 50 wall units apart from a sidewall), flanked by low velocity ones. These locations are determined by the positioning of quasi-streamwise vortices with a preferential sign of rotation in agreement with the above described velocity streaks' positions. This preferential arrangement of the classical buffer layer structures determines the pattern of the mean streamwise vorticity that approaches the corners with increasing Reynolds number. On the other hand, the centre of the mean secondary flow, defined as the position of the extrema of the mean cross-stream function (computed using the mean streamwise vorticity), remains at a constant location departing from the mean streamwise vorticity field for larger Reynolds numbers, i.e. it scales in outer units. This paper also presents a detailed validation of the numerical technique including a comparison of the numerical results with data obtained from a companion experiment.


2018 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 05039
Author(s):  
Priscilla Williams ◽  
Vesselina Roussinova ◽  
Ram Balachandar

This paper focuses on the turbulence structure in a non-uniform, gradually varied, sub-critical open channel flow (OCF) on a rough bed. The flow field is analysed under accelerating, near-uniform and decelerating conditions. Information for the flow and turbulence parameters was obtained at multiple sections and planes using two different techniques: two-component laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) and particle image velocimetry (PIV). Different outer region velocity scaling methods were explored for evaluation of the local friction velocity. Analysis of the mean velocity profiles showed that the overlap layer exists for all flow cases. The outer layer of the decelerated velocity profile was strongly affected by the pressure gradient, where a large wake was noted. Due to the prevailing nature of the experimental setup it was found that the time-averaged flow quantities do not attained equilibrium conditions and the flow is spatially heterogeneous. The roughness generally increases the friction velocity and its effect was stronger than the effect of the pressure gradient. It was found that for the decelerated flow section over a rough bed, the mean flow and turbulence intensities were affected throughout the flow depth. The flow features presented in this study can be used to develop a model for simulating flow over a block ramp. The effect of the non-uniformity and roughness on turbulence intensities and Reynolds shear stresses was further investigated.


1994 ◽  
Vol 116 (4) ◽  
pp. 586-596 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. L. Andrew ◽  
Wing-fai Ng

The turbulent character of the supersonic wake of a linear cascade of fan airfoils has been studied using a two-component laser-doppler anemometer. The cascade was tested in the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University intermittent wind tunnel facility, where the Mach and Reynolds numbers were 2.36 and 4.8 × 106, respectively. In addition to mean flow measurements, Reynolds normal and shear stresses were measured as functions of cascade incidence angle and streamwise locations spanning the near-wake and the far-wake. The extremities of profiles of both the mean and turbulent wake properties´ were found to be strongly influenced by upstream shock-boundary -layer interactions, the strength of which varied with cascade incidence. In contrast, the peak levels of turbulence properties within the shear layer were found to be largely independent of incidence, and could be characterized in terms of the streamwise position only. The velocity defect turbulence level was found to be 23 percent, and the generally accepted value of the turbulence structural coefficient of 0.30 was found to be valid for this flow. The degree of similarity of the mean flow wake profiles was established, and those profiles demonstrating the most similarity were found to approach a state of equilibrium between the mean and turbulent properties. In general, this wake flow may be described as a classical free shear flow, upon which the influence of upstream shock-boundary-layer interactions has been superimposed.


Author(s):  
Davis W. Hoffman ◽  
Laura Villafañe ◽  
Christopher J. Elkins ◽  
John K. Eaton

Abstract Three-dimensional, three-component time-averaged velocity fields have been measured within a low-speed centrifugal fan with forward curved blades. The model investigated is representative of fans commonly used in automotive HVAC applications. The flow was analyzed at two Reynolds numbers for the same ratio of blade rotational speed to outlet flow velocity. The flow patterns inside the volute were found to have weak sensitivity to Reynolds number. A pair of counter-rotating vortices evolve circumferentially within the volute with positive and negative helicity in the upper and lower regions, respectively. Measurements have been further extended to capture phase-resolved flow features by synchronizing the data acquisition with the blade passing frequency. The mean flow field through each blade passage is presented including the jet-wake structure extending from the blade and the separation zone on the suction side of the blade leading edge.


1975 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. W. Wilson ◽  
R. S. Azad

A single set of equations is developed to predict the mean flow characteristics in long circular pipes operating at laminar, transitional, and turbulent Reynolds numbers. Generally good agreement is obtained with available data in the Reynolds number range 100 < Re < 500,000.


1965 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 503-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. E. Gill

It is found that only a small change in either of the undisturbed velocity profiles concerned is required to change them from stable profiles to unstable profiles. The change must be such as to produce a local maximum in the magnitude of the vorticity, or in the case of the pipe, in the magnitude of the vorticity divided by the radius. The actual change in the vorticity (or vorticity/radius) need only be small, but the gradient of the vorticity (or vorticity/radius) must be finite. Viscosity will tend to damp out the distortion in the mean flow that is responsible for the instability, so that if the flow is to become turbulent, non-linear effects must become important before the distortion of the mean flow is reduced to an ineffective level. This requirement leads to the determination of critical Reynolds numbers which depend on the initial (small) distortion of the mean flow and the initial (smaller) amplitude of periodic disturbances. These critical Reynolds numbers are large.


2015 ◽  
Vol 783 ◽  
pp. 379-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Marusic ◽  
K. A. Chauhan ◽  
V. Kulandaivelu ◽  
N. Hutchins

In this paper we study the spatial evolution of zero-pressure-gradient (ZPG) turbulent boundary layers from their origin to a canonical high-Reynolds-number state. A prime motivation is to better understand under what conditions reliable scaling behaviour comparisons can be made between different experimental studies at matched local Reynolds numbers. This is achieved here through detailed streamwise velocity measurements using hot wires in the large University of Melbourne wind tunnel. By keeping the unit Reynolds number constant, the flow conditioning, contraction and trip can be considered unaltered for a given boundary layer’s development and hence its evolution can be studied in isolation from the influence of inflow conditions by moving to different streamwise locations. Careful attention was given to the experimental design in order to make comparisons between flows with three different trips while keeping all other parameters nominally constant, including keeping the measurement sensor size nominally fixed in viscous wall units. The three trips consist of a standard trip and two deliberately ‘over-tripped’ cases, where the initial boundary layers are over-stimulated with additional large-scale energy. Comparisons of the mean flow, normal Reynolds stress, spectra and higher-order turbulence statistics reveal that the effects of the trip are seen to be significant, with the remnants of the ‘over-tripped’ conditions persisting at least until streamwise stations corresponding to $Re_{x}=1.7\times 10^{7}$ and $x=O(2000)$ trip heights are reached (which is specific to the trips used here), at which position the non-canonical boundary layers exhibit a weak memory of their initial conditions at the largest scales $O(10{\it\delta})$, where ${\it\delta}$ is the boundary layer thickness. At closer streamwise stations, no one-to-one correspondence is observed between the local Reynolds numbers ($Re_{{\it\tau}}$, $Re_{{\it\theta}}$ or $Re_{x}$ etc.), and these differences are likely to be the cause of disparities between previous studies where a given Reynolds number is matched but without account of the trip conditions and the actual evolution of the boundary layer. In previous literature such variations have commonly been referred to as low-Reynolds-number effects, while here we show that it is more likely that these differences are due to an evolution effect resulting from the initial conditions set up by the trip and/or the initial inflow conditions. Generally, the mean velocity profiles were found to approach a constant wake parameter ${\it\Pi}$ as the three boundary layers developed along the test section, and agreement of the mean flow parameters was found to coincide with the location where other statistics also converged, including higher-order moments up to tenth order. This result therefore implies that it may be sufficient to document the mean flow parameters alone in order to ascertain whether the ZPG flow, as described by the streamwise velocity statistics, has reached a canonical state, and a computational approach is outlined to do this. The computational scheme is shown to agree well with available experimental data.


2009 ◽  
Vol 131 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Al-Salaymeh ◽  
O. A. Bayoumi

Tripping devices are usually installed at the entrance of laboratory-scale pipe test sections to obtain a fully developed turbulent flow sooner. The tripping of laminar flow to induce turbulence can be carried out in different ways, such as using cylindrical wires, sand papers, well-organized tape elements, fences, etc. Claims of tripping effects have been made since the classical experiments of Nikuradse (1932, Gesetzmässigkeit der turbulenten Strömung in glatten Rohren, Forschungsheft 356, Ausgabe B, Vol. 3, VDI-Verlag, Berlin), which covered a significant range of Reynolds numbers. Nikuradse’s data have become the metric by which theories are established and have also been the subject of intense scrutiny. Several subsequent experiments reported friction factors as much as 5% lower than those measured by Nikuradse, and the authors of those reports attributed the difference to tripping effects, e.g., work of Durst et al. (2003, “Investigation of the Mean-Flow Scaling and Tripping Effect on Fully Developed Turbulent Pipe Flow,” J. Hydrodynam., 15(1), pp. 14–22). In the present study, measurements with and without ring tripping devices of different blocking areas of 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% have been carried out to determine the effect of entrance condition on the developing flow field in pipes. Along with pressure drop measurements to compute the skin friction, both the Pitot tube and hot-wire anemometry measurements have been used to accurately determine the mean velocity profile over the working test section at different Reynolds numbers based on the mean velocity and pipe diameter in the range of 1.0×105–4.5×105. The results we obtained suggest that the tripping technique has an insignificant effect on the wall friction factor, in agreement with Nikuradse’s original data.


Author(s):  
Aroon K. Viswanathan ◽  
Danesh K. Tafti

Results from Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of fully developed flow in a ribbed duct are presented with rib pitch-to-height ratio (P/e) is 10 and a rib height to hydraulic diameter ratio (e/Dh) is 0.1. Computations are carried out on a square duct with 45° ribs on the top and bottom walls arranged in a staggered fashion. The ribs have a rounded cross-section and are skewed at 45° to the main flow. The Reynolds number based on bulk velocity is 25,000. Mean flow and turbulent quantities, together with heat transfer and friction augmentation results are presented for a stationary case. The flow is characterized by a helical vortex behind each rib and a complementary cross-sectional secondary flow, both of which result from the angle of the rib with respect to the mean flow and result in a spanwise variation of the heat transfer. The mean flow, the turbulent quantities and the heat transfer in the duct show similar trends as in the duct with square cross-section ribs. However the results show that there is lesser friction in the ducts with rounded ribs. The overall heat transfer on the ribbed wall was augmented by 2.85 times that of a smooth duct, at the cost of friction which increases by a factor of 10. The computed values compare well with the experimental values.


1993 ◽  
Vol 115 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary S. Hall ◽  
Owen M. Griffin

Vortex shedding resonance or lock-on is observed when a bluff body is placed in an incident mean flow with a superimposed periodic component. Direct numerical simulations of this flow at a Reynolds number of 200 are compared here with experiments that have been conducted by several investigators. The bounds of the lock-on or resonance flow regimes for the computations and experiments are in good agreement. The computed and measured vortex street wavelengths also are in good agreement with experiments at Reynolds numbers from 100 to 2000. Comparison of these computations with experiments shows that both natural, or unforced, and forced vortex street wakes are nondispersive in their wave-like behavior. Recent active control experiments with rotational oscillations of a circular cylinder find this same nondispersive behavior over a three-fold range of frequencies at Reynolds numbers up to 15,000. The vortex shedding and lock-on resulting from the introduction of a periodic inflow component upon the mean flow exhibit a particularly strong resonance between the imposed perturbations and the vortices.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document