scholarly journals Charles Porter Ellington. 31 December 1952—30 July 2019

2021 ◽  
Vol 70 ◽  
pp. 151-173
Author(s):  
Robin Wootton
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Insect Flight ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Power Input ◽  
Teaching Excellence ◽  
Administrative Roles ◽  
Zoological Society ◽  
Vortex Theory ◽  
Oxygen Analyser

Charles Ellington graduated at Duke University, North Carolina, and came to Cambridge in 1973 to work for a PhD on insect flight dynamics. He developed novel methodology and software for the kinematic analysis of freely hovering insects and applied them to his own high-speed films of a range of species. He identified five new non-steady-state mechanisms for lift generation, was the first to develop a vortex theory for flapping flight and developed and extended the use of morphometric parameters in calculating the forces and power requirements of flight. He remained in Cambridge, married a colleague, joined the staff of the Department of Zoology, became a fellow of Downing College and continued to work on insect aerodynamics and energetics, publishing on flight muscle efficiency, the factors limiting flight performance and the aerodynamic implications of the origin of insect flight. Building a closed-circuit wind tunnel connected with a sensitive oxygen analyser, he studied with colleagues how the aerodynamics and metabolic power input of bumblebees vary with flight speed, challenging the orthodox theory that this should follow a U-shaped curve. Outstanding among later research was the discovery that hawkmoths, and by implication many other insects, gain high levels of lift by generating a vortex above the leading edge, stabilized by spiralling out along the span—a major focus of animal flight research ever since. His many administrative roles included editorship of theJournal of Experimental Biology. He became a British citizen in 1995, was elected FRS in 1998 and to a chair of animal mechanics in 1999. Awards include the Scientific Medal of the Zoological Society and the University of Cambridge Pilkington Prize for teaching excellence. He was diabetic throughout his adult life, and suffered progressive ill health following a heart attack in 1996. He took early retirement in 2010, lived quietly with his wife and two sons at home near Newmarket, and died in July 2019.

scholarly journals On the shape of cicada’s wing leading-edge cross section

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel M. Starkweather ◽  
Svetlana V. Poroseva ◽  
David T. Hanson
Keyword(s):  
Cross Section ◽  
Insect Flight ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Flight Performance ◽  
Cross Section Shape ◽  
Section Shape ◽  
First Time

AbstractAn important role that the leading-edge cross-section shape plays in the wing flight performance is well known in aeronautics. However, little is known about the shape of the leading-edge cross section of an insect’s wing and its contribution to remarkable qualities of insect flight. In this paper, we reveal, in the first time, the shape of the leading-edge cross section of a cicada’s wing and analyze its variability along the wing. We also identify and quantify similarities in characteristic dimensions of this shape in the wings of three different cicada species.

Steady longitudinal vortices in supersonic turbulent separated flows

2011 ◽  
Vol 672 ◽  
pp. 451-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
ERICH SCHÜLEIN ◽  
VICTOR M. TROFIMOV
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Roughness Element ◽  
Vortex Generator ◽  
Vortex Pair ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Separated Flows ◽  
Vortex Generators ◽  
Longitudinal Vortices ◽  
Oil Flow

Large-scale longitudinal vortices in high-speed turbulent separated flows caused by relatively small irregularities at the model leading edges or at the model surfaces are investigated in this paper. Oil-flow visualization and infrared thermography techniques were applied in the wind tunnel tests at Mach numbers 3 and 5 to investigate the nominally 2-D ramp flow at deflection angles of 20°, 25° and 30°. The surface contour anomalies have been artificially simulated by very thin strips (vortex generators) of different shapes and thicknesses attached to the model surface. It is shown that the introduced streamwise vortical disturbances survive over very large downstream distances of the order of 104 vortex-generator heights in turbulent supersonic flows without pressure gradients. It is demonstrated that each vortex pair induced in the reattachment region of the ramp is definitely a child of a vortex pair, which was generated originally, for instance, by the small roughness element near the leading edge. The dependence of the spacing and intensity of the observed longitudinal vortices on the introduced disturbances (thickness and spanwise size of vortex generators) and on the flow parameters (Reynolds numbers, boundary-layer thickness, compression corner angles, etc.) has been shown experimentally.

Application Of Elastic Layers To Register Pressure Field On The Model Surface In Supersonic Flow

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-33
Author(s):  
Maxim Golubev ◽  
Andrey Shmakov
Keyword(s):  
Surface Waves ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Pressure Pulsation ◽  
Pressure Field ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Supersonic Wind Tunnel ◽  
Register Pressure ◽  
Elastic Layers ◽  
Sharp Leading Edge

The work presents the results of application of panoramic interferential technique which is based on elastic layers (sensors) usage to obtain pressure distribution on the flat plate having sharp leading edge. Experiments were done in supersonic wind tunnel at Mach number M = 4. Sensitivity and response time are shown to be enough to register pressure pulsation against standing and traveling sensor surface waves. Applying high-frequency image acquiring is demonstrated to make possible to distinguish at visualization images high-speed disturbances propagating in the boundary layer from low-speed surface waves

Stall Inception in a High Speed Centrifugal Compressor During Speed Transients

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fangyuan Lou ◽  
John C. Fabian ◽  
Nicole L. Key
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Centrifugal Compressor ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Flow Instability ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Fast Response ◽  
Rotating Stall ◽  
Transient Performance ◽  
Stall Inception ◽  
Pressure Transducers

The inception and evolution of rotating stall in a high-speed centrifugal compressor are characterized during speed transients. Experiments were performed in the Single Stage Centrifugal Compressor (SSCC) facility at Purdue University and include speed transients from sub-idle to full speed at different throttle settings while collecting transient performance data. Results show a substantial difference in the compressor transient performance for accelerations versus decelerations. This difference is associated with the heat transfer between the flow and the hardware. The heat transfer from the hardware to the flow during the decelerations locates the compressor operating condition closer to the surge line and results in a significant reduction in surge margin during decelerations. Additionally, data were acquired from fast-response pressure transducers along the impeller shroud, in the vaneless space, and along the diffuser passages. Two different patterns of flow instabilities, including mild surge and short-length-scale rotating stall, are observed during the decelerations. The instability starts with a small pressure perturbation at the impeller leading edge and quickly develops into a single-lobe rotating stall burst. The stall cell propagates in the direction opposite of impeller rotation at approximately one third of the rotor speed. The rotating stall bursts are observed in both the impeller and diffuser, with the largest magnitudes near the diffuser throat. Furthermore, the flow instability develops into a continuous high frequency stall and remains in the fully developed stall condition.

On the Breakdown at High Incidences of the Leading Edge Vortices on Delta Wings

1960 ◽  
Vol 64 (596) ◽  
pp. 491-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. J. Elle
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Recent Article ◽  
Vortex Breakdown ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Critical Value ◽  
Delta Wings ◽  
Edge Separation ◽  
Leading Edge Vortices

In a recent article, H. Werlé, has described how the free spiral vortices on delta wings with leading edge separation suddenly expand if the incidence is increased beyond a critical value. His description conforms to a great extent with the results, arrived at during an English investigation of the same phenomenon (called the vortex breakdown), but the interpretations of the observations, suggested by the two sources, are different. Against this background it is felt that some further comments and some pertinent high speed observations, may be of interest.

Fuel Influence on Targeted Gas Turbine Combustion Properties: Part I — Detailed Diagnostics

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Mosbach ◽  
Victor Burger ◽  
Barani Gunasekaran
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Optical Measurements ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
High Speed Imaging ◽  
Combustion Properties ◽  
First Results

The threshold combustion performance of different fuel formulations under simulated altitude relight conditions were investigated in the altitude relight test facility located at the Rolls-Royce plc. Strategic Research Centre in Derby, UK. The combustor employed was a twin-sector representation of an RQL gas turbine combustor. Eight fuels including conventional crude-derived Jet A-1 kerosene, synthetic paraffinic kerosenes (SPKs), linear paraffinic solvents, aromatic solvents and pure compounds were tested. The combustor was operated at sub-atmospheric air pressure of 41 kPa and air temperature of 265 K. The temperature of all fuels was regulated to 288 K. The combustor operating conditions corresponded to a low stratospheric flight altitude near 9 kilometres. The experimental work at the Rolls-Royce (RR) test-rig consisted of classical relight envelope ignition and extinction tests, and ancillary optical measurements: Simultaneous high-speed imaging of the OH* chemiluminescence and of the soot luminosity was used to visualize both the transient combustion phenomena and the combustion behaviour of the steady burning flames. Flame luminosity spectra were also simultaneously recorded with a spectrometer to obtain information about the different combustion intermediates and about the thermal soot radiation curve. This paper presents first results from the analysis of the weak extinction measurements. Further detailed test fuel results are the subject of a separate complementary paper [1]. It was found in general that the determined weak extinction parameters were not strongly dependent on the fuels investigated, however at the leading edge of the OH* chemiluminescence intensity development in the pre-flame region fuel-related differences were observed.

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