scholarly journals Using a New Entropy Loss Analysis to Assess the Accuracy of RANS Predictions of an High-Pressure Turbine Vane

2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaomin Zhao ◽  
Richard D. Sandberg

Abstract Entropy loss is widely used to quantify the efficiency of components in turbomachines, and empirical relations have been developed to estimate the contribution of different mechanisms. However, further analysis is still needed to not only get a deeper insight of the physics but also to more accurately quantify the loss generation caused by different terms. In the present study, the entropy transport equations based on averaged flow quantities are first derived, and the entropy generation process is fully decomposed into several terms representing different physical mechanisms, such as mean viscous dissipation, turbulence production, mean, and turbulent heat flux, etc. This decomposition framework is then applied to high-resolution large-eddy simulation (LES) and Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) results of a VKI LS-89 HPT vane, and a detailed quantification of different entropy generation terms is obtained. The results show that the entropy generation caused by mean flow features like mean viscous dissipation and mean heat flux are in close agreement between LES and RANS, indicating that RANS provides an overall good prediction for the mean flow. Furthermore, we find that turbulence production plays an important role in entropy generation as it represents the energy extracted from the mean flow to turbulent fluctuations. However, the difference between RANS and LES results for the turbulence production term is not negligible, particularly in the wake region. This implies that the failure of RANS to predict the correct total loss might be largely caused by errors in capturing the correct turbulence production in the near wake region.

Author(s):  
Yaomin Zhao ◽  
Richard D. Sandberg

Abstract Entropy loss is widely used to quantify the efficiency of components in turbomachines, and empirical relations have been developed to estimate the contribution of different mechanisms. However, further analysis is still needed to not only get a deeper insight of the physics, but also to more accurately quantify the loss generation caused by different terms. In the present study, the entropy transport equations based on averaged flow quantities are first derived, and the entropy generation process is fully decomposed into several terms representing different physical mechanisms, such as mean viscous dissipation, turbulence production, mean and turbulent heat flux, etc. This decomposition framework is then applied to high-resolution LES and RANS results of a VKI LS-89 HPT vane, and a detailed quantification of different entropy generation terms is obtained. The results show that the entropy generation caused by mean flow features like mean viscous dissipation and mean heat flux are in close agreement between LES and RANS, indicating that RANS provides an overall good prediction for the mean flow. Furthermore, we find that turbulence production plays an important role in entropy generation as it represents the energy extracted from the mean flow to turbulent fluctuations. However, the difference between RANS and LES results for the turbulence production term is not negligible, particularly in the wake region. This implies that the failure of RANS to predict the correct total loss might be largely caused by errors in capturing the correct turbulence production in the near wake region.


Entropy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 1049 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shi ◽  
Ma

The entropy generation that occurs within boundary layers over a C4 blade at a Reynolds number of 24,000 and incidence angles (i) of 0°,2.5°,5°,7.5°, and 10° are investigated experimentally using a particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique. To clarify the entropy generation process, the distribution of the entropy generation rates (EGR) and the unsteady flow structures within the PIV snapshots are analyzed. The results identify that for a higher incidence angle, the separation and transition occur further upstream, and the entropy generation in the boundary layer increases. When the separation takes place at the aft portion of the blade, the integral EGR decrease near the leading edge, remain minimal values in the middle portion of the blade, and increase sharply in the vicinity of the mean transition. More than 35% of the entropy generation is generated at the region downstream of the mean transition. When the separation occurs at the fore portion of the blade, the contributions of mean-flow viscous dissipation decrease to less than 20%. The entropy generation with elevated value can be detected over the entire blade. The entire integral entropy generation in the boundary layer increases sharply when the laminar separation bubble moves upstream to the leading edge.


Author(s):  
Huixuan Wu ◽  
Rinaldo L. Miorini ◽  
Joseph Katz

A series of high resolution planar particle image velocimetry measurements performed in a waterjet pump rotor reveal the inner structure of the tip leakage vortex (TLV) which dominates the entire flow field in the tip region. Turbulence generated by interactions among the TLV, the shear layer that develops as the backward leakage flow emerges from the tip clearance as a “wall jet”, the passage flow, and the endwall is highly inhomogeneous and anisotropic. We examine this turbulence in both RANS and LES modelling contexts. Spatially non-uniform distributions of Reynolds stress components are explained in terms of the local mean strain field and associated turbulence production. Characteristic length scales are also inferred from spectral analysis. Spatial filtering of instantaneous data enables the calculation of subgrid scale (SGS) stresses, along with the SGS energy flux (dissipation). The data show that the SGS energy flux differs from the turbulence production rate both in trends and magnitude. The latter is dominated by energy flux from the mean flow to the large scale turbulence, which is resolved in LES, whereas the former is dominated by energy flux from the mean flow to the SGS turbulence. The SGS dissipation rate is also used for calculating the static and dynamic Smagorinsky coefficients, the latter involving filtering at multiple scales; both vary substantially in the tip region, and neither is equal to values obtained in isotropic turbulence.


2019 ◽  
Vol 875 ◽  
pp. 101-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weipeng Li ◽  
Yitong Fan ◽  
Davide Modesti ◽  
Cheng Cheng

The mean skin-friction drag in a wall-bounded turbulent flow can be decomposed into different physics-informed contributions based on the mean and statistical turbulence quantities across the wall layer. Following Renard & Deck’s study (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 790, 2016, pp. 339–367) on the skin-friction drag decomposition of incompressible wall-bounded turbulence, we extend their method to a compressible form and use it to investigate the effect of density and viscosity variations on skin-friction drag generation, using direct numerical simulation data of compressible turbulent channel flows. We use this novel decomposition to study the skin-friction contributions associated with the molecular viscous dissipation and the turbulent kinetic energy production and we investigate their dependence on Reynolds and Mach number. We show that, upon application of the compressibility transformation of Trettel & Larsson (Phys. Fluids, vol. 28, 2016, 026102), the skin-friction drag contributions can be only partially transformed into the equivalent incompressible ones, as additional terms appear representing deviations from the incompressible counterpart. Nevertheless, these additional contributions are found to be negligible at sufficiently large equivalent Reynolds number and low Mach number. Moreover, we derive an exact relationship between the wall heat flux coefficient and the skin-friction drag coefficient, which allows us to relate the wall heat flux to the skin-friction generation process.


2019 ◽  
Vol 865 ◽  
pp. 1085-1109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yutaro Motoori ◽  
Susumu Goto

To understand the generation mechanism of a hierarchy of multiscale vortices in a high-Reynolds-number turbulent boundary layer, we conduct direct numerical simulations and educe the hierarchy of vortices by applying a coarse-graining method to the simulated turbulent velocity field. When the Reynolds number is high enough for the premultiplied energy spectrum of the streamwise velocity component to show the second peak and for the energy spectrum to obey the$-5/3$power law, small-scale vortices, that is, vortices sufficiently smaller than the height from the wall, in the log layer are generated predominantly by the stretching in strain-rate fields at larger scales rather than by the mean-flow stretching. In such a case, the twice-larger scale contributes most to the stretching of smaller-scale vortices. This generation mechanism of small-scale vortices is similar to the one observed in fully developed turbulence in a periodic cube and consistent with the picture of the energy cascade. On the other hand, large-scale vortices, that is, vortices as large as the height, are stretched and amplified directly by the mean flow. We show quantitative evidence of these scale-dependent generation mechanisms of vortices on the basis of numerical analyses of the scale-dependent enstrophy production rate. We also demonstrate concrete examples of the generation process of the hierarchy of multiscale vortices.


Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 328
Author(s):  
Ebenezer Essel ◽  
Subhadip Das ◽  
Ram Balachandar

Understanding the wake characteristics between two in-line vehicles is essential for improving and developing new strategies for reducing in-cabin air pollution. In this study, Ahmed bodies are used to investigate the effects of the rear slant angle of a leading vehicle on the mean flow and turbulent statistics between two vehicles. The experiments were conducted with a particle image velocimetry at a fixed Reynolds number, R e H = 1.7 × 10 4 , and inter-vehicle spacing distance of 0.75 L , where H and L are the height and length of the model. The rear slant angles investigated were a reference square back, high-drag angle ( α = 25 ° ) and low-drag angle ( α = 35 ° ). The mean velocities, Reynolds stresses, production of turbulent kinetic energy and instantaneous swirling strength are used to provide physical insight into the wake dynamics between the two bodies. The results indicate that the recirculation region behind the square back Ahmed body increases while those behind the slant rear-end bodies decreases in the presence of a follower. For the square back models, the dominant motion in the wake region is a strong upwash of jet-like flow away from the road but increasing the rear slant angle induces a stronger downwash flow that suppresses the upwash and dominates the wake region.


In this problem a mean turbulent shear layer originally exists, homogeneous in the streamwise direction, formed perhaps by previous instabilities, but in equilibrium with the fine-grained turbulence. At a given time, a large eddy of a fixed horizontal wavenumber is initiated. We study the subsequent time development of the non-equilibrium interactions between the three components of flow as they adjust towards ultimate simultaneous equilibrium, using the integrated energy-balance conservation equations to derive the amplitude equations. This necessarily involves the usual averaging procedure and a conditional or phase-averaging procedure by which the large structure motion is educed from the total fluctuations. In general, the mean flow growth is due to the energy transfer to both fluctuating components, the large eddy gains energy from the mean motion and exchanges energy with the fine-grained turbulence, while the fine-grained turbulence gains energy from the mean flow and exchanges with the large eddy and converts its energy to heat through viscous dissipation of the smallest scales. The closure problem is obtained via the shape assumptions which enter into the interaction integrals. The situation in which the fine-grained turbulent kinetic energy production and viscous dissipation are in local balance is considered, the displacement from equilibrium being due only to the energy transfer from the large eddy. The large eddy shape is taken to be two-dimensional, instability-wavelike, with its vorticity axis perpendicular to the direction of the mean outer stream. Prior to averaging, detailed but approximate calculations of the wave-induced turbulent Reynolds stresses are obtained; the product of these stresses with the appropriate large-eddy rates of strain give the energy transfer mechanism between the two disparate scales of fluctuations. Coupled, nonlinear amplitude or energy density equations for the three components of motion are obtained, the coefficients of which are the interaction integrals guided by the shape assumptions. It is found that for the special case of parallel flow, the energy of the large eddy first undergoes a hydrodynamic-instability type of amplification but eventually decays due to the energy transfer to the fine-grained turbulence, while the turbulent kinetic energy is displaced from an original level of equilibrium to a new one because of the ability of the large eddy to negotiate an indirect energy transfer from the mean flow. For the growing shear layer, approximate considerations show that if the mechanism of energy transfer from the large to the small scale is eventually weakened by the shear layer growth compared to the large-eddy production mechanism so that the amplification and decay process repeats, ‘bursts’ of the remnant of the same large eddy will occur repeatedly until an ultimate equilibrium is reached among the three interacting components of motion. However, for the large eddy whose wavenumber corresponds to that of the initially most amplified case, the ‘bursting’ phenomenon is much less pronounced and equilibrium is very nearly reached at the end of the very first ‘burst’.


2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Changwoo Kang ◽  
Kyung-Soo Yang

In the current investigation, we performed large eddy simulation (LES) of turbulent heat transfer in circular ribbed-pipe flow in order to study the effects of periodically mounted square ribs on heat transfer characteristics. The ribs were implemented on a cylindrical coordinate system by using an immersed boundary method, and dynamic subgrid-scale models were used to model Reynolds stresses and turbulent heat flux terms. A constant and uniform wall heat flux was imposed on all the solid boundaries. The Reynolds number (Re) based on the bulk velocity and pipe diameter is 24,000, and Prandtl number is fixed at Pr = 0.71. The blockage ratio (BR) based on the pipe diameter and rib height is fixed with 0.0625, while the pitch ratio based on the rib interval and rib height is varied with 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 18. Since the pitch ratio is the key parameter that can change flow topology, we focus on its effects on the characteristics of turbulent heat transfer. Mean flow and temperature fields are presented in the form of streamlines and contours. How the surface roughness, manifested by the wall-mounted ribs, affects the mean streamwise-velocity profile was investigated by comparing the roughness function. Local heat transfer distributions between two neighboring ribs were obtained for the pitch ratios under consideration. The flow structures related to heat transfer enhancement were identified. Friction factors and mean heat transfer enhancement factors were calculated from the mean flow and temperature fields, respectively. Furthermore, the friction and heat-transfer correlations currently available in the literature for turbulent pipe flow with surface roughness were revisited and evaluated with the LES data. A simple Nusselt number correlation is also proposed for turbulent heat transfer in ribbed pipe flow.


2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 583-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Sekma ◽  
Y.-H. Park ◽  
F. Vivier

Abstract The major mechanisms of the oceanic poleward heat flux in the Southern Ocean are still in debate. The long-standing belief stipulates that the poleward heat flux across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is mainly due to mesoscale transient eddies and the cross-stream heat flux by time-mean flow is insignificant. This belief has recently been challenged by several numerical modeling studies, which stress the importance of mean flow for the meridional heat flux in the Southern Ocean. Here, this study analyzes moored current meter data obtained recently in the Fawn Trough, Kerguelen Plateau, to estimate the cross-stream heat flux caused by the time-mean flow and transient eddies. It is shown that the poleward eddy heat flux in this southern part of the ACC is negligible, while that from the mean flow is overwhelming by two orders of magnitude. This is due to the unusual anticlockwise turning of currents with decreasing depth, which is associated with significant bottom upwelling engendered by strong bottom currents flowing over the sloping topography of the trough. The circumpolar implications of these local observations are discussed in terms of the depth-integrated linear vorticity budget, which suggests that the six topographic features along the southern flank of the ACC equivalent to the Fawn Trough case would yield sufficient poleward heat flux to balance the oceanic heat loss in the subpolar region. As eddy activity on the southern flank of the ACC is too weak to transport sufficient heat poleward, the nonequivalent barotropic structure of the mean flow in several topographically constricted passages should accomplish the required task.


1997 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. 1570-1580 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. M. Gavrilov

Abstract. The mechanism of generation of internal gravity waves (IGW) by mesoscale turbulence in the troposphere is considered. The equations that describe the generation of waves by hydrodynamic sources of momentum, heat and mass are derived. Calculations of amplitudes, wave energy fluxes, turbulent viscosities, and accelerations of the mean flow caused by IGWs generated in the troposphere are made. A comparison of different mechanisms of turbulence production in the atmosphere by IGWs shows that the nonlinear destruction of a primary IGW into a spectrum of secondary waves may provide additional dissipation of nonsaturated stable waves. The mean wind increases both the effectiveness of generation and dissipation of IGWs propagating in the direction of the wind. Competition of both effects may lead to the dominance of IGWs propagating upstream at long distances from tropospheric wave sources, and to the formation of eastward wave accelerations in summer and westward accelerations in winter near the mesopause.


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