scholarly journals An Inviscid-Viscous Method to Model Leading Edge Separation Bubbles

1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. John Calvert

Separation bubbles are likely to occur near the leading edges of sharp-edged blade sections in axial compressors and turbines, particularly when the sections are operated at positive incidence. Typically the flow reattaches a short distance from the leading edge as a turbulent boundary layer, the thickness of which depends on the details of the separation bubble. The overall performance of the blade section can be significantly affected by the thickness of this initial boundary layer — in some cases blade stall is mainly associated with the change in thickness of the layer as blade incidence is increased. A recent experimental study at the Whittle Laboratory, Cambridge demonstrated the importance of the blade leading edge shape on the separation bubble. In the present work, an inviscid-viscous method has been set up to model the experimental data and to provide a way of predicting the performance of this critical region for different leading edge shapes.

Author(s):  
K. Funazaki ◽  
Y. Harada ◽  
E. Takahashi

This paper describes an attempt to suppress a blade leading edge separation bubble by utilizing a stationary bar wake. This study aims at exploration of a possibility for reducing the aerodynamic loss due to blade boundary layer that is accompanied with the separation bubble. The test model used in this study consists of semi-circular leading edge and two parallel flat plates. It can be tilted against the inlet flow so as to change the characteristics of the separation bubble. Detailed flow measurements over the test model are conducted using a single hot-wire probe. Emphasis in this study is placed on the effect of bar shifting or bar clocking across the inlet flow in order to see how the bar-wake position with respect to the test model affects the separation bubble as well as aerodynamic loss generated within the boundary layer. The present study reveals a loss reduction through the separation bubble control using a properly clocked bar wake.


Author(s):  
Huoxing Liu ◽  
Baojie Liu ◽  
Ling Li ◽  
Haokang Jiang

Accurate prediction of flow field is the most important factor during the design of high performance compressors. In some cases the agreement of pressure ratio and efficiency between predicted and measured is excellent, but it is common for the efficiency to be in error by perhaps one or two percent. This error is enough to render the calculation unable to replace expensive experiment testing. One of the important matters in need of more study is the mechanism of boundary layer transition from laminar to turbulent flow. The objective of this fundamental research work is to acquire the detailed structure of separation bubbles on the suction side of the blade by using the PIV and pressure taps. This paper presents an experimental study of the influence of 2d leading-edge geometry on behavior of separation bubbles. The measurements on a nose of enlarged blade were conducted on a special large-scale experimental facility, the pressure distribution and flowfield of flow were measured. The test model used in this study consists of circular leading edge and elliptic leading edge. Results are presented for a range of incidence. The measurement result indicated that the leading edge shape has a large influence on flow details separation and transition as well as the boundary layer properties after reattached point. The wedge angle appears to be an important role in leading edge geometry parameters.


1953 ◽  
Vol 57 (516) ◽  
pp. 819-823 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Black ◽  
R. D. Hunt

Pressure Distribution and liquid-film tests on a 10 per cent, thick aerofoil revealed the presence of separation “bubbles” close to the leading edge. These bubbles are formed beneath the boundary layer which separates near the leading edge and re-attaches farther aft; their existence is usually indicated by localised constant-pressure regions in the pressure distributions. It is also believed that if a thin film of liquid (such as a suspension of lamp-black in paraffin) is spread on the surface, the scrubbing action of the air rotating in the bubble will tend to draw liquid forward into the bubble, and hence the location and extent of the bubble may be indicated approximately by the accumulation of the fluid.Many boundary layer traverses of bubbles on N.A.C.A. aerofoils have been made, but it was felt that similar measurements of the bubbles on this particular aerofoil would provide useful data, since the separation characteristics of this section appeared to differ from those in the N.A.C.A. tests.


Author(s):  
Dimitri P. Tselepidakis ◽  
Sung-Eun Kim

This paper presents the computation of the flow around a controlled diffusion compressor cascade. Features associated with by-pass transition close to the leading edge — including laminar leading-edge separation — contribute significantly to the evolution of the boundary layer on the blade surface. Previous studies have demonstrated that conventional k-ε models, based on linear or non-linear Boussinesq stress-strain relations, are able to capture by-pass transition in simple shear, but are unable to resolve transitional features in complex strain, like the leading-edge separation bubble, which is of considerable influence to the suction-side flow at high inlet angle. Here, the k-ω turbulence model has been implemented in a nonstaggered, finite-volume based segregated Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes solver. We demonstrate that this model, if properly sensitized to the generation of turbulence by irrotational strains, is capable of capturing the laminar leading-edge separation bubble. The real flow around the leading edge is laminar and the transition is only provoked on the reattachment region. Additional investigation of transition in a flat-plate boundary layer development has also produced reasonably promising results.


1986 ◽  
Vol 108 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. Bellows ◽  
R. E. Mayle

Experiments for flow about a two-dimensional blunt body with a circular leading edge are described. Measurements of the free-stream and boundary-layer velocity distributions are presented and indicate that a small separation “bubble” existed where the leading edge joined the body. In particular, it was found that the laminar leading edge boundary layer separated and reattached shortly downstream as a turbulent boundary layer with a low-momentum thickness Reynolds number. Heat transfer measurements around the body are also presented and show almost an order of magnitude increase across the bubble. Downstream of the bubble, however, the heat transfer could be correlated by a slightly modified turbulent flat plate equation using the separation point as the virtual origin of the heated turbulent boundary layer.


Author(s):  
Birinchi K. Hazarika ◽  
Charles Hirsch

An experimental investigation of a separation bubble on a C4 leading edge plate at an incidence in a low turbulence free stream at six Reynolds numbers, is reported. The long separation bubble, formed at the leading edge, has a short laminar and transitional zone followed by a long turbulent zone. The increase in Reynolds number reduced the laminar and transitional part significantly, but its effect on the length of the separation bubble is marginal till the transition starts at the separation point. The peak intermittency factor, which occurs at the centre of the shear layer, follows the universal intermittency distribution curve. The spot production rate for the separated flows are several orders of magnitude higher than that for the attached boundary layers. The transition process is initiated by the amplification of the instability waves in the shear layer similar to the natural mode of transition. At high Reynolds numbers, the onset of transition is likely to take place at the separation point. At lower chord Reynolds numbers, the separation to onset Reynolds number and the spot production rate parameter are functions of the separation momentum thickness Reynolds number. The free stream turbulence intensity has a strong influence on the spot production rate. New correlations for transition in the leading edge separation bubbles are proposed based on all the available intermittency measurements in the leading edge separation bubbles.


Author(s):  
K Anand ◽  
KT Ganesh

The effect of pressure gradient on a separated boundary layer past the leading edge of an airfoil model is studied experimentally using electronically scanned pressure (ESP) and particle image velocimetry (PIV) for a Reynolds number ( Re) of 25,000, based on leading-edge diameter ( D). The features of the boundary layer in the region of separation and its development past the reattachment location are examined for three cases of β (−30°, 0°, and +30°). The bubble parameters such as the onset of separation and transition and the reattachment location are identified from the averaged data obtained from pressure and velocity measurements. Surface pressure measurements obtained from ESP show a surge in wall static pressure for β = −30° (flap deflected up), while it goes down for β = +30° (flap deflected down) compared to the fundamental case, β = 0°. Particle image velocimetry results show that the roll up of the shear layer past the onset of separation is early for β = +30°, owing to higher amplification of background disturbances compared to β = 0° and −30°. Downstream to transition location, the instantaneous field measurements reveal a stretched, disoriented, and at instances bigger vortices for β = +30°, whereas a regular, periodically shed vortices, keeping their identity past the reattachment location, is observed for β = 0° and −30°. Above all, this study presents a new insight on the features of a separation bubble receiving a disturbance from the downstream end of the model, and these results may serve as a bench mark for future studies over an airfoil under similar environment.


1992 ◽  
Vol 169 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
DMITRY L. GRODNTTSKY ◽  
PAHVEL P. MOROZOV

Experiments on dust visualization of the flow around tethered flying green lacewings showed that, contrary to expectations based on the Weis-Fogh clap-andfling mechanism, a leading edge separation bubble does not exist near either fore-or hindwings. At the beginning of the stroke cycle each wing operates as an independent generator of vorticity. The vortex bubbles of all the four wings then unite, producing a single U-shaped bubble. A hypothetical spatial structure for the vortex wake is derived from a series of registrated sections of the wake illuminated with a flat light beam. Some problems of wing functional morphology and insect flight aerodynamics are also discussed.


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