Measurements and Characterization of Turbulence in the Tip Region of an Axial Compressor Rotor

Author(s):  
Yuanchao Li ◽  
Huang Chen ◽  
Joseph Katz

Modeling of turbulent flows in axial turbomachines is challenging due to the high spatial and temporal variability in the distribution of the strain rate components, especially in the tip region of rotor blades. High-resolution stereo PIV measurements performed in a refractive index matched facility in a series of closely-spaced planes provide a comprehensive database for determining all the terms in the Reynolds stress and strain rate tensors. Results are also used for calculating the turbulent kinetic energy production rate and transport terms by mean flow and turbulence. They elucidate some but not all of the observed phenomena, such as the high anisotropy, high turbulence levels in the vicinity of the tip leakage vortex (TLV) center, and in the shear layer connecting it to the blade suction side (SS) tip corner. The applicability of popular Reynolds stress models based on eddy-viscosity is also evaluated by calculating it from the ratio between stress and strain components. Results vary substantially, depending on which components are involved, ranging from very large positive to negative values. In some areas, e.g., in the tip gap and around the TLV, the local stresses and strains do not appear to be correlated at all. In terms of effect on the mean flow, for most of the tip region, the mean advection terms are much higher than the Reynolds stress spatial gradients, i.e., the flow dynamics is dominated by pressure-driven transport. However, they are of similar magnitude in the shear layer, where modeling would be particularly challenging.

2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanchao Li ◽  
Huang Chen ◽  
Joseph Katz

Modeling of turbulent flows in axial turbomachines is challenging due to the high spatial and temporal variability in the distribution of the strain rate components, especially in the tip region of rotor blades. High-resolution stereo-particle image velocimetry (SPIV) measurements performed in a refractive index-matched facility in a series of closely spaced planes provide a comprehensive database for determining all the terms in the Reynolds stress and strain rate tensors. Results are also used for calculating the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) production rate and transport terms by mean flow and turbulence. They elucidate some but not all of the observed phenomena, such as the high anisotropy, high turbulence levels in the vicinity of the tip leakage vortex (TLV) center, and in the shear layer connecting it to the blade suction side (SS) tip corner. The applicability of popular Reynolds stress models based on eddy viscosity is also evaluated by calculating it from the ratio between stress and strain rate components. Results vary substantially, depending on which components are involved, ranging from very large positive to negative values. In some areas, e.g., in the tip gap and around the TLV, the local stresses and strain rates do not appear to be correlated at all. In terms of effect on the mean flow, for most of the tip region, the mean advection terms are much higher than the Reynolds stress spatial gradients, i.e., the flow dynamics is dominated by pressure-driven transport. However, they are of similar magnitude in the shear layer, where modeling would be particularly challenging.


Geosciences ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Adriano Coutinho de Lima

Hydrodynamic zones of river confluences are remarkable not only for the turbulent mixing induced by the shear layer at the center of the mixing interface but also for the lateral momentum fluxes associated with channel topography. Detailed characterizations of lateral momentum transfers in river confluences, however, are few. In this study, contributions to the lateral momentum fluxes in the confluence of the Negro and Solimões rivers in Brazil were calculated based on a comprehensive set of field data. Results show that the lateral fluxes by the mean flow exceed the turbulent fluxes by two orders of magnitude. Furthermore, the Reynolds stress along the far field of the Solimões side of the Amazon channel scales with or surpasses the Reynolds stress at the interface with the Negro side. The importance of the shear layer in the lateral mixing is thus overshadowed by the competing hydrodynamic processes. This configuration partially explains the long distance required to complete the mixing of the waters of the two tributary rivers.


Author(s):  
S P Yuan ◽  
R M C So

The stress field in a rotating turbulent internal flow is highly anisotropic. This is true irrespective of whether the axis of rotation is aligned with or normal to the mean flow plane. Consequently, turbulent rotating flow is very difficult to model. This paper attempts to assess the relative merits of three different ways to account for stress anisotropies in a rotating flow. One is to assume an anisotropic stress tensor, another is to model the anisotropy of the dissipation rate tensor, while a third is to solve the stress transport equations directly. Two different near-wall two-equation models and one Reynolds stress closure are considered. All the models tested are asymptotically consistent near the wall. The predictions are compared with measurements and direct numerical simulation data. Calculations of turbulent flows with inlet swirl numbers up to 1.3, with and without a central recirculation, reveal that none of the anisotropic two-equation models tested is capable of replicating the mean velocity field at these swirl numbers. This investigation, therefore, indicates that neither the assumption of anisotropic stress tensor nor that of an anisotropic dissipation rate tensor is sufficient to model flows with medium to high rotation correctly. It is further found that, at very high rotation rates, even the Reynolds stress closure fails to predict accurately the extent of the central recirculation zone.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaomin Zhao ◽  
Richard D. Sandberg

Abstract We present the first wall-resolved high-fidelity simulations of high-pressure turbine (HPT) stages at engine-relevant conditions. A series of cases have been performed to investigate the effects of varying Reynolds numbers and inlet turbulence on the aerothermal behavior of the stage. While all of the cases have similar mean pressure distribution, the cases with higher Reynolds number show larger amplitude wall shear stress and enhanced heat fluxes around the vane and rotor blades. Moreover, higher-amplitude turbulence fluctuations at the inlet enhance heat transfer on the pressure-side and induce early transition on the suction-side of the vane, although the rotor blade boundary layers are not significantly affected. In addition to the time-averaged results, phase-lock averaged statistics are also collected to characterize the evolution of the stator wakes in the rotor passages. It is shown that the stretching and deformation of the stator wakes is dominated by the mean flow shear, and their interactions with the rotor blades can significantly intensify the heat transfer on the suction side. For the first time, the recently proposed entropy analysis has been applied to phase-lock averaged flow fields, which enables a quantitative characterization of the different mechanisms responsible for the unsteady losses of the stages. The results indicate that the losses related to the evolution of the stator wakes is mainly caused by the turbulence production, i.e. the direct interaction between the wake fluctuations and the mean flow shear through the rotor passages.


2021 ◽  
Vol 929 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Agastya Balantrapu ◽  
Christopher Hickling ◽  
W. Nathan Alexander ◽  
William Devenport

Experiments were performed over a body of revolution at a length-based Reynolds number of 1.9 million. While the lateral curvature parameters are moderate ( $\delta /r_s < 2, r_s^+>500$ , where $\delta$ is the boundary layer thickness and r s is the radius of curvature), the pressure gradient is increasingly adverse ( $\beta _{C} \in [5 \text {--} 18]$ where $\beta_{C}$ is Clauser’s pressure gradient parameter), representative of vehicle-relevant conditions. The mean flow in the outer regions of this fully attached boundary layer displays some properties of a free-shear layer, with the mean-velocity and turbulence intensity profiles attaining self-similarity with the ‘embedded shear layer’ scaling (Schatzman & Thomas, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 815, 2017, pp. 592–642). Spectral analysis of the streamwise turbulence revealed that, as the mean flow decelerates, the large-scale motions energize across the boundary layer, growing proportionally with the boundary layer thickness. When scaled with the shear layer parameters, the distribution of the energy in the low-frequency region is approximately self-similar, emphasizing the role of the embedded shear layer in the large-scale motions. The correlation structure of the boundary layer is discussed at length to supply information towards the development of turbulence and aeroacoustic models. One major finding is that the estimation of integral turbulence length scales from single-point measurements, via Taylor's hypothesis, requires significant corrections to the convection velocity in the inner 50 % of the boundary layer. The apparent convection velocity (estimated from the ratio of integral length scale to the time scale), is approximately 40 % greater than the local mean velocity, suggesting the turbulence is convected much faster than previously thought. Closer to the wall even higher corrections are required.


2010 ◽  
Vol 664 ◽  
pp. 510-539 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Z. AFSAR

Measurements of subsonic air jets show that the peak noise usually occurs when observations are made at small angles to the jet axis. In this paper, we develop further understanding of the mathematical properties of this peak noise by analysing the properties of the overall sound pressure level with an acoustic analogy using isotropy as a paradigm for the turbulence. The analogy is based upon the hyperbolic conservation form of the Euler equations derived by Goldstein (Intl J. Aeroacoust., vol. 1, 2002, p. 1). The mean flow and the turbulence properties are defined by a Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes calculation, and we use Green's function based upon a parallel mean flow approximation. Our analysis in this paper shows that the jet noise spectrum can, in fact, be thought of as being composed of two terms, one that is significant at large observation angles and a second term that is especially dominant at small observation angles to the jet axis. This second term can account for the experimentally observed peak jet noise (Lush, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 46, 1971, p. 477) and was first identified by Goldstein (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 70, 1975, p. 595). We discuss the low-frequency asymptotic properties of this second term in order to understand its directional behaviour; we show, for example, that the sound power of this term is proportional to the square of the mean velocity gradient. We also show that this small-angle shear term does not exist if the instantaneous Reynolds stress source strength in the momentum equation itself is assumed to be isotropic for any value of time (as was done previously by Morris & Farrasat, AIAA J., vol. 40, 2002, p. 356). However, it will be significant if the auto-covariance of the Reynolds stress source, when integrated over the vector separation, is taken to be isotropic in all of its tensor suffixes. Although the analysis shows that the sound pressure of this small-angle shear term is sensitive to the statistical properties of the turbulence, this work provides a foundation for a mathematical description of the two-source model of jet noise.


2001 ◽  
Vol 124 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Gerolymos ◽  
J. Neubauer ◽  
V. C. Sharma ◽  
I. Vallet

In this paper an assessment of the improvement in the prediction of complex turbomachinery flows using a new near-wall Reynolds-stress model is attempted. The turbulence closure used is a near-wall low-turbulence-Reynolds-number Reynolds-stress model, that is independent of the distance-from-the-wall and of the normal-to-the-wall direction. The model takes into account the Coriolis redistribution effect on the Reynolds-stresses. The five mean flow equations and the seven turbulence model equations are solved using an implicit coupled OΔx3 upwind-biased solver. Results are compared with experimental data for three turbomachinery configurations: the NTUA high subsonic annular cascade, the NASA_37 rotor, and the RWTH 1 1/2 stage turbine. A detailed analysis of the flowfield is given. It is seen that the new model that takes into account the Reynolds-stress anisotropy substantially improves the agreement with experimental data, particularily for flows with large separation, while being only 30 percent more expensive than the k−ε model (thanks to an efficient implicit implementation). It is believed that further work on advanced turbulence models will substantially enhance the predictive capability of complex turbulent flows in turbomachinery.


1967 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 657-689 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Kelly

In experiments concerning the instability of free shear layers, oscillations have been observed in the downstream flow which have a frequency exactly half that of the dominant oscillation closer to the origin of the layer. The present analysis indicates that the phenomenon is due to a secondary instability associated with the nearly periodic flow which arises from the finite-amplitude growth of the fundamental disturbance.At first, however, the stability of inviscid shear flows, consisting of a non-zero mean component, together with a component periodic in the direction of flow and with time, is investigated fairly generally. It is found that the periodic component can serve as a means by which waves with twice the wavelength of the periodic component can be reinforced. The dependence of the growth rate of the subharmonic wave upon the amplitude of the periodic component is found for the case when the mean flow profile is of the hyperbolic-tangent type. In order that the subharmonic growth rate may exceed that of the most unstable disturbance associated with the mean flow, the amplitude of the streamwise component of the periodic flow is required to be about 12 % of the mean velocity difference across the shear layer. This represents order-of-magnitude agreement with experiment.Other possibilities of interaction between disturbances and the periodic flow are discussed, and the concluding section contains a discussion of the interactions on the basis of the energy equation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Alexakis ◽  
S. Fauve ◽  
C. Gissinger ◽  
F. Pétrélis

We discuss the effect of different types of fluctuations on dynamos generated in the limit of scale separation. We first recall that the magnetic field observed in the VKS (von Karman flow of liquid sodium) experiment is not the one that would be generated by the mean flow alone and that smaller scale turbulent fluctuations therefore play an important role. We then consider how velocity fluctuations affect the dynamo threshold in the framework of mean-field magnetohydrodynamics. We show that the detrimental effect of turbulent fluctuations observed with many flows disappears in the case of helical flows with scale separation. We also find that fluctuations of the electrical conductivity of the fluid, for instance related to temperature fluctuations in convective flows, provide an efficient mechanism for dynamo action. Finally, we conclude by describing an experimental configuration that could be used to test the validity of mean-field magnetohydrodynamics in strongly turbulent flows.


Author(s):  
Masaki Yamagishi ◽  
Tomoko Togano ◽  
Shinichi Tashiro

The vortex structures in a separated region are generated by the motion of the separated shear layer caused by the introduction of periodic fluctuation. The main cause of the motion of the separated shear layer is the external fluctuation with the characteristic frequency. In order to investigate the principal motion of the velocity field, phase averaging was conducted to the velocity signals obtained by single hot-wire measurement. In phase averaging, wavelet analysis was applied to obtain the dominant frequency and the characteristic phase in the fluctuation. The profiles and the contours of the phase-averaged velocity could be found and discussed. The profiles vary dynamically at each phase and show the periodic motion of the shear layer. The separated shear layer flutters with the external fluctuation in the mean flow. If the suitable frequency is selected in the external fluctuation, the separated region disappears in almost all each phases owing to the depression of the shear layer near the wall.


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