Experimental Study of the Aerodynamic Interaction between Side-by-Side Propellers in eVTOL Airplane Mode through Stereoscopic Particle Image Velocimetry

Side-by-side propellers characterise the architecture of most new electric aircraft (eVTOLs) designed in recent years for urban air mobility. The aerodynamic interaction between side-by-side propellers represents one of the key phenomena that characterise the flow field and performance of these novel aircraft configurations. The present article describes the main results of a wind tunnel campaign that aimed to investigate the flow features that characterise this aerodynamic interaction, with a particular application to cruise flight conditions in eVTOLs. With this aim, stereo particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements were performed in the wake of two co-rotating propeller models in a side-by-side configuration. The three-dimensional flow surveys provided detailed insights into the flow physics of the interacting propellers, with a particular focus on the interactional effects on the trajectory of the tip vortices and the wake topology provided at two different advance ratios by reproducing a moderate and a fast cruise speed of eVTOLs in urban areas.

Stereo PIV measurements of oscillatory plasma forcing in the cross-plane of a channel flow

The present work describes an experimental investigation that applies stereo particle image velocimetry in a cross-plane of a turbulent channel flow that is additionally perturbed by spanwise oscillatory body forces, induced by a plasma actuator and designed to mimic the effect of spanwise wall oscillations. The experiment is aimed at retrieving the forcing-correlated scales and the turbulent flow stochastic fluctuations for the measured cross-plane. The first are macroscopic scales and require a larger investigation domain while the latter benefit of a higher resolution. Furthermore, the extended flow-field dynamic range posed a challenge on the experiment design, finally leading to an optimal tradeoff. The results of the unactuated flow compare well to the direct numerical simulations of Hoyas and Jimenez ́ (2008), while the actuated case demonstrates strong near-wall momentum addition and spanwise modulation of the streamwise flow component.

Investigation of Film Cooling Using Time-Resolved Stereo Particle Image Velocimetry

In the present study an existing test rig at the Institute of Thermal Turbomachinery (ITS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) designed for generic film cooling studies is adopted to accommodate time resolved stereoscopic particle image velocimetry measurements. Through a similarity analysis the test rig geometry is scaled by a factor of about 20. Operating conditions of hot gas and cooling air inlet and exit can be imposed that are compliant with realistic engine conditions including density ratio. The cooling air is supplied by a parallel-to-hot gas coolant flow-configuration with a coolant Reynolds number of 30,000. Time-resolved and time-averaged stereo particle image velocimetry data for a film cooling flow at high density ratio and a range of blowing ratios is presented in this study. The investigated film cooling hole constitutes a 10°-10°-10° laidback fan-shaped hole with a wide spacing of P/D = 8 to insure the absence of jet interaction. The inclination angle amounts to 35°. The time-resolved data indicates transient behaviour of the film cooling jet.

Stereo Particle Image Velocimetry Measurements of the Wake Fields Behind A Panamax Bulker Ship Model Under the Ballast Condition

Particle image velocimetry is applied in this study to measure the wake flow field of a Panamax Bulker ship model under the ballast condition. This investigation revealed that the Froude number is 0.167. The time-averaged velocity, turbulent fluctuations, turbulent kinetic energy (TKE), Reynolds stresses, and vorticity information were measured to perform a comparison with the design condition. The time-averaged velocity contours indicated that the ballast and design conditions have distinct hook-like axial velocity contours; however, they appeared at different positions. The big difference under the ballast condition is that the top of the propeller disk area is near the free surface and a region with strong root mean square velocity fluctuation is formed near the free surface. The TKE, the Reynolds stresses, and the hub cap vortex (Hcv) are all affected by the turbulent velocity fluctuation region under the ballast condition. A strong bilge vortex (Bv) is produced when the water flows through the U-shaped stern for the design and ballast conditions.

Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Turbulent Swirl Flow Structure in Double Swirler Burner

Dynamic and kinematic characteristics of non-reactive turbulent swirl flow studies are significant for optimizing burner design, stability, and validating numerical simulations. The experiments were conducted on unconfined double swirler burner to understand the structure of non-reactive turbulent swirl flow for various inner and outer swirl Reynold’s numbers (Re). The burner is designed with double swirlers, inner and outer; both are medium swirlers with geometric swirl number of 0.8. The instantaneous 3C-2D velocity field in a plane is obtained by using Stereo Particle Image Velocimetry (SPIV) in backward-backward scattering position. In each case, 1000 image pairs are acquired with appropriate calibration and post-processed using cross-correlation and particle tracking technique. Turbulence parameters such as Reynolds stress and turbulence intensity as well as the velocity field of all three components are analyzed for various Re that are useful to understand the effect of turbulent mixing. Numerical study for the same cases are carried out, and experimental results are compared with numerical results. A computational domain contains 1146217 cells are generated for the 3D numerical simulation, and Large Eddy Simulation (LES) approach is used to predict the unsteady behavior of the flow fields. The increase in inner swirl Re increases both axial and azimuthal velocity component, which facilitate mixing in gas turbine application. The inner recirculation zone moves downstream with the rise in inner swirl Re and subsequently increasing the outer swirl Re leads to the operating condition where the blowout may occur.

On the Effects of Tip Clearance and Operating Condition on the Flow Structures Within an Axial Turbomachine Rotor Passage

Effects of tip clearance size and flowrate on the flow around the tip of an axial turbomachine rotor are studied experimentally. Visualizations and stereo-particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements in a refractive index-matched facility compare the performance, leakage velocity, and the trajectory, growth rate, and strength of the tip leakage vortex (TLV) for gaps of 0.49% and 2.3% of the blade chord, and two flowrates. Enlarging the tip clearance delays the TLV breakup in the aft part of the rotor passage at high flowrates but causes earlier breakup under pre-stall conditions. It also reduces the entrainment of endwall boundary layer vorticity from the separation point where the leakage and passage flows meet. Reducing the flowrate or tip gap shifts the location of the TLV detachment from the blade suction side (SS) upstream to points where the leakage velocity is 70–80% of the tip speed. Once detached, the growth rates of the total shed circulation are similar for all cases, i.e., varying the gap or flowrate mostly shifts the detachment point. The TLV migration away from the SS decreases with an increasing gap but not with the flowrate. Two mechanisms dominate this migration: initially, the leakage jet pushes the TLV away from the blade at 50% of the leakage velocity. Further downstream, the TLV is driven by its image on the other side of the endwall. Differences in migration rate are caused by the smaller distance between the TLV and its image for the narrow gap, and the increase in initial TLV strength with decreasing flowrate and gap.

Three-dimensional flow structure and string cavitation in a fuel injector and their effects on discharged liquid jet

Two kinds of cavitation may occur in mini-sac type diesel injectors. The first is geometrical cavitation, which can usually be seen as a film-like structure in the nozzle. The second is the filament-like string cavitation. Both types of cavitation are known to affect fuel spray characteristics, although the effects of geometrical cavitation and that of string cavitation have not been individually clarified. Moreover, the mechanism behind string cavitation occurrence is still unclear. String cavitation usually occurs at low needle lift, which might indicate the existence of a vortex ring flow in the sac. However, because of the difficulty in precise flow measurement of the three-dimensional flow structure in the sac, the link between vortex ring flow and string cavitation occurrence in the sac has not been proven. In this study, high-speed imaging of string cavitation, geometrical cavitation, and discharged liquid jet of an enlarged three-hole mini-sac diesel fuel injector was conducted to individually clarify the effects of string cavitation and geometrical cavitation on the discharged liquid jet angle. Furthermore, tomographic–stereo particle image velocimetry was carried out on the sac. The experiments were conducted at two different needle lifts, to clarify the link between needle lifts and flow structure in the sac, as well as how it affects string cavitation occurrence and liquid jet angle. The results confirmed that at low needle lift, vortex ring flow forms in the sac, which may induce helical flow in the nozzle, resulting in a large jet angle. Vortex strength varies with time, and string cavitation occurs when the vortex is particularly strong. As a result, the magnitude of the jet angle increase at low needle lift is enhanced when string cavitation occurs. At high needle lift, flow pattern in the sac becomes relatively uniform, which makes it harder for string cavitation to form.