Plunging Circular Jets: Experimental Characterization of Dynamic Pressures Near the Stagnation Zone

Spillways are a requirement for dams’ safety, mainly preventing overtopping during floods. A common spillway solution involves plunging jets, which dissipate a considerable flow energy in the plunge pool. Energy dissipation has to occur in a controlled manner to avoid endangering the dam foundation and river slopes. Indeed, a scouring process in the downstream riverbed will inevitably develop until equilibrium is reached, otherwise a suitable pre-excavated or concrete lined plunge pool has to be provided. This paper focuses on experimental studies in which particular attention was paid to the dynamic pressures in the plunge pool floor at the vicinity of the jet stagnation zone sampled at 2.4 kHz. A rectangular experimental facility, 4.00 m long and 2.65 m wide, was used as plunge pool. Tests involved a vertical circular plunging jet with velocity ranging from 5 to 18 m/s and plunge pool depth ranging from 4.2 to 12.5 jet diameters. Differences in dynamic pressure measurements are highlighted between transducers located in the inner and outer regions of the jet diameter footprint. Several parameters characterizing the dynamic pressures evidence trends tied with the jet velocity that, to the authors’ knowledge, were not dealt in previous research. These can derive from the coupling effects of consequent recirculating motions and air entrainment in the limited-size plunge pool. Both effects, increasing with velocity, cause an reduction in the efficiency of the diffusing jet shear layer. This aspect deserves further investigation to achieve a better understanding and more complete characterization.

Evaluation of Shock Tube Retrofitted with Fast-Opening Valve for Dynamic Pressure Calibration

Accurate dynamic pressure measurements are increasingly important. While traceability is lacking, several National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) and calibration laboratories are currently establishing calibration capacities. Shock tubes generating pressure steps with rise times below 1 µs are highly suitable as standards for dynamic pressures in gas. In this work, we present the results from applying a fast-opening valve (FOV) to a shock tube designed for dynamic pressure measurements. We compare the performance of the shock tube when operated with conventional single and double diaphragms and when operated using an FOV. Different aspects are addressed: shock-wave formation, repeatability in amplitude of the realized pressure steps, the assessment of the required driver pressure for realizing nominal pressure steps, and economy. The results show that using the FOV has many advantages compared to the diaphragm: better repeatability, eight times faster to operate, and enables automation of the test sequences.

Reproducibility of C. I. P.-compatible dynamic pressure measurements

To ensure the safety of users like hunters and sports shooters, the dynamic pressure inside an ammunition cartridge must not exceed a maximum value. We have investigated the reproducibility of the dynamic measurement of the gas pressure inside civilian ammunition cartridges during firing, when following the rules formulated by the Permanent International Commission for the Proof of Small Arms (C. I. P.). We find an in-house spread of 0.8 % between maximum and minimum pressure for runs with the same barrel and of 1.8 % among a set of three barrels. This sets a baseline for the expected agreement in measurement comparisons between different laboratories. Furthermore, a difference of more than 3 % is found in a preliminary study of the influence of ammunition storage conditions.

Measurements of Multiple Pure Tone Propagation From a High Bypass Turbofan Rotor in an Internal Flow Facility

An important noise source in modern high bypass ratio turbofans is from multiple pure tones produced by the fan during takeoff. An experiment conducted on a 1.5 pressure ratio fan in an internal flow facility provided dynamic pressure measurements to investigate multiple pure tone generation and propagation. Since multiple pure tones are generated by blade shock variation primarily due to the fan’s blade stagger angle differences, the blade stagger angles were measured with an array of over-the-rotor dynamic pressure transducers. Multiple pure tone measurements were made with 30 wall-mounted dynamic pressure transducers from 0.4 to 1.1 diameters upstream of the rotor. Measured blade stagger angle differences correspond to the the shock amplitude variation measured upstream. The acoustic field was extracted from the dynamic pressure signals using principal component analysis as well as duct mode beamforming. Shocks traveling out the inlet were found to couple to duct modes propagating at similar angles. Over-the-rotor acoustic liners appear to reduce rotor shock variation resulting in a reduction of sub-harmonic multiple pure tone sound pressure levels by 3–4 dB.

Application of Data Reduction Techniques to Dynamic Condition Monitoring of an Axial Piston Pump

Condition monitoring of axial piston pumps has seen considerable research in recent years, due to the attractive economic benefits of predictive pump maintenance rather than unscheduled failures. Often the health of the pump is well correlated to leakage, but directly measuring flow can be expensive and unreliable. Instead, some researchers have proposed using dynamic pressure measurements to infer leakage parameters, with some success. One of the major impediments to widespread adoption of this method is that large volumes of data are required to generate a useful model relating the dynamic measurements to leakage parameters, typically with high sensitivity to noise and prone to overfitting. This paper applies data dimensionality reduction techniques to this problem and evaluates their usefulness using a simulation study.

Frequency Response Characterization for Dynamic Measurement of Pressure

Transducer requirements for making true dynamic pressure measurements point to a miniature point-level sensing element that is exposed to the flow. Meeting this requirement, however, is often challenged by transducer size constraints, integration at the location of measurement, and packaging, especially when one considers applications in harsh environments where protection of the sensing element may be needed. As part of an effort towards the development of a high frequency pressure measurement device for use in harsh environments (ultra-high temperature), an investigation was performed to evaluate the effect of sensing element packaging and geometry at the point of measurement on the dynamic response of a nominal transducer. Frequency and time domain calculations were performed to assess variations on the magnitude and phase between an input signal and a “measured” signal at the sensing element location for a range of probe tip parameters. The results offer insights and metrics that can govern transducer sensing element and probe tip implementation for optimum frequency response and strategies for compensation.

Comparison of Center Nozzle Staging to Outer Nozzle Staging in a Multi-Flame Combustor

Combustion instability in gas turbines is often mitigated using fuel staging, a strategy where the fuel is split unevenly between different nozzles of a multiple-nozzle combustor. This work examines the efficacy of different fuel staging configurations by comparing axisymmetric and non-axisymmetric fuel staging in a four-around-one model gas turbine combustor. Fuel staging is accomplished by increasing the equivalence ratio of the center nozzle (axisymmetric staging) or an outer nozzle (non-axisymmetric staging). When the global equivalence ratio is ϕ = 0.70 and all nozzles are fueled equally, the combustor undergoes longitudinal, self-excited oscillations. These oscillations are suppressed when the center nozzle equivalence ratio is increased above ϕStaging = 0.79. This bifurcation equivalence ratio varies between ϕStaging = 0.86 and ϕStaging = 0.76 for the outer nozzles, and is attributed to minor hardware differences between each nozzle. High speed CH* chemiluminescence images in combination with dynamic pressure measurements are used to determine the instantaneous phase difference between the heat release rate fluctuation and the combustor pressure fluctuation throughout the combustor. This analysis shows that the staged flame has similar phase relationships for all staging configurations. It is found that axisymmetric staging can be as effective as non-axisymmetric staging; however, the aforementioned hardware variations can impact both the bifurcation equivalence ratio and the effectiveness of staging.

A Study of Bulk Modulus, Entrained Air, and Dynamic Pressure Measurements in Liquids

Accurate static and dynamic pressure measurements in liquids, such as fuel, oil, and hydraulic fluid, are critical to the control and health monitoring of turbomachinery and aerospace systems. This work presents a theoretical and experimental study of the frequency response of pressure transducers and pressure measurement systems in liquid media. First, we theoretically predict the frequency response of pressure transducers based upon a lumped-parameter model. We then present a liquid-based dynamic pressure calibration test apparatus that validates this model by performing several critical measurements. This system first uses a vibrating liquid column to dynamically calibrate and experimentally determine the frequency response of a test pressure transducer, measurement system or geometry. Second, this calibration system experimentally extracts the bulk modulus of the fluid and the percent of entrained and/or dissolved air by volume. Bulk modulus is determined by measuring the speed of sound within the liquid and through static pressure loading while measuring the deflection of the liquid column. Bulk modulus and the entrained/dissolved gas content within the liquid greatly impact the observed frequency response of a pressure transducer or geometry. Gases, such as air, mixed or dissolved into a fluid can add substantial damping to the dynamic response of the fluid measurement system, which makes measurement of the bulk modulus and entrained and/or dissolved air critical for accurate measurement of the frequency response of a system when operating with a liquid media. All experimental results are compared to theoretical predictions.