The Effect of Longitudinal Core Flow on Trailing Vortex Stability

The current experimental study investigates the effect of longitudinal core flow on the formation and structure of a trailing vortex. The vortex is generated using four airfoils connected to a central hub through which a jet flow is added to the vortex core. Time averaged vorticity, circumferential velocity, and turbulent kinetic energy are studied. The statistics of vortex wandering are identified and corrections applied to the vorticity distribution. The vortex generator used in this study was built on the basis of the design described by Beninati et al. [1]. It uses four NACA0012 airfoils connected to a central hub. The wings orientation can be adjusted such that each contributes to a strong trailing vortex on the center of the test section. The vortex generator also had the capability to deliver an air jet directed longitudinally through a hole in the hub at the joint of the airfoils. Tests were done without the jet and with the air jet at jet velocities of 10 and 20 m/s. Planar PIV was used to measure the velocity field in the vicinity of the vortex core. The measurements were taken at 3 chords behind the vortex generator.

Hydraulic Design of Inlet Guide Vane and its Full Flow Passage Numerical Simulation on Centrifugal Pump

In order to effectively improve hydraulic performance of centrifugal pump on off-conditions, the hydraulic design of inlet guide vane (IGV) was completed by adopting two dimensional theory in-house code based on one kind of IS series of centrifugal pump, which can achieve pre-whirl regulation of centrifugal pump. During design process the trailing edge of vane is assumed as equal velocity moment condition, and the distribution of vane setting angle along meridional streamline is also given as a quartic function firstly, the camber line is then drawn by point-by-point integration method and thickened at both sides along circumferential direction. With local vortex dynamics diagnosis theory, the optimal improvement of vane space shape can be finished by adjusting the design parameters of vane setting angle distribution coefficient ap. The full flow passage numerical simulations of centrifugal pump with IGV device are completed to analyze the influence of pre-whirl regulation on hydraulic performance of centrifugal pump under various pre-whirl angles. The results show that the pre-whirl regulation can improve the hydraulic performance of centrifugal pump on off-conditions. Under the positive pre-whirl regulation conditions, the best efficient point shift to small flow rate zone, and under the negative pre-whirl regulation conditions it moves to large flow rate zone. Compared with the pump without IGV device at the same flow rate condition of 0.8Q (Q the design flow rate), the hydraulic efficiency of centrifugal pump with IGV device improves obviously and reaches up to 1.43%. Meanwhile compared with that installed with the straight vanes designed based on the traditional theory, the inner flow field of centrifugal pump with the designed vanes improves and the overall hydraulic efficiency of centrifugal pump is somewhat increased.

Experimental Characterization of a Modified Airlift Pump

This paper presents an experimental investigation on a modified airlift pump. Experiments were undertaken as a function of air-water flow rate for two submergence ratios (ε=0.58 and 0.74), and two different riser geometries (i) straight pipe with a constant inner diameter of 19 mm and (ii) enlarged pipe with a sudden expanded diameter of 19 to 32 mm. These transparent vertical pipes, of 1 m length, were submerged in a transparent rectangular tank (0.45×0.45×1.1 m3). The compressed air was injected into the vertical pipe to lift the water from the reservoir. The flow map regime is established for both configurations and compared with previous studies. The two phase air-water flow structure at the expansion region is experimentally characterized. Pipeline geometry is found to have a significant influence on the output water flow rate. Using high speed photography and electrical conductivity probes, new flow regimes, such as “slug to churn” and “annular to churn” flow, are observed and their influence on the output water flow rate and efficiency are discussed. These experimental results provide fundamental insights into the physics of modified airlift pump.

Free Flow Isoelectric Focusing in a Microfluidic Device

In recent years, there are growing interests in the use of free flow isoelectric focusing (FFIEF). In FFIEF, a thin sheath of laminar flow is introduced perpendicular to the direction of the applied electric field for continuous separation of proteins and charged species. This technique is especially useful in microfluidic device since the electrophoretically separated bands do not have to be mobilized for detection or further analysis. In this study, a mathematical model is developed to simulate free flow isoelectric process in microfluidic devices considering electroneutrality and incompressibility of electrolytes. Our mathematical model is based on mass, momentum and charge conservation equations. A finite volume based numerical scheme is implemented to simulate two dimensional FFIEF in a microfluidic chip. Simulation results indicate that pH gradient forms as samples flow downstream and proteins can be separated effectively using this technique. A new design of microfluidic chip is proposed for separation for cardiac troponin I from serum albumin using FFIEF technique.

Relation Between Sound Sources and Vortical Structures in Isotropic Compressible Turbulence

We investigate the relation between vortical structures and sound source in isotropic compressible turbulence by direct numerical simulations with various turbulent Mach numbers. The sound source is obtained numerically from the Lighthill equation. As a first step, we study the sound source from the Reynolds stress, which is the dominant source in flows at low Mach numbers. We investigate, especially, sound source structures around the “coherent fine scale eddies” [1–4] to lead a universal conclusion of sound generation mechanism from the fine scale structures in supersonic flows. We find that the sound source structures around the coherent fine scale eddies show some distorted structures only in high Mach number flows because shocklets appear around the fine scale eddies in those flows. This change in sound source structures around the coherent fine scale eddies does not appear in low and moderate Mach number cases.

Using Shear and DC Electric Fields to Manipulate and Self-Assemble Dielectric Particles on Microchannel Walls

Manipulating suspended neutrally buoyant colloidal particles of radii a = O(0.1 μm–1 μm) near solid surfaces, or walls, is a key technology in various microfluidics devices. These particles, suspended in an aqueous solution at rest near a solid surface, or wall, are subject to wall-normal “lift” forces described by the DLVO theory of colloid science. The particles experience additional lift forces, however, when suspended in a flowing solution. A fundamental understanding of such lift forces could therefore lead to new methods for the transport and self-assembly of particles near and on solid surfaces. Various studies have reported repulsive electroviscous and hydrodynamic lift forces on colloidal particles in Poiseuille flow (with a constant shear rate γ̇ near the wall) driven by a pressure gradient. A few studies have also observed repulsive dielectrophoretic-like lift forces in electroosmotic (EO) flows driven by electric fields. Recently, evanescent-wave particle tracking has been used to quantify near-wall lift forces on a = 125 nm–245 nm polystyrene (PS) particles suspended in a monovalent electrolyte solution in EO flow, Poiseuille flow, and combined Poiseuille and EO flow through ∼30 μm deep fused-silica channels. In Poiseuille flow, the repulsive lift force appears to be proportional to γ̇, a scaling consistent with hydrodynamic, vs. electroviscous, lift. In combined Poiseuille and EO flow, the lift forces can be repulsive or attractive, depending upon whether the EO flow is in the same or opposite direction as the Poiseuille flow, respectively. The magnitude of the force appears to be proportional to the electric field magnitude. Moreover, the force in combined flow exceeds the sum of the forces observed in EO flow for the same electric field or in Poiseuille flow for the same γ̇. Initial results also imply that this force, when repulsive, scales as γ̇1/2. These results suggest that the lift force in combined flow is fundamentally different from electroviscous, hydrodynamic, or dielectrophoretic-like lift. Moreover, for the case when the EO flow opposes the Poiseuille flow, the particles self-assemble into dense stable periodic streamwise bands with an average width of ∼6 μm and a spacing of 2–4 times the band width when the electric field magnitude exceeds a threshold value. These results are described and reviewed here.

Study of the Effect of Tangential Point Blowing on the Incompressible Boundary Layer Flow Around a Circular Cylinder

In the present work, two dimensional flow simulations have been performed to study the effect of tangential blowing on the drag force for the case of flow around a circular cylinder only at Reynolds number (Re) 200. Blowing ports have been placed symmetrically with respect to the horizontal flow axis. The effect of blowing on the boundary layer has been studied with respect to the intensity of blowing as well as port position of blowing. For a particular intensity of blowing, oscillations of the front stagnation point and the separation point was studied. It was found that oscillation frequencies were identical with that of lift coefficient. It was also observed that with the increase of the intensity of the blowing the position of the separation point shifts downstream (separation delay)thus the wake becomes narrower resulting the decrease of drag. Strouhal number was found to increase with the intensity of blowing. It was observed that the Strouhal number as well as the position of the separation point is influenced by the position of the blowing port. Although, for a significant range of the blowing port positions the Strouhal number is observed to be constant. Drag was found to be influenced by the position of the blowing ports. Pressure drag was found to be more significant. Thus total drag is influenced primarily by the pressure drag. It was observed that in the range of 40° to about 110° for the position of the blowing port drag decreased. But beyond 110° it increased again.

Development and Application of an Alternating-Color Micro-PIV System

In this study, light emitted from red, green, and blue LEDs is adopted as the light source of an alternating-color micro-PIV system for micro flows measurement. The strobe frequency of the LED can easily reach 20,000Hz, which is high enough to provide the time resolution required for most micro flows measurement. A cardioid annular condenser is adopted in the micro-PIV system so that the incident light from the LED is redirected and only the light emitted from fluorescent particles reaches the object lens of the microscope. The image quality is significantly improved. Clear dark background particle images of micro flows are recorded from the proposed LED micro-PIV system. In addition, the diffraction limit of the microscope is improved from half of the wavelength to one-fifth of the wavelength. For alternating-color multiple-exposure image application, a triple-exposure alternating-color image — sequentially illuminated by red, green, and blue LED light — is recorded on a single frame by a color CCD camera. Three unique color images — a blue, a green, and a red image respectively — are obtained from separating the triple-exposure image. With three sequential images available, the velocity, acceleration distributions of micro flow, and different phases of the multiphase flow can be measured from these unique color sequential images. The alternating-color micro-PIV system is then applied to measure micro flow past a cylinder, circulation in a micro-droplet, hydrodynamic focusing sheath flow, and two-phase flow in micro channels. Satisfactory results are obtained for all the flows measured.

Velocity Field and Energy Dissipation in Viscoplastic Flow in Tubes of Non-Circular Cross-Section

An analytical method for determining the velocity field, shear stress and energy dissipation in viscoplastic flow in non-circular straight tubes is presented. Bingham’s model of fluid is used for the case of tubes with several cross-sectional contours that can be arbitrarily chosen through a shape factor imposed in the solution for the longitudinal velocity. The analysis is extended to steady flow in tubes in which the cross-section contour exhibits sharp corners. In these cases three flow zones are distinguished: stagnant, non-zero deformation, and plug zones. The method provides the expressions for determining the boundaries and characteristics of those three zones for a wide variety of cross-section shapes. In particular the dynamics of plug-zones for large values of the yield stress and for contours that markedly differ from circumferences is analyzed. Energy dissipation is determined throughout the entire cross-section, so that the effect of shape on mechanical energy loss is assessed in terms of the yield stress and viscosity of the fluid. Some general expressions that help understand energy dissipation mechanisms are derived by using natural coordinates for the velocity field and related variables. These results draw on several recent works from other researchers and the present authors, which have highlighted the significant difficulty of determining the zones of zero deformation in viscoplastic flow when the related solid boundaries are not elementary.