4 results
High-fidelity measurements in channel flow with polymer wall injection
- John R. Elsnab, Jason P. Monty, Christopher M. White, Manoochehr M. Koochesfahani, Joseph C. Klewicki
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- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 859 / 25 January 2019
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 26 November 2018, pp. 851-886
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Streamwise velocity profiles and their wall-normal derivatives were used to investigate the properties of turbulent channel flow in the low polymer drag reduction $(DR)$ regime ($DR=6.5\,\%$ to $26\,\%$), as realized via polymer injection at the channel surface. Streamwise velocity data were obtained over a friction Reynolds number ranging from $650$ to $1800$ using the single-velocity-component version of molecular tagging velocimetry (1c-MTV). This adaptation of the MTV technique has the ability to accurately capture instantaneous profiles at very high spatial resolution (${\gtrsim}850$ data points per wall-normal profile), and thus generate well-resolved derivative information as well. Owing to this ability, the present study is able to build upon and extend the recent numerical simulation analysis of White et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 834, 2018, pp. 409–433) that examined the mean dynamical structure of polymer drag-reduced channel flow at friction Reynolds numbers up to $1000$. Consistently, the present mean velocity profiles indicate that the extent of the logarithmic region diminishes with increasing polymer concentration, while statistically significant increases in the logarithmic profile slope begin to occur for drag reductions less than $15\,\%$. Profiles of the r.m.s. streamwise velocity indicate that the maximum moves farther from the wall and increases in magnitude with reductions in drag. Similarly, with increasing drag reduction, the profile of the combined Reynolds and polymer shear stress exhibits a decrease in its maximum value that also moves farther from the wall. Correlations are presented that estimate the location and value of the maximum r.m.s. streamwise velocity and combined Reynolds and polymer shear stress. Over the range of $DR$ investigated, these effects consistently exhibit approximately linear trends as a function of $DR$. The present measurements allow reconstruction of the mean momentum balance (MMB) for channel flow, which provides further insights regarding the physics described in the study by White et al. In particular, the present findings support a physical scenario in which the self-similar properties on the inertial domain identified from the leading-order structure of the MMB begin to detectably and continuously vary for drag reductions less than $10\,\%$.
Lift on a steady 2-D symmetric airfoil in viscous uniform shear flow
- Patrick R. Hammer, Miguel R. Visbal, Ahmed M. Naguib, Manoochehr M. Koochesfahani
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- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 837 / 25 February 2018
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 28 December 2017, R2
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We present an investigation into the influence of upstream shear on the viscous flow around a steady two-dimensional (2-D) symmetric airfoil at zero angle of attack, and the corresponding loads. In this computational study, we consider the NACA 0012 airfoil at a chord Reynolds number $1.2\times 10^{4}$ in an approach flow with uniform positive shear with non-dimensional shear rate varying in the range 0.0–1.0. Results show that the lift force is negative, in the opposite direction to the prediction from Tsien’s inviscid theory for lift generation in the presence of positive shear. A hypothesis is presented to explain the observed sign of the lift force on the basis of the asymmetry in boundary layer development on the upper and lower surfaces of the airfoil, which creates an effective airfoil shape with negative camber. The resulting scaling of the viscous effect with shear rate and Reynolds number is provided. The location of the leading edge stagnation point moves increasingly farther back along the airfoil’s upper surface with increased shear rate, a behaviour consistent with a negatively cambered airfoil. Furthermore, the symmetry in the location of the boundary layer separation point on the airfoil’s upper and lower surfaces in uniform flow is broken under the imposed shear, and the wake vortical structures exhibit more asymmetry with increasing shear rate.
Effect of finite sampling time on estimation of Brownian fluctuation
- Shahram Pouya, Di Liu, Manoochehr M. Koochesfahani
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- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 767 / 25 March 2015
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 12 February 2015, pp. 65-84
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We present a study of the effect of finite detector integration/exposure time $E$, in relation to interrogation time interval ${\rm\Delta}t$, on analysis of Brownian motion of small particles using numerical simulation of the Langevin equation for both free diffusion and hindered diffusion near a solid wall. The simulation result for free diffusion recovers the known scaling law for the dependence of estimated diffusion coefficient on $E/{\rm\Delta}t$, i.e. for $0\leqslant E/{\rm\Delta}t\leqslant 1$ the estimated diffusion coefficient scales linearly as $1-(E/{\rm\Delta}t)/3$. Extending the analysis to the parameter range $E/{\rm\Delta}t\geqslant 1$, we find a new nonlinear scaling behaviour given by $(E/{\rm\Delta}t)^{-1}[1-((E/{\rm\Delta}t)^{-1})/3]$, for which we also provide an exact analytical solution. The simulation of near-wall diffusion shows that hindered diffusion of particles parallel to a solid wall, when normalized appropriately, follows with a high degree of accuracy the same form of scaling laws given above for free diffusion. Specifically, the scaling laws in this case are well represented by $1-((1+{\it\epsilon})(E/{\rm\Delta}t))/3$, for $E/{\rm\Delta}t\leqslant 1$, and $(E/{\rm\Delta}t)^{-1}[1-((1+{\it\epsilon})(E/{\rm\Delta}t)^{-1})/3]$, for $E/{\rm\Delta}t\geqslant 1$, where the small parameter ${\it\epsilon}$ depends on the size of the near-wall domain used in the estimation of the diffusion coefficient and value of $E$. For the range of parameters reported in the literature, we estimate ${\it\epsilon}<0.03$. The near-wall simulations also show a bias in the estimated diffusion coefficient parallel to the wall even in the limit $E=0$, indicating an overestimation which increases with increasing time delay ${\rm\Delta}t$. This diffusion-induced overestimation is caused by the same underlying mechanism responsible for the previously reported overestimation of mean velocity in near-wall velocimetry.
MTV measurements of the vortical field in the wake of an airfoil oscillating at high reduced frequency
- DOUGLAS G. BOHL, MANOOCHEHR M. KOOCHESFAHANI
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- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 620 / 10 February 2009
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 10 February 2009, pp. 63-88
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We present an experimental investigation of the flow structure and vorticity field in the wake of a NACA-0012 airfoil pitching sinusoidally at small amplitude and high reduced frequencies. Molecular tagging velocimetry is used to quantify the characteristics of the vortex array (circulation, peak vorticity, core size, spatial arrangement) and its downstream evolution over the first chord length as a function of reduced frequency. The measured mean and fluctuating velocity fields are used to estimate the mean force on the airfoil and explore the connection between flow structure and thrust generation.
Results show that strong concentrated vortices form very rapidly within the first wavelength of oscillation and exhibit interesting dynamics that depend on oscillation frequency. With increasing reduced frequency the transverse alignment of the vortex array changes from an orientation corresponding to velocity deficit (wake profile) to one with velocity excess (reverse Kármán street with jet profile). It is found, however, that the switch in the vortex array orientation does not coincide with the condition for crossover from drag to thrust. The mean force is estimated from a more complete control volume analysis, which takes into account the streamwise velocity fluctuations and the pressure term. Results clearly show that neglecting these terms can lead to a large overestimation of the mean force in strongly fluctuating velocity fields that are characteristic of airfoils executing highly unsteady motions. Our measurements show a decrease in the peak vorticity, as the vortices convect downstream, by an amount that is more than can be attributed to viscous diffusion. It is found that the presence of small levels of axial velocity gradients within the vortex cores, levels that can be difficult to measure experimentally, can lead to a measurable decrease in the peak vorticity even at the centre of the flow facility in a flow that is expected to be primarily two-dimensional.