Development of subminiature multi-sensor hot-wire probes

Limitations on the spatial resolution of multisensor hot wire probes have precluded accurate measurements of Reynolds stresses very near solid surfaces in wind tunnels and in many practical aerodynamic flows. The fabrication, calibration and qualification testing of very small single horizontal and X-array hot-wire probes which are intended to be used near solid boundaries in turbulent flows where length scales are particularly small, is described. Details of the sensor fabrication procedure are reported, along with information needed to successfully operate the probes. As compared with conventional probes, manufacture of the subminiature probes is more complex, requiring special equipment and careful handling. The subminiature probes tested were more fragile and shorter lived than conventional probes; they obeyed the same calibration laws but with slightly larger experimental uncertainty. In spite of these disadvantages, measurements of mean statistical quantities and spectra demonstrate the ability of the subminiature sensors to provide the measurements in the near wall region of turbulent boundary layers that are more accurate than conventional sized probes

A new definition of mixing and segregation: Three dimensions of a key process variable

Although a number of definitions of mixing have been proposed in the literature, no single definition accurately and clearly describes the full range of problems in the field of industrial mixing. An alternate approach is proposed which defines segregation as being composed of three separate dimensions. The first dimension is the intensity of segregation quantified by the normalized concentration variance (CoV); the second dimension is the scale of segregation or clustering; and the last dimension is the exposure or the potential to reduce segregation. The first dimension focuses on the instantaneous concentration variance; the second on the instantaneous length scales in the mixing field; and the third on the driving force for change, i.e. the mixing time scale, or the instantaneous rate of reduction in segregation. With these three dimensions in hand, it is possible to speak more clearly about what is meant by the control of segregation in industrial mixing processes. In this paper, the three dimensions of segregation are presented and defined in the context of previous definitions of mixing, and then applied to a range of industrial mixing problems to test their accuracy and robustness

The instanton method and its numerical implementation in fluid mechanics

A precise characterization of structures occurring in turbulent fluid flows at high Reynolds numbers is one of the last open problems of classical physics. In this review we discuss recent developments related to the application of instanton methods to turbulence. Instantons are saddle point configurations of the underlying path integrals. They are equivalent to minimizers of the related Freidlin-Wentzell action and known to be able to characterize rare events in such systems. While there is an impressive body of work concerning their analytical description, this review focuses on the question on how to compute these minimizers numerically. In a short introduction we present the relevant mathematical and physical background before we discuss the stochastic Burgers equation in detail. We present algorithms to compute instantons numerically by an efficient solution of the corresponding Euler-Lagrange equations. A second focus is the discussion of a recently developed numerical filtering technique that allows to extract instantons from direct numerical simulations. In the following we present modifications of the algorithms to make them efficient when applied to two- or three-dimensional fluid dynamical problems. We illustrate these ideas using the two-dimensional Burgers equation and the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations

Overview and Summary of the Third AIAA High Lift Prediction Workshop

The third AIAA CFD High-Lift Prediction Workshop was held in Denver, Colorado, in June 2017. The goals of the workshop continued in the tradition of the first and second high-lift workshops: to assess the numerical prediction capability of current-generation computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology for swept, medium/high-aspect-ratio wings in landing/takeoff (high-lift) configurations. This workshop analyzed the flow over two different configurations, a clean high-lift version of the NASA Common Research Model, and the JAXA Standard Model. The former was a CFD-only study, as experimental data were not available prior to the workshop. The latter was a nacelle/pylon installation study that included comparison with experimental wind tunnel data. The workshop also included a 2-D turbulence model verification exercise. Thirty-five participants submitted a total of 79 data sets of CFD results. A variety of grid systems (both structured and unstructured) as well as different flow simulation methodologies (including Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes and Lattice-Boltzmann) were used. This paper analyzes the combined results from all workshop participants. A statistical summary of the CFD results is also included