High speed visualizations of the cavitating vortices of 2D mixing layer

The present study investigates experimentally vortex dynamics of a cavitating two-dimensional mixing layer at a high Reynolds number in order to determine the effect of growth and collapse of cavitation. The dynamics and the topology of the vorticity regions corresponding to the low pressure area where cavitation effects take place are studied from the single phase state to highly cavitating conditions. LDV techniques are used in order to characterize the pattern of the turbulent single phase flow. Highspeed visualizations have been performed using a specific image processing of time series to highlight the behaviour and dynamics of the vapour phase. Visualizations, image processing and statistical analysis enable the estimation of the convective velocity and the shedding frequency of the cavitating Kelvin–Helmholtz vortices. The measured visual vapour thickness grows linearly as the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability develops and its expansion rate stays constant for the range of cavitation levels studied. The vortex pairing phenomenon is also analysed. Results show that the spatial development of the mixing area is slightly affected by the vapour phase allowing a self-similar behaviour of the mean motion

Application of laser velocimetry to unsteady flows in large scale high speed tunnels

Flowfield measurements obtained in several large scale, high speed facilities are presented. Sampling bias and seeding problems are addressed and solutions are outlined. The laser velocimeter systems and data reduction procedures which were used in the experiments are also described. The work demonstrated the potential of the laser velocimeter for applications in other than closely controlled, smallscale laboratory situations

Four-dimensional dynamic flow measurement by holographic particle image velocimetry

The ultimate goal of holographic particle image velocimetry (HPIV) is to provide space- and time-resolved measurement of complex flows. Recent new understanding of holographic imaging of small particles, pertaining to intrinsic aberration and noise in particular, has enabled us to elucidate fundamental issues in HPIV and implement a new HPIV system. This system is based on our previously reported off-axis HPIV setup, but the design is optimized by incorporating our new insights of holographic particle imaging characteristics. Furthermore, the new system benefits from advanced data processing algorithms and distributed parallel computing technology. Because of its robustness and efficiency, for the first time to our knowledge, the goal of both temporally and spatially resolved flow measurements becomes tangible. We demonstrate its temporal measurement capability by a series of phase-locked dynamic measurements of instantaneous three-dimensional, three-component velocity fields in a highly three-dimensional vortical flow--the flow past a tab

Bubbly and Buoyant Particle-Laden Turbulent Flows

Fluid turbulence is commonly associated with stronger drag, greater heat transfer, and more efficient mixing than in laminar flows. In many natural and industrial settings, turbulent liquid flows contain suspensions of dispersed bubbles and light particles. Recently, much attention has been devoted to understanding the behavior and underlying physics of such flows by use of both experiments and high-resolution direct numerical simulations. This review summarizes our present understanding of various phenomenological aspects of bubbly and buoyant particle-laden turbulent flows. We begin by discussing different dynamical regimes, including those of crossing trajectories and wake-induced oscillations of rising particles, and regimes in which bubbles and particles preferentially accumulate near walls or within vortical structures. We then address how certain paradigmatic turbulent flows, such as homogeneous isotropic turbulence, channel flow, Taylor-Couette turbulence, and thermally driven turbulence, are modified by the presence of these dispersed bubbles and buoyant particles. We end with a list of summary points and future research questions.Comment: 29 pages, 14 figure

Lagrangian Visualization and Real-Time Identification of the Vortex Shedding Time in the Wake of a Circular Cylinder

The flow around a circular cylinder, a canonical bluff body, has been extensively studied in the literature to determine the mechanisms that cause the formation of vortices in the cylinder wake. Understanding of these mechanisms has led to myriad attempts to control the vortices either to mitigate the oscillating forces they cause, or to augment them in order to enhance mixing in the near-wake. While these flow control techniques have been effective at low Reynolds numbers, they generally lose effectiveness or require excessive power at Reynolds numbers commonly experienced in practical applications. For this reason, new methods for identifying the locations of vortices and their shedding time could increase the effectiveness of the control techniques. In the current work, two-dimensional, two-component velocity data was collected in the wake of a circular cylinder using a planar digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) measurement system at Reynolds numbers of 9,000 and 19,000. This experimental data, as well as two-dimensional simulation data at a Reynolds number of 150, and three-dimensional simulation data at a Reynolds number of 400, is used to calculate the finite-time Lyapunov exponent (FTLE) field. The locations of Lagrangian saddles, identified as non-parallel intersections of positive and negative time FTLE ridges, are shown to indicate the timing of von Kármán vortex shedding in the wake of a circular cylinder. The Lagrangian saddle found upstream of a forming and subsequently shedding vortex is shown to clearly accelerate away from the cylinder surface as the vortex begins to shed. This provides a novel, objective method to determine the timing of vortex shedding. The saddles are impossible to track in real-time, however, since future flow field data is needed for the computation of the FTLE fields. In order to detect the Lagrangian saddle acceleration without direct access to the FTLE, the saddle dynamics are connected to measurable surface quantities on a circular cylinder in crossflow. The acceleration of the Lagrangian saddle occurs simultaneously with a maximum in lift in both numerical cases, and with a minimum in the static pressure at a location slightly upstream of the mean separation location in the numerical cases, as well as the experimental data at a Reynolds number of 19,000. This allows the von Kármán vortex shedding time, determined objectively by the acceleration of the Lagrangian saddle away from the circular cylinder, to be detected by a minimum in the static pressure at one location on the cylinder, a quantity that can be measured in real-time using available pressure sensors. These results can be used to place sensors in optimal locations on bluff bodies to inform closed-loop flow control algorithms of the timing of von Kármán vortex shedding

Experimenal study of the aerodynamics of a horizontal axis wind turbine

One of the challenges of the wind energy community today is to improve the existing background on the aerodynamic phenomena of a Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT), the prediction of the wind speed distribution on the rotor plane, and the estimation of the design loads. This dissertation aims at contributing to the fulfillment of these objectives. In this way, this study assessed the feasibility of measuring the loads exerted on a HAWT blade by means of Stereoscopic Particle Image Velocimetry (SPIV), which is a non intrusive technique that provides with the whole 3D velocity field in a plane. Thus, with this PIV-Loads method, the velocity and pressure fields, as well as the resultant aerodynamic forces around a section of the blade, would be available simultaneously, without the need of modifying the model or disturbing the flow. In order to achieve this goal progressively, the PIV-Loads method, based in a Momentum Equation contour-based approach, was firstly validated using DNS data, both for a laminar unsteady flow case, as for a velocity averaged turbulent flow. Secondly, the method was tested in the wind tunnel with a bidimensional problem, measuring forces in a stationary flat plate, for different angles of attack (with laminar and turbulent flow conditions). The force estimation results were compared with those provided by a high sensitive balance. Finally, the PIV-Loads method was applied to a HAWT model working both in axial and yaw flow conditions, measuring forces on a rotating blade for steady and unsteady cases. Final load calculations were compared with those resulting from a numerical simulation based in the Panel method approach. Bringing the project to completion, the near vortex wake of a HAWT was characterized by means of Time Resolved PIV. Regarding the PIV-Loads methodology, load predictions are more reliable if the integration path does not cross a shear layer or a boundary layer. In addition, it is neither recommended to neglect the third velocity component when measuring forces on a rotating HAWT blade, nor to eliminate the velocity fluctuation terms when dealing with turbulent flows. All implemented codes and experimental results were validated or compared with numerical or experimental alternative data showing good consistency. The conclusion is that the PIV-Loads method provides with precise results if the available velocity data is sufficiently accurate. However, any PIV errors such as lack of resolution, velocity gradients inside the interrogation window or laser reflections, may lead to uncertainties in the load measurements. Any future improvement in this sense will certainly lead to better results

An experimental study of entrainment and transport in the turbulent near wake of a circular cylinder

This paper describes an experimental investigation of transport processes in the near wake of a circular cylinder at a Reynolds number of 140000. The flow in the first eight diameters of the wake was measured using X-array hot-wire probes mounted on a pair of whirling arms. This flying-hot-wire technique increases the relative velocity component along the probe axis and thus decreases the relative flow angle to usable values in regions where fluctuations in flow velocity and direction are large. One valuable fringe benefit of the technique is that rotation of the arms in a uniform flow applies a wide range of relative flow angles to the X-arrays, making them inherently self-calibrating in pitch. An analog circuit was used to generate an intermittency signal, and a fast surface-pressure sensor was used to generate a phase signal synchronized with the vortex-shedding process. The phase signal allowed sorting of the velocity data into 16 populations, each having essentially constant phase. An ensemble average for each population yielded a sequence of pictures of the instantaneous mean flow field, with the vortices frozen as they would be in a photograph. In addition to globally averaged data for velocity and stress, the measurements yield non-steady mean data (in the sense of an average a t constant phase) for velocity, intermittency, vorticity, stress and turbulent-energy production as a function of phase for the first eight diameters of the near wake. The stresses were resolved into a contribution from the periodic motion and a contribution from the random motion at constant phase. The two contributions are found to have comparable amplitudes but quite different geometries, and the time average of their sum (the conventional global Reynolds stress) therefore has a quite-complex structure. The non-steady mean-vorticity field is obtained with good resolution as the curl of the non-steady mean-velocity field. Less than half of the shed circulation appears in the vortices, and there is a slow decay of this circulation for each shed vortex as it moves downstream. In the discussion, considerable emphasis is put on the topology of the non-steady mean flow, which emerges as a pattern of centres and saddles in a frame of reference moving with the eddies. The kinematics of the vortex-formation process are described in terms of the formation and evolution of saddle points between vortices in the first few diameters of the near wake. One important conclusion is that a substantial part of the turbulence production is concentrated near the saddles and that the mechanism of turbulence production is probably vortex stretching at intermediate scales. Entrainment is also found to be closely associated with saddles and to be concentrated near the upstream-facing interface of each vortex

Vortex detection and tracking in massively separated and turbulent flows

The vortex produced at the leading edge of the wing, known as the leading edge vortex (LEV), plays an important role in enhancing or destroying aerodynamic force, especially lift, upon its formation or shedding during the flapping flight of birds and insects. In this thesis, we integrate multiple new and traditional vortex identification approaches to visualize and track the LEV dynamics during its shedding process. The study is carried out using a 2D simulation of a flat plate undergoing a 45 degree pitch-up maneuver. The Eulerian 1 function and criterion are used along with the Lagrangian coherent structures (LCS) analyses including the finite-time Lyapunov exponent (FTLE), the geodesic LCS, and the Lagrangian-Averaged Vorticity Deviation (LAVD). Each of \h{these} Lagrangian methods \h{is} applied at the centers and boundaries of the vortices to detect the vortex dynamics. The techniques enable the tracking of identifiable features in the flow organization using the FTLE-saddles and -saddles. The FTLE-saddle traces have shown potential to identify the timing and location of vortex shedding, more precisely than by only studying the vortex cores as identified by Eulerian techniques. The traces and the shedding times of the FTLE-saddles on the LEV boundary matches well with the plate lift fluctuation, and indicates a consistent timing of LEV formation, growth, shedding. The formation number and vortex shedding mechanisms are compared in the thesis with the shedding time and location by the FTLE-saddle, which validates the result of the FTLE-saddles and provide explanations of vortex shedding in different aspects (vortex strength and flow dynamics). The techniques are applied to more cases involving vortex dominated flows to explore and expand their application in providing insight of flow physics. For a set of experimental two-component PIV data in the wake of a purely pitching trapezoidal panel, the Lagrangian analysis of FTLE-saddle tracking identifies and tracks the vortex breakdown location with relatively less user interaction and provide a more direct and consistent analysis. For a simulation of wall-bounded turbulence in a channel flow, tracking FTLE-saddles shows that the average structure convection speed exhibits a similar trend as a previously published result based on velocity and pressure correlations, giving validity to the method. When these Lagrangian techniques are applied in a study of the evolution of an isolated hairpin vortex, it shows the connection between primary and secondary hairpin heads of their circulation and position, and the contribution to the generation of the secondary hairpin by the flow characteristics at the channel wall. The current method of tracking vortices yields insight into the behavior of the vortices in all of the diverse flows presented, highlighting the breadth of its potential application

Development and application of a computational model for scour around offshore wind turbine foundations

There is a constant requirement to understand scour especially regarding its prevention, due to the potential impact and disastrous consequences. The installation of offshore wind turbines is haunted by scour mitigation and at the start of the offshore wind turbine boom in the early 2000’s this was achieved using overzealous amounts of rock armour. However, as investment and cost efficiency has increased, protection methods have been refined, but, there remains significant room for improvement.Research into offshore sediment dynamics has benefited greatly by computational advancements providing a greater understanding of processes and the driving mechanisms; leading to protection method improvements and reductions in environmental impact. The premise of this study is to push this knowledge further, by developing and validating a novel scour model within CFD software that can be used to simulate and analyse offshore scour; specifically, the scour around complex, new offshore wind turbine foundation geometries