Reduced dimension modeling of leading edge turbulent interaction noise

A computational aeroacoustics approach is used to model the effects of real airfoil geometry on leading edge turbulent interaction noise for symmetric airfoils at zero angle of attack. For the first time, one-component (transverse), two-component (transverse and streamwise), and three-component (transverse, streamwise, and spanwise) synthesized turbulent disturbances are modeled instead of single frequency transverse gusts, which previous computational studies of leading edge noise have been confined to. The effects of the inclusion of streamwise and spanwise disturbances on the noise are assessed, and it is shown that accurate noise predictions for symmetric airfoils can be made by modeling only the transverse disturbances, which reduces the computational expense of simulations. Additionally, the two-component turbulent synthesis method is used to model the effects of airfoil thickness on the noise for thicknesses ranging from 2% to 12%. By using sufficient airfoil thicknesses to show trends, it is found that airfoil thickness will reduce the noise at high frequency, and that the sound power P will reduce linearly with increasing airfoil thickness

Storm Waves at the Shoreline: When and Where Are Infragravity Waves Important?

Infragravity waves (frequency, f = 0.005–0.05 Hz) are known to dominate hydrodynamic and sediment transport processes close to the shoreline on low-sloping sandy beaches, especially when incident waves are large. However, in storm wave conditions, how their importance varies on different beach types, and with different mixes of swell and wind-waves is largely unknown. Here, a new dataset, comprising shoreline video observations from five contrasting sites (one low-sloping sandy beach, two steep gravel beaches, and two compound/mixed sand and gravel beaches), under storm wave conditions (deep water wave height, H0 up to 6.6 m, and peak period, Tp up to 18.2 s), was used to assess: how the importance and dominance of infragravity waves varies at the shoreline? In this previously unstudied combination of wave and morphological conditions, significant infragravity swash heights (Sig) at the shoreline in excess of 0.5 m were consistently observed on all five contrasting beaches. The largest infragravity swash heights were observed on a steep gravel beach, followed by the low-sloping sandy beach, and lowest on the compound/mixed sites. Due to contrasting short wave breaking and dissipation processes, infragravity frequencies were observed to be most dominant over gravity frequencies on the low-sloping sandy beach, occasionally dominant on the gravel beaches, and rarely dominant on the compound/mixed beaches. Existing empirical predictive relationships were shown to parameterize Sig skillfully on the sand and gravel beaches separately. Deep water wave power was found to accurately predict Sig on both the sand and gravel beaches, demonstrating that, under storm wave conditions, the wave heights and periods are the main drivers of infragravity oscillations at the shoreline, with the beach morphology playing a secondary role. The exception to this was the compound/mixed beach sites where shoreline infragravity energy remained low.</jats:p

In-situ Observations of Infragravity Response during Extreme Storms on Sand and Gravel Beaches

Billson, O.J.; Russell, P.; Davidson, M.; Poate, T.; Amoudry, L.O., and Williams, M.E., 2020. In-situ observations of infragravity response during extreme storms on sand and gravel beaches. Global Coastal Issues of 2020. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 95, pp. 382-386. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Infragravity waves (frequency = 0.005 - 0.05 Hz) play a key role in coastal storm impacts such as flooding and beach/dune erosion. They are known to dominate the inner surf zone on low-sloping sandy beaches during storms. However, in large wave conditions, their importance on different beach types, of variable swell and wind-waves dominance, is largely unknown. Here, a new dataset is presented comprising in-situ observations during storm wave conditions (significant wave height of 3.3 m, peak periods of 18 s and return periods up to 1 in 60 years) from two contrasting sites: a low-sloping sandy beach and a steep gravel beach. Wave measurements were collected seaward of the breakpoint by wave buoys and bed-mounted acoustic Doppler current profilers, and through the surf zone using arrays of pressure transducers. Wave spectra showed contrasting evolution from the shoaling zone to the inner surf zone at the two sites. At the sandy beach, gravity band energy dissipated gradually as depth reduced, while infragravity band energy simultaneously increased, resulting in strongly infragravity-dominated wave spectra in the inner surf zone. At the steep gravel site, a rapid drop in short wave energy was observed, with limited growth of infragravity energy so that inner surf zone spectra showed a low energy peak in the infragravity band. The normalized bed slope parameter indicated whether infragravity waves were generated by bound long wave release or breakpoint forcing, showing that the former (latter) was dominant on the sandy (gravel) beach. In spite of these differences, the shoreline wave spectra under storm wave conditions were infragravity-dominated on both the sandy and gravel beaches

A simple, low-cost conductive composite material for 3D printing of electronic sensors

3D printing technology can produce complex objects directly from computer aided digital designs. The technology has traditionally been used by large companies to produce fit and form concept prototypes (‘rapid prototyping’) before production. In recent years however there has been a move to adopt the technology as full-scale manufacturing solution. The advent of low-cost, desktop 3D printers such as the RepRap and Fab@Home has meant a wider user base are now able to have access to desktop manufacturing platforms enabling them to produce highly customised products for personal use and sale. This uptake in usage has been coupled with a demand for printing technology and materials able to print functional elements such as electronic sensors. Here we present formulation of a simple conductive thermoplastic composite we term ‘carbomorph’ and demonstrate how it can be used in an unmodified low-cost 3D printer to print electronic sensors able to sense mechanical flexing and capacitance changes. We show how this capability can be used to produce custom sensing devices and user interface devices along with printed objects with embedded sensing capability. This advance in low-cost 3D printing with offer a new paradigm in the 3D printing field with printed sensors and electronics embedded inside 3D printed objects in a single build process without requiring complex or expensive materials incorporating additives such as carbon nanotubes

Mid infrared tomography of polymer pipes

Mid-infrared signals in the 2–5 μm wavelength range have been transmitted through samples of polymer pipes, as commonly used in the water supply industry. It is shown that simple through-transmission images can be obtained using a broad spectrum source and a suitable camera. This leads to the possibility of tomography, where images are obtained as the measurement system is rotated with respect to the axis of the pipe. The unusual 3D geometry created by a source of finite size and the imaging plane of a camera, plus the fact that refraction at the pipe wall would cause significant ray bending, meant that the reconstruction of tomographic images had to be considered with some care. A result is shown for a thinning defect on the inner wall of a polymer water pipe, demonstrating that such changes can be reconstructed successfully

Towards Adjoint-based Broadband Noise Minimization using Stochastic Noise Generation

In this paper, we present an adjoint-based broadband noise minimization framework using stochastic noise generation (SNG). The SNG module is implemented in the open-source multi-physics solver suite SU2 and coupled with the existing Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) to allow fast assessment of broadband noise sources. In addition, a discrete adjoint solver on the basis of algorithmic differentiation (AD) is developed for the coupled RANS-SNG system to enable efficient evaluation of broadband noise design sensitivities. The adjoint-based RANS-SNG framework developed in this work not only avoids the regularization problem that plagues the adjoint solutions for scale-resolving simulations, but also significantly lowers the computational\ua0cost and leads to a faster turn-around time for the initial design evaluation phase. Current results show that the RANS-SNG method can efficiently provide broadband noise level assessment for various configurations without resorting to computationally prohibitive scale-resolving simulations. Furthermore, current results also show that the AD-based coupled adjoint-RANS-SNG solver is highly accurate. Finally, shape optimizationsperformed on the basis of such coupled-sensitivity are shown to be effective in removing the broadband noise source in the trailing edge of a NACA0012 airfoil profile while maintaining aerodynamic performance imposed as an optimization constraint

High Temperature Non Destructive Evaluation of Hydrided Metal Tubing

The testing of CANDU Zr-Nb pressure tubes for the presence of hydrides is a problem which is of current interest, as the premature replacement of pressure tubes could occur if the estimation of hydride levels is not made correctly. It has been shown that changes in the ultrasonic and thermal expansion properties of the material occur at a particular temperature, known as the terminal solid solubility (TSS) temperature [1]. Here, stable zirconium hydride platelets present at low temperatures dissociate to form free hydrogen on heating, and also reform from free hydrogen on cooling. Note that the TSS temperature is likely to be different for heating and cooling, due to hysteresis and thermodynamic effects, and will be dependent on the heating or cooling rate. The TSS temperature is known to be a function of the concentration of hydrogen present, and in fact follows a well known phase diagram [2], where the two-phase system becomes a single phase plus free hydrogen on heating (see Figure 1). The region of low atomic % is represented at the extreme left of this phase diagram. At a given value of atomic % of hydrogen (or the equivalent in parts per million (ppm)), a phase change will occur on heating from the two phase system containing the hydride to the single phase plus hydrogen. A transition in the reverse direction will occur on cooling. The temperature at which this happens is the TSS temperature, the value of which depends on the % of hydrogen present. Hence, determination of the TSS temperature leads directly to an estimation of hydride content