Extracting dominant turbulent structures in supersonic flow using two-dimensional Fourier transform

A new image process for quantifying both convection velocities (U C) and scales (λ d) of turbulent structures captured in a fast-framing schlieren movie is presented. We obtained 90 time-series schlieren images of a transverse jet into a Mach 2 supersonic flow with 1-MHz sampling. The schlieren images captured not only the shock and expansion waves but also the turbulent structures within the jet and the boundary layer. The image intensities were extracted along the outer edges of the jet and the boundary layer and were remapped as a time–space intensity map. The time–space map exhibited swept stripe patterns, indicating that stable turbulent structures were periodically generated and convected downstream. The angle and interval of the stripe patterns were efficiently extracted using the two-dimensional Fourier transform, which corresponded to U C and λ d of the dominant structures. The zero-padding fast Fourier transform and the sub-pixel estimation of the spectral peak positions in the Fourier domain improved the accuracy for evaluating the angle and interval of the stripes, which resulted in the accurate evaluation of U C and λ d. The proposed method was validated by comparing U C obtained using the proposed method to those obtained via schlieren image velocimetry for both the transverse jet and the supersonic boundary layer

Mechanism and Control of Combustion-Mode Transition in a Scramjet Engine

A sidewall compression scramjet engine operated in two combustion modes under Mach 6 flight condition, weak- and intensive-combustion modes. The weak mode occurred below the overall fuel equivalence ratio (Φ) of around 0.4. Transition from the weak mode to the intensive mode occurred at Φ ~ 0.4, accompanied by a sudden increase in thrust. Mechanisms of the transition were numerically investigated in this study. Our simulations captured the sudden increase in thrust at the mode transition. In the weak mode, combustion occurred in only a region near the topwall where an igniter was installed. The combustion region expanded toward the cowl with boundary-layer separation at the mode transition. Our simulations demonstrated that low ignition capability resulted in the weak mode. We demonstrated that the presence of additional igniters on the sidewalls improved the ignition capability and achieved the intensive mode in the entire Φ range

Numerical study of air-entraining and submerged vortices in a pump sump

Numerical detection of harmful vortices in pump sumps, such as an air-entraining vortex (AEV) and a submerged vortex (SMV), is crucially important to develop the drain pump machinery. We performed numerical simulations of the benchmark experiments of the pump sump conducted by Matsui et al. (2006 and 2016) using the OpenFOAM and compared the simulation results with the experimental data considering the effects of turbulence model, grid density and detection method of the vortices. We studied the threshold of the gas-liquid volume fraction of the VOF method and the second invariant of velocity gradient tensor to identify AEV and SMV. The methods proposed in the present paper were found to be very effective for the detection of the vortices, and the simulation results by RANS with the SST k-omega model successfully reproduced the experimental data. LES with the Smagorinsky model, however, was sensitive to the grid system and difficult to reproduce the experimental data even for the finest grid system having 3.7 million cells in the present study

Large-scale vortical structure detection using microphone array in a semiconductor single wafer spin cleaner

Fluctuating pressure (p’ ) of a large-scale vortical structure generated in a semiconductor single wafer spin cleaner was detected by using microphone array. Twelve microphones were installed on the exhaust cover under the rotating disk of the cleaner with their interval of 7.5° or 15°. Power spectrum densities (PSD) of p’ were compared with those of fluctuating velocity measured by PIV for various rotation angular velocities to identify fluctuations due to convection of the large-scale vortical structure. Good agreement of PSDs indicates that the large-scale structure could be detected by using microphone. Cross-correlation of p’ measured at different positions revealed that the large-scale structure convected to the downstream in the rotational direction of the disk. The convection speed was about 12 % of the angular velocity of the rotating disk. Number of the vortex in the large-scale structure was also evaluated from the time-series p’ data. Time-space contour map was made for p’ based on the data measured at the different angular position, and showed periodical swept strip patterns. Presences of the strip patterns indicate the pressure disturbances were stably convected to the downstream. From this time-space map, two-dimensional Fourier transform efficiently extracted the number of vortices in the large-scale structure

Supersonic Combustion Using a Stinger-Shaped Fuel Injector

We developed a stinger-shaped injector (stinger injector) for supersonic combustors in cold-flow experiments. The stinger injector has a port geometry with a sharp leading edge in front of a streamwise slit. This injector produced higher jet penetration at a lower jet-tocrossflow momentum flux ratio (J) than a conventional circular injector. We applied the injector in a Mach 2.44 combustion test at a stagnation temperature of 2060 K. At a low fuel equivalence ratio (Φ) regime (i.e., low J regime), the injector produced 10% higher pressure thrust than the circular injector because of high jet penetration as expected from the coldflow experiments. Even at a moderate Φ regime, the stinger injector produced higher pressure thrust than the circular injector. At moderate Φ, the stinger injector held the flame around the injector and generated a precombustion shock wave in front of the injector. The presence of the precombustion shock wave decreased the momentum flux of the crossflow air and diminished the advantage of the injector for jet penetration. The injector, however, produced higher pressure thrust because better flame-holding produced higher pressure around the injector. At a higher Φ regime, the precombustion shock wave went upstream with both injectors. The far-upstream presence of a precombustion shock wave increased the turbulence in the crossflow and spread the fuel from both injectors. Thus, the difference in injector shape was insignificant for thrust performanc

Focusing-schlieren Visualization in A Dual-mode Scramjet

Schlieren imaging is particularly suited to measuring density gradients in compressible flowfields and can be used to capture shock waves and expansion fans, as well as the turbulent structures of mixing and wake flows. Conventional schlieren imaging, however, has difficulty clearly capturing such structures in long-duration supersonic combustion test facilities. This is because the severe flow temperatures locally change the refractive index of the window glass that is being used to provide optical access. On the other hand, focusing-schlieren imaging presents the potential of reduced sensitivity to thermal distortion of the windows and to clearly capture the flow structures even during a combustion test. This reduced sensitivity is due the technique’s ability to achieve a narrow depth of focus. As part of this study, a focusing-schlieren system was developed with a depth of focus near ±5 mm and was applied to a direct-connect, continuous-flow type, supersonic combustion test facility with a stagnation temperature near 1200 K. The present system was used to successfully visualize the flowfield inside a dual-mode scramjet. The imaging system captured combustion-induced volumetric expansion of the fuel jet and an anchored bifurcated shock wave at the trailing edge of the ramp fuel injector. This is the first time successful focusing-schlieren measurements have been reported for a dual-mode scramjet

Periodical structure of vortices in a semiconductor single wafer spin cleaner

We experimentally and numerically investigated large-scale structures formed by vortices in a single wafer spin cleaner. The Q-criterion identified the vortices developed in the cleaner as the flow regions with positive second invariant of the velocity gradient tensor obtained by both the PIV and LES. The time-series two-components PIV data shows that small-vortices were clustered near and under the edge of the rotating disk and were periodically emanated from there to the housing wall of the cleaner. The emanation frequency was increased with increasing in the angular velocity of the rotating disk. Three-dimensional LES reveal that six longitudinal vortices were spirally developed from under the edge of the rotating disk to the housing wall. This structure stably rotated slower than the disk speed. Fourier analysis of the LES data agreed with that of the PIV data. This supports that the passages of the stable spiral vortices on the PIV measurement region resulted in the periodical emanation of the clustered small-vortices observed in the PIV. Such a very large-scale spiral structure will induce reattachment of contaminants on the wafer surface, and should be destructed for development of much higher efficient cleaner

Wavelet analysis of transonic buffet on a two-dimensional airfoil with vortex generators

We visualized the shock buffets on a two-dimensional transonic airfoil with and without vortex generators (VGs) by using a fast-framing focusing schlieren imaging. The focusing schlieren visualization showed that the flow three-dimensionality around the airfoil became remarkable with installing the VGs. This implies that narrow depth of focus of imaging systems was a key to accurately capture the characteristics of the shock oscillation due to the buffet for the cases with VGs. The time-resolved imaging also revealed that non-periodic components were included in the shock oscillation due to the buffet for the cases with VGs. This prevented Fourier analysis from being applied. We used wavelet analysis to extract the characteristic of the shock oscillation for the cases with VGs. The wavelet spectrograms revealed that the low-frequency oscillation having the buffet frequency was still included intermittently in the shock oscillation even when VG controlled the buffet. The rate of appearing the low-frequency oscillation increased with increasing both the interval between VGs and the angle of attack

Large-Eddy / Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes Simulations of a Dual-Mode Scramjet Combustor

Numerical simulations of reacting and non-reacting flows within a scramjet combustor configuration experimentally mapped at the University of Virginia s Scramjet Combustion Facility (operating with Configuration A ) are described in this paper. Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and hybrid Large Eddy Simulation / Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (LES / RANS) methods are utilized, with the intent of comparing essentially blind predictions with results from non-intrusive flow-field measurement methods including coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS), hydroxyl radical planar laser-induced fluorescence (OH-PLIF), stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (SPIV), wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS), and focusing Schlieren. NC State's REACTMB solver was used both for RANS and LES / RANS, along with a 9-species, 19- reaction H2-air kinetics mechanism by Jachimowski. Inviscid fluxes were evaluated using Edwards LDFSS flux-splitting scheme, and the Menter BSL turbulence model was utilized in both full-domain RANS simulations and as the unsteady RANS portion of the LES / RANS closure. Simulations were executed and compared with experiment at two equivalence ratios, PHI = 0.17 and PHI = 0.34. Results show that the PHI = 0.17 flame is hotter near the injector while the PHI = 0.34 flame is displaced further downstream in the combustor, though it is still anchored to the injector. Reactant mixing was predicted to be much better at the lower equivalence ratio. The LES / RANS model appears to predict lower overall heat release compared to RANS (at least for PHI = 0.17), and its capability to capture the direct effects of larger turbulent eddies leads to much better predictions of reactant mixing and combustion in the flame stabilization region downstream of the fuel injector. Numerical results from the LES/RANS model also show very good agreement with OH-PLIF and SPIV measurements. An un-damped long-wave oscillation of the pre-combustion shock train, which caused convergence problems in some RANS simulations, was also captured in LES / RANS simulations, which were able to accommodate its effects accurately