Nozzle geometry effects on corner boundary layers in supersonic wind tunnels

Experiments on supersonic flows are typically conducted in wind tunnels with rectangular cross-sections, which use two-dimensional nozzles of two different types. A “full” setup consists of two contoured nozzle surfaces symmetric about the tunnel centre-height. The “half” configuration is also common, with a curved ceiling nozzle surface and a straight horizontal floor.Air Force Research Laboratory UK National Wind Tunnel Facilit

Nozzle geometry-induced vortices in supersonic wind tunnels

Streamwise-coherent structures were observed in schlieren images of a Mach 2.5 flow in an empty supersonic wind tunnel with rectangular cross-section. These features are studied using RANS computations in combination with wind tunnel experiments. The structures are identified as regions of streamwise vorticity embedded in the sidewall boundary layers. These vortices locally perturb the sidewall boundary layers, and can increase their thickness by as much as 37%. The vortices are caused by a region of separation upstream of the nozzle where there is a sharp geometry change, typical in supersonic wind tunnels with interchangeable nozzle blocks. Despite originating in the corners, the vortices are transported by secondary flows in the sidewall boundary layers so they end up near the tunnel centre-height, well away from any corners. The successful elimination of these sidewall vortices from the flow is achieved by replacing the sharp corner with a more rounded geometry, so that the flow here remains attached.Air Force Office of Scientific Research: Award No. FA9550-16-1-043

Characteristics of shock-induced boundary layer separation on nacelles under windmilling diversion conditions

The boundary layer on the external cowl of an aero-engine nacelle under windmilling diversion conditions is subjected to a notable adverse pressure gradient due to the interaction with a near-normal shock wave. Within the context of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methods, the correct representation of the characteristics of the boundary layer is a major challenge to capture the onset of the separation. This is important for the aerodynamic design of the nacelle as it may assist in the characterization of candidate designs. This work uses experimental data obtained from a quasi-2D rig configuration to provide an assessment of the CFD methods typically used within an industrial context. A range of operating conditions is investigated to assess the sensitivity of the boundary layer to changes in inlet Mach number and mass flow through a notional windmilling engine. Fully turbulent and transitional boundary layer computations are used to determine the characteristics of the boundary layer and the interaction with the shock on the nacelle cowl. The correlation between the onset of shock induced boundary layer separation and pre-shock Mach number is assessed and the boundary layer integral characteristics ahead of the shock and the post-shock recovery evaluated and quantified. Overall, it was found that the CFD is able to discern the onset of boundary layer separation for a nacelle under windmilling conditions

GRADES: Gradient descent for similarity caching

A similarity cache can reply to a query for an object with similar objects stored locally. In some applications of similarity caches, queries and objects are naturally represented as points in a continuous space. Examples include 360° videos where user's head orientation - expressed in spherical coordinates - determines what part of the video needs to be retrieved, and recommendation systems where the objects are embedded in a finite-dimensional space with a distance metric to capture content dissimilarity. Existing similarity caching policies are simple modifications of classic policies like LRU, LFU, and qLRU and ignore the continuous nature of the space where objects are embedded. In this paper, we propose Grades, a new similarity caching policy that uses gradient descent to navigate the continuous space and find the optimal objects to store in the cache. We provide theoretical convergence guarantees and show Grades increases the similarity of the objects served by the cache in both applications mentioned above

GRADES: Gradient descent for similarity caching

International audienceA similarity cache can reply to a query for an object with similar objects stored locally. In some applications of similarity caches, queries and objects are naturally represented as points in a continuous space. Examples include 360° videos where user's head orientation-expressed in spherical coordinates determines what part of the video needs to be retrieved, and recommendation systems where the objects are embedded in a finite-dimensional space with a distance metric to capture content dissimilarity. Existing similarity caching policies are simple modifications of classic policies like LRU, LFU, and qLRU and ignore the continuous nature of the space where objects are embedded. In this paper, we propose GRADES, a new similarity caching policy that uses gradient descent to navigate the continuous space and find the optimal objects to store in the cache. We provide theoretical convergence guarantees and show GRADES increases the similarity of the objects served by the cache in both applications mentioned above

A combined Eulerian-Lagrangian two-phase analysis of the SSME HPOTP nozzle plug trajectories

As a result of high cycle fatigue, hydrogen embrittlement, and extended engine use, it was observed in testing that the trailing edge on the first stage nozzle plug in the High Pressure Oxygen Turbopump (HPOTP) could detach. The objective was to predict the trajectories followed by particles exiting the turbine. Experiments had shown that the heat exchanger soils, which lie downstream of the turbine, would be ruptured by particles traveling in the order of 360 ft/sec. An axisymmetric solution of the flow was obtained from the work of Lin et. al., who used INS3D to obtain the solution. The particle trajectories were obtained using the method of de Jong et. al., which employs Lagrangian tracking of the particle through the Eulerian flow field. The collision parameters were obtained from experiments conducted by Rocketdyne using problem specific alloys, speeds, and projectile geometries. A complete 3-D analysis using the most likely collision parameters shows maximum particle velocities of 200 ft/sec. in the heat exchanger region. Subsequent to this analysis, an engine level test was conducted in which seven particles passed through the turbine but no damage was observed on the heat exchanger coils

New Formula for Conversion Efficiency of RF EH and its Wireless Applications.

yesExisting works on energy harvesting wireless systems often assume a constant conversion efficiency for the energy harvester. In practice, the conversion efficiency often varies with the input power. In this work, based on a review of existing energy harvesters in the literature, a heuristic expression for the conversion efficiency as a function of the input power is derived by curve fitting. Using this function, two example energy harvesters are used to analyze the realistic performances of wireless relaying and wireless energy transfer. Numerical results show that the realistic performances of the wireless systems could be considerably different from what predicted by the existing analysis

Flow characterisation for a validation study in high-speed aerodynamics

Validation studies are becoming increasingly relevant when investigating complex flow problems in high-speed aerodynamics. These investigations require calibration of numerical models with accurate data from the physical wind tunnel being studied. This paper presents the characterisation process for a joint experimental-computational study to investigate the streamwise corners of a Mach 2.5 channel flow. As well as checks of flow quality typically performed for phenomenological investigations, additional quantitative tests are conducted. The extra care to obtain high quality data and eliminate any systematic errors reveal useful information about the wind tunnel flow. Further important physical insights are gained from designing and conducting wind tunnel tests in conjunction with numerical simulations. Crucially, the close experimental-computational collaboration enabled the identification of secondary flows in the sidewall boundary-layers; these strongly influence the flow in the corner regions, the target of the validation study

Experimental validation of the quadratic constitutive relation in supersonic streamwise corner flows

The quadratic constitutive relation is a simple extension to the linear eddy-viscosity hypothesis and has shown some promise in improving the computation of flow along streamwise corner geometries. In order to further investigate these improvements, the quadratic model is validated by comparing RANS simulations of a Mach 2.5 wind tunnel flow with high-quality experimental velocity data. Careful set up and assessment of computations using detailed characterisation data of the overall flow field suggests a minimum expected discrepancy of approximately 3% for any experimental–computational velocity comparisons. The corner regions of the rectangular cross-section wind tunnel exhibit velocity differences of 7% between experimental data and computations with linear eddy-viscosity models, but these discrepancies are reduced to 4–5% when the quadratic constitutive relation is used. This improvement can be attributed to a better prediction of the corner boundary-layer structure, due to computations reproducing the stress-induced streamwise vortices which are known to exist in this flow field. However, the strength and position of these vortices do not correspond exactly with those in the measured flow. A further observation from this study is the appearance of additional, non-physical vortices when the value of the quadratic coefficient in the relation exceeds the recommended value of 0.3.This material is based upon work supported by the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research under award number FA9550–16–1–0430