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At least 181 records · Page 10

Numerical Simulation of One- And Two-Phase Flows In Propulsion Systems

In this report, we present some results of problems investigated during joint research between the Hampton University (HU) Fluid Mechanics and Acoustics Laboratory (FM&AL), NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) and the Hyper-X Program of the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC). This work is supported by joint research between the NASA GRC/HU FM&AL and the Institute of Mechanics at Moscow State University (IM/MSU) in Russia under a Civilian Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) grant, #RE1-2068. The main areas of current scientific interest of the FM&AL include an investigation of the proposed and patented advanced methods for aircraft engine thrust and noise benefits. These methods are based on nontraditional 3D (three dimensional) corrugated and composite nozzle, inlet, propeller and screw designs such as the Bluebell and Telescope nozzles, Mobius-shaped screws, etc. These are the main subject of our other projects, of which one is the NASA MURED's (Minority University Research and Education Division) FAR (Faculty Awards for Research) Award, #NAG-3-2249. Working jointly with this project team, our team also analyzes additional methods for exhaust jet noise reduction. These methods are without essential thrust loss and even with thrust augmentation. The research is focused on a wide regime of problems in the propulsion field as well as in experimental testing and theoretical and numerical simulation analyses for advanced aircraft and rocket engines. The FM&AL Team uses analytical methods, numerical simulations and experimental tests at the Hampton University campus, NASA and IM/MSU. The main results obtained by FM&AL team were published in the papers and patents.

Gilinsky, Mikhail M.

Numerical Simulation of the Generation of Axisymmetric Mode Jet Screech Tones

An imperfectly expanded supersonic jet, invariably, radiates both broadband noise and discrete frequency sound called screech tones. Screech tones are known to be generated by a feedback loop driven by the large scale instability waves of the jet flow. Inside the jet plume is a quasi-periodic shock cell structure. The interaction of the instability waves and the shock cell structure, as the former propagates through the latter, is responsible for the generation of the tones. Presently, there are formulas that can predict the tone frequency fairly accurately. However, there is no known way to predict the screech tone intensity. In this work, the screech phenomenon of an axisymmetric jet at low supersonic Mach number is reproduced by numerical simulation. The computed mean velocity profiles and the shock cell pressure distribution of the jet are found to be in good agreement with experimental measurements. The same is true with the simulated screech frequency. Calculated screech tone intensity and directivity at selected jet Mach number are reported in this paper. The present results demonstrate that numerical simulation using computational aeroacoustics methods offers not only a reliable way to determine the screech tone intensity and directivity but also an opportunity to study the physics and detailed mechanisms of the phenomenon by an entirely new approach.

Shen, Hao

Towards accelerating particle-resolved direct numerical simulation with neural operators

In this paper, we present our ongoing work aimed at accelerating a particle-resolved direct numerical simulation model designed to study aerosol–cloud–turbulence interactions. The dynamical model consists of two main components—a set of fluid dynamics equations for air velocity, temperature, and humidity, coupled with a set of equations for particle (i.e., cloud droplet) tracing. Rather than attempting to replace the original numerical solution method in its entirety with a machine learning (ML) method, we consider developing a hybrid approach. We exploit the potential of neural operator learning to yield fast and accurate surrogate models and, in this study, develop such surrogates for the velocity and vorticity fields. We discuss results from numerical experiments designed to assess the performance of ML architectures under consideration as well as their suitability for capturing the behavior of relevant dynamical systems.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Numerical simulation of the final stages of terrestrial planet formation

Three representative numerical simulations of the growth of the terrestrial planets by accretion of large protoplanets are considered. The mass and relative-velocity distributions of the bodies are free to evolve simultaneously in response to close gravitational encounters and occasional collisions between bodies. The collisions between bodies arise therefore in a natural way and the assumption of expressions for the relative-velocity distribution and the gravitational collision cross section is unnecessary. These simulations indicate that the growth of bodies with final masses approaching those of Venus and earth is possible, at least for the case of a two-dimensional system

Cox, L. P.

Numerical simulation of a radially injected barium cloud

Electrostatic two-dimensional numerical simulations of a radially symmetric barium injection experiment demonstrate that ions created by solar UV irradiation are electrostatically bound to the electrons which remain tied to the field lines on which they are created. Two possible instabilities are identified, but neither of them causes the barium plasma cloud to polarize in a way that would permit the plasma to keep up with the neutrals. In a second model, the velocity of the neutrals is allowed to be a function of the azimuthal angle. Here, a portion of the cloud does polarize in a way that allows a portion of the plasma to detach and move outward at the approximate speed of the neutrals. No rapid detachment is found when only the density of the neutrals is given an azimuthal asymmetry.

Swift, D. W.

Direct numerical simulations of chemically reacting turbulent mixing layers

The results of direct numerical simulations of chemically reacting, turbulent mixing layers are presented. The reaction considered is a binary, irreversible reaction with no heat release, so that only the effect of the turbulence on the chemical reaction is investigated. The simulation results are shown to be consistent with similarity theory, and are found to be in approximate agreement with laboratory data, even though there are no adjustable parameters in the method.

Riley, J. J.

Numerical simulations of turbulent trapping in the weak beam-plasma instability

Numerical simulations of the weak beam-plasma instability were done in the turbulent regime where small-scale trapping is a dominant feature of the instability, a regime with behavior not predicted by quasi-linear theory. The results of the simulations were compared with those of a specific model of the turbulence, the so-called 'turbulent trapping' model, which gives precise formulas for the particle correlation functions, and predicts a growth rate well enhanced over the quasi-linear value. It was found that the model gives accurate predictions for the correlation functions. On the other hand, while growth rates were enhanced over the quasi-linear values, the enhancements observed are smaller than expected from the quantitative predictions of the model.

Theilhaber, K.

A numerical simulation of finite-length Taylor-Couette flow

Results from numerical simulations of finite-length Taylor-Couette flow are presented. Included are time-accurate and steady-state studies of the change in the nature of the symmetric two-cell/asymmetric one-cell bifurcation with varying aspect ratio and of the Reynolds number/aspect ratio locus of the two-cell/four-cell bifurcation. Preliminary results from wavy-vortex simulations at low aspect ratios are also presented.

Streett, C. L.

Direct numerical simulation of isotropic turbulence interacting with a weak shock wave

Direct numerical simulations are used to investigate the interaction of isotropic quasi-incompressible turbulence with a weak shock wave. A linear analysis of the interaction is conducted for comparison with the simulations. Both the simulations and the analysis show that turbulence is enhanced during the interaction. Turbulent kinetic energy and transverse vorticity components are amplified, and turbulent lengthscales are decreased. It is suggested that the amplification mechanism is primarily linear. Simulations also showed a rapid evolution of turbulent kinetic energy just downstream of the shock, a behavior not reproduced by the linear analysis. Analysis of the budget of the turbulent kinetic energy transport equation shows that this behavior can be attributed to the pressure transport term. Multiple compression peaks were found along the mean streamlines at locations where the local shock thickness had increased significantly.

Lee, Sangsan

Direct numerical simulation of turbulent plane Couette flow

Turbulent plane Couette flow was numerically simulated at a Reynolds number (U(sub w)h/nu) of 6000, where U(sub w) is the relative wall speed and h is half the channel-height. Unlike in Poiseuille flow, where the mean shear rate changes its sign at the centerline, the sign of mean shear rate in plane Couette flow remains the same across the whole channel. This difference is expected to yield several differences between the two flows, especially in the core region. The most significant and dramatic difference observed was the existence of large-scale structures in the core region of the plane Couette flow. The large eddies are extremely long in the flow direction and fill the entire channel (i.e., their vertical extent is 2h). The large-scale structures have the largest contribution from the wavenumber (k(sub x)h,k(sub z)h) = (0, plus or minus 1.5), corresponding to a wavelength lambda(sub z)/h is approximately equal to 4. The secondary motion associated with the k(sub x)h = 0 mode consists of the large-scale vortices. The large eddies contribute about 30 percent of turbulent kinetic energy.

Lee, Moon Joo

Numerical simulation of thermally induced near-surface flows over Martian terrain

Numerical simulations of the Martian near-surface wind regime using a mesoscale atmospheric model have shown that the thermally induced near-surface winds are analogous to terrestrial circulations. In particular, katabatic wind displays a striking similarity to flow observed over Antarctica. Introduction of solar radiation strongly perturbs the slope flows; anabatic conditions develop in middle to high latitudes during the daytime hours due to the solar heating of the sloping terrain. There appears to be a rapid transition from the katabatic to the anabatic flow regimes, emphasizing the primary importance of radiative exchanges at the surface in specifying the horizontal pressure gradient force.

Parish, T. R.

Numerical Simulations of Mass Loading in the Solar Wind Interaction with Venus

Numerical simulations are performed in the framework of nonlinear two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics to investigate the influence of mass loading on the solar wind interaction with Venus. The principal physical features of the interaction of the solar wind with the atmosphere of Venus are presented. The formation of the bow shock, the magnetic barrier, and the magnetotail are some typical features of the interaction. The deceleration of the solar wind due to the mass loading near Venus is an additional feature. The effect of the mass loading is to push the shock farther outward from the planet. The influence of different values of the magnetic field strength on plasma evolution is considered.

Murawski, K.

Direct Numerical Simulation of a Coolant Jet in a Periodic Crossflow

A Direct Numerical Simulation of a coolant jet injected normally into a periodic crossflow is presented. The physical situation simulated represents a periodic module in a coolant hole array with a heated crossflow. A collocated finite difference scheme is used which is fifth-order accurate spatially and second-order accurate temporally. The scheme is based on a fractional step approach and requires the solution of a pressure-Poisson equation. The simulations are obtained for a blowing ratio of 0.25 and a channel Reynolds number of 5600. The simulations reveal the dynamics of several large scale structures including the Counter-rotating Vortex Pair (CVP), the horse-shoe vortex, the shear layer vortex, the wall vortex and the wake vortex. The origins and the interactions of these vortical structures are identified and explored. Also presented are the turbulence statistics and how they relate to the flow structures.

Sharma, Chirdeep

Numerical Simulation of Non-rotating and Rotating Coolant Channel Flow Fields

Numerical simulations of the three-dimensional flow and heat transfer in a rectangular duct with a bend were performed. Results are presented for Reynolds numbers of 17,000 and 37,000 and for aspect ratios of 0.5 and 1.0. A k-(omega) turbulence model with no reference to distance to a wall is used. Direct comparison between single block and multiblock grid calculations are made. Heat transfer and velocity distributions are compared to available literature with good agreement. The multi-block grid system is seen to produce more accurate results compared to a single-block grid with the same number of cells.

Rigby, David L.

Aspects of Supercritical Turbulence: Direct Numerical Simulation of O2/H2 and C7H16/N2 Temporal Mixing Layers

Results from Direct Numerical Simulations of temporal, supercritical mixing layers for two species systems are analyzed to elucidate species-specific turbulence aspects. The two species systems, O2/H2 and C7HG16/N2, have different thermodynamic characteristics; thus, although the simulations are performed at similar reduced pressure (ratio of the pressure to the critical pressure), the former system is dose to mixture ideality and has a relatively high solubility with respect to the latter, which exhibits strong departures from mixture ideality Due to the specified, smaller initial density stratification, the C7H16/N2 layers display higher growth and increased global molecular mixing as well as larger turbulence levels. However, smaller density gradients at the transitional state for the O2/H2 system indicate that on a local basis, the layer exhibits an enhanced mixing, this being attributed to the increased solubility and to mixture ideality. These thermodynamic features are shown to affect the irreversible entropy production (i.e. the dissipation), which is larger for the O2/H2 layer and is primarily concentrated in high density-gradient magnitude regions that are distortions of the initial density stratification boundary. In contrast, the regions of largest dissipation in the C7H16/N2 layer are located in high density-gradient magnitude regions resulting from the mixing of the two fluids.

Bellan, J.

Numerical Simulations of Cosmogenic Neutron Production and Transport in Planetary Surfaces

The numerical simulation code MCNPX was used to calculate the production and transport of cosmic-ray-produced neutrons in Mars and meteorites. These calculations help to understand the processes involved and the parameters that control the neutron fluxes. Results are presented here for neutrons in Mars and for the distribution of cosmic-ray neutrons and protons in a 50 cm-radius L-chondrite.

Kim, Kyeong J.

Numerical Simulations Studies of the Convective Instability Onset in a Supercritical Fluid

Numerical simulation studies are reported for the convection of a supercritical fluid, He-3, in a Rayleigh-Benard cell. The calculations provide the temporal profile DeltaT(t) of the temperature drop across the fluid layer. In a previous article, systematic delays in the onset of the convective instability in simulations relative to experiments were reported, as seen from the DeltaT(t) profiles. They were attributed to the smallness of the noise which is needed to start the instability. Therefore i) homogeneous temperature noise and ii) spatial lateral periodic temperature variations in the top plate were programmed into the simulations, and DeltaT(t) compared with that of an experiment with the same fluid parameters. An effective speed-up in the instability onset was obtained, with the best results obtained through the spatial temperature variations with a period of 2L, close to the wavelength of a pair of convections rolls. For a small amplitude of 0.5 micro-K, this perturbation gave a semiquantitative agreement with experimental observations. Results for various noise amplitudes are presented and discussed in relation to predictions by El Khouri and Carl es.

Furukawa, A.