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At least 307 records · Page 17

A holographic interferometry technique for measuring transonic flow near a rotor blade

A technique that uses holographic interferometry to record the first interferograms of the flow near a hovering transonic rotor blade is presented. A pulsed ruby laser is used to record interferograms of a 2 ft diam field of view near a rotor tip operating at a tip Mach number of 0.90. Several interferograms, recorded along planes perpendicular to the rotor's tip path plane at various azimuth angles around the flow, are presented. These interferograms yield quantitative information about shock structure and location, flow separation, and radiated noise that will help helicopter researchers understand the complexities of the flow around high speed rotor blades and thus improve performance and reduce noise.

Kittleson, J. K.↗

Transonic flow calculations using Euler's equations

An implicit finite difference method with implicit boundary conditions is employed to solve the steady Euler's equations for flows past arbitrary geometries. The resulting code is used to investigate in a systematic way various aspects of flow past airfoils at transonic speeds such as, method of solution, boundary conditions, grid stretching and generation, shock and sonic point operators, the Kutta condition, and smoothing. Results obtained are in good agreement with results of other codes. Moreover, it appears that the method of solution employed is such that Kutta's condition need not be invoked. This statement appears to be valid for other existing schemes employed in the solution of Euler's equations.

Atkins, H. L.↗

A comparison of turbulence closure models for transonic flows about airfoils

Navier-Stokes transonic airfoil calculations using three different turbulence closure models are presented and compared with available experimental data. Two of the models, Cebeci-Smith and Baldwin-Lomax, are equilibrium models in the sense that the turbulent shear stress is assumed to depend only on the local properties of the mean flow. The third model, Johnson and King, is a nonequilibrium model in which an ordinary differential equation is employed to account for the streamwise development of the maximum Reynolds shear stress. An eddy viscosity distribution across the boundary layer is assumed which is functionally dependent on this stress. For attached flows with little inviscid-viscous interaction, little difference in the results with the different models is noted. With stronger interactions and with separation occurring on the airfoils, the nonequilibrium model is shown to perform better.

King, Lyndell S.↗

Navier-Stokes simulations of unsteady transonic flow phenomena

Numerical simulations of two classes of unsteady flows are obtained via the Navier-Stokes equations: a blast-wave/target interaction problem class and a transonic cavity flow problem class. The method developed for the viscous blast-wave/target interaction problem assumes a laminar, perfect gas implemented in a structured finite-volume framework. The approximately factored implicit scheme uses Newton subiterations to obtain the spatially and temporally second-order accurate time history of the blast-waves with stationary targets. The inviscid flux is evaluated using either of two upwind techniques, while the full viscous terms are computed by central differencing. Comparisons of unsteady numerical, analytical, and experimental results are made in two- and three-dimensions for Couette flows, a starting shock-tunnel, and a shock-tube blockage study. The results show accurate wave speed resolution and nonoscillatory discontinuity capturing of the predominantly inviscid flows. Viscous effects were increasingly significant at large post-interaction times. While the blast-wave/target interaction problem benefits from high-resolution methods applied to the Euler terms, the transonic cavity flow problem requires the use of an efficient scheme implemented in a geometrically flexible overset mesh environment. Hence, the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations implemented in a diagonal form are applied to the cavity flow class of problems. Comparisons between numerical and experimental results are made in two-dimensions for free shear layers and both rectangular and quieted cavities, and in three-dimensions for Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) geometries. The acoustic behavior of the rectangular and three-dimensional cavity flows compare well with experiment in terms of frequency, magnitude, and quieting trends. However, there is a more rapid decrease in computed acoustic energy with frequency than observed experimentally owing to numerical dissipation. In addition, optical phase distortion due to the time-varying density field is modelled using geometrical constructs. The computed optical distortion trends compare with the experimentally inferred result, but underpredicts the fluctuating phase difference magnitude.

Atwood, C. A.↗

Nonclassical aileron buzz in transonic flow

A computational study of inviscid, transonic aileron and trailing-edge buzz instabilities is presented. A mixed Eulerian-Lagrangian formulation is used to model the fluid-structure system and to obtain a system of space-discretized equations that is time-marched to simulate the aeroelastic behavior of the wing-aileron system. Results obtained suggest that shock-induced separation may not be an essential driving force behind all buzz phenomena. Several examples are shown where the shock motion interacts with the aileron motion to extract energy from the flow. If the trailing-edge region is sufficiently flexible and the shocks are at the trailing edge, a trailing-edge buzz instability appears possible.

Bendiksen, Oddvar O.↗

Experimental and theoretical investigations in two-dimensional transonic flow.

Experimental and theoretical results are presented from a study of the flow over a family of transonically scaled circular-arc bodies mounted in a solid-wall wind tunnel. Data are presented for Reynolds numbers between 30,000 and 3,600,000, based on chord. The high Reynolds number results are compared with computations based on inviscid theory, and are used to investigate transonic similarity and the behavior of the flow near choking. The results at low Reynolds number are used to demonstrate the effect of viscosity on the overall flowfield, and comparisons are made with existing laminar viscous/inviscid interaction theory.

Collins, D. J.↗

Numerical calculation of the transonic flow past a swept wing

A numerical method is presented for analyzing the transonic potential flow past a lifting, swept wing. A finite difference approximation to the full potential equation is solved in a coordinate system which is nearly conformally mapped from the physical space in planes parallel to the symmetry plane, and reduces the wing surface to a portion of one boundary of the computational grid. A coordinate invariant, rotated difference scheme is used, and the difference equations are solved by relaxation. The method is capable of treating wings of arbitrary planform and dihedral, although approximations in treating the tips and vortex sheet make its accuracy suspect for wings of small aspect ratio. Comparisons of calculated results with experimental data are shown for examples of both conventional and supercritical transport wings. Agreement is good for both types, but it was found necessary to account for the displacement effect of the boundary layer for the supercritical wing, presumably because of its greater sensitivity to changes in effective geometry.

Jameson, A.↗

Calculations Of Transonic Flow About A Wing

Report describes calculations of transonic airflows about wing in wind tunnel. Basic equations of flow used in study are Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations in strong conservation-law form. Equations of flow incorporated into finite-difference computer code called TNS (Transonic Navier-Stokes). Computational grid generated by solution of partial differential equations yielding smooth meshes conforming to surfaces of wing and wind tunnel.

Holst, Terry L.↗

Relative efficiency and accuracy of two Navier-Stokes codes for simulating attached transonic flow over wings

In the present study, two codes which solve the three-dimensional Thin-Layer Navier-Stokes (TLNS) equations are used to compute the steady-state flow for two test cases representing typical finite wings at transonic conditions. Several grids of C-O topology and varying point densities are used. After a description of each code and test case, standards for determining code efficiency and accuracy are defined and applied to determine the relative performance of the two codes in predicting turbulent transonic wing flows. Comparisons of computed surface pressure distributions with experimental data are made.

Bonhaus, Daryl L.↗

Relative efficiency and accuracy of two Navier-Stokes codes for simulating attached transonic flow over wings

Two codes which solve the 3-D Thin Layer Navier-Stokes (TLNS) equations are used to compute the steady state flow for two test cases representing typical finite wings at transonic conditions. Several grids of C-O topology and varying point densities are used to determine the effects of grid refinement. After a description of each code and test case, standards for determining code efficiency and accuracy are defined and applied to determine the relative performance of the two codes in predicting turbulent transonic wing flows. Comparisons of computed surface pressure distributions with experimental data are made.

Bonhaus, Daryl L.↗

Numerical computation of transonic flows with shock waves

Some recent developments in numerical methods for calculating solutions to the transonic potential flow equation are reviewed, including (1) the construction of the stable coordinate independent difference schemes; (2) the use of conservation form to insure proper shock jump conditions; (3) analysis of the relaxation method by the time dependent analogy; (4) accelerated iterative schemes.

Jameson, A.↗

Full potential integral solution for transonic flows with and without embedded Euler domains

Two methods are presented to solve for the transonic airfoil flow problems. The first method is based on the integral equation solution of the full-potential equation in terms of the velocity field, and a Shock Capturing-Shock Fitting (SCSF) scheme has been developed. The SCSF-scheme consists of a shock-capturing part and a shock-fitting part in which shock panels are introduced at the shock location. The sock panels are fitted and crossed by using the Rankine-Hugoniot relations. The second method is based on coupling the integral equation of the full-potential equation with the pseudo time integration of Euler equations in a small embedded region around the shock. The integral solution provides the initial and boundary conditions for the Euler domain. This scheme is named as the Integral Equation-Embedded Euler (IEEE) scheme. The two methods are applied to NACA 0012 and NACA 64A010A over a wide range of Mach numbers, and the reults are in good agreement with the experimental data and other computational results. The schemes converge within a number of iterations which is one-order of magnitude less than the finite-difference schemes.

Kandil, Osama A.↗

Numerical solution of the Navier-Stokes equations for laminar, transonic flows

An implicit finite difference solution of the Navier-Stokes equations yielded time histories of the transonic laminar flow development about a circular cylinder and NACA-0018 airfoil. Reynolds numbers ranged from those corresponding to purely laminar flow to those corresponding to significant turbulence in the boundary layer. Body thermal conditions of an adiabatic wall and a specified body temperature were considered. Versatility in treating arbitrary bodies was incorporated by using numerically generated, body-fitted coordinate transformations. Solution of the simultaneous difference equations for the dependent variables was obtained using an accelerated Gauss-Seidel iterative scheme. Computational results are presented in the form of velocity vector fields, Mach number contours, aerodynamic coefficients, heat transfer rates at the body surface, and body temperature distributions. Truncation analyses of first and second derivative difference approximations resulted in general criteria for numerically generated coordinates so that flow near a body is more accurately represented.

Turner, L., III↗

Experimental studies of transonic flow field near a longitudinally slotted wind tunnel wall

The results of detailed parametric experiments are presented for the near-wall flow field of a longitudinally slotted transonic wind tunnel. Existing data are reevaluated and new data obtained in the Langley 6- by 19-inch Transonic Wind Tunnel are presented and analyzed. In the experiments, researchers systematically investigate many pertinent wall-geometry variables such as the wall openness and the number of slots along with the free stream Mach number and model angle of attack. Flow field surveys on the plane passing through the centerline of the slot were conducted and are presented. The effects of viscosity on the slot flow are considered in the analysis. The present experiments, combined with those of previous investigations, give a more complete physical characterization of the flow near and through the slotted wall of a transonic wind tunnel.

Everhart, Joel L.↗

Numerical studies of porous airfoils in transonic flow

A numerical tool is constructed to examine the effects of a porous surface on transonic airfoil performance and to help understand the flow structure of passive shockwave/boundary layer interactions. The porous region is located near the shock with a cavity underneath it. This study is composed of two parts. Solved in the first part, with an inviscid-flow approach, is the transonic full-potential equation associated with transpiration boundary conditions which are obtained from porosity modeling. The numerical results indicate that a porous airfoil has a wave drag lower than that of a solid airfoil. The observed lambda-shock structure in the wind-tunnel testing can be predicted. Furthermore, the lift could be increased with an appropriate porosity distribution. In the second part of this work, the modified version of either an interactive boundary layer (IBL) algorithm or a thin-layer Navier-Stokes (TLNS) algorithm is used to study the outer flow, while a stream-function formulation is used to model the inner flow in the shallow cavity. The coupling procedure at the porous surface is based on Darcy's law and the assumption of a constant total pressure in the cavity. In addition, a modified Baldwin-Lomax turbulence model is used to describe the transpired turbulent boundary layer in the TLNS approach, while the Cebeci turbulence model is used in the IBL approach. According to the present analysis, a porous surface can reduce the wave drag appreciably, but can also increase the viscous losses. As has been observed experimentally, the numerical results indicate that the total drag is reduced at higher Mach numbers and increased at lower Mach numbers when the angles of attack are small. Furthermore, the streamline pattern of passive shock/boundary layer interaction are revealed.

Chow, C. Y.↗