Experiments on Ekman layer instability.
Instabilities of Ekman layer measured using hot- wire anemometers
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Instabilities of Ekman layer measured using hot- wire anemometers
System utilizing new type hydrogen sensor has overall detection sensitivity and response speed higher than conventional hot-wire or hot-thermistor detectors. System measures concentrations of from 2 parts per million to 30 percent and is adaptable as leak detector and hazard alarm wherever hydrogen is used.
Nozzle wall hypersonic turbulent boundary layers at free stream Mach number, using pitot, hot wire, wall pressure fluctuation and static pressure measurements
The response of a constant-temperature hot-wire anemometer to sinusoidal and distorted sinusoidal acoustic oscillations is examined. The output of the anemometer is dependent upon the Reynolds number of the flow over the wire. The response is a measure of the interaction between the anemometer output and the acoustic pressure in the neighborhood of the wire. It is an open-loop prediction of the characteristics of actual closed-loop operation of a system. If the open-loop response is large enough, unstable closed-loop operation is predicted. The study was motivated by a need to investigate the stability limits of liquid-propellant rockets when perturbed by pressure oscillations. The sinusoidal and distorted sinusoidal acoustic oscillations used for this study are the same as those characteristic of unstable rocket combustion. Qualitatively, the results are similar--the response of the system to pure sinusoidal acoustic vibration of the fluid surrounding the wire is small, even when the magnitude of the acoustic pressure is quite large; but the response can be increased by as much as an order of magnitude with respect to the sinusoidal case by the addition of distortion. The amplitude and phase of the distortion component, relative to the fundamental component, are the dominant factors in the increase in the response.
Small-diameter-wire coil probes developed for use in a hypersonic helium tunnel are discussed. The springlike properties of the coil minimize strain-gauge effects, and allow to use a higher length-to-diameter ratio for a given flow. In addition, the coil is more rugged for sudden flow changes, and since it can be mounted straight across the support tips, there is less support interference in cross flows. In addition to measuring fluctuating quantities in a boundary layer, the probes were used with a constant temperature anemometer for measuring mean mass flow profiles, and with a constant current anemometer for measuring mean total temperature profiles.
A series of experiments was conducted to investigate temporal and spatial velocity distributions of fluid flow in 3-in. open-end pipes of various lengths up to 210 ft, produced by the propagation of nonlinear pressure waves of various intensities. Velocity profiles across each of five sections along the pipes were measured as a function of time with the use of hot-film and hot-wire anemometers for two pressure waves produced by a piston. Peculiar configurations of the velocity profiles across the pipe section were noted, which are uncommon for steady pipe flow. Theoretical consideration was given to this phenomenon of higher velocity near the pipe wall for qualitative confirmation. Experimentally time-dependent velocity distributions along the pipe axis were compared with one-dimensional theoretical results obtained by the method of characteristics with or without diffusion term for the purpose of determining the attenuation characteristics of the nonlinear wave propagation in the pipes.
An experimental investigation was conducted at selected locations of the near-wall region of a three dimensional turbulent air boundary layer relaxing in a nominally zero external pressure gradient behind a transverse hump (in the form of a 30 deg swept, 5-foot chord wing-type model) faired into the side wall of a low speed wind tunnel. Wall shear stresses measured with a flush-mounted hot-film gage and a sublayer fence were in very good agreement with experimental data obtained with two Preston probes. With the upstream unit Reynolds number held constant at 325,000/ft. approximately one-fourth of the boundary layer thickness adjacent to the wall was surveyed with a single rotated hot-wire probe mounted on a specially designed minimum interference traverse mechanism. The boundary layer (approximately 3.5 in thick near the first survey station where the length Reynolds number was 5.5 million) had a maximum crossflow velocity ratio of 0.145 and a maximum crossflow angle of 21.875 deg close to the wall.
Measurements and computations are being applied to an axisymmetric swirling flow, emerging from swirl vanes at angle phi, entering a large chamber test section via a sudden expansion of various side-wall angles alpha. New features are: the turbulence measurements are being performed on swirling as well as nonswirling flow; and all measurements and computations are also being performed on a confined jet flowfield with realistic downstream blockage. Recent activity falls into three categories: (1) Time-mean flowfield characterization by five-hole pitot probe measurements and by flow visualization; (2) Turbulence measurements by a variety of single- and multi-wire hot-wire probe techniques; and (3) Flowfield computations using the computer code developed during the previous year's research program.
Instantaneous wall shear stress and streamwise velocities have been measured simultaneously in a flat plate, turbulent boundary layer at moderate Reynolds number in an effort to provide experimental support for large eddy simulations. Data were obtained by using a buried-wire wall shear gage and a hot-wire rake positioned in the log region of the flow. All data processing was accomplished with digital data analysis techniques on a minicomputer. Fluctuations of the instantaneous U plus versus Y plus profiles about a mean law of the wall are shown to be significant and complex. Peak cross-correlation values between wall shear stress and the velocities are high and reflect the passage of a large structure inclined at a small angle to the wall. Estimates of this angle are consistent with those made by other investigators. Conditional sampling techniques were used to detect the passage of various sizes and types of flow disturbances (events) and to estimate their mean frequency of occurrence. Events characterized by large and sudden streamwise accelerations were found to be highly coherent throughout the log region and were strongly correlated with large fluctuations in wall shear-stress. Phase randomness between the near-wall quantities and the outer velocities was small. The results suggest that the flow events detected by conditional sampling applied to velocities in the log region may be related to the bursting process.
Detailed unsteady boundary layer measurements are presented for eight airfoils oscillated in pitch through the dynamic stall regime. The present report (the third of three volumes) describes the techniques developed for analysis and evaluation of the hot film and hot wire signals, offers some interpretation of the results, and tabulates all the cases in which flow reversal has been recorded.
Instantaneous wall shear stress and streamwise velocities have been measured simultaneously in a flat-plate, turbulent boundary layer at moderate Reynolds number in an effort to provide experimental support for large eddy simulations. Data were obtained using a buried-wire, wall shear gage and a hot-wire rake positioned in the log region of the flow. Fluctuations of the instantaneous U(+) versus Y(+) profiles about a mean law of the wall are shown to be significant and complex. Peak cross-correlation values between wall shear stress and the velocities are high, and reflect the passage of a large structure inclined at a small angle to the wall. Estimates of this angle are consistent with those made by other investigators. Conditional sampling techniques were used to detect the passage of various sizes and types of flow disturbances (events), and to estimate their mean frequency of occurrence. Events characterized by large aand sudden streamwise accelerations were found to be highly coherent throughout the log region and were strongly correlated with large fluctuations in wall shear stress. Phase randomness between the near-wall quantities and the outer velocities was small. The results suggest that the flow events detected by conditional sampling applied to velocities in the log region may be related to the bursting process.
The effects of streamwise convex curvature, recovery, and freestream turbulence intensity on the turbulent transport of heat and momentum in a mature boundary layer are studied using a specially designed three-wire hot-wire probe. Increased freestream turbulence is found to increase the profiles throughout the boundary layer on the flat developing wall. Curvature effects were found to dominate turbulence intensity effects for the present cases considered. For the higher TI (turbulence intensity) case, negative values of the turbulent Prandtl number are found in the outer half of the boundary layer, indicating a breakdown in Reynolds analogy.
Results are presented for two experimental programs related to augmentation of heat transfer by complex flow characteristics. In one program, high free stream turbulence (up to 63 percent) was shown to increase the Stanton number by more than a factor of 5, compared with the normally expected value based on x-Reynolds number. These experiments are being conducted in a free-jet facility, near the margins of the jet. To a limited extent, the mean velocity, turbulence intensity, and integral length scale can be separately varied. The results show that scale is a very important factor in determining the augmentation. Detailed studies of the turbulence structure are being carried out using an orthogonal triple hot-wire anemometer equipped with a fourth wire for measuring temperature. The v' component of turbulence appears to be distributed differently from u' or w'. In the second program, the velocity distributions and boundary layer thicknesses associated with a pair of counter-rotating, streamwise vortices were measured. There is a region of considerably thinned boundary layer between the two vortices when they are of approximately the same strength. If one vortex is much stronger than the other, the weaker vortex may be lifted off the surface and absorbed into the stronger.
A duct flow spatial sampling technique, in which an X-wire probe is rotated about the center of a cylindrical test section at a radius equal to one-half that of the test section in order to furnish nearly instantaneous multipoint measurements of the streamwise and azimuthal components, is presently evaluated in view of the control of flow disturbances downstream of various open inlet contractions. The effectiveness of a particular contraction in controlling ingested flow disturbances was ascertained by artificially introducing disturbances upstream of the contractions; control effectiveness if found to be strongly dependent on inlet contraction, with consequences for the reduction of passing-blade frequency noise during gas turbine engine ground testing.
A wind tunnel test was conducted on a flat plate at zero angle of attack with a rearward facing 2D cooling film injector nozzle. The freestream Mach number was 8 and the injector Mach number was 3. The freestream Reynolds number varied from 0.43 to 3.3 million per ft during the test, and the injector flow rate was such that the jet exit and freestream static pressures were matched. The analysis reported herein will focus on data obtained at a freestream Reynolds number of 0.85 million per ft. The data consists of heat-transfer measurements obtained upstream and downstream of the injector nozzle and flowfield surveys obtained downstream of the injector nozzle with a pitot, total temperature, hot-film anemometer and hot-wire anemometer probes. The flowfield surveys were made at stations 0.1 to 9 in. downstream of the injector nozzle from near the model surface to approximately 2 in above the model surface. The hot-film anemometer was used to define the fluctuations in the shear layer separating the flows. The hot-film results are integrated with conventional measurement techniques to obtain a more complete description of the complicated shear layer separating hypersonic and supersonic flows.
This paper focuses on the correlation of constant temperature anemometer voltages to velocity, density, and total temperature in the transonic slip flow regime. Three different calibration schemes were evaluated. The ultimate use of these hot-wire calibrations is to obtain fluctuations in the flow variables. Without the appropriate mean flow sensitivities of the heated wire, the measurements of these fluctuations cannot be accurately determined.
Results are presented of measurements on turbulent round jets of air and of helium of the same nozzle momentum efflux, using, for the air jets, x-wire hot-wire probes mounted on a moving shuttle and, for He jets, a composite probe consisting of an interference probe of the Way-Libby type and an x-probe. Current models for scalar triple moments were evaluated. It was found that the performance of the model termed the Full model, which includes all terms except advection, was very good for both the air and the He jets.
Extensive measurements are made in a transitioning swept-wing boundary layer using hot-film, hot-wire and cross-wire anemometry. The crossflow-dominated flow contains stationary vortices that breakdown near mid-chord. The most amplified vortex wavelength is forced by the use of artificial roughness elements near the leading edge. Two-component velocity and spanwise surface shear-stress correlation measurements are made at two constant chord locations, before and after transition. Streamwise surface shear stresses are also measured through the entire transition region. Correlation techniques are used to identify stationary structures in the laminar regime and coherent structures in the turbulent regime. Basic techniques include observation of the spatial correlations and the spatially distributed auto-spectra. The primary and secondary instability mechanisms are identified in the spectra in all measured fields. The primary mechanism is seen to grow, cause transition and produce large-scale turbulence. The secondary mechanism grows through the entire transition region and produces the small-scale turbulence. Advanced techniques use Linear Stochastic Estimation (LSE) and Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) to identify the spatio-temporal evolutions of structures in the boundary layer. LSE is used to estimate the instantaneous velocity fields using temporal data from just two spatial locations and the spatial correlations. Reference locations are selected using maximum RMS values to provide the best available estimates. POD is used to objectively determine modes characteristic of the measured flow based on energy. The stationary vortices are identified in the first laminar modes of each velocity component and shear component. Experimental evidence suggests that neighboring vortices interact and produce large coherent structures with spanwise periodicity at double the stationary vortex wavelength. An objective transition region detection method is developed using streamwise spatial POD solutions which isolate the growth of the primary and secondary instability mechanisms in the first and second modes, respectively. Temporal evolutions of dominant POD modes in all measured fields are calculated. These scalar POD coefficients contain the integrated characteristics of the entire field, greatly reducing the amount of data to characterize the instantaneous field. These modes may then be used to train future flow control algorithms based on neural networks.