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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 541 records · Page 30

On the Implementation and Further Validation of a Time Domain Boundary Element Method Broadband Impedance Boundary Condition

A time domain boundary integral equation with Burton-Miller reformulation is presented for acoustic scattering by surfaces with liners in a uniform mean flow. The Ingard-Myers impedance boundary condition is implemented using a broadband multipole impedance model and converted into time domain differential equations to augment the boundary integral equation. The coupled integral-differential equations are solved numerically by a March-On-in-Time (MOT) scheme. While the Ingard-Myers condition is known to support Kelvin-Helmholtz instability due to its use of a vortex sheet interface between the flow and the liner surface, it is found that by neglecting a second derivative term in the current time domain impedance boundary condition formulation, the instability an be effectively suppressed in computation. The proposed formulation and implementation are validated using a NASA Langley Research Center Grazing Flow Impedance Tube (GFIT) experimental dataset with satisfactory results. Moreover, a minimization procedure for finding the poles and coefficients of the broadband multiple impedance model is formulated in this paper by which, unlike the commonly used vector-fitting method, passivity of the model is ensured. Numerical tests show the proposed minimization approach is effective for modeling liners that are commonly used in aeroacoustic applications.

Time Domain Impedance Boundary Condition↗

Noise Reduction with Lobed Mixers: Nozzle-Length and Free-Jet Speed Effects

Acoustic test results are presented for 1/4th-scaled nozzles with internal lobed mixers used for reduction of subsonic jet noise of turbofan engines with bypass ratio above 5 and jet speeds up to 830 ft/s. One coaxial and three forced lobe mixers were tested with variations in lobe penetration, cut-outs in lobe-sidewall, lobe number and nozzle-length. Measured exit flow profiles and thrusts are used to assist the inferences from acoustic data. It is observed that lobed mixers reduce the low-frequency noise due to more uniformly mixed exit flow; but they may also increase the high-frequency noise at peak perceived noise (PNL) angle and angles upstream of it due to enhanced mixing inside the nozzle. Cut-outs and low lobe penetration reduce the annoying portion of the spectrum but lead to less uniform exit flow. Due to the dominance of internal duct noise in unscalloped, high-penetration mixers their noise is not reduced as much with increase in free-jet speed as that of coaxial or cut-out lobed mixers. The latter two mixers also show no change in PNL over the wide range of nozzle-lengths tested because most of their noise sources are outside the nozzle; whereas, the former show an increase in noise with decrease in nozzle-length.

Mengle, Vinod G.↗

The Design of Variable Mach Number Asymmetric Super-Sonic Nozzles by Two Procedures Employing Inclined and Curved Sonic Lines

Two theoretical procedures are developed for designing asymmetric supersonic nozzles for which the calculated exit flow is nearly uniform over a range of Mach numbers. One procedure is applicable at Mach numbers less than approximately 3. This approach yields, without iteration, a nozzle for which the calculated exit flow is uniform at two Mach numbers and, with proper design, is nearly uniform at Mach numbers between, slightly above, and slightly below these two. The use of an inclined and curved sonic line is an essential feature of this approach, The second procedure requires iteration and is used far designs at Mach numbers exceeding 3. Although it is not a necessary feature, an inclined and curved sonic line is also used in this procedure. In both approaches the flow field dawn stream of the sonic line is determined using the method of characteristics.

Syvertson, Clarence A.↗

Scale model studies for improvement of flow patterns of a low-speed tunnel

Flow along a nacelle was investigated with and without an orifice plate inserted into the airstream. The flow became more uniform in transit through the orifice when compared with the upstream flow and remained more uniform immediately downstream from the orifice. No improvement was found farther downstream with or without the orifice plate. Various windmills were studied to determine their effects on the downstream flow pattern. The windmill retarded flow velocity inside the circle inscribed by the tip of free wheeling propellers (used as substitute windmills), while the main stream passed over the blades seemingly unrestricted and without showing any increase in diameter. Results show that by varying a torque, the flow across a windmill can be effectively redistributed, an effect that could be gainfully employed in situations where the main flow into a diffuser is concentrated near the center. The construction of the 1/24 scale model tunnel and the velocity transverses obtained on the model are discussed. The transverses indicate that the velocity distribution may be considered worse in the vertical than in the horizontal plane.

Barna, P. S.↗

Evaluation of bio-inspired flow fields in a mediated Li-S flow battery for grid energy storage

Lithium-sulfur is a redox flow battery with high energy density for applications in safe, reliable, and lasting scaling of energy. However, lithium-based batteries often encounter platting as a problem thanks to poor Li-ions deposition after cycling. Aiming to reduce this impact, a uniform and continuous flow of ions is needed. On this work, novel bio-inspired flow fields in the electrochemical cell were tested to improve ions flowability and lithium platting control, ultimately enhancing battery performance and life. To secure Li-S efficient, low-cost, and secure energy storage capabilities, we chose a configuration with decamethylferrocene and cobaltocene acting as redox mediators, Li metal as anode and sulfur kept in a separate catholyte reservoir. Flow test and battery results insinuated a beneficial influence of bio-inspired designs in flowing electrolyte uniformly with less pressure and pump power in comparison to other conventional designs used in the industry, with an encouraging ability to approach a cheap, safe, and reliable Li-S grid energy storage.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Very high temperature laminar flow of a gas through the entrance region of a cooled tube - Numerical calculations and experimental results.

The laminar flow equations in differential form are solved numerically on a digital computer for flow of a very high temperature gas through the entrance region of an externally cooled tube. The solution method is described and calculations are carried out in conjunction with experimental measurements. The agreement with experiment is good, with the result indicating relatively large energy and momentum losses in the highly cooled flows considered where the pressure is nearly uniform along the flow and the core flow becomes non-adiabatic a few diameters downstream of the inlet. The effects of a large range of Reynolds number and Mach number (viscous dissipation) are also investigated.

Back, L. H.↗

Performance tests for the NASA Ames Research Center 20 cm x 40 cm oscillating flow wind tunnel

An evaluation is presented of initial tests conducted to assess the performance of the NASA Ames 20 cm x 40 cm oscillating flow wind tunnel. The features of the tunnel are described and two aspects of tunnel operation are discussed. The first is an assessment of the steady mainstream and boundary layer flows and the second deals with oscillating mainstream and boundary layer flows. Experimental results indicate that in steady flow the test section mainstream velocity is uniform in the flow direction and in cross section. The freestream turbulence intensity is about 0.2 percent. With minor exceptions the steady turbulent boundary layer generated on the top wall of the test section exhibits the characteristics of a zero pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer generated on a flat plate. The tunnel was designed to generate sinusoidal oscillating mainstream flows. Experiments confirm that the tunnel produces sinusoidal mainstream velocity variations for the range of frequencies (up to 15 Hz). The results of this study demonstrate that the tunnel essentially produces the flows that it was designed to produce.

Cook, W. J.↗

Efficient solutions of two-dimensional incompressible steady viscous flows

A simple, efficient, and robust numerical technique is provided for solving two dimensional incompressible steady viscous flows at moderate to high Reynolds numbers. The proposed approach employs an incremental multigrid method and an extrapolation procedure based on minimum residual concepts to accelerate the convergence rate of a robust block-line-Gauss-Seidel solver for the vorticity-stream function Navier-Stokes equations. Results are presented for the driven cavity flow problem using uniform and nonuniform grids and for the flow past a backward facing step in a channel. For this second problem, mesh refinement and Richardson extrapolation are used to obtain useful benchmark solutions in the full range of Reynolds numbers at which steady laminar flow is established.

Morrison, J. H.↗

Efficient solutions of two-dimensional incompressible steady viscous flows

A simple, efficient, and robust numerical technique is provided for solving two dimensional incompressible steady viscous flows at moderate to high Reynolds numbers. The proposed approach employs an incremental multigrid method and an extrapolation procedure based on minimum residual concepts to accelerate the convergence rate of a robust block-line-Gauss-Seidel solver for the vorticity-stream function Navier-Stokes equations. Results are presented for the driven cavity flow problem using uniform and nonuniform grids and for the flow past a backward facing step in a channel. For this second problem, mesh refinement and Richardson extrapolation are used to obtain useful benchmark solutions in the full range of Reynolds numbers at which steady laminar flow is established.

Morrison, J. H.↗

Flow synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles: using multiple precursor additions to improve size control

Controlling the size of iron oxide nanoparticles while maintaining uniformity in flow-based synthesis systems has been a great challenge in nanoparticle synthesis. Using an extended LaMer mechanism, we improve both the size and shape uniformity as compared to a conventional flow synthesis. The key to this approach is the injection of additional Fe precursor during the flow reaction, providing extra precursor during the growth process leading to a size focusing step. This approach has also allowed for the systematic variation of the nanoparticle size produced in the flow reaction. This work represent a new synthetic concept for improving the size uniformity of iron oxide nanoparticles in flow-based synthesis and has potential for application across a wide range of nanoparticle systems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Uniform asymptotic approximations for duct eigenfunctions in a thin boundary layer flow

Analytical approximations for the acoustic modes in a duct carrying a uniform core flow with a thin shear layer at the walls are developed using the Method of Matched Asymptotic Expansions. Both two-dimensional and cylindrical duct propagation are considered. Numerical results for eigenvalues calculated using the theory are presented for the two dimensional problem and compared with results from earlier analyses. It is found that the new approximations yield a significant increase in accuracy.

Myers, M. K.↗

Use of Blade Lean in Turbomachinery Redesign

Blade lean is used to improve the uniformity of exit flow distributions from turbomachinery blading. In turbines, it has been used to control secondary flows by tailoring blade turning to reduce flow overturning and underturning and to create more uniform loss distributions from hub to shroud. In the present study, the Pump Consortium centrifugal impeller has been redesigned using blade lean. The flow at the exit of the baseline impeller had large blade-to-blade variations, creating a highly unsteady flow for the downstream diffuser. Blade lean is used to redesign the flow to move the high loss fluid from the suction side to the hub, significantly reducing blade-toblade variations at the exit.

Moore, John↗

The spatially non-uniform convergence of the numerical solutions of flows

The spatial distribution of the numerical disturbances that are generated during the numerical solution of a flow is examined. It is shown that the distribution of the disturbances is not uniform. In regions where the structure of a flow is simple, the magnitudes of the generated disturbances is small and their decay is fast. However, in complex flow regions, as in separation and vortical areas, large magnitude disturbances appear and their decay may be very slow. The observed nonuniformity of the numerical disturbances makes possible the reduction of the calculation time by application of what may be called the partial-grid calculation technique, in which a major part of the calculation procedure is applied in selective subregions, where the velocity disturbances are large, and not within the whole grid. This technique is expected to prove beneficial in large-scale calculations such as the flow about complete aircraft configurations at high angle of attack. Also, it has been shown that if the Navier-Stokes equations are written in a generalized coordinate system, then in regions in which the grid is fine, such as near solid boundaries, the norms become infinitesimally small, because in these regions the Jacobian has very large values. Thus, the norms, unless they are unscaled by the Jacobians, reflect only the changes that happen at the outer boundaries of the computation domain, where the value of the Jacobian approaches unity, and not in the whole flow field.

Panaras, Argyris G.↗

On testing models for the pressure-strain correlation of turbulence using direct simulations

Direct simulations of homogeneous turbulence have, in recent years, come into widespread use for the evaluation of models for the pressure-strain correlation of turbulence. While work in this area has been beneficial, the increasingly common practice of testing the slow and rapid parts of these models separately in uniformly strained turbulent flows is shown in this paper to be unsound. For such flows, the decomposition of models for the total pressure-strain correlation into slow and rapid parts is ambiguous. Consequently, when tested in this manner, misleading conclusions can be drawn about the performance of pressure-strain models. This point is amplified by illustrative calculations of homogeneous shear flow where other pitfalls in the evaluation of models are also uncovered. More meaningful measures for testing the performance of pressure-strain models in uniformly strained turbulent flows are proposed and the implications for turbulence modeling are discussed.

Speziale, Charles G.↗

Boundary Layer Flow Control with a One Atmosphere Uniform Glow Discharge Surface Plasma

Low speed wind tunnel data have been acquired for planar panels covered by a uniform, glow-discharge surface plasma in atmospheric pressure air known as the One Atmosphere Uniform Glow Discharge Plasma (OAUGDP). Streamwise and spanwise arrays of flush, plasma-generating surface electrodes have been studied in laminar, transitional, and fully turbulent boundary layer flow. Plasma between symmetric streamwise electrode strips caused large increases in panel drag, whereas asymmetric spanwise electrode configurations produced a significant thrust. Smoke wire flow visualization and mean velocity diagnostics show the primary cause of the phenomena to be a combination of mass transport and vortical structures induced by strong paraelectric ElectroHydroDynamic (EHD) body forces on the flow.

J Reece Roth↗

The ground vortex flow field associated with a jet in a cross flow impinging on a ground plane for uniform and annular turbulent axisymmetric jets

An experimental study was conducted of the impingement of a single circular jet on a ground plane in a cross flow. This geometry is a simplified model of the interaction of propulsive jet exhaust from a V/STOL aircraft with the ground in forward flight. Jets were oriented normal to the cross flow and ground plane. Jet size, cross flow-to-jet velocity ratio, ground plane-to-jet board spacing, and jet exit turbulence level and mean velocity profile shape were all varied to determine their effects on the size of the ground vortex interaction region which forms on the ground plane, using smoke injection into the jet. Three component laser Doppler velocimeter measurements were made with a commercial three color system for the case of a uniform jet with exit spacing equal to 5.5 diameters and cross flow-to-jet velocity ratio equal to 0.11. The flow visualization data compared well for equivalent runs of the same nondimensional jet exit spacing and the same velocity ratio for different diameter nozzles, except at very low velocity ratios and for the larger nozzle, where tunnel blockage became significant. Variation of observed ground vortex size with cross flow-to-jet velocity ratio was consistent with previous studies. Observed effects of jet size and ground plane-to-jet board spacing were relatively small. Jet exit turbulence level effects were also small. However, an annular jet with a low velocity central core was found to have a significantly smaller ground vortex than an equivalent uniform jet at the same values of cross flow-to-jet velocity ratio and jet exit-to-ground plane spacing. This may suggest a means of altering ground vortex behavior somewhat, and points out the importance of proper simulation of jet exit velocity conditions. LV data indicated unsteady turbulence levels in the ground vortex in excess of 70 percent.

Cavage, William M.↗

Unsteady flow in a supersonic cascade with two in-passage shocks

A model for a supersonic blade row with two in-passage shock waves is developed. It accounts for three-dimensional effects in real flows by using an altered blade shape in a two-dimensional cascade. There is enough flexibility in the choice of blade shape to accommodate a desired entrance angle, exit angle, boundary-layer thickness and stage pressure ratio at a given entrance Mach number. The model divides the mean flow into regions of uniform or one-dimensional flow in which the solutions for the unsteady flow may be formed successively. The analysis makes use of previous solutions for unsteady flow in cascades and over an oscillation wedge. Six flow conditions are chosen in the range of parameters for which the two-shock model is valid for studies of flutter in torsion and bending. It is found, in keeping with previous results from a single-shock model, that in each case there is increasing instability with decreasing frequency.

Braun, W. H.↗

The stimulation of arachidonic acid metabolism in human platelets by hydrodynamic stresses

The effects of stimulating human platelets by thrombin and by hydrodynamic stresses on the platelets' arachidonic acid metabolism were investigated using (1-C-14)-arachidonic acid label and a specially designed viscometer that ensured laminar shear flow with a nearly uniform shear rate throughout the flow region. It was found that platelets activated by thrombin formed principally thromboxane A2, 12-hydroxy 5,8,10-heptadecatrienoic acid and 12-hydroxy 5,8,10,14-eicosatetraenoic acid (12-HETE). On the other hand, platelets activated by shear, formed only 12-HETE (although arachidonic acid metabolism was stimulated); no cyclooxygenase metabolites were detected. Results indicate that platelets may greatly increase their 12-HETE production when activated by passage through a high-stress region of the circulation, such as an atherosclerotic stenosis.

Rajagopalan, Sridhar↗