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At least 559 records · Page 31

Radiative transfer effects on reflected shock waves. II - Absorbing gas.

Radiative cooling effects behind a reflected shock wave are calculated for an absorbing-emitting gas by means of an expansion procedure in the small density ratio across the shock front. For a gray gas shock layer with an optical thickness of order unity or less the absorption integral is simplified by use of the local temperature approximation, whereas for larger optical thicknesses a Rosseland diffusion type of solution is matched with the local temperature approximation solution. The calculations show that the shock wave will attenuate at first and then accelerate to a constant velocity. Under appropriate conditions the gas enthalpy near the wall may increase at intermediate times before ultimately decreasing to zero. A two-band absorption model yields end-wall radiant-heat fluxes which agree well with available shock-tube measurements.

Su, F. Y.↗

Development of a Semi-Span Test Capability at the National Transonic Facility

A need for low-speed, high Reynolds number test capabilities has been identified for the design and development of advanced subsonic transport high-lift systems. In support of this need, multiple investigations have been conducted in the National Transonic Facility (NTF) at the NASA Langley Research Center to develop a semi-span testing capability that will provide the low-speed, flight Reynolds number data currently unattainable using conventional sting-mounted, full-span models. Although a semi-span testing capability will effectively double the Reynolds number capability over full-span models, it does come at the expense of contending with the issue of the interaction of the flow over the model with the windtunnel wall boundary layer. To address this issue the size and shape of the semi-span model mounting geometry have been investigated, and the results are presented herein. The cryogenic operating environment of the NTF produced another semi-span test technique issue in that varying thermal gradients have developed on the large semi-span balance. The suspected cause of these thermal gradients and methods to eliminate them are presented. Data are also presented that demonstrate the successful elimination of these varying thermal gradients during cryogenic operations.

Gatlin, G. M.↗

Equivalent-Continuum Modeling of Nano-Structured Materials

A method has been developed for modeling structure-property relationships of nano-structured materials. This method serves as a link between computational chemistry and solid mechanics by substituting discrete molecular structures with an equivalent-continuum model. It has been shown that this substitution may be accomplished by equating the vibrational potential energy of a nano-structured material with the strain energy of representative truss and continuum models. As an important example with direct application to the development and characterization of single-walled carbon nanotubes, the model has been applied to determine the effective continuum geometry of a graphene sheet. A representative volume element of the equivalent-continuum model has been developed with an effective thickness. This effective thickness has been shown to be similar to, but slightly smaller than, the interatomic spacing of graphite.

Odegard, Gregory M.↗

Accuracy Quantification of the Loci-CHEM Code for Chamber Wall Heat Transfer in a GO2/GH2 Single Element Model Problem

All solutions with Loci-CHEM achieved demonstrated steady state and mesh convergence. Preconditioning had no effect on solution accuracy and typically yields a 3-5times solution speed-up. The SST turbulence model has superior performance, relative to the data in the head end region, for the rise rate and peak heat flux. It was slightly worse than the others in the downstream region where all over-predicted the data by 30-100%.There was systematic mesh refinement in the unstructured volume and structured boundary layer areas produced only minor solution differences. Mesh convergence was achieved. Overall, Loci-CHEM satisfactorily predicts heat flux rise rate and peak heat flux and significantly over predicts the downstream heat flux.

West, Jeff↗

Correlation and analysis of elevon seal test results

The heating rate and pressure distributions in and around the elevon coves were correlated. An analytical approach incorporating such a correlation into a thermal structure computer code to examine the elevon seal and cover structure in flight was developed. Emphasis was placed on the design of a thermal model that predicts gas and wall temperatures in the cove area. The elevon cove area was modelled analytically by a parallel plate flow channel, incorporating effects of axial wall conduction, axial and environmental radiant energy exchanges, and effects of laminar and turbulent convection entrance regions. Comparisons were made between computed and measured values of (1) cove wall temperatures; (2) local gas temperature within the cove; and (3) local heating rates.

Keshock, E. G.↗

An evaluation in a modern wind tunnel of the transonic adaptive wall adjustment strategy developed by NPL in the 1940's

The first documented wind tunnel employing a flexible walled test section for the purpose of eliminating wall interference was constructed in England by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) during the late 1930's. The tunnel was transonic and designed for two-dimensional testing. In an attempt to eliminate the top and bottom wall interference effects on the model NPL developed a strategy to adjust two flexible walls to streamlined shapes. This report covers an evaluation of the NPL wall adjustment strategy in a modern wind tunnel, e.g., the Transonic Self-Streamlining Wind Tunnel (TSWT) at the University of Southampton, England. The evaluation took the form of performance comparisons with other modern strategies which have been developed for use in, and proven in, the TSWT.

Lewis, M. C.↗

Multiphysics Computational Analysis of a Perforated Plate Cooling Flow

A multiphysics analysis of a film cooling flow was conducted using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver in conjunction with a conjugate heat transfer (CHT) solver. The film cooling problem consisted of a square nozzle producing a heated subsonic jet over a perforated plate with three sections of 45 cooling holes each. Results from the multiphysics analysis were compared to a CFD-only approach and experimental results. Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) computations were employed first, with and without the CHT solver. The multiphysics approach provided much closer agreement with experimentally measured plate temperatures than the CFD-only approach. Comparisons of computed velocities and temperatures were also made with experimental data. Hybrid RANS-large eddy simulation calculations employing the Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (DDES) approach were also conducted within the multiphysics framework. The DDES approach was unable to resolve turbulent structures in the near wall regions. Hence, the RANS part of the DDES model was used in near wall regions, and produced surface temperatures along with velocity and temperature profiles close to the wall that were very similar to the RANS results. The DDES approach did resolve structures in the outer portion of the boundary layer especially near the end of the plate where the boundary layer was thicker. The key result was the improved surface temperatures produced by the multiphysics approach employing CHT over the fluid-only approach.

Computational Fluid Dynamics↗

Theoretical model for VITA-educed coherent structures in the wall region of a turbulent boundary layer

Experiments on wall-bounded shear flows (channel flows and boundary layers) have indicated that the turbulence in the region close to the wall exhibits a characteristic intermittently formed pattern of coherent structures. For a quantitative study of coherent structures it is necessary to make use of conditional sampling. One particularly successful sampling technique is the Variable Integration Time Averaging technique (VITA) first explored by Blackwelder and Kaplan (1976). In this, an event is assumed to occur when the short time variance exceeds a certain threshold multiple of the mean square signal. The analysis presented removes some assumptions in the earlier models in that the effects of pressure and viscosity are taken into account in an approximation based on the assumption that the near-wall structures are highly elongated in the streamwise direction. The appropriateness of this is suggested by the observations but is also self consistent with the results of the model which show that the streamwise dimension of the structure grows with time, so that the approximation should improve with the age of the structure.

Landahl, Marten T.↗

Determination of solid/porous wall boundary conditions from wind tunnel data for computational fluid dynamics codes

A computational and experimental study has been undertaken to investigate methods of modeling solid and porous wall boundary conditions in CFD codes. The procedure utilizes experimental measurements at the walls to develop a flow field solution based on the method of singularities. This flow field solution is then imposed as a boundary condition in a CFD simulation of the internal flow field. The effectiveness of this method in describing the boundary conditions at the wind tunnel walls using only sparse experimental measurements has been investigated. Verification of the approach using computational studies has been carried out using an incompressible flow solver. The current work demonstrates this technique for low speed flows and compares the result with experimental data obtained from a heavily instrumented variable porosity test section. Position and refinement of experimental measurements required to describe porous wall boundary conditions has also been considered for application to other porous wall wind tunnels.

Beutner, Thomas J.↗

Determination of solid/porous wall boundary conditions from wind tunnel data for computational fluid dynamics codes

A computational and experimental study has been undertaken to investigate methods of modelling solid and porous wall boundary conditions in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes. The procedure utilizes experimental measurements at the walls to develop a flow field solution based on the method of singularities. This flow field solution is then imposed as a pressure boundary condition in a CFD simulation of the internal flow field. The effectiveness of this method in describing the boundary conditions at the wind tunnel walls using only sparse experimental measurements has been investigated. Verification of the approach using computational studies has been carried out using an incompressible flow solver. The current work demonstrates this technique for low speed flows and compares the result with experimental data obtained from a heavily instrumented variable porosity test section. Position and refinement of experimental measurements required to describe porous wall boundary conditions have also been considered for application to other porous wall wind tunnels. The approach developed is simple, computationally inexpensive, and does not require extensive or intrusive measurements. It may be applied to both solid and porous wall wind tunnel tests. Some consideration is given to the extension of this method to three dimensions.

Beutner, Thomas J.↗

A numerical simulation of the dispersal of aerial sprays

A computer program was developed to predict the trajectory, ground deposition, and drift of liquid sprays injected into the wake of an agricultural aircraft in ground effect. The program uses a horseshoe vortex wake model and includes the effects of liquid droplet evaporation, crosswind, the propeller slipstream, ground effect, and tunnel walls on small scale models. This user's guide includes several case examples demonstrating user options. A complete listing of the FORTRAN program is provided.

Bragg, M. B.↗

Applications of a new wall function to turbulent flow computations

A new wall function approach is developed based on a wall law suitable for incompressible turbulent boundary layers under strong adverse pressure gradients. This wall law was derived from a one-dimensional analysis of the turbulent kinetic energy equation with gradient diffusion concept employed in modeling the near-wall shear stress gradient. Numerical testing cases for the present wall functions include turbulent separating flows around an airfoil and turbulent recirculating flows in several confined regions. Improvements on the predictions using the present wall functions are illustrated. For cases of internal recirculating flows, one modification factor for improving the performance of the k-epsilon turbulence model in the flow recirculation regions is also included.

Chen, Y. S.↗

Nonlinear Slosh Damping Testing and Analysis for Launch Vehicle Propellant Tanks

Propellant tank slosh damping models for launch vehicle ascent analysis typically employ linear models for bare-wall damping, or assume a single, low-amplitude wave height for baffled configurations. A higher fidelity damping model would incorporate nonlinear effects to increase damping as slosh wave amplitude increases. This paper provides an overview of a technical assessment performed by the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) to evaluate lateral slosh damping as a function of lateral force (or wave) amplitude for multiple tank configurations. The increased fidelity of nonlinear slosh damping models, if leveraged, has the potential to reduce over-conservatism associated with the use of linear slosh damping models. This can provide design flexibility to enhance launch vehicle flight control performance, reduce baffle design requirements and/or increase robustness in targeted areas such as control-structure interaction during ascent.

Tannen S VanZwieten↗

CMOTT Turbulence Module for NPARC

This is a user's manual of the CMOTT turbulence module, version 2.0, developed for the NPARC code. The module is written in a self-contained manner so that the user can use any turbulence model in the module without concern as to how it is implemented and solved. Three two-equation turbulence models have been built into the module: Chien, Shih-Lumley and CMOTT models, and all of them have both the low Reynolds number and wall function options. Unlike Chien's model, both the Shih-Lumley and CMOTT models do not involve the dimensionless wall distance y(sup +) in the low Reynolds number approach, an advantage for separated flow calculations. The Van Driest transformation is used so that the wall functions can be applied to both incompressible and compressible flows. The manual gives the details of the turbulence models used and their numerical implementation. It also gives two application examples, one for subsonic and the other for transonic flow, for demonstration. The module can be easily linked to the NPARC code for practical applications.

Zhu, J.↗

Modeling hypersonic boundary-layer flows with second-moment closure

An ongoing research effort designed to apply the best possible second-moment-closure model to simulate complex hypersonic flows is presented. The baseline model under consideration is the Launder-Reece-Rodi Reynolds stress transport turbulence model. Two add-ons accounting for wall effects, namely, the Launder-Shima low-Reynolds-number model and the compressible wall-function technique, are tested. Results are reported for flow over a flat plate, both adiabatic-wall and cooled-wall cases. It has been found that further improvements of the existing models are necessary to achieve accurate prediction in high Mach number flow range.

Huang, P. George↗

Computational Study of the CC3 Impeller and Vaneless Diffuser Experiment

Centrifugal compressors are compatible with the low exit corrected flows found in the high pressure compressor of turboshaft engines and may play an increasing role in turbofan engines as engine overall pressure ratios increase. Centrifugal compressor stages are difficult to model accurately with RANS CFD solvers. A computational study of the CC3 centrifugal impeller in its vaneless diffuser configuration was undertaken as part of an effort to understand potential causes of RANS CFD mis-prediction in these types of geometries. Three steady, periodic cases of the impeller and diffuser were modeled using the TURBO Parallel Version 4 code: 1) a k-epsilon turbulence model computation on a 6.8 million point grid using wall functions, 2) a k-epsilon turbulence model computation on a 14 million point grid integrating to the wall, and 3) a k-omega turbulence model computation on the 14 million point grid integrating to the wall. It was found that all three cases compared favorably to data from inlet to impeller trailing edge, but the k-epsilon and k-omega computations had disparate results beyond the trailing edge and into the vaneless diffuser. A large region of reversed flow was observed in the k-epsilon computations which extended from 70% to 100% span at the exit rating plane, whereas the k-omega computation had reversed flow from 95% to 100% span. Compared to experimental data at near-peak-efficiency, the reversed flow region in the k-epsilon case resulted in an under-prediction in adiabatic efficiency of 8.3 points, whereas the k-omega case was 1.2 points lower in efficiency.

Kulkarni, Sameer↗

Computational Study of the CC3 Impeller and Vaneless Diffuser Experiment

Centrifugal compressors are compatible with the low exit corrected flows found in the high pressure compressor of turboshaft engines and may play an increasing role in turbofan engines as engine overall pressure ratios increase. Centrifugal compressor stages are difficult to model accurately with RANS CFD solvers. A computational study of the CC3 centrifugal impeller in its vaneless diffuser configuration was undertaken as part of an effort to understand potential causes of RANS CFD mis-prediction in these types of geometries. Three steady, periodic cases of the impeller and diffuser were modeled using the TURBO Parallel Version 4 code: (1) a k-ε turbulence model computation on a 6.8 million point grid using wall functions, (2) a k-ε turbulence model computation on a 14 million point grid integrating to the wall, and (3) a k-ω turbulence model computation on the 14 million point grid integrating to the wall. It was found that all three cases compared favorably to data from inlet to impeller trailing edge, but the k-ε and k-ω computations had disparate results beyond the trailing edge and into the vaneless diffuser. A large region of reversed flow was observed in the k-ε computations which extended from 70 to 100 percent span at the exit rating plane, whereas the k-ω computation had reversed flow from 95 to 100 percent span. Compared to experimental data at near-peak-efficiency, the reversed flow region in the k-ε case resulted in an underprediction in adiabatic efficiency of 8.3 points, whereas the k-ω case was 1.2 points lower in efficiency.

Kulkarni, Sameer↗