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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 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1987

Active Control of Transition and Turbulence

Two active means of manipulating boundary-layer flow developed, one controlling laminar-to-turbulent transition, other controlling amplitude of turbulent fluctuation. Purpose to control skin-friction drag over surfaces inside inlets and ducts. Resulting turbulence downstream has lower skin-friction drag than equivalent flow developing over same surfaces in absence of intervention. Heating strips trigger turbulence while transition amplitude and bandwidth controlled by acoustic signal.

Maestrello, Lucio↗
NASA NTRS1991

Boundary layer stability and transition to turbulence; Proceedings of the Symposium, ASME and JSME Joint Fluids Engineering Conference, 1st, Portland, OR, June 23-27, 1991

The papers presented at the conference provide an overview of current research related to the mechanisms of the laminar-turbulent transition. The principal topics discussed include receptivity, bypass mechanisms, curvature, three-dimensionality, nonlinearities, breakdown, and control. Papers are included on linear and nonlinear receptivity to vortical free-stream disturbances; initiation of boundary-layer disturbances by nonlinear mode interactions; stability and transition to turbulence of thin liquid film flow along a rotating disk; and turbulent intermittency measurements for turbomachinery flows.

Reda, D. C.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Large-Eddy Simulation of Transition to Turbulence in Boundary Layers

Large-eddy simulation results for laminar-to-turbulent transition in a spatially developing boundary layer are presented. The disturbances are ingested into a laminar flow through an unsteady suction-and-blowing strip. The filtered, three-dimensional time- dependent Navier-Stokes equations are integrated numerically using spectral, high-order finite-difference, and three-stage low-storage Runge-Kutta methods. The buffer-domain technique is used for the outflow boundary condition. The localized dynamic model used to parameterize the subgrid-scale stresses begins to have a significant impact at the beginning of the nonlinear transition (or intermittency) region. The flow structures commonly found in experiments are also observed in the present simulation; the computed linear instability modes and secondary instability lambda-vortex structures are in agreement with the experiments, and the streak-like-structures and turbulent statistics compare with both the experiments and the theory. The physics captured in the present LES are consistent with the experiments and the full Navier-Stokes simulation (DNS), at a significant fraction of the DNS cost. A comparison of the results obtained with several SGS models shows that the localized model gives accurate results both in a statistical sense and in terms of predicting the dynamics of the energy-carrying eddies, without ad hoc adjustments.

Huai, Xiao-Li↗
NASA NTRS1997

Direct Simulations of Transition and Turbulence Using High-Order Accurate Finite-Difference Schemes

In recent years the techniques of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) have been used to compute flows associated with geometrically complex configurations. However, success in terms of accuracy and reliability has been limited to cases where the effects of turbulence and transition could be modeled in a straightforward manner. Even in simple flows, the accurate computation of skin friction and heat transfer using existing turbulence models has proved to be a difficult task, one that has required extensive fine-tuning of the turbulence models used. In more complex flows (for example, in turbomachinery flows in which vortices and wakes impinge on airfoil surfaces causing periodic transitions from laminar to turbulent flow) the development of a model that accounts for all scales of turbulence and predicts the onset of transition may prove to be impractical. Fortunately, current trends in computing suggest that it may be possible to perform direct simulations of turbulence and transition at moderate Reynolds numbers in some complex cases in the near future. This seminar will focus on direct simulations of transition and turbulence using high-order accurate finite-difference methods. The advantage of the finite-difference approach over spectral methods is that complex geometries can be treated in a straightforward manner. Additionally, finite-difference techniques are the prevailing methods in existing application codes. In this seminar high-order-accurate finite-difference methods for the compressible and incompressible formulations of the unsteady Navier-Stokes equations and their applications to direct simulations of turbulence and transition will be presented.

Rai, Man Mohan↗
NASA NTRS2015

Utilizing Direct Numerical Simulations of Transition and Turbulence in Design Optimization

Design optimization methods that use the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations with the associated turbulence and transition models, or other model-based forms of the governing equations, may result in aerodynamic designs with actual performance levels that are noticeably different from the expected values because of the complexity of modeling turbulence/transition accurately in certain flows. Flow phenomena such as wake-blade interaction and trailing edge vortex shedding in turbines and compressors (examples of such flows) may require a computational approach that is free of transition/turbulence models, such as direct numerical simulations (DNS), for the underlying physics to be computed accurately. Here we explore the possibility of utilizing DNS data in designing a turbine blade section. The ultimate objective is to substantially reduce differences between predicted performance metrics and those obtained in reality. The redesign of a typical low-pressure turbine blade section with the goal of reducing total pressure loss in the row is provided as an example. The basic ideas presented here are of course just as applicable elsewhere in aerodynamic shape optimization as long as the computational costs are not excessive.

Direct numerical simulations of transition and tur↗
NASA NTRS1994

Transition to turbulence in solar surges

Transition to turbulence in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) tearing jets has been invoked as a mechanism underlying some of the complex behavior observed in solar surges, including deceleration of the upflowing plasma and temporal correlations with types I and III radio bursts. In this paper we investigate a possible mechanism for this transition: three-dimensional secondary instabilities on two-dimensional saturated states. We find through linear analysis that these MHD configurations -- in particular, the tearing jet -- are secondarily unstable, with the dominant energy transfer from the one-dimensional field into the 3-dimensional fields. Using nonlinear simulations, we also investigate the system evolution after the secondary modes attain finite amplitude. When the tearing jet transitions to turbulence, the total kinetic energy drops rapidly corresponding to the deceleration of the jet. The electric field grows rapidly as the primary mode saturates and the three-dimensional secondary mode develops, and then decays quickly as the tearing jet becomes turbulent, providing a possible explanation for the finite duration of the associated meter-wave bursts. The electric field decays as the magnetic and velocity fields both decay. The system is dominated at late times by spanwise modes, which strongly resemble the magnetic field-aligned filamentary flows characteristic of many surges.

Dahlburg, Russell B.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Analogies between transitional and turbulent boundary layers

One of the interesting aspects of transitional and turbulent boundary layers is the development of counter-rotating streamwise vortices near the wall. The most regular pattern is found in a boundary layer on a concave wall where the generation mechanism is known to be the Goertler instability. The origin of these vortices in other translational and turbulent boundary layers is presently unknown. Since the counter-rotating vortices are located in a region of strong shear, low-speed fluid is pumped away from the wall which coalesces into regions of low momentum lying between the vortices. As this pumping action continues, localized inflectional velocity profiles become apparent in the transitional and turbulent boundary layers. The oscillations which develop upon these profiles scale with the local thickness and velocity difference in the same manner as the two-dimensional steady free shear layer stability problems. The oscillations grow to large amplitude and break down into new turbulence in both the transitional and turbulent boundary layers.

Blackwelder, R. F.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Bypass transition to turbulence and research Desiderata

Bypass transitions are seldom mentioned in texts or meetings on instability and transition to wall turbulence. The nature of a number of bypass transitions is illustrated by example. Until this characteristics is truly understood predicting transition on the basis of theory or statistically inadequate correlations (as they all are) entails risks that should be considered in justifying any design involving transition. A historical overview of bypass transition identified on blunt bodies is given.

Morkovin, M. V.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Transition-Sensitized Turbulence Models for Compressible and Incompressible Flows

During the grant period from January 1,2002 to December 31,2002 work was carried out on three projects to extend the range of applicability of advanced turbulence models. First, a new transition-sensitized turbulence model was tested and refined. Second, the influence of compressibility on the pressure-strain rate correlation was studied. Third, the relationship between time-filtered large eddy simulation (TLES) and Reynolds-averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) modeling was investigated leading to submission of the article. The transition-sensitized turbulence model encompasses the early-stage transition and turbulent flow regimes describing the evolution of the ensemble mean disturbance energy and dissipation rate. It is founded on a consistent mathematical description of the laminar regime with its linear disturbances and the fully turbulent regime with its stochastic fluctuations. The unified description is provided by the ensemble viewpoint.

Thacker, William D.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Simulations of transition and turbulence on the Navier-Stokes computer

The Navier-Stokes Computer (NSC) consists of multiple local memory parallel processors interconnected in a hypercube network. Efficient implementation of algorithms on the NSC thus requires the effective utilization of both the coarse and fine grain paralelism inherent in the architectural design. The basic approach to implementing an algorithm on the NSC is presented herein. The particular finite-difference algorithm considered was developed for performing transition and turbulence simulations by direct solution of the time-dependent incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. The suitability of this algorithm for performing simulations of the isotropic turbulence problem is verified from computations performed on a Cray 2. Projected timing results for the algorithm on the NSC itself are presented for both the isotropic turbulence and laminar turbulent transition problems.

Krist, S. E.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Research activities at the Center for Modeling of Turbulence and Transition

The main research activities at the Center for Modeling of Turbulence and Transition (CMOTT) are described. The research objective of CMOTT is to improve and/or develop turbulence and transition models for propulsion systems. The flows of interest in propulsion systems can be both compressible and incompressible, three dimensional, bounded by complex wall geometries, chemically reacting, and involve 'bypass' transition. The most relevant turbulence and transition models for the above flows are one- and two-equation eddy viscosity models, Reynolds stress algebraic- and transport-equation models, pdf models, and multiple-scale models. All these models are classified as one-point closure schemes since only one-point (in time and space) turbulent correlations, such as second moments (Reynolds stresses and turbulent heat fluxes) and third moments, are involved. In computational fluid dynamics, all turbulent quantities are one-point correlations. Therefore, the study of one-point turbulent closure schemes is the focus of our turbulence research. However, other research, such as the renormalization group theory, the direct interaction approximation method, and numerical simulations are also pursued to support the development of turbulence modeling.

Shih, Tsan-Hsing↗
DOE OSTI2022

Design of a high-resolution Rayleigh-Taylor experiment with the Crystal Backlighter Imager on the National Ignition Facility

The Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instability affects a vast range of High Energy Density (HED) length scales, spanning from supernova explosions (10 13 m) to inertial confinement fusion (10 -6 m). In inertial confinement fusion, the RT instability is known to induce mixing or turbulent transition, which in turn cools the hot spot and hinders ignition. The fine-scale features of the RT instability, which are difficult to image in HED physics, may help determine if the system is mixing or is transitioning to turbulence. Earlier diagnostics lacked the spatial and temporal resolution necessary to diagnose the dynamics that occur along the RT structure. A recently developed diagnostic, the Crystal Backlighter Imager (CBI), [1,2] can now produce an x-ray radiograph capable of resolving the fine-scale features expected in these RT unstable systems. This paper describes an experimental design that adapts a well-characterized National Ignition Facility (NIF) platform to accommodate the CBI diagnostic. Simulations and synthetic radiographs highlight the resolution capabilities of the CBI in comparison to previous diagnostics. Furthermore, the improved resolution of the system can provide new observations to study the RT instability's involvement in mixing and the transition to turbulence in the HED regime.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS2013

Laminar, Transitional, and Turbulent Heating on Mid Lift-to-Drag Ratio Entry Vehicles

The boundary-layer transition characteristics and convective aeroheating levels on mid lift-to-drag ratio entry vehicle configurations have been studied through wind-tunnel testing. Several configurations were investigated, including elliptically blunted cylinders with both circular and elliptically flattened cross sections, biconic geometries based on launch vehicle dual-use shrouds, and parametrically optimized analytic geometries. Vehicles of this class have been proposed for high-mass Mars missions, such as sample return and crewed exploration, for which the conventional sphere-cone entry-vehicle geometries of previous Mars missions are insufficient. Testing was conducted at Mach 6 over a range of Reynolds numbers sufficient to generate laminar, transitional, and turbulent flow. Transition onset locations, both straight-line and cross-flow, and heating rates were obtained through global phosphor thermography. Supporting computations were performed to obtain heating rates for comparison with the data. Laminar data and predictions agreed to well within the experimental uncertainty. Fully turbulent data and predictions also agreed well. However, in transitional flow regions, greater differences were observed.

Hollis, Brian R.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Laminar, Transitional, and Turbulent Heating on Mid Lift-to-Drag Ratio Entry Vehicles

The boundary-layer transition characteristics and convective aeroheating levels on mid lift-to-drag ratio entry vehicle configurations have been studied through wind tunnel testing. Several configurations were investigated, including elliptically-blunted cylinders with both circular and elliptically-flattened cross sections, biconic geometries based on launch vehicle dual-use shrouds, and parametrically-optimized analytic geometries. Vehicles of this class have been proposed for high-mass Mars missions, such as sample return and crewed exploration, for which the conventional sphere-cone entry-vehicle geometries of previous Mars missions are insufficient. Testing was conducted at Mach 6 over a range of Reynolds numbers sufficient to generate laminar, transitional, and turbulent flow. Transition onset locations - both straight-line and cross-flow - and heating rates were obtained through global phosphor thermography. Supporting computations were performed to obtain heating rates for comparison with the data. Laminar data and predictions agreed to well within the experimental uncertainty. Fully-turbulent data and predictions also agreed well. However, in transitional flow regions, greater differences were observed. Additional aerodynamic performance data were also generated through Modified-Newtonian analyses of the geometries.

Hollis, Brian R.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Numerical simulation of transition, compressible turbulence, and reacting flows

Some of the recent work at NASA Langley on transition, turbulence, and reacting flows is summarized. Much of this effort has been motivated by outstanding technological problems in high-speed flow. A class of numerical algorithms for these problems has been developed and a variety of physical problems have been simulated. Descriptions are provided of the basic mathematical models, the nature of the numerical methods, and some of the recent simulations.

Zang, T. A.↗