Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Vortex Flow”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 955 records · Page 53
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2001

A Novel Approach for Reducing Rotor Tip-Clearance Induced Noise in Turbofan Engines

Rotor tip-clearance induced noise, both in the form of rotor self noise and rotor-stator interaction noise , constitutes a significant component of total fan noise. Innovative yet cost effective techniques to suppress rotor-generated noise are, therefore, of foremost importance for improving the noise signature of turbofan engines. To that end, the feasibility of a passive porous treatment strategy to positively modify the tip-clearance flow field is addressed. The present study is focused on accurate viscous flow calculations of the baseline and the treated rotor flow fields. Detailed comparison between the computed baseline solution and experimental measurements shows excellent agreement. Tip-vortex structure, trajectory, strength, and other relevant aerodynamic quantities are extracted from the computed database. Extensive comparison between the untreated and treated tip-clearance flow fields is performed. The effectiveness of the porous treatment for altering the rotor-tip vortex flow field in general and reducing the intensity of the tip vortex, in particular, is demonstrated. In addition, the simulated flow field for the treated tip clearly shows that substantial reduction in the intensity of both the shear layer roll-up and boundary layer separation on the wall is achieved.

Khorrami, Mehdi R.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Wake vortex measurements of bodies at high angle of attack

Three-dimensional laser velocimeter measurements have been made of the wake vortices of a slender tangent-ogive body which had nose and body fineness ratios of 3.5 and 12, respectively. Data were obtained for an angle of attack to seminose angle ratio of 2.3 at a free-stream Mach number of 0.6 and unit Reynolds number of 2 million/ft. Details of the mean flow field are presented and features of the turbulent and unsteady nature of the vortex flow field are discussed. Problems associated with obtaining meaningful vortex measurements in high-speed flows are addressed.

Owen, F. K.↗
NASA NTRS1959

Investigation of Spherical-Wave-Initiated Flow Fields Around Bodies

Measurements of the velocity flow fields and vortex movements have been made about various simple blunt models undergoing spherical blast waves with a positive overpressure of 4 pounds per square inch. A bullet-optical method was used to determine flow velocities and is applied to velocity fields in which the gradients are largely normal to the free-stream direction. The velocity flow fields are shown at various flow times following passage of the blast front for different models. Vortex movements with time are compared for square-bar models of various aspect ratios. Corner sharpness had no discernible effect on the overall disturbed velocity fields or vortex movements for the square-box models used.

McFarland, Donald R.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Micro-Ramps for External Compression Low-Boom Inlets

The application of vortex generators for flow control in an external compression, axisymmetric, low-boom concept inlet was investigated using RANS simulations with three-dimensional (3-D), structured, chimera (overset) grids and the WIND-US code. The low-boom inlet design is based on previous scale model 1- by 1-ft wind tunnel tests and features a zero-angle cowl and relaxed isentropic compression centerbody spike, resulting in defocused oblique shocks and a weak terminating normal shock. Validation of the methodology was first performed for micro-ramps in supersonic flow on a flat plate with and without oblique shocks. For the inlet configuration, simulations with several types of vortex generators were conducted for positions both upstream and downstream of the terminating normal shock. The performance parameters included incompressible axisymmetric shape factor, separation area, inlet pressure recovery, and massflow ratio. The design of experiments (DOE) methodology was used to select device size and location, analyze the resulting data, and determine the optimal choice of device geometry. The optimum upstream configuration was found to substantially reduce the post-shock separation area but did not significantly impact recovery at the aerodynamic interface plane (AIP). Downstream device placement allowed for fuller boundary layer velocity profiles and reduced distortion. This resulted in an improved pressure recovery and massflow ratio at the AIP compared to the baseline solid-wall configuration.

Rybalko, Michael↗
NASA NTRS1980

Influence of pressure driven secondary flows on the behavior of turbofan forced mixers

An analytical and experimental study was performed to determine the influence of pressure driven secondary flows on the behavior of turbofan forced mixer nozzles. The basic secondary flow structure entering the nozzle was identified experimentally and was composed of a strong vortex system aligned with the radial interface between the fan and core streams. A generic secondary flow vortex structure was constructed for input to the analysis to represent the large scale structure of this inflow condition. Comparison between experiment and analysis at five axial stations showed very good agreement and indicated that this vortex system was convected downstream and dominated the mixing process.

Anderson, B.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Experiments on the ground vortex formed by an impinging jet in cross flow

An inclined jet impinging on the ground creates a wall flow that spreads radially from the point of impingement. If a cross-flow is introduced, the upstream component of the wall flow will separate from the ground and create what has been termed the 'ground vortex.' The ground vortex has been shown to have a significant impact on aircraft aerodynamics and is one of the major contributors to hot gas ingestion. The paper discusses a recent study which included a generic wing-body configuration for assessing the impact of the ground vortex on configuration aerodynamics. Wind tunnel tests using fixed ground boards, moving ground belts, and moving model tests are discussed. The emphasis of the data is macroscopic, i.e. forward location of the vortex, effects of ground height, etc.

Blake, William B.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Design and testing of new center inlet and S-duct for B-727 airplane with refanned JT8D engines

The work described in this paper was part of the NASA refan program. The airflow requirement of the refanned JT8D (-100 series) engine increased about 50% above that of the basic JT8D. This required a redesign of the center inlet and S-duct of the Boeing 727 airplane. The paper describes the design constraints for the S-duct and the analytic method used to define the lines of the new duct. Model tests that were conducted at static, angle-of-attack, and crosswind conditions are described with a variety of flow control devices. Test results showed that the new inlet and S-duct have a pressure recovery comparable to that of the existing inlet. By employing corotating vortex generators, less flow distortion was obtained for the core region than the existing duct has with its counter rotating vortex generators.

Ting, C. T.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Vortex rings and the solar granulation

Observations indicate that solar granules have the flow topology of updraft vortex loops. We interpret granule behavior in terms of the mutual and self-interactions of such loops. In particular, the expansion phase that granules commonly undergo is explained by the self-expansion of a vortex ring in a stratified fluid. For a range of granular parameters, we find that the expansion velocity of a vortex ring varies from 0.7 to 1.5 times the maximum surface flow velocity, in agreement with granule observations. We also present speculation on the nature of granule fragmentation.

Arendt, Steve↗
NASA NTRS1988

The mean flow structure around and within a turbulent junction or horseshoe vortex. I - The upstream and surrounding three-dimensional boundary layer

An experimental study of the mean flow structure upstream, around, and in a turbulent junction or horseshoe vortex is presented for the case of an incompressible subsonic flow. Mean velocity field and turbulent kinetic energy field measurements (obtained with hot film anemometry) and local wall shear stress measurements are used to monitor the upstream and surrounding three-dimensional turbulent boundary layer-like flow away from separation. Freestream or edge velocity and floor static pressure results are reported.

Menna, J. D.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Numerical simulation of separated flows

A new numerical method, based on the Vortex Method, for the simulation of two-dimensional separated flows, was developed and tested on a wide range of gases. The fluid is incompressible and the Reynolds number is high. A rigorous analytical basis for the representation of the Navier-Stokes equation in terms of the vorticity is used. An equation for the control of circulation around each body is included. An inviscid outer flow (computed by the Vortex Method) was coupled with a viscous boundary layer flow (computed by an Eulerian method). This version of the Vortex Method treats bodies of arbitrary shape, and accurately computes the pressure and shear stress at the solid boundary. These two quantities reflect the structure of the boundary layer. Several versions of the method are presented and applied to various problems, most of which have massive separation. Comparison of its results with other results, generally experimental, demonstrates the reliability and the general accuracy of the new method, with little dependence on empirical parameters. Many of the complex features of the flow past a circular cylinder, over a wide range of Reynolds numbers, are correctly reproduced.

Spalart, P. R.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Several examples where turbulence models fail in inlet flow field analysis

Computational uncertainties in turbulence modeling for three dimensional inlet flow fields include flows approaching separation, strength of secondary flow field, three dimensional flow predictions of vortex liftoff, and influence of vortex-boundary layer interactions; computational uncertainties in vortex generator modeling include representation of generator vorticity field and the relationship between generator and vorticity field. The objectives of the inlet flow field studies presented in this document are to advance the understanding, prediction, and control of intake distortion and to study the basic interactions that influence this design problem.

Anderson, Bernhard H.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Unsteady Flowfield Around Tandem Cylinders as Prototype for Component Interaction in Airframe Noise

Synergistic application of experiments and numerical simulations is crucial to understanding the underlying physics of airframe noise sources. The current effort is aimed at characterizing the details of the flow interaction between two cylinders in a tandem configuration. This setup is viewed to be representative of several component-level flow interactions that occur when air flows over the main landing gear of large civil transports. Interactions of this type are likely to have a significant impact on the noise radiation associated with the aircraft undercarriage. The paper is focused on two-dimensional, time-accurate flow simulations for the tandem cylinder configuration. Results of the unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) computations with a two-equation turbulence model, at a Reynolds number of 0.166 million and a Mach number of 0.166, are presented. The experimental measurements of the same flow field are discussed in a separate paper by Jenkins, Khorrami, Choudhari, and McGinley (2005). Two distinct flow regimes of interest, associated with short and intermediate separation distances between the two cylinders, are considered. Emphasis is placed on understanding both time averaged and unsteady flow features between the two cylinders and in the wake of the rear cylinder. Predicted mean flow quantities and vortex shedding frequencies show reasonable agreement with the measured data for both cylinder spacings. Computations for short separation distance indicate decay of flow unsteadiness with time, which is not unphysical; however, the predicted sensitivity of mean lift coefficient to small angles of attack explains the asymmetric flowfield observed during the experiments.

Khorrami, Meldi R.↗
DOE OSTI2018

Active attenuation of a trailing vortex inspired by a parabolized stability analysis

Designing effective control for complex three-dimensional flow fields proves to be non-trivial. Often, intuitive control strategies lead to suboptimal control. To navigate the control space, we use a linear parabolized stability analysis to guide the design of a control scheme for a trailing vortex flow field aft of a NACA0012 half-wing at an angle of attack $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=5^{\circ }$ and a chord-based Reynolds number $Re=1000$ . The stability results show that the unstable mode with the smallest growth rate (fifth wake mode) provides a pathway to excite a vortex instability, whereas the principal unstable mode does not. Inspired by this finding, we perform direct numerical simulations that excite each mode with body forces matching the shape function from the stability analysis. Furthermore, relative to the uncontrolled case, the controlled flows show increased attenuation of circulation and peak streamwise vorticity, with the fifth-mode-based control set-up outperforming the principal-mode-based set-up. From these results, we conclude that a rudimentary linear stability analysis can provide key insights into the underlying physics and help engineers design effective physics-based flow control strategies.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1987

On the onset of three-dimensionality and time-dependence in the Goertler vortex problem

The instability of large amplitude Goertler vortices in a growing boundary layer is discussed in the fully nonlinear regime. It is shown that a three-dimensional breakdown to a flow with wavy vortex boundaries similar to that which occurs in the Taylor vortex problem takes place. However, the instability is confined to the thin shear layers which have been shown to trap the region of vortex activity. The disturbance eigenfunctions decay exponentially away from the center of these layers so that the upper and lower shear layers can support independent modes of instability. The structure of the instability, in particular its location and speed of downstream propagation, is found to be entirely consistent with recent experimental results. Furthermore, it is shown that the upper and lower layers support wavy vortex instabilities with quite different frequencies. This result is again consistent with the available experimental observations.

Hall, Philip↗
NASA NTRS2010

Boundary-layer-ingesting inlet flow control system

A system for reducing distortion at the aerodynamic interface plane of a boundary-layer-ingesting inlet using a combination of active and passive flow control devices is disclosed. Active flow control jets and vortex generating vanes are used in combination to reduce distortion across a range of inlet operating conditions. Together, the vortex generating vanes can reduce most of the inlet distortion and the active flow control jets can be used at a significantly reduced control jet mass flow rate to make sure the inlet distortion stays low as the inlet mass flow rate varies. Overall inlet distortion, measured and described as average SAE circumferential distortion descriptor, was maintained at a value of 0.02 or less. Advantageous arrangements and orientations of the active flow control jets and the vortex generating vanes were developed using computational fluid dynamics simulations and wind tunnel experimentations.

Owens, Lewis R.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Vortex guidance and transport in channeled pinning arrays

Here, we numerically examine vortices interacting with pinning arrays where a portion of the pinning sites have been removed in order to create coexisting regions of strong and weak pinning. The region without pinning sites acts as an easy-flow channel. For driving in different directions with respect to the channel, we observe distinct types of vortex flow. When the drive is parallel to the channel, the flow first occurs in the pin free region followed by a secondary depinning transition in the pinned region. At high vortex densities there is also an intermediate plastic flow phase due to the coupling between the weak and strong pinning regions. For driving applied perpendicular to the channel, we observe a jammed phase in which vortices accumulate on the boundary of the pinned region due to the vortex-vortex repulsion, while at higher drives the vortices begin to flow through the pinning array. For driving at an angle to the channel, depending on the filling we observe a drive-induced reentrant pinning effect as well as negative differential mobility which occurs when vortices move from the unpinned to the pinned portion of the sample.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS1993

Measurements in the near-field of a turbulent wingtip vortex

The roll-up of a wingtip vortex, at Reynold's number based on chord of 4.6 million, was examined with emphasis on suction side and near wake measurements. Surface oil flow and laser smoke flow studies are performed, demonstrating the highly 3D nature of the flow around the wingtip, the formation of the feeding sheet, and the viscous core region of the vortex. Flow visualization and correlation measurements show that meandering of the vortex is small and does not appreciably contribute to the turbulence measurements.

Chow, Jim S.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Studies in turbulence

Various papers on turbulence are presented. Individual topics addressed include: modeling the dissipation rate in rotating turbulent flows, mapping closures for turbulent mixing and reaction, understanding turbulence in vortex dynamics, models for the structure and dynamics of near-wall turbulence, complexity of turbulence near a wall, proper orthogonal decomposition, propagating structures in wall-bounded turbulence flows. Also discussed are: constitutive relation in compressible turbulence, compressible turbulence and shock waves, direct simulation of compressible turbulence in a shear flow, structural genesis in wall-bounded turbulence flows, vortex lattice structure of turbulent shear slows, etiology of shear layer vortices, trilinear coordinates in fluid mechanics.

Gatski, Thomas B.↗