Aspects of supercritical turbulence: direct numerical simulation of an Osub2/Hsub2 temporal mixing layer
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Direct Numerical Simulation is conducted of a three-dimensional temporal mixing layer whose lower stream is initially laden with liquid drops which may evaporate during the simulation.
Data obtained from the numerical simulation of a 2-D mixing layer were used to study the feasibility of using the instantaneous concentration of a passive scalar for detecting the typical coherent structures in the flow. The study showed that this technique works quite satisfactorily and yields results similar to those that can be obtained by using the instantaneous vorticity for structure detection. Using the coherent events educed by the scalar conditioning technique, the contribution of the coherent events to the total turbulent momentum and scalar transport was estimated. It is found that the contribution from the typical coherent events is of the same order as that of the time-mean value. However, the individual contributions become very large during the pairing of these structures. The increase is particularly spectacular in the case of the Reynolds shear stress.
A numerical method is presented for solving the parabolic-elliptic Navier-Stokes equations. The solution procedure is applied to three-dimensional supersonic laminar jet flow issuing parallel with a supersonic free stream. A coordinate transformation is introduced which maps the boundaries at infinity into a finite computational domain in order to eliminate difficulties associated with the imposition of free-stream boundary conditions. Results are presented for an approximate circular jet, a square jet, varying aspect ratio rectangular jets, and interacting square jets. The solution behavior varies from axisymmetric to nearly two-dimensional in character. For cases where comparisons of the present results with those obtained from shear layer calculations could be made, agreement was good.
In the present paper, a simple numerical model is used to study the warming of the mixed layer during the early summer. It is shown that the springtime temperature increase in the layer below the mixed layer (for example, in the cold pool on a continental shelf) has a maximum value which occurs for a limiting value of the surface heat flux. This is a result of the positive feedback at large Richardson numbers between stability and vertical diffusion of heat. The springtime temperature increase in the mixed layer increases nonlinearly with surface heat flux, because of the same positive feedback. The effects of interseasonal fluctuations of the surface heat flux on the spring and summer mixed layer and deeper temperature increases can be as great as the effect of interseasonal fluctuations of the average heat flux.
A numerical study employing a simplified model of the High Speed Civil Transport mixer/ejector nozzle has been conducted to investigate the effect of tabs (vortex generators) on the mixing process. More complete mixing of the primary and secondary flows within the confined ejector lowers peak exit velocity resulting in reduced jet noise. Tabs were modeled as vortex pairs and inserted into the computational model. The location, size, and number of tabs were varied and its effect on the mixing process is presented here both quantitatively and qualitatively. A baseline case (no tabs) along with six other cases involving two different vortex strengths at three different orientations have been computed and analyzed. The case with the highest vorticity (six vortices representing large tabs) gives the best mixing. It is shown that the influence of the vorticity acts primarily in the forward or middle portions of the duct, significantly alters the flow structure, and promotes some mixing in the lateral direction. Unmixed pockets were found at the top and bottom of the lobe, and more clever placement of tabs improved mixing in the vertical direction. The technique of replacing tabs with vortices shows promise as an efficient tool for quickly optimizing tab placement in lobed mixers.
We present various numerical and analytical solutions for the transport of solar wind turbulence. The model used takes into account the effects of convection, expansion, and wave propagation, as well as the recently illuminated effects of (non-WKB) 'mixing' terms. The radial evolution of the fluctuating kinetic energy, magnetic energy, and normalized cross helicity is computed, and, it is demonstrated that in appropriate limits the solutions converge to the WKB forms. In the general case, solutions which differ substantially from those predicted by WKB theory are obtained. The degree of turbulent 'mixing' shows considerable dependence on the nature of the turbulence, giving rise to varying levels, at 1 AU, of the ratio of 'inward' and 'outward' fluctuation energies and the ratio of kinetic to magnetic energies in the fluctuations. The transport properties described here may provide at least a partial explanation for the observed mixing of cross helicities with increasing heliocentric distance in the solar wind.
It is well known that the growth rate of instability waves of a two-dimensional free shear layer is reduced greatly at supersonic convective Mach numbers. In previous works, it has been shown that new wave modes exist when the shear layers are bounded by a channel due to the coupling effect between the acoustic wave modes and the motion of the mixing layer. The present work studies the simultaneous propagation of multiple stability waves using numerical simulation. It is shown here that the coexistence of two wave modes in the flow field can lead to an oscillatory growth of disturbance energy with each individual wave mode propagating linearly. This is particularly important when the growth rates of the unstable waves are small. It is also shown here that the propagation of two neutrally stable wave modes can lead to a stationary periodic structure of rms fluctuations. In the numerical simulations presented here the forced wave modes are propagating at same frequency, but with different phase velocities. In order to track the growth of each wave mode as it propagates downstream, a numerical method that can effectively detect and separate the contribution of the individual wave is given. It is demonstrated that by a least square fitting of the disturbance field with eigenfunctions the amplitude of each wave mode can be found. Satisfactory results as compared to linear theory are obtained.
Research has been undertaken to achieve an improved understanding of physical phenomena present when a supersonic flow undergoes chemical reaction. A detailed understanding of supersonic reacting flows is necessary to successfully develop advanced propulsion systems now planned for use late in this century and beyond. In order to explore such flows, a study was begun to create appropriate physical models for describing supersonic combustion, and to develop accurate and efficient numerical techniques for solving the governing equations that result from these models. From this work, two computer programs were written to study reacting flows. Both programs were constructed to consider the multicomponent diffusion and convection of important chemical species, the finite rate reaction of these species, and the resulting interaction of the fluid mechanics and the chemistry. The first program employed a finite difference scheme for integrating the governing equations, whereas the second used a hybrid Chebyshev pseudospectral technique for improved accuracy.
Two dimensional calculations were made of spark ignited premixed-charge combustion and direct injection stratified-charge combustion in gasoline fueled piston engines. Results are obtained using kinetic-controlled combustion submodel governed by a four-step global chemical reaction or a hybrid laminar kinetics/mixing-controlled combustion submodel that accounts for laminar kinetics and turbulent mixing effects. The numerical solutions are obtained by using KIVA-2 computer code which uses a kinetic-controlled combustion submodel governed by a four-step global chemical reaction (i.e., it assumes that the mixing time is smaller than the chemistry). A hybrid laminar/mixing-controlled combustion submodel was implemented into KIVA-2. In this model, chemical species approach their thermodynamics equilibrium with a rate that is a combination of the turbulent-mixing time and the chemical-kinetics time. The combination is formed in such a way that the longer of the two times has more influence on the conversion rate and the energy release. An additional element of the model is that the laminar-flame kinetics strongly influence the early flame development following ignition.
Two-dimensional calculations were made of spark ignited premixed-charge combustion and direct injection stratified-charge combustion in gasoline fueled piston engines. Results are obtained using kinetic-controlled combustion submodel governed by a four-step global chemical reaction or a hybrid laminar kinetics/mixing-controlled combustion submodel that accounts for laminar kinetics and turbulent mixing effects. The numerical solutions are obtained by using KIVA-2 computer code which uses a kinetic-controlled combustion submodel governed by a four-step global chemical reaction (i.e., it assumes that the mixing time is smaller than the chemistry). A hybrid laminar/mixing-controlled combustion submodel was implemented into KIVA-2. In this model, chemical species approach their thermodynamics equilibrium with a rate that is a combination of the turbulent-mixing time and the chemical-kinetics time. The combination is formed in such a way that the longer of the two times has more influence on the conversion rate and the energy release. An additional element of the model is that the laminar-flame kinetics strongly influence the early flame development following ignition.
Several simple experimental acoustic tests of a spraying system were conducted at the NASA Langley Research Center. These tests have shown appreciable jet noise reduction when an additional cylindrical permeable shell was employed at the nozzle exit. Based on these results, additional acoustic tests were conducted in the anechoic chamber AK-2 at the Central Aerohydrodynamics Institute (TsAGI, Moscow) in Russia. These tests examined the influence of permeable shells on the noise from a supersonic jet exhausting from a round nozzle designed for exit Mach number, M (sub e)=2.0, with conical and Screwdriver-shaped centerbodies. The results show significant acoustic benefits of permeable shell application especially for overexpanded jets by comparison with impermeable shell application. The noise reduction in the overall pressure level was obtained up to approximately 5-8%. Numerical simulations of a jet flow exhausting from a convergent-divergent nozzle designed for exit Mach number, M (sub e)=2.0, with permeable and impermeable shells were conducted at the NASA LaRC and Hampton University. Two numerical codes were used. The first is the NASA LaRC CFL3D code for accurate calculation of jet mean flow parameters on the basis of a full Navier-Stokes solver (NSE). The second is the numerical code based on Tam's method for turbulent mixing noise (TMN) calculation. Numerical and experimental results are in good qualitative agreement.
The report presents the results of direct numerical simulations of chemically reacting turbulent mixing layers. The work consists of two parts: (1) the development and testing of a spectral numerical computer code that treats the diffusion reaction equations; and (2) the simulation of a series of cases of chemical reactions occurring on mixing layers. The reaction considered is a binary, irreversible reaction with no heat release. The reacting species are nonpremixed. The results of the numerical tests indicate that the high accuracy of the spectral methods observed for rigid body rotation are also obtained when diffusion, reaction, and more complex flows are considered. In the simulations, the effects of vortex rollup and smaller scale turbulence on the overall reaction rates are investigated. The simulation results are found to be in approximate agreement with similarity theory. Comparisons of simulation results with certain modeling hypotheses indicate limitations in these hypotheses. The nondimensional product thickness computed from the simulations is compared with laboratory values and is found to be in reasonable agreement, especially since there are no adjustable constants in the method.
The simulation of high-pressure turbulent flows, where the pressure, p, is larger than the critical value, p(sub c), for the species under consideration, is relevant to a wide array of propulsion systems, e.g. gas turbine, diesel, and liquid rocket engines. Most turbulence models, however, have been developed for atmospheric-p turbulent flows. The difference between atmospheric-p and supercritical-p turbulence is that, in the former situation, the coupling between dynamics and thermodynamics is moderate to negligible, but for the latter it is very significant, and can dominate the flow characteristics. The reason for this stems from the mathematical form of the equation of state (EOS), which is the perfect-gas EOS in the former case, and the real-gas EOS in the latter case. For flows at supercritical pressure, p, the large eddy simulation (LES) equations consist of the differential conservation equations coupled with a real-gas EOS. The equations use transport properties that depend on the thermodynamic variables. Compared to previous LES models, the differential equations contain not only the subgrid scale (SGS) fluxes, but also new SGS terms, each denoted as a correction. These additional terms, typically assumed null for atmospheric pressure flows, stem from filtering the differential governing equations, and represent differences between a filtered term and the same term computed as a function of the filtered flow field. In particular, the energy equation contains a heat-flux correction (q-correction) that is the difference between the filtered divergence of the heat flux and the divergence of the heat flux computed as a function of the filtered flow field. In a previous study, there was only partial success in modeling the q-correction term, but in this innovation, success has been achieved by using a different modeling approach. This analysis, based on a temporal mixing layer Direct Numerical Simulation database, shows that the focus in modeling the q-correction should be on reconstructing the primitive variable gradients rather than their coefficients, and proposes the approximate deconvolution model (ADM) as an effective means of flow field reconstruction for LES heat flux calculation. Further, results for a study conducted for temporal mixing layers initially containing oxygen in the lower stream, and hydrogen or helium in the upper stream, show that, for any LES, including SGS-flux models (constant-coefficient Gradient or Scale-Similarity models, dynamic-coefficient Smagorinsky/Yoshizawa or mixed Smagorinsky/Yoshizawa/Gradient models), the inclusion of the q-correction in the LES leads to the theoretical maximum reduction of the SGS heat-flux difference. The remaining error in modeling this new subgrid term is thus irreducible.
The essentially non-oscillatory (ENO) finite difference scheme is applied to systems of conservation laws of mixed hyperbolic-elliptic type. A flux splitting, with the corresponding Jacobi matrices having real and positive/negative eigenvalues, is used. The hyperbolic ENO operator is applied separately. The scheme is numerically tested on the van der Waals equation in fluid dynamics. Convergence was observed with good resolution to weak solutions for various Riemann problems, which are then numerically checked to be admissible as the viscosity-capillarity limits. The interesting phenomena of the shrinking of elliptic regions if they are present in the initial conditions were also observed.
A three-dimensional (3D) semianalytical mixed-layer thermal inertia model for the mixed layer depth is developed, which includes the horizontal advection and diffusion processes modeled previously by Yan et al. (1991) in a one-dimensional (1D) model. The 3D model, which is based on the 3D thermal energy conservation equation, can be used as a supplement to the 1D model in the area where advection is important and for a finer resolution grid prediction. The model can be easily forced by remotely sensed data and is much simpler to compute than numerical 3D mixed-layer turbulence closure models. The new model was verified using data from the AVHRR/multichannel sea surface temperature data set and the Cooperative Ocean Atmosphere Data Set for the North Pacific Ocean, showing good agreement.
The results of direct numerical simulations of chemically reacting turbulent mixing layers are presented. This is an extension of earlier work to a more detailed study of previous three dimensional simulations of cold reacting flows plus the development, validation, and use of codes to simulate chemically reacting shear layers with heat release. Additional analysis of earlier simulations showed good agreement with self similarity theory and laboratory data. Simulations with a two dimensional code including the effects of heat release showed that the rate of chemical product formation, the thickness of the mixing layer, and the amount of mass entrained into the layer all decrease with increasing rates of heat release. Subsequent three dimensional simulations showed similar behavior, in agreement with laboratory observations. Baroclinic torques and thermal expansion in the mixing layer were found to produce changes in the flame vortex structure that act to diffuse the pairing vortices, resulting in a net reduction in vorticity. Previously unexplained anomalies observed in the mean velocity profiles of reacting jets and mixing layers were shown to result from vorticity generation by baroclinic torques.
This paper presents numerical solutions of jet-induced mixing in a partially full cryogenic tank. An axisymmetric laminar jet is discharged from the central part of the tank bottom toward the liquid-vapor interface. Liquid is withdrawn at the same volume flow rate from the outer part of the tank. The jet is at a temperature lower than the interface, which is maintained at a certain saturation temperature. The interface is assumed to be flat and shear free and the condensation-induced velocity is assumed to be negligibly small compared with radial interface velocity. Finite-difference method is used to slove the nondimensional form of steady-state continuity, momentum, and energy equations. Calculations are conducted for jet Reynolds numbers ranging from 150 to 600 and Prandtl numbers ranging from 0.85 to 2.65. The effects of previously stated parameters on the condensation Nusselt and Stanton numbers that characterize the steady-state interface condensation process are investigated. Detailed analysis is performed to gain a better understanding of the fundamentals of fluid mixing and interface condensation.