SEARCH · Search NASA
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.
Results obtained using a vortex filament model, as opposed to sheets are discussed, against using various modeling techniques and including the computer codings.
The analysis of 16 plasma vortex occurrences in the magnetotail plasma sheet of Hones et al. (1983) is extended. Two- and three-dimensional plasma measurements and three-dimensional magnetic field measurements were used to study phase relations, energy propagation, and polarization properties. The results point toward an interpretation as a slow strongly damped MHD eigenmode which is generated by tailward traveling perturbations at the low-latitude interface between plasma sheet and magnetosheath.
The mechanism of nonlinear distortion of a fluid sheet leading to atomization is investigated numerically with the use of vortex dynamics and experimentally by means of holography. The configuration investigated consists of a planar fluid sheet emerging from a rectangular slit with and without coflowing air. The numerical model is two-dimensional, inviscid, and includes surface tension effects. The experimental results indicate the existence of well-defined three-dimensional structures. These are formed mainly by the nonlinear interaction of transverse and streamwise disturbances. The transverse disturbances are associated with the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability while the streamwise disturbances appear related to streamwise vortices possibly originating inside the nozzle.
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.
The temporal evolution of a horseshoe vortex structure in a channel is investigated by a numerical simulation. A spectral numerical method is employed to integrate the time-dependent, three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations. The initial vortical structure is obtained by applying a conditional sampling technique to a data base generated from a direct simulation of a turbulent channel flow. The evolution of this vortical structure under the influence of the self-induced motion and the mean shear is presented. It is shown that the initial sheet-like vortical structure rolls up into a vortex tube as it is convected downstream. Turbulence structures associated with the vortex stretching are investigated. Production of vorticity stretching is high inside the vortex legs, although it is also substantial in the tip region and above the legs. High Reynolds shear stress is produced near the tip of the vortex.
The boundary conditions corresponding to the design problem when the blades being simulated by the bound vorticity distribution are presented. The 3D flow is analyzed by the two steps S2 - S1 approach. In the first step, the number of blades is supposed to be infinite, the vortex distribution is transformed into an axisymmetric one, so that the flow field can be analyzed in a meridional plane. The thickness distribution of the blade producing the flow channel striction is taken into account by the modification of metric tensor in the continuity equation. Using the meridional stream function to define the flow field, the mass conservation is satisfied automatically. The governing equation is deduced from the relation between the azimuthal component of the vorticity and the meridional velocity. The value of the azimuthal component of the vorticity is provided by the hub to shroud equilibrium condition. This step leads to the determination of the axisymmetric stream sheets as well as the approximate camber surface of the blade. In the second step, the finite number of blades is taken into account, the inverse problem corresponding to the blade to blade flow confined in each stream sheet is analyzed. The momentum equation implies that the free vortex of the absolute velocity must be tangential to the stream sheet. The governing equation for the blade to blade flow stream function is deduced from this condition. At the beginning, the upper and the lower surfaces of the blades are created from the camber surface obtained from the first step with the assigned thickness distribution. The bound vorticity distribution and the penetrating flux conservation applied on the presumed blade surface constitute the boundary conditions of the inverse problem. The detection of this flux leads to the rectification of the geometry of the blades.
The design, installation, and application of the NASA laser vapor screen (LVS) flow visualization systems developed by 10-foot high speed tunnel and 8-foot transonic pressure tunnel are discussed. Sufficient quantity of water is injected into the wind tunnel diffuser section to increase the relative humidity and promote condensation of the water vapor in the flow field about the model. Vortex-dominated flows are illuminated with an intense sheet of laser light. Fiber optics are used to deliver the laser beam through the plenum shell that surrounds the test section of each facility and to the light sheet-generating optics positioned in the ceiling window of the test section. Operational experience indicates that fiber optic-based systems are safe, reliable, and capable of proving high-quality off-surface flow visualization in larger scale subsonic and transonic wind tunnels.
This work examined the wake aerodynamics of a single helicopter rotor blade with several tip shapes operating on a hover test stand. Velocity field measurements were conducted using three-component laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV). The objective of these measurements was to document the vortex velocity profiles and then extract the core properties, such as the core radius, peak swirl velocity, and axial velocity. The measured test cases covered a wide range of wake-ages and several tip shapes, including rectangular, tapered, swept, and a subwing tip. One of the primary differences shown by the change in tip shape was the wake geometry. The effect of blade taper reduced the initial peak swirl velocity by a significant fraction. It appears that this is accomplished by decreasing the vortex strength for a given blade loading. The subwing measurements showed that the interaction and merging of the subwing and primary vortices created a less coherent vortical structure. A source of vortex core instability is shown to be the ratio of the peak swirl velocity to the axial velocity deficit. The results show that if there is a turbulence producing region of the vortex structure, it will be outside of the core boundary. The LDV measurements were supported by laser light-sheet flow visualization. The results provide several benchmark test cases for future validation of theoretical vortex models, numerical free-wake models, and computational fluid dynamics results.
Recent modernization of NASA's Vortex Research Facility is described. The facility has a 300-ft test section, scheduled for a 300-ft extension, with constant test speeds of the model up to 100 ft/sec. The data acquisition hardware and software improvements included the installation of a 24-channel PCM system onboard the research vehicle, and a large dedicated 16-bit minicomputer. Flow visualization of the vortex wake in the test section is by particle seeding, and a thin sheet of argon laser light perpendicular to the line of flight; detailed flow field measurements are made with a laser velocimeter optics system. The improved experimental capabilities of the facility were used in a study of atmospheric stratification effects on wake vortex decay, showing that the effects of temperature gradient must be taken into account to avoid misleading conclusions in wake vortex research.
An extensive quantity of airload measurements was obtained for a pressure-instrumented model of the BO-105 main rotor for a large number of higher-harmonic control (HHC) settings at Duits-Nederlandse Wind Tunnel (DNW). The wake geometry, vortex strength, and vortex core size were also measured through a laser light sheet technique and LDV. These results are used to verify the BVI airload prediction methodologies developed by AFDD, DLR, NASA Langley, and ONERA. The comparisons show that an accurate prediction of the blade motion and the wake geometry is the most important aspect of the BVI airload predictions.
Magnetometer and plasma data from the dual ISEE spacecraft are combined in a study of the initial plasma vortex event reported by Hones et al. (1978) in the dawn plasma sheet. The event is a transient hydromagnetic wave of two cycles duration with a six minute period. Large amplitude compressional and transverse magnetic components were present. Particle and magnetic pressure oscillations were in strict antiphase, but did not balance. When combined with the plasma velocity data these properties show that substantial Earthward field-aligned flows of electromagnetic energy and heat flux occurred during the vortex. The net energy flow perpendicular to B was in the antisolar direction. This event possesses hydromagnetic features unique to a hot plasma environment.
An experimental investigation was conducted in the Langley 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel to quantify the rotor wake behind a scale model helicopter rotor in forward level flight at one thrust level. The rotor system in this test consisted of a four-bladed fully articulated hub with blades of rectangular planform and an NACA 0012 airfoil section. A laser light sheet, seeded with propylene glycol smoke, was used to visualize the vortex geometry in the flow in planes parallel and perpendicular to the free-stream flow. Quantitative measurements of wake geometric proper- ties, such as vortex location, vertical skew angle, and vortex particle void radius, were obtained as well as convective velocities for blade tip vortices. Comparisons were made between experimental data and four computational method predictions of experimental tip vortex locations, vortex vertical skew angles, and wake geometries. The results of these comparisons highlight difficulties of accurate wake geometry predictions.
Within a program designed to develop experimental techniques for measuring the trajectory and structure of vortices trailing from the tips of rotor blades, the present preliminary study focuses on a method for quantifying the trajectory of the trailing vortex during descent flight conditions. This study also presents rotor loads and blade surface pressures for a range of tip-path plane angles and Mach numbers. Blade pressures near the leading edge and along the outer radius are compared with data obtained on the same model rotor, but in open jet facilities. A triangulation procedure based on two directable laser-light sheets, each containing an embedded reference, proved effective in defining the spatial coordinates of the trailing vortex. When interrogating a cross section of the flow that contains several trailing vortices, the greatest clarity was found to result when the flow is uniformly seeded. Surface pressure responses during blade-vortex interactions appeared equally sensitive near the leading edge and along the outer portion of the blade, but diminished rapidly as the distance along the blade chord increased. The pressure response was virtually independent of whether the tip-path plane angle was obtained through shaft tilt or cyclic pitch. Although the shape and frequency of the pressure perturbations on the advancing blade during blade-vortex interaction are similar to those obtained in open-jet facilities, the angle of the tip-path plane may need to be lower than the range covered in this study.
The addition of swirl to scramjet fuel jets has been proposed as a method of enhancing fuel mixing, but little of a fundamental nature is known about supersonic swirling flows. This is a study of mixing in supersonic swirling air jets created by tangential injection and acceleration through a convergent-divergent nozzle into stagnant air. Several cases with different vortex circulations were investigated using pitot, cone and total-temperature probes, and Rayleigh scattering from a laser light sheet. The results show that tangential injection is an efficient method for generating swirling jets; that the swirling jets mix much more rapidly with the ambient air than comparable straight jets; and that when overexpanded, considerable turbulence and increased mixing is created as a result of vortex breakdown.
We present an example of a boundary layer tailward of the dawn terminator which is entirely populated by rolled-up flow vortices. Observations were made by Wind on 24 October 2001 as the spacecraft moved across the region at the X plane approximately equal to −13 Earth radii. Interplanetary conditions were steady with a near-radial interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). Approximately 15 vortices were observed over the 1.5 hours duration of Wind's crossing, each lasting approximately 5 min. The rolling up is inferred from the presence of a hot tenuous plasma being accelerated to speeds higher than in the adjoining magnetosheath, a circumstance which has been shown to be a reliable signature of this in single-spacecraft observations. A blob of cold dense plasma was entrained in each vortex, at whose leading edge abrupt polarity changes of field and velocity components at current sheets were regularly observed. In the frame of the average boundary layer velocity, the dense blobs were moving predominantly sunward and their scale size along the X plane was approximately 7.4 Earth radii. Inquiring into the generation mechanism of the vortices, we analyze the stability of the boundary layer to sheared flows using compressible magnetohydrodynamic Kelvin-Helmholtz theory with continuous profiles for the physical quantities. We input parameters from (i) the exact theory of magnetosheath flow under aligned solar wind field and flow vectors near the terminator and (ii) the Wind data. It is shown that the configuration is indeed Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) unstable. This is the first reported example of KH-unstable waves at the magnetopause under a radial IMF.
The discrete vortex cloud approach models a missile airframe's vortex wake by means that are capable of treating a variety of configurations over a range of flow conditions. Attention is given to the sheets of vorticity formed on the lee side of a missile at moderate angles-of-attack. While three-dimensional attached flow models are used to represent the missile body, two-dimensional, incompressible, separated flow models are used to represent the separated vortex wake. The predicted pressure distribution of the body under the influence of the freestream and the separation vortex wake are used to calculate aerodynamic loads on the body. The separation vortex wake is represented by clouds of discrete vortices in cross flow planes normal to the body axis.
A relatively simple but accurate potential flow model was developed for studying the symmetric vortex flow on cones. The model is a modified version of the model first developed by Bryson, in which discrete vortices and straight-line feeding sheets were used to represent the flow field. It differs, however, in the zero-force condition used to position the vortices and determine their circulation strengths. The Bryson model imposed the condition that the net force on the feeding sheets and discrete vortices must be zero. The proposed model satisfies this zero-force condition by having the vortices move as free vortices, at a velocity equal to at the local crossflow velocity at their centers. When the free-vortex assumption is made, a solution is obtained in the form of two nonlinear algebraic equations that relate the vortex center coordinates and vortex strengths to the cone angle and angle of attack. The vortex center locations calculated using the model are in good agreement with experimental values. The cone normal forces as well as center locations are in good agreement with the vortex cloud method of calculating symmetric flow fields.
A characteristic of Pc 5 pulsation in the morning sector is determined by use of ground magnetometer and riometer data, in conjunction with data acquired with satellites which include the magnetic fields above the ionosphere and electron fluxes at geosynchronous orbit. It is found that the onset of a flux increase in energetic electrons of 30 keV to 200 keV at geosynchronous orbit almost coincides with the onset of Pc 5 pulsation activity and riometer absorption on the ground. It is confirmed when the Pc 5 pulsation occurs on the ground, the large-scale Birkeland current system observed at ionospheric altitude splits into a number of small-scale Birkeland current pairs. It is inferred that the electron flux enhancement, presumably supplied from the tail plasma sheet associated with the substorm onset, provides stress to cause the background large-scale plasma vortex to split into the small-scale vortices. It is suggested that the field-aligned currents in the small-scale vortices propagate along the field lines and sustain the standing Alfvenic oscillations at several different, but neighboring shells of the field lines.