Search results

This paper seeks to explore the fiber orientation distribution and rheological properties of turbulent fiber suspensions flowing through a contraction.

The Reynolds averaged Navier‐Stokes equation was solved with the Reynolds stress model to get the mean fluid velocity and the turbulent kinetic energy in the turbulent flow of a contraction with rectangular cross‐section. The turbulent velocity fluctuations were represented as a Fourier series with random coefficients. Then the slender‐body theory was used to predict the fiber orientation distribution, orientation tensor, additional shear stress and first normal stress difference of suspensions in the flow.

It is found that the longer fibers tend to align the streamline easily. Increased contraction ratio results in higher fiber alignment in the direction of flow. The fibers are weakly and strongly aligned in the direction of flow in the region near the inlet and the exit, respectively. Fibers are significantly more aligned in the plane of the contraction than in the x‐z plane. Contraction ratio and fiber length were shown to strongly and weakly affect the distributions of additional shear stress and first normal stress difference.

It is the first time that the fiber orientation distribution and rheological properties of turbulent fiber suspensions flowing through a contraction have been computed numerically. The computational approach and results are valuable to the design and operation of contraction used in the industrial processes.

This study aims to research the prediction performance of the bifurcation approach with different base models in different kinds of turbulent flows with rotation and curvature.

The k−ω and Shear-Stress Transport (SST) k−ω models are modified by using the complete eddy viscosity coefficient expression, and the latter is modified by using two sets of model coefficients. The two bifurcation models were tested in three cases: rotating channel flow with system rotation, Taylor–Couette flow with wall rotation and curvature effect and swirling flow through an abrupt axisymmetric expansion with inlet swirling flow.

In these flows, the bifurcation approach can significantly improve the prediction performance of the base model in the fluctuation velocity. The deviation of the BSkO model is slightly superior to the BkO model by about 2% in the Taylor–Couette flow. The prediction effect of the root-mean-square (RMS) velocity of the BSkO model increases by about 4–5% as the number of grids increases about 2.37 times, and the best is the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) grid used. Finally, compared with the SST k−ω model, the average iteration time of the SST with curvature correction (SST-CC), bifurcation k−ω (BkO) and bifurcation SST k−ω (BSkO) models increased by 27.7%, 86.9% and 62.3%, respectively.

This study is helpful to understand further the application of the bifurcation method in the turbulence model.

The results from a direct numerical simulation (DNS) of turbulent, incompressible flow through a square duct, with an imposed temperature difference between the horizontal walls, are presented. The vertical walls are assumed perfectly insulated, and the Reynolds number, based on the bulk velocity and the hydraulic diameter, is about 4400. Our results indicate that secondary motions do not affect dramatically global parameters, like the friction factor and the Nusselt number, with respect to the plane‐channel flow, but the distributions of the local shear stress and heat flux at the walls are highly non‐uniform, due to the presence of these secondary motions. It is also shown that an eddy‐diffusivity approach is capable to reproduce well the turbulent heat flux. All simulations were performed by an efficient finite volume algorithm. A description of the numerical algorithm, together with an analysis of time‐accuracy, is included. The OpenMP parallel programming language was exploited to obtain a moderately‐scalable application.

The purpose of the paper is to quantify the impact of the non-uniform flow generated by the upstream stator on the generation and convection of the tip leakage flow (TLF) structures in the passages of the rotor blades in a low-speed axial fan.

A full three dimensional (3D)-viscous unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-stokes (RANS) (URANS) simulation of the flow within a periodic domain of the axial stage has been performed at three different flow rate coefficients (φ = 0.38, 0.32, 0.27) using ReNormalization Group k-ε turbulence modelling. A typical tip clearance of 2.3 per cent of the blade span has been modelled on a reduced domain comprising a three-vaned stator and a two-bladed rotor with circumferential periodicity. A non-conformal grid with hybrid meshing, locally refined O-meshes on both blades and vanes walls with (100 × 25 × 80) elements, a 15-node meshed tip gap and circumferential interfaces for sliding mesh computations were also implemented. The unsteady motion of the rotor has been covered with 60 time steps per blade event. The simulations were validated with experimental measurements of the static pressure in the shroud of the blade tip region.

It has been observed that both TLF and intensities of the tip leakage vortex (TLV) are significantly influenced by upstream stator wakes, especially at nominal and partial load conditions. In particular, the leakage flow, which represents 12.4 per cent and 11.3 per cent of the working flow rate, respectively, has shown a clear periodic fluctuation clocked with the vane passing period in the relative domain. The periodic fluctuation of the TLF is in the range of 2.8-3.4 per cent of the mean value. In addition, the trajectory of the tip vortex is also notably perturbed, with root-mean squared fluctuations reaching up to 18 per cent and 6 per cent in the regions of maximum interaction at 50 per cent and 25 per cent of the blade chord for nominal and partial load conditions, respectively. On the contrary, the massive flow separation observed in the tip region of the blades for near-stall conditions prevents the formation of TLV structures and neglects any further interaction with the upstream vanes.

Despite the increasing use of large eddy simulation modelling in turbomachinery environments, which requires extremely high computational costs, URANS modelling is still revealed as a useful technique to describe highly complex viscous mechanisms in 3D swirl flows, such as unsteady tip flow structures, with reasonable accuracy.

The paper presents a validated numerical model that simulates the unsteady response of the TLF to upstream perturbations in an axial fan stage. It also provides levels of instabilities in the TLV derived from the deterministic non-uniformities associated to the vane wakes.

This paper aims to present an experimental investigation of an active flow control solution mounted at rear of a sport utility vehicle (SUV) with the objective of drag reduction, thanks to a selection of flow control parameters leading to a pressure increase on the tailgate.

A flow control design of experiments was conducted with a pulsed jet system mounted on the top and sides of the rear window of the vehicle. The wall pressure, instantaneous velocity and drag were measured with this prototype in a wind tunnel. A dynamic modal decomposition (DMD) analysis of the pressure enables to describe the pressure fluctuations. Fluid dynamic computations show relation between pressure and velocity fields.

Measurements with this prototype in the wind tunnel revealed small improvements in drag for the best flow control configurations. This small benefit is because of the core of the upper span wise vortex further away from the rear window than the lower span wise vortex. These small improvements in drag were confirmed with pressure measurements on the rear window and tailgate. The DMD analysis of the surface pressure showed a low frequency pendulum oscillation on the lower area of the tailgate, linked with low velocity frequencies in the shear layers near the tailgate.

Experimental and numerical results show interest to increase pressure at bottom of the rear end of this SUV prototype. The dynamic description of the wall pressure shows importance of flow control solutions reducing pressure fluctuations at low frequencies in the lower area of the tailgate.

Numerical analysis of the instantaneous flow and heat transfer has been carried out for offset strip fin geometries in self‐sustained oscillatory flow. The analysis is based on the two‐dimensional solution of the governing equations of the fluid flow and heat transfer with the aid of appropriate computational fluid dynamics methods. Unsteady calculations have been carried out. The obtained time‐dependent results are compared with previous numerical and experimental results in terms of mean values, as well as oscillation characteristics. The mechanisms of heat transfer enhancement are discussed and it has been shown that the fluctuating temperature and velocity second moments exhibit non‐zero values over the fins. The creation processes of the temperature and velocity fluctuations have been studied and the dissimilarity between these has been proved.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the development process of the fire whirl in the fixed-frame facility and focus on the impacts of the fire whirl’s vortex core on the formation and flame structure of the fire whirl.

The complex turbulent reacting flame surface is captured by the large eddy simulation turbulence closure coupled with two sub-grid scale (SGS) kinetic schemes (i.e. the chemistry equilibrium and steady diffusion flamelet). Numerical predictions are validated thoroughly against the measurements by Lei et al. (2015) with excellent agreements. A double maximum tangential velocity refinement approach is proposed to quantify the vortex cores’ instantaneous location and region, addressing the missing definition in other studies.

The numerical results show that the transition process of the fire whirl is dominated by the vortex core movement, which is related to the centripetal force. The unsteadiness of the fully developed fire whirl was found depending on the instantaneous fluctuation of heat release rate. The steady diffusion flamelet scheme is essential to capture the instantaneous fluctuation. Furthermore, the axial velocity inside the vortex core is the key to determining the state of fire whirl.

Due to intensive interactions between buoyant fires and ambient rotating flow, the on-set and formation of fire whirl still remain largely elusive. This paper focused on the transition process of fire whirl between different development stages. This paper provides insights into the transition process from the inclined flame to the fire whirls based on the centripetal force.

This paper presented and compared two SGS kinetic schemes to resolve the fire whirl development process and the unsteadiness of its vortical structures. The modelling framework addresses the shortcoming of previous numerical studies where RANS turbulence closure and simplified combustion kinetics was adopted. Numerical results also revealed the fire whirl transition process and its relationship to centripetal force.

The main purpose of the paper is the validation of different modelling strategies for turbulent swirling flow of an incompressible fluid in an idealized swirl combustor.

Experiments have been performed and computations carried out for a water test rig, for a Reynolds number of 4,600 based on combustor inlet mean axial velocity and diameter. Two cases have been investigated, one low swirl and the other high swirl intensity. Measurements of time‐averaged velocity components and corresponding rms turbulence intensities were measured using laser Doppler anemometer, along radial traverses at different axial locations. In the three‐dimensional, unsteady computations, large eddy simulation (LES) and URANS (Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier‐Stokes Equations or Reynolds Averaged Numerical Simulations) RSMs (Reynolds‐stress models) are basically employed as modelling strategies for turbulence. To model subgrid‐scale turbulence for LES, the models due to Smagorinsky and Voke are used. No‐model LES and coarse‐grid direct numerical simulation computations are also performed for one of the cases.

The predictions are compared with the measurements and reveal that LES provided the best overall accuracy for all of the cases, whereas no significant difference between the Smagorinsky and Voke models are observed for the time‐averaged velocity components.

This paper provides additional valuable information on the performance of various modelling strategies for turbulent swirling flows.

The purpose of this paper is the development of a CFD methodology based on LES computations to analyze the rotor–stator interaction in an axial fan stage.

A wall-modeled large eddy simulation (WMLES) has been performed for a spanwise 3D extrusion of the central section of the fan stage. Computations were performed for three different operating conditions, from nominal (Q_N) to off-design (85 per cent Q_N and 70 per cent Q_N) working points. Circumferential periodic conditions were introduced to reduce the extent of the computational domain. The post-processing procedure enabled the segregation of unsteady deterministic features and turbulent scales. The simulations were experimentally validated using wake profiles and turbulent scales obtained from hot-wire measurements.

The transport of rotor wakes and both wake–vane and wake–wake interactions in the stator flow field have been analyzed. The description of flow separation, particularly at off-design conditions, is fully benefited from the LES performance. Rotor wakes impinging on the stator vanes generate a coherent large-scale vortex shedding at reduced frequencies. Large pressure fluctuations in the stagnation region on the leading edge of the vanes have been found.

LES simulations have shown to be appropriate for the assessment of the design of an axial fan, especially for specific operating conditions for which a URANS model presents a lower performance for turbulence description.

This paper describes the development of an LES-based simulation to understand the flow mechanisms related to the rotor–stator interaction in axial fan stages.

Turbulent fully developed periodic heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics in corrugated two‐dimensional ducts with constant cross‐sectional area are numerically investigated. The governing equations are solved numerically by a finite‐volume method for elliptic flows in complex geometries using collocated variables and Cartesian velocity components. Two different turbulence models (the second moment closure and the k—ε) for approximation of the Reynolds stresses are applied. The performance of the models were assessed by comparing the results with experimental data. The results show the advantages of the stress closure model compared to the k—ε model. The overall Nusselt number and the pressure drop ratio results are obtained for the boundary condition of a uniform wall temperature for two inclination angles ø and two duct aspect ratios (H/L) and for Reynolds number ranging from around 3000 to 35,000. The overall Nusselt number predicted by the k—ε model is upto 25% higher than the values predicted by the second moment closure. The plots of the velocity vectors show a complex flow pattern. The mechanisms of heat transfer are explained by the flow phenomena separation, deflection, recirculation, and reattachment.