Coherent structures and dominant frequencies in a turbulent three-dimensional diffuser

2012 ◽  
Vol 699 ◽  
pp. 320-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Malm ◽  
Philipp Schlatter ◽  
Dan S. Henningson
Keyword(s):  
Coherent Structures ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Flow Characteristics ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Bulk Velocity ◽  
Time Signal ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Dominant Frequencies

AbstractDominant frequencies and coherent structures are investigated in a turbulent, three-dimensional and separated diffuser flow at $\mathit{Re}= 10\hspace{0.167em} 000$ (based on bulk velocity and inflow-duct height), where mean flow characteristics were first studied experimentally by Cherry, Elkins and Eaton (Intl J. Heat Fluid Flow, vol. 29, 2008, pp. 803–811) and later numerically by Ohlsson et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 650, 2010, pp. 307–318). Coherent structures are educed by proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) of the flow, which together with time probes located in the flow domain are used to extract frequency information. The present study shows that the flow contains multiple phenomena, well separated in frequency space. Dominant large-scale frequencies in a narrow band $\mathit{St}\equiv fh/ {u}_{b} \in [0. 0092, 0. 014] $ (where $h$ is the inflow-duct height and ${u}_{b} $ is the bulk velocity), yielding time periods ${T}^{\ensuremath{\ast} } = T{u}_{b} / h\in [70, 110] $, are deduced from the time signal probes in the upper separated part of the diffuser. The associated structures identified by the POD are large streaks arising from a sinusoidal oscillating motion in the diffuser. Their individual contributions to the total kinetic energy, dominated by the mean flow, are, however, small. The reason for the oscillating movement in this low-frequency range is concluded to be the confinement of the flow in this particular geometric set-up in combination with the high Reynolds number and the large separated zone on the top diffuser wall. Based on this analysis, it is shown that the bulk of the streamwise root mean square (r.m.s.) value arises due to large-scale motion, which in turn can explain the appearance of two or more peaks in the streamwise r.m.s. value. The weak secondary flow present in the inflow duct is shown to survive into the diffuser, where it experiences an imbalance with respect to the upper expanding corners, thereby giving rise to the asymmetry of the mean separated region in the diffuser.

scholarly journals The Contribution of Striations to the Eddy Energy Budget and Mixing: Diagnostic Frameworks and Results in a Quasigeostrophic Barotropic System with Mean Flow

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (8) ◽  
pp. 2095-2113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ru Chen ◽  
Glenn R. Flierl
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Ocean Model ◽  
Invariance Property ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Eddy Diffusivities ◽  
Energy Cascades ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Flow Theories ◽  
Noise Forcing

AbstractLow-frequency oceanic motions have banded structures termed “striations.” Since these striations embedded in large-scale gyre flows can have large amplitudes, the authors investigated the effect of mean flow on their directions as well as their contribution to energetics and mixing using a β-plane, barotropic, quasigeostrophic ocean model. In spite of the model simplicity, striations are always found to exist regardless of the imposed barotropic mean flow. However, their properties are sensitive to the mean flow. Rhines jets move with the mean flow and are not necessarily striations. If the meridional component of the mean flow is large, Rhines jets become high-frequency motions; low-frequency striations still exist, but they are nonzonal, have small magnitudes, and contribute little to energetics and mixing. Otherwise, striations are zonal, dominated by Rhines jets, and contribute significantly to energetics and mixing. This study extends the theory of β-plane, barotropic turbulence, driven by white noise forcing at small scales, to include the effect of a constant mean flow. Theories developed in this study, based upon the Galilean invariance property, illustrate that the barotropic mean flow has no effect on total mixing rates, but does affect the energy cascades in the frequency domain. Diagnostic frameworks developed here can be useful to quantify the striations’ contribution to energetics and mixing in the ocean and more realistic models. A novel diagnostic formula is applied to estimating eddy diffusivities.

scholarly journals Interannual Variability of the Intraseasonal Oscillation and Its Impact on the Summertime Wave Patterns and Tropical Cyclones over the Western North Pacific

2017 ◽  
Vol 145 (9) ◽  
pp. 3465-3483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken-Chung Ko ◽  
Jyun-Hong Liu
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Cyclones ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Intraseasonal Oscillation ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Background Flow ◽  
Wave Patterns ◽  
Intraseasonal Oscillations ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Local Weather

In this study, intraseasonal oscillations (ISOs) and submonthly wave patterns were separated into maximal variance (MaxV) and minimal variance (MinV) years on the basis of ISO variance from July to October. The mean-state 850-hPa streamfunction for submonthly cases indicated that, in the MinV years, tropical cyclones (TCs) formed near areas southeast of those in the MaxV years. ISOs propagated northward in the MaxV years, whereas a weaker westward-propagating tendency was observed in the MinV years. Track analysis of the centers of the submonthly cyclonic anomalies suggested that the background flow dictated the propagation routes of the easterly cyclonic anomalies in the MaxV years. However, the propagation routes of the westerly cyclonic anomalies were barely affected by the background flow. Further analysis of the ISO mean flow patterns showed that in the MaxV years, the propagation routes of the westerly cyclonic anomalies were more likely controlled by the anomalous easterly flow generated by the ISO westerly cyclonic anomalies. Moreover, rainfall was heavier in Taiwan in the MaxV years because the background flow in the MinV years caused the submonthly cyclonic anomaly tracks to shift away from Taiwan. Therefore, low-frequency large-scale circulations can affect smaller-scale phenomena and local weather.

Turbulent flow between a rotating and a stationary disk

2001 ◽  
Vol 426 ◽  
pp. 297-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
MAGNE LYGREN ◽  
HELGE I. ANDERSSON
Keyword(s):  
Shear Stress ◽  
Boundary Layers ◽  
Coherent Structures ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Mean Velocity ◽  
Stationary Disk ◽  
Dimensional Boundary ◽  
The Mean

Turbulent flow between a rotating and a stationary disk is studied. Besides its fundamental importance as a three-dimensional prototype flow, such flow fields are frequently encountered in rotor–stator configurations in turbomachinery applications. A direct numerical simulation is therefore performed by integrating the time-dependent Navier–Stokes equations until a statistically steady state is reached and with the aim of providing both long-time statistics and an exposition of coherent structures obtained by conditional sampling. The simulated flow has local Reynolds number r2ω/v = 4 × 105 and local gap ratio s/r = 0.02, where ω is the angular velocity of the rotating disk, r the radial distance from the axis of rotation, v the kinematic viscosity of the fluid, and s the gap width.The three components of the mean velocity vector and the six independent Reynolds stresses are compared with experimental measurements in a rotor–stator flow configuration. In the numerically generated flow field, the structural parameter a1 (i.e. the ratio of the magnitude of the shear stress vector to twice the mean turbulent kinetic energy) is lower near the two disks than in two-dimensional boundary layers. This characteristic feature is typical for three-dimensional boundary layers, and so are the misalignment between the shear stress vector and the mean velocity gradient vector, although the degree of misalignment turns out to be smaller in the present flow than in unsteady three-dimensional boundary layer flow. It is also observed that the wall friction at the rotating disk is substantially higher than at the stationary disk.Coherent structures near the disks are identified by means of the λ2 vortex criterion in order to provide sufficient information to resolve a controversy regarding the roles played by sweeps and ejections in shear stress production. An ensemble average of the detected structures reveals that the coherent structures in the rotor–stator flow are similar to the ones found in two-dimensional flows. It is shown, however, that the three-dimensionality of the mean flow reduces the inter-vortical alignment and the tendency of structures of opposite sense of rotation to overlap. The coherent structures near the disks generate weaker sweeps (i.e. quadrant 4 events) than structures in conventional two-dimensional boundary layers. This reduction in the quadrant 4 contribution from the coherent structures is believed to explain the reduced efficiency of the mean flow in producing Reynolds shear stress.

scholarly journals On the impact of swirl on the growth of coherent structures

2014 ◽  
Vol 741 ◽  
pp. 156-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Oberleithner ◽  
C. O. Paschereit ◽  
I. Wygnanski
Keyword(s):  
Stability Analysis ◽  
Coherent Structures ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Vortex Breakdown ◽  
Shear Mode ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Swirling Jet ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Helical Mode

AbstractSpatial linear stability analysis is applied to the mean flow of a turbulent swirling jet at swirl intensities below the onset of vortex breakdown. The aim of this work is to predict the dominant coherent flow structure, their driving instabilities and how they are affected by swirl. At the nozzle exit, the swirling jet promotes shear instabilities and, less unstable, centrifugal instabilities. The latter stabilize shortly downstream of the nozzle, contributing very little to the formation of coherent structures. The shear mode remains unstable throughout generating coherent structures that scale with the axial shear-layer thickness. The most amplified mode in the nearfield is a co-winding double-helical mode rotating slowly in counter-direction to the swirl. This gives rise to the formation of slowly rotating and stationary large-scale coherent structures, which explains the asymmetries in the mean flows often encountered in swirling jet experiments. The co-winding single-helical mode at high rotation rate dominates the farfield of the swirling jet in replacement of the co- and counter-winding bending modes dominating the non-swirling jet. Moreover, swirl is found to significantly affect the streamwise phase velocity of the helical modes rendering this flow as highly dispersive and insensitive to intermodal interactions, which explains the absence of vortex pairing observed in previous investigations. The stability analysis is validated through hot-wire measurements of the flow excited at a single helical mode and of the flow perturbed by a time- and space-discrete pulse. The experimental results confirm the predicted mode selection and corresponding streamwise growth rates and phase velocities.

scholarly journals Nonlinear dynamics of large-scale coherent structures in turbulent free shear layers

2015 ◽  
Vol 787 ◽  
pp. 396-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuesong Wu ◽  
Xiuling Zhuang
Keyword(s):  
Nonlinear Dynamics ◽  
Coherent Structures ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Shear Layers ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Evolution System ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Free Shear Layers ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Scale Turbulence

Fully developed turbulent free shear layers exhibit a high degree of order, characterized by large-scale coherent structures in the form of spanwise vortex rollers. Extensive experimental investigations show that such organized motions bear remarkable resemblance to instability waves, and their main characteristics, including the length scales, propagation speeds and transverse structures, are reasonably well predicted by linear stability analysis of the mean flow. In this paper, we present a mathematical theory to describe the nonlinear dynamics of coherent structures. The formulation is based on the triple decomposition of the instantaneous flow into a mean field, coherent fluctuations and small-scale turbulence but with the mean-flow distortion induced by nonlinear interactions of coherent fluctuations being treated as part of the organized motion. The system is closed by employing a gradient type of model for the time- and phase-averaged Reynolds stresses of fine-scale turbulence. In the high-Reynolds-number limit, the nonlinear non-equilibrium critical-layer theory for laminar-flow instabilities is adapted to turbulent shear layers by accounting for (1) the enhanced non-parallelism associated with fast spreading of the mean flow, and (2) the influence of small-scale turbulence on coherent structures. The combination of these factors with nonlinearity leads to an interesting evolution system, consisting of coupled amplitude and vorticity equations, in which non-parallelism contributes the so-called translating critical-layer effect. Numerical solutions of the evolution system capture vortex roll-up, which is the hallmark of a turbulent mixing layer, and the predicted amplitude development mimics the qualitative feature of oscillatory saturation that has been observed in a number of experiments. A fair degree of quantitative agreement is obtained with one set of experimental data.

scholarly journals Large-scale mean patterns in turbulent convection

2015 ◽  
Vol 776 ◽  
pp. 96-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad S. Emran ◽  
Jörg Schumacher
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Finite Amplitude ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Turbulent Fluctuations ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Prandtl Numbers ◽  
Rayleigh Benard Convection ◽  
Rayleigh Numbers ◽  
Rayleigh Benard

Large-scale patterns, which are well-known from the spiral defect chaos (SDC) regime of thermal convection at Rayleigh numbers $\mathit{Ra}<10^{4}$, continue to exist in three-dimensional numerical simulations of turbulent Rayleigh–Bénard convection in extended cylindrical cells with an aspect ratio ${\it\Gamma}=50$ and $\mathit{Ra}>10^{5}$. They are revealed when the turbulent fields are averaged in time and turbulent fluctuations are thus removed. We apply the Boussinesq closure to estimate turbulent viscosities and diffusivities, respectively. The resulting turbulent Rayleigh number $\mathit{Ra}_{\ast }$, that describes the convection of the mean patterns, is indeed in the SDC range. The turbulent Prandtl numbers are smaller than one, with $0.2\leqslant \mathit{Pr}_{\ast }\leqslant 0.4$ for Prandtl numbers $0.7\leqslant \mathit{Pr}\leqslant 10$. Finally, we demonstrate that these mean flow patterns are robust to an additional finite-amplitude sidewall forcing when the level of turbulent fluctuations in the flow is sufficiently high.

Vortical structures in the near wake of tabs with various geometries

2017 ◽  
Vol 825 ◽  
pp. 167-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Hamed ◽  
A. Pagan-Vazquez ◽  
D. Khovalyg ◽  
Z. Zhang ◽  
L. P. Chamorro
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Incoming Flow ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Near Wake ◽  
Hairpin Vortices ◽  
Vortical Structures ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Hairpin Structures

The vortical structures and turbulence statistics in the near wake of rectangular, trapezoidal, triangular and ellipsoidal tabs were experimentally studied in a refractive-index-matching channel. The tabs share the same bulk dimensions, including a 17 mm height, a 28 mm base width and a $24.5^{\circ }$ inclination angle. Measurements were performed at two Reynolds numbers based on the tab height, $Re_{h}\simeq 2000$ (laminar incoming flow) and 13 000 (turbulent incoming flow). Three-dimensional, three-component particle image velocimetry (PIV) was used to study the mean flow distribution and dominant large-scale vortices, while complementary high-spatial-resolution planar PIV measurements were used to quantify high-order statistics. Instantaneous three-dimensional fields revealed the coexistence of a coherent counter-rotating vortex pair (CVP) and hairpin structures. The CVP and hairpin vortices (the primary structures) exhibit distinctive characteristics and strength across $Re_{h}$ and tab geometries. The CVP is coherently present in the mean flow field and grows in strength over a significantly longer distance at the low $Re_{h}$ due to the lower turbulence levels and the delayed shedding of the hairpin vortices. These features at the low $Re_{h}$ are associated with the presence of Kelvin–Helmholtz instability that develops over three tab heights downstream of the trailing edge. Moreover, a secondary CVP with an opposite sense of rotation resides below the primary one for the four tabs at the low $Re_{h}$. The interaction between the hairpin structures and the primary CVP is experimentally measured in three dimensions and shows complex coexistence. Although the CVP undergoes deformation and splitting at times, it maintains its presence and leads to significant mean spanwise and wall-normal flows.

scholarly journals Comments on “The Three-Dimensional Current and Surface Wave Equations”

2008 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 1340-1350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabrice Ardhuin ◽  
Alastair D. Jenkins ◽  
Konstadinos A. Belibassakis
Keyword(s):  
Momentum Flux ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Wave Equations ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Wave Theory ◽  
Correction Method ◽  
Vertical Flux ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Wave Forcing ◽  
The Mean

Abstract The lowest order sigma-transformed momentum equation given by Mellor takes into account a phase-averaged wave forcing based on Airy wave theory. This equation is shown to be generally inconsistent because of inadequate approximations of the wave motion. Indeed the evaluation of the vertical flux of momentum requires an estimation of the pressure p and coordinate transformation function s to first order in parameters that define the large-scale evolution of the wave field, such as the bottom slope. Unfortunately, there is no analytical expression for p and s at that order. A numerical correction method is thus proposed and verified. Alternative coordinate transforms that allow a separation of wave and mean flow momenta do not suffer from this inconsistency nor do they require a numerical estimation of the wave forcing. Indeed, the problematic vertical flux is part of the wave momentum flux, thus distinct from the mean flow momentum flux, and not directly relevant to the mean flow evolution.

On Coupling of RANS and LES for Integrated Computations of Jet Engines

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gorazd Medic ◽  
Donghyun You ◽  
Georgi Kalitzin
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Flow Simulation ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Jet Engines ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Mean Velocity ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Flow Variables

Large scale integrated computations of jet engines can be performed by using the unsteady RANS framework to compute the flow in turbomachinery components while using the LES framework to compute the flow in the combustor. This requires a proper coupling of the flow variables at the interfaces between the RANS and LES solvers. In this paper, a novel approach to turbulence coupling is proposed. It is based on the observation that in full operating conditions the mean flow at the interfaces is highly non-uniform and local turbulence production dominates convection effects in regions of large velocity gradients. This observation has lead to the concept of using auxilliary ducts to compute turbulence based on the mean velocity at the interface. In the case of the RANS/LES interface, turbulent fluctuations are reconstructed from an LES computation in an auxiliary three-dimensional duct using a recycling technique. For the LES/RANS interface, the turbulence variables for the RANS model are computed from an auxilliary solution of the RANS turbulence model in a quasi-2D duct. We have demonstrated the feasibility of this approach for the integrated flow simulation of a 20° sector of an entire jet engine.

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