scholarly journals The effect of Reynolds number on turbulent drag reduction by streamwise travelling waves

2014 ◽  
Vol 759 ◽  
pp. 28-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Hurst ◽  
Qiang Yang ◽  
Yongmann M. Chung

AbstractThis paper exploits the turbulent flow control method using streamwise travelling waves (Quadrio et al. J. Fluid Mech., vol. 627, 2009, pp. 161–178) to study the effect of Reynolds number on turbulent skin-friction drag reduction. Direct numerical simulations (DNS) of a turbulent channel flow subjected to the streamwise travelling waves of spanwise wall velocity have been performed at Reynolds numbers ranging from $\mathit{Re}_{{\it\tau}}=200$ to 1600. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the highest Reynolds number attempted with DNS for this type of flow control. The present DNS results confirm that the effectiveness of drag reduction deteriorates, and the maximum drag reduction achieved by travelling waves decreases significantly as the Reynolds number increases. The intensity of both the drag reduction and drag increase is reduced with the Reynolds number. Another important finding is that the value of the optimal control parameters changes, even in wall units, when the Reynolds number is increased. This trend is observed for the wall oscillation, stationary wave, and streamwise travelling wave cases. This implies that, when the control parameters used are close to optimal values found at a lower Reynolds number, the drag reduction deteriorates rapidly with increased Reynolds number. In this study, the effect of Reynolds number for the travelling wave is quantified using a scaling in the form $\mathit{Re}_{{\it\tau}}^{-{\it\alpha}}$. No universal constant is found for the scaling parameter ${\it\alpha}$. Instead, the scaling parameter ${\it\alpha}$ has a wide range of values depending on the flow control conditions. Further Reynolds number scaling issues are discussed. Turbulent statistics are analysed to explain a weaker drag reduction observed at high Reynolds numbers. The changes in the Stokes layer and also the mean and root-mean-squared (r.m.s.) velocity with the Reynolds number are also reported. The Reynolds shear stress analysis suggests an interesting possibility of a finite drag reduction at very high Reynolds numbers.

2015 ◽  
Vol 774 ◽  
pp. 224-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eiichi Sasaki ◽  
Shin-ichi Takehiro ◽  
Michio Yamada

We study the bifurcation structure of zonal flows on a rotating sphere. The setting of our problem is similar to the Kolmogorov problem on a flat torus, where the vorticity forcing is given by a single eigenfunction of the Laplacian. First we prove the global stability of two-jet zonal flow for arbitrary Reynolds number and the rotation rate of the sphere. Then we study the bifurcation structure of steady solutions arising from three-jet zonal flow. In the non-rotating case, we find that two steady travelling-wave solutions bifurcate from a three-jet zonal flow via Hopf bifurcation. As the Reynolds number increases, steady-travelling solutions arise via pitchfork bifurcation from the steady-travelling solutions. On the other hand, in the rotating case, we find saddle-node bifurcations and closed-loop branches. We carry out time integration to study the properties of unsteady solutions at high Reynolds numbers. In the non-rotating case, the unsteady solution is chaotic and it wanders around the steady-travelling solutions bifurcating from three-jet zonal flow. We show that a linear combination of the steady and steady-travelling solutions gives a good approximation of the zonal-mean zonal flow of the unsteady solution, suggesting that the chaotic solution at high Reynolds numbers exists mostly within a relatively low-dimensional space spanned by the steady and steady-travelling solutions, which become unstable at low Reynolds numbers.


1956 ◽  
Vol 60 (541) ◽  
pp. 67-70
Author(s):  
T. A. Thomson

The blow-down type of intermittent, supersonic tunnel is attractive because of its simplicity and because relatively high Reynolds numbers can be obtained for a given size of test section. An adverse characteristic, however, is the fall of stagnation temperature during runs, which can affect experiments in several ways. The Reynolds number varies and the absolute velocity is not constant, even if the Mach number and pressure are; heat-transfer cannot be studied under controlled conditions and the experimental errors arising from the effect of heat-transfer on the boundary layer vary in time. These effects can become significant in quantitative experiments if the tunnel is large and the variation of temperature very rapid; the expense required to eliminate them might then be justified.


Author(s):  
William C. Schneck ◽  
Walter F. O’Brien

Immersed bodies such as struts, vanes, and instrumentation probes in gas turbine flow systems will, except at the lowest of flow velocities, shed separated wakes. These wakes can have both upstream and downstream effects on the surrounding flow. In most applications, surrounding components are designed to be in the presence of a quasi-steady or at least non-variant flow field. The presence of unsteady wakes has both aerodynamic and structural consequences. Active flow control of wake generation can therefore be very valuable. One means to implement active flow control is by the use of plasma actuation. Plasma actuation is the use of strong electric fields to generate ionized gas that can be actuated and controlled using the electric fields. The controlling device can be based on AC, DC, or pulsed-DC actuation. The present research was conducted using pulsed-DC from a capacitive discharge power supply. The study demonstrates the applicability of, specifically, pulsed-DC plasma flow control of the flow on a circular cylinder at high Reynolds numbers. The circular cylinder was selected because its flow characteristics are related to gas turbine flowpath phenomena, and are well characterized. Further, the associated pressure gradients are some of the most severe encountered in fluid applications. The development of effective plasma actuators at high Reynolds numbers under the influence of severe pressure gradients is a necessary step toward developing useful actuators for gas turbine applications beyond laboratory use. The reported experiments were run at Reynolds numbers varying from 50,000 to 97,000, and utilizing various pulse frequencies. Further, the observed performance differences with varying electric field strengths are discussed for these Reynolds numbers. The results show that flow behaviors at high Reynolds numbers can be influenced by these types of actuators. The actuators were able to demonstrate a reduction in both wake width and momentum deficit.


2012 ◽  
Vol 702 ◽  
pp. 298-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Promode R. Bandyopadhyay ◽  
David N. Beal ◽  
J. Dana Hrubes ◽  
Arun Mangalam

AbstractHydrodynamic effects of the relationship between the roll and pitch oscillations in low-aspect-ratio fins, with a laminar section and a rounded leading edge, flapping at transitional to moderately high Reynolds numbers, are considered. The fin is hinged at one end and its roll amplitude is large. Also examined is how this relationship is affected by spanwise twist, which alters the pitch oscillation amplitude and its phase relative to the roll motion. Force, efficiency and surface hot-film-anemometry measurements, and flow visualization are carried out in a tow tank. A fin of an abstracted penguin-wing planform and a NACA 0012 cross-section is used, and the chord Reynolds number varies from 3558 to 150 000 based on total speed. The fin is forced near the natural shedding frequency. Strouhal number and pitch amplitude are directly related when thrust is produced, and efficiency is maximized in narrow combinations of Strouhal number and pitch amplitude when oscillation of the leading-edge stagnation point is minimal. Twist makes the angle of attack uniform along the span and enhances thrust by up to 24 %, while maintaining high efficiency. Only 5 % of the power required to roll is spent to pitch, and yet roll and pitch are directly related. During hovering, dye visualization shows that a diffused leading-edge vortex is produced in rigid fins, which enlarges along the span; however, twist makes the vortex more uniform and the fin in turn requires less power to roll. Low-order phase maps of the measurements of force oscillation versus its derivative are modelled as due to van der Pol oscillators; the higher-order maps show trends in the sub-regimes of the transitional Reynolds number. Fin oscillation imparts a chordwise fluid motion, yielding a Stokes wave in the near-wall vorticity layer. When the roll and pitch oscillations are directly related, the wave is optimized: causing vorticity lift-up as the fin is decelerated at the roll extremity; the potential energy at the stagnation point is converted into kinetic energy; a vortex is produced as the lifted vorticity is wrapped around the leading edge; and free-stream reattachment keeps the vortex trapped. When the twist oscillation is phased along the span, this vortex becomes self-preserving at all amplitudes of twist, indicating the most stable (low-bandwidth) tuned nature.


1977 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 259-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
J L Stollery ◽  
A V Murthy

SummaryThe paper suggests a simple method of generating intermittent reservoir conditions for an intermittent, cryogenic wind tunnel. Approximate performance estimates are given and it is recommended that further studies be made because this type of tunnel could be valuable in increasing the opportunities for research at high Reynolds numbers.


1948 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 344-348
Author(s):  
J. R. Weske

Abstract It is found that the flow in curved ducts at high Reynolds numbers may be analyzed by methods adapted from the theory of boundary layers. Integration of the equation of motion of the “shedding layer” led to relations for the net pressure drop of curved ducts as a function of radius ratio and of Reynolds number.


Author(s):  
Sam Ghazi-Hesami ◽  
Dylan Wise ◽  
Keith Taylor ◽  
Étienne Robert ◽  
Peter Ireland

Abstract An experimental and numerical study of the convective heat transfer enhancement provided by two rib families (W and Broken W) is presented, covering Reynolds numbers (Re) between 300,000 to 900,000 in a straight channel with a rectangular cross section (AR=1.29). These high Reynolds numbers were selected for the current study since most data in the available literature typically pertain to investigations at lower Reynolds numbers. The objective of this study is to assess the local heat transfer coefficient (HTC) enhancement (compared with a smooth channel) and the overall thermal performance, taking into account the effect of increased roughness on the friction factor, of a group of W shaped turbulators over a wide range of Reynolds numbers. Furthermore, the effects of increasing the rib spacing on the thermal performance of the Broken W configuration are presented and discussed. The numerical results are compared against heat transfer measurements obtained using the Transient Liquid Crystal (TLC) method. The research shows that for the Broken W turbulators, increasing the Reynolds number is associated with an overall decrease of the thermal performance while the thermal performance of the W configuration is relatively insensitive to Reynolds number. Nevertheless, the Broken W configuration delivers higher thermal performance and heat transfer compared with the W configuration for the range of Re investigated. The Broken W configuration with a pitch spacing of 10 times the rib height was shown to provide the optimal thermal performance in the configurations investigated here.


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