scholarly journals Time-resolved flow dynamics and Reynolds number effects at a wall–cylinder junction

2015 ◽  
Vol 776 ◽  
pp. 475-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolaos Apsilidis ◽  
Panayiotis Diplas ◽  
Clinton L. Dancey ◽  
Polydefkis Bouratsis

This study investigated the physics of separated turbulent flows near the vertical intersection of a flat wall with a cylindrical obstacle. The geometry imposes an adverse pressure gradient on the incoming boundary layer. As a result, flow separates from the wall and reorganizes to a system of characteristic flow patterns known as the horseshoe vortex. We studied the time-averaged and instantaneous behaviour of the turbulent horseshoe vortex using planar time-resolved particle image velocimetry (TRPIV). In particular, we focused on the effect of Reynolds number based on the diameter of the obstacle and the bulk approach velocity, $\mathit{Re}_{D}$. Experiments were carried out at $\mathit{Re}_{D}$: $2.9\times 10^{4}$, $4.7\times 10^{4}$ and $12.3\times 10^{4}$. Data analysis emphasized time-averaged and turbulence quantities, time-resolved flow dynamics and the statistics of coherent flow patterns. It is demonstrated that two large-scale vortical structures dominate the junction flow topology in a time-averaged sense. The number of additional vortices with intermittent presence does not vary substantially with $\mathit{Re}_{D}$. In addition, the increase of turbulence kinetic energy (TKE), momentum and vorticity content of the flow at higher $\mathit{Re}_{D}$ is documented. The distinctive behaviour of the primary horseshoe vortex for the $\mathit{Re}_{D}=12.3\times 10^{4}$ case is manifested by episodes of rapid advection of the vortex to the upstream, higher spatio-temporal variability of its trajectory, and violent eruptions of near-wall fluid. Differences between this experimental run and those at lower Reynolds numbers were also identified with respect to the spatial extents of the bimodal behaviour of the horseshoe vortex, which is a well-known characteristic of turbulent junction flows. Our findings suggest a modified mechanism for the aperiodic switching between the dominant flow modes. Without disregarding the limitations of this work, we argue that Reynolds number effects need to be considered in any effort to control the dynamics of junction flows characterized by the same (or reasonably similar) configurations.

2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hassan Iftekhar ◽  
Martin Agelin-Chaab

This paper reports an experimental study on the effects of adverse pressure gradient (APG) and Reynolds number on turbulent flows over a forward facing step (FFS) by employing three APGs and three Reynolds numbers. A particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique was used to conduct velocity measurements at several locations downstream, and the flow statistics up to 68 step heights are reported. The step height was maintained at 6 mm, and the Reynolds numbers based on the step height and freestream mean velocity were 1600, 3200, and 4800. The mean reattachment length increases with the increase in Reynolds number without the APG whereas the mean reattachment length remains constant for increasing APG. The proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) results confirmed that higher Reynolds numbers caused the large-scale structures to be more defined and organized close to the step surface.


2013 ◽  
Vol 715 ◽  
pp. 477-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zambri Harun ◽  
Jason P. Monty ◽  
Romain Mathis ◽  
Ivan Marusic

AbstractResearch into high-Reynolds-number turbulent boundary layers in recent years has brought about a renewed interest in the larger-scale structures. It is now known that these structures emerge more prominently in the outer region not only due to increased Reynolds number (Metzger & Klewicki, Phys. Fluids, vol. 13(3), 2001, pp. 692–701; Hutchins & Marusic, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 579, 2007, pp. 1–28), but also when a boundary layer is exposed to an adverse pressure gradient (Bradshaw, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 29, 1967, pp. 625–645; Lee & Sung, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 639, 2009, pp. 101–131). The latter case has not received as much attention in the literature. As such, this work investigates the modification of the large-scale features of boundary layers subjected to zero, adverse and favourable pressure gradients. It is first shown that the mean velocities, turbulence intensities and turbulence production are significantly different in the outer region across the three cases. Spectral and scale decomposition analyses confirm that the large scales are more energized throughout the entire adverse pressure gradient boundary layer, especially in the outer region. Although more energetic, there is a similar spectral distribution of energy in the wake region, implying the geometrical structure of the outer layer remains universal in all cases. Comparisons are also made of the amplitude modulation of small scales by the large-scale motions for the three pressure gradient cases. The wall-normal location of the zero-crossing of small-scale amplitude modulation is found to increase with increasing pressure gradient, yet this location continues to coincide with the large-scale energetic peak wall-normal location (as has been observed in zero pressure gradient boundary layers). The amplitude modulation effect is found to increase as pressure gradient is increased from favourable to adverse.


Author(s):  
Mazuriah Said ◽  
Shabudin B. Mat ◽  
Shuhaimi Mansor ◽  
Ainullotfi Abdul-Latif ◽  
Tholudin Mat Lazim

1996 ◽  
Vol 118 (2) ◽  
pp. 260-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. M. C. So ◽  
H. Aksoy ◽  
S. P. Yuan ◽  
T. P. Sommer

Recent experimental and direct numerical simulation data of two-dimensional, isothermal wall-bounded incompressible turbulent flows indicate that Reynolds-number effects are not only present in the outer layer but are also quite noticeable in the inner layer. The effects are most apparent when the turbulence statistics are plotted in terms of inner variables. With recent advances made in Reynolds-stress and near-wall modeling, a near-wall Reynolds-stress closure based on a recently proposed quasi-linear model for the pressure strain tensor is used to analyse wall-bounded flows over a wide range of Reynolds numbers. The Reynolds number varies from a low of 180, based on the friction velocity and pipe radius/channel half-width, to 15406, based on momentum thickness and free stream velocity. In all the flow cases examined, the model replicates the turbulence statistics, including the Reynolds-number effects observed in the inner and outer layers, quite well. Furthermore, the model reproduces the correlation proposed for the location of the peak shear stress and an appropriately defined Reynolds number, and the variations of the near-wall asymptotes with Reynolds numbers. It is conjectured that the ability of the model to replicate the asymptotic behavior of the near-wall flow is most responsible for the correct prediction of the Reynolds-number effects.


2011 ◽  
Vol 681 ◽  
pp. 537-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROMAIN MATHIS ◽  
NICHOLAS HUTCHINS ◽  
IVAN MARUSIC

A model is proposed with which the statistics of the fluctuating streamwise velocity in the inner region of wall-bounded turbulent flows are predicted from a measured large-scale velocity signature from an outer position in the logarithmic region of the flow. Results, including spectra and all moments up to sixth order, are shown and compared to experimental data for zero-pressure-gradient flows over a large range of Reynolds numbers. The model uses universal time-series and constants that were empirically determined from zero-pressure-gradient boundary layer data. In order to test the applicability of these for other flows, the model is also applied to channel, pipe and adverse-pressure-gradient flows. The results support the concept of a universal inner region that is modified through a modulation and superposition of the large-scale outer motions, which are specific to the geometry or imposed streamwise pressure gradient acting on the flow.


Author(s):  
Pankaj Pancharia ◽  
Vikram Ramanan ◽  
Baladandayuthapani Nagarajan ◽  
S. R. Chakravarthy

Abstract The present study investigates the role of inlet turbulence intensity on the stability characteristics of a lab scale backward facing step combustor (BFS). Turbulence generator placed upstream of the flame holder is used to vary the turbulence levels. The present study utilizes simultaneous chemiluminescence, particle image velocimetry (PIV) and unsteady pressure fluctuation measurement are done in a time-resolved manner to study the role of inlet turbulence intensity on the flame-flow dynamics and identify different modes of combustion instability as a result of the same. The bifurcation plot with airflow rate, in terms of step-based Reynolds number (Re) as the control parameter, indicates a counterintuitive picture, whereby higher turbulence intensity postpones the onset of instability. The finding has been reported in the past by Nagarajan et. al [30], with the present work extending it. It is shown that the flow-flame structures at high (∼1000 Pa) and very high (>4000 Pa), conditions, the dynamics are significantly different across the same turbulence intensity at different equivalence ratio as well as at different turbulence intensities for the same equivalence ratio. Analysis of the flame-flow dynamics reveals the role of the extent of vortex initiated by acoustics and its orientation in forming an unsteady loop, whereby the vortex span and strength aids the flame to propagate upstream of the step, and the flame in-turn being responsible to sustain the large-scale vortex. This phenomenon is distinct from the conventional vortex sustained combustion instability, whereby the vortex is of the lower span and does not influence the upstream flow. The role of inlet turbulence intensity is seen to be more pronounced in the extent of the flame propagating upward, which then completes the fore-mentioned loop.


2008 ◽  
Vol 611 ◽  
pp. 215-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAVIER JIMÉNEZ ◽  
SERGIO HOYAS

The behaviour of the velocity and pressure fluctuations in the logarithmic and outer layers of turbulent flows is analysed using spectral information and probability density functions from channel simulations at Reτ≤2000. Comparisons are made with experimental data at higher Reynolds numbers. It is found, in agreement with previous investigations, that the intensity profiles of the streamwise and spanwise velocity components have logarithmic ranges that are traced to the widening spectral range of scales as the wall is approached. The same is true for the pressure, both theoretically and observationally, but not for the normal velocity or for the tangential stress cospectrum, although even those two quantities have structures with lengths of the order of several hundred times the wall distance. Because the logarithmic range grows longer as the Reynolds number increases, variables which are ‘attached’ in this sense scale in the buffer layer in mixed units. These results give strong support to the attached-eddy scenario proposed by Townsend (1976), but they are not linked to any particular eddy model. The scaling of the outer modes is also examined. The intensity of the streamwise velocity at fixed y/h increases with the Reynolds number. This is traced to the large-scale modes, and to an increased intensity of the ejections but not of the sweeps. Several differences are found between the outer structures of different flows. The outer modes of the spanwise and wall-normal velocities in boundary layers are stronger than in internal flows, and their streamwise velocities penetrate closer to the wall. As a consequence, their logarithmic layers are thinner, and some of their logarithmic slopes are different. The channel statistics are available electronically at http://torroja.dmt.upm.es/ftp/channels/.


2014 ◽  
Vol 758 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Bernardini

AbstractThe effect of the Reynolds number on the behaviour of inertial particles in wall-bounded turbulent flows is investigated through large-scale direct numerical simulations (DNS) of particle-laden canonical channel flow spanning almost a decade in the friction Reynolds number, from $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}\mathit{Re}_{\tau } = 150$ to $\mathit{Re}_{\tau } = 1000$. Lagrangian particle tracking is used to study the motion of six different particle sets, described by a Stokes number in the range $\mathit{St} = 1\text {--}1000$. At all Reynolds numbers a strong segregation in the near-wall region is observed for particles characterized by intermediate Stokes number, in the range $\mathit{St} =10\text {--}100$. The wall-normal concentration profiles of such particles collapse in inner scaling, thus suggesting the independence of the turbophoretic drift from the large-scale outer motions. This observation is also supported by the spatial organization of the suspended phase in the inner layer, which is found to be universal with the Reynolds number. The deposition rate coefficient increases with $\mathit{Re}_{\tau }$ for a given $\mathit{St}$. Suitable inner and outer scalings are proposed to collapse the deposition curves across the available ranges of Reynolds and Stokes numbers for the different deposition regimes.


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