Response of a Laminar Separation Bubble to an Impinging Wake

2005 ◽  
Vol 127 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Gostelow ◽  
R. L. Thomas

Laminar separation and transition phenomena were investigated experimentally in the wake-disturbed flow over a 2.4 m long flat plate. A controlled diffusion pressure distribution, representative of that on a compressor blade, was imposed but with sufficiently strong loading to cause laminar separation. Boundary layer velocity traverses were performed at several longitudinal stations. Wakes were generated upstream by a single rod, parallel to the leading edge, attached to a rotating disk mounted flush in the sidewall of the working section. Data are presented in the form of velocity traces and contours of velocity and turbulent intermittency. The results highlight the interaction between the incoming wake and the natural boundary layer, which features a long and thin laminar separation bubble; they demonstrate that wind tunnel experiments provide a good representation of boundary layer behavior under wake disturbances on turbomachinery blading. The calmed region behind the disturbance is a feature that is even stronger behind a wake interaction than behind a triggered turbulent spot. Intermittency values for the undisturbed flow in the separation bubble reattachment region are well represented by Narasimha’s universal intermittency distribution, lending support to the use of intermittency-based predictive routines in calculations of blade boundary layers.

Author(s):  
J. P. Gostelow ◽  
R. L. Thomas

Laminar separation and transition phenomena were investigated experimentally in the wake-disturbed flow over a 2.4 m long flat plate. A controlled diffusion pressure distribution, representative of that on a compressor blade, was imposed but with sufficiently strong loading to cause laminar separation. Boundary layer velocity traverses were performed at several longitudinal stations. Wakes were generated upstream by a single rod, parallel to the leading edge, attached to a rotating disc mounted flush in the side-wall of the working section. Data are presented in the form of velocity traces, and contours of velocity and turbulent intermittency. The results highlight the interaction between the incoming wake and the natural boundary layer, which features a long and thin laminar separation bubble; they demonstrate that wind tunnel experiments provide a good representation of boundary layer behavior under wake disturbances on turbomachinery blading. The calmed region behind the disturbance is a feature that is even stronger behind a wake interaction than behind a triggered turbulent spot. Intermittency values for the undisturbed flow in the separation bubble reattachment region are well-represented by Narasimha’s universal intermittency distribution, lending support to the use of intermittency-based predictive routines in calculations of blade boundary layers.


Author(s):  
Y. K. Ho ◽  
G. J. Walker ◽  
P. Stow

Performance calculations for a NASA controlled-diffusion compressor blade have been carried out with a coupled inviscid-boundary layer code and a time-marching Navier-Stokes solver. Comparisons with experimental test data highlight and explain the strengths and limitations of both these computational methods. The boundary layer code gives good results at and near design conditions. Loss predictions however deteriorated at off-design incidences. This is mainly due to a problem with leading edge laminar separation bubble modelling; coupled with an inability of the calculations to grow the turbulent boundary layer at a correct rate in a strong adverse pressure gradient. Navier-Stokes loss predictions on the other hand are creditable throughout the whole incidence range, except at extreme positive incidence where turbulence modeling problems similar to those of the coupled boundary layer code are observed. The main drawback for the Navier-Stokes code is the slow rate of convergence for these low Mach number cases. Plans are currently under review to address this problem. Both codes give excellent predictions of the blade surface pressure distributions for all the cases considered.


Author(s):  
R. L. Thomas ◽  
J. P. Gostelow

Experiments have been conducted relating to the interaction of imposed freestream wakes upon a flat plate laminar separation bubble under an adverse pressure gradient. Controlled wakes, representative of those seen in turbomachinery environments, were used to investigate unsteadiness effects upon a separating boundary layer that undergoes natural transition in the free shear layer under steady conditions. Hot-wire anemometry using a single hot-wire has shown leading edge boundary layer disturbances induced under each passing wake, which grow steadily via by-pass and natural transition methods into turbulent strips that convect with the flow. These disturbances are of such strength that the separated region is resisted and effectively swept away by the passing turbulence, momentarily giving rise to a wholly attached laminar boundary layer. Controlling the chord-wise proximity of neighboring wakes allowed for the investigation of the effect and extent of the calmed region behind each induced turbulent strip. Measurements have shown that a strong suppression of velocity fluctuations is seen related to the proximity of the turbulent strips. Turbulence level reductions of up to 40% have been demonstrated as wake spacing is reduced. Even for those cases where systematic wakes are sufficiently close together to prevent the development of a visible calmed region, very strong calming influences are seen in the wake induced turbulent domain that would have normally been occupied by the calmed flow.


1990 ◽  
Vol 112 (2) ◽  
pp. 256-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Elazar ◽  
R. P. Shreeve

A detailed two-component LDV mapping of the flow through a controlled diffusion compressor cascade at low Mach number ( ~ 0.25) and Reynolds number of about 7 × 105, at three inlet air angles from design to near stall, is reported. It was found that the suction-side boundary layer reattached turbulent after a laminar separation bubble, and remained attached to the trailing edge even at the highest incidence, at which losses were 3 to 4 times the minimum value for the geometry. Boundary layer thickness increased to fill 20 percent of the blade passage at the highest incidence. Results for pressure-side boundary layer and near-wake also are summarized. Information sufficient to allow preliminary assessment of viscous codes is tabulated.


2014 ◽  
Vol 136 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francois Cadieux ◽  
Julian A. Domaradzki ◽  
Taraneh Sayadi ◽  
Sanjeeb Bose

Flows over airfoils and blades in rotating machinery for unmanned and microaerial vehicles, wind turbines, and propellers consist of different flow regimes. A laminar boundary layer near the leading edge is often followed by a laminar separation bubble with a shear layer on top of it that experiences transition to turbulence. The separated turbulent flow then reattaches and evolves downstream from a nonequilibrium turbulent boundary layer to an equilibrium one. Typical Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) turbulence modeling methods were shown to be inadequate for such laminar separation bubble flows (Spalart and Strelets, 2000, “Mechanisms of Transition and Heat Transfer in a Separation Bubble,” J. Fluid Mech., 403, pp. 329–349). Direct numerical simulation (DNS) is the most reliable but is also the most computationally expensive alternative. This work assesses the capability of large eddy simulations (LES) to reduce the resolution requirements for such flows. Flow over a flat plate with suitable velocity boundary conditions away from the plate to produce a separation bubble is considered. Benchmark DNS data for this configuration are generated with the resolution of 59 × 106 mesh points; also used is a different DNS database with 15 × 106 points (Spalart and Strelets, 2000, “Mechanisms of Transition and Heat Transfer in a Separation Bubble,” J. Fluid Mech., 403, pp. 329–349). Results confirm that accurate LES are possible using O(1%) of the DNS resolution.


Author(s):  
Y. Elazar ◽  
R. P. Shreeve

A detailed two-component LDV mapping of the flow through a controlled diffusion compressor cascade at low Mach number (∼0.25) and Reynolds number of about 7×105, at three inlet air angles from design to near stall, is reported. It was found that the suction side boundary layer reattached turbulent after a laminar separation bubble, and remained attached to the trailing edge even at the highest incidence, at which losses were 3 to 4 times the minimum value for the geometry. Boundary layer thickness increased to fill 20% of the blade passage at the highest incidence. Results for pressure-side boundary layer and near wake are also summarized. Information sufficient to allow preliminary assessment of viscous codes is tabulated.


Author(s):  
Deepakkumar M. Sharma ◽  
Kamal Poddar

Wind tunnel experiments were carried out on NACA 0015 airfoil model to investigate the formation of laminar separation bubble on the upper surface of the airfoil by varying angle of attack from −5° to 25° with respect to the free stream velocity at constant Reynolds number varying from 0.2E06 to 0.6E06. Pressure signals were acquired from the pressure ports selected at the mid-span of the airfoil model along the chord. Static stall characteristics were obtained from the surface pressure distribution. The flow separation was found to be a trailing edge turbulent boundary layer separation preceded with a laminar separation bubble. Flow Visualizations were done by using Surface Oil flow Technique for qualitative analysis of the transition zone formed due to the presence of laminar separation bubble As the angle of attack is increased the separation bubble moves towards the leading edge of the airfoil and finally gets shredded or burst at a particular angle of attack resulting in leading edge turbulent flow separation which induces the static stall condition. The flow separation process is critically analyzed and the existence of laminar separation bubble is visualized and quantified with the increase in angle of attack and Re. Effect of Re and angle of attack on the various boundary layer and Separation bubble parameters are obtained and analyzed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 798 ◽  
pp. 5-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Sansica ◽  
Neil D. Sandham ◽  
Zhiwei Hu

Three-dimensional direct numerical simulations (DNS) of a shock-induced laminar separation bubble are carried out to investigate the flow instability and origin of any low-frequency unsteadiness. A laminar boundary layer interacting with an oblique shock wave at $M=1.5$ is forced at the inlet with a pair of monochromatic oblique unstable modes, selected according to local linear stability theory (LST) performed within the separation bubble. Linear stability analysis is applied to cases with marginal and large separation, and compared to DNS. While the parabolized stability equations approach accurately reproduces the growth of unstable modes, LST performs less well for strong interactions. When the modes predicted by LST are used to force the separated boundary layer, transition to deterministic turbulence occurs near the reattachment point via an oblique-mode breakdown. Despite the clean upstream condition, broadband low-frequency unsteadiness is found near the separation point with a peak at a Strouhal number of $0.04$, based on the separation bubble length. The appearance of the low-frequency unsteadiness is found to be due to the breakdown of the deterministic turbulence, filling up the spectrum and leading to broadband disturbances that travel upstream in the subsonic region of the boundary layer, with a strong response near the separation point. The existence of the unsteadiness is supported by sensitivity studies on grid resolution and domain size that also identify the region of deterministic breakdown as the source of white noise disturbances. The present contribution confirms the presence of low-frequency response for laminar flows, similarly to that found in fully turbulent interactions.


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