Large-Eddy Simulation of Transition in a Separation Bubble

2005 ◽  
Vol 128 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen K. Roberts ◽  
Metin I. Yaras

In this paper, large-eddy simulation of the transition process in a separation bubble is compared to experimental results. The measurements and simulations are conducted under low freestream turbulence conditions over a flat plate with a streamwise pressure distribution typical of those encountered on the suction side of turbine airfoils. The computational grid is refined to the extent that the simulation qualifies as a “coarse” direct numerical simulation. The simulations are shown to accurately capture the transition process in the separated shear layer. The results of these simulations are used to gain further insight into the breakdown mechanisms in transitioning separation bubbles.

Author(s):  
Stephen K. Roberts ◽  
Metin I. Yaras

In this paper, large-eddy simulation of the transition process in a separation bubble is compared to experimental results. The measurements and simulations are conducted under low free-stream turbulence conditions over a flat plate with a streamwise pressure distribution typical of those encountered on the suction side of turbine airfoils. The computational grid is sufficiently refined that the effects of sub-grid scale turbulence are adequately represented by the numerical dissipation of the computational algorithm. The large-eddy simulations are shown to accurately capture the transition process in the separated shear layer. The results of these simulations are used to gain further insight into the breakdown mechanisms in transitioning separation bubbles.


Author(s):  
Fabio Bigoni ◽  
Stefano Vagnoli ◽  
Tony Arts ◽  
Tom Verstraete

The scope of this work is to obtain a deep insight of the occurrence, development and evolution of the laminar separation bubble which occurs on the suction side of the high-lift T106-C low pressure turbine blade operated at correct engine Mach and Reynolds numbers. The commercial codes Numeca FINE/Turbo and FINE/Open were used for the numerical investigation of a set of three different Reynolds numbers. Two different CFD approaches, characterized by a progressively increasing level of complexity and detail in the solution, have been employed, starting from a steady state RANS analysis and ending with a Large Eddy Simulation. Particular attention was paid to the study of the open separation occurring at the lowest Reynolds number, for which a Large Eddy Simulation was performed in order to try to correctly capture the involved phenomena and their characteristic frequencies. In addition, the potentialities of the codes employed for the analysis have been assessed.


Author(s):  
Yunfei Wang ◽  
Huaping Liu ◽  
Yanping Song ◽  
Fu Chen

In order to predict the phenomenon of laminar flow separation, transition and reattachment in a high-lift low-pressure turbine (LPT), a self-developed large eddy simulation program to solve three dimensional compressible N-S equations was used to simulate the flow structures in T106A LPT blade passage. The outlet Mach number is 0.4 and the Reynolds number is 1.1×105 based on the exit isentropic velocity and the axial chord. The distributions of the time-averaged static pressure coefficient, kinetic loss coefficient and wall shear stress on the blade surface at +7.8° incidence angle agree well with the results of experiment and direct numerical simulation (DNS). The locations of laminar separation and reattachment point occur around 83.6% and 97% axial chord respectively. The evolutionary process of spanwise vorticity and large-scale coherent structure near the trailing edge on the suction side in one period indicates that the two-dimensional shear layer is gradually unstable as a result of spanwise fluctuation and Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) instability. The boundary layer separates from the suction surface and the hairpin vortex appears in succession, which leads to transition to turbulence. Analysis of the incidence angle effect on the boundary layer separation point as well as separation bubble scale was also performed. A small scale separation bubble exists around the leading edge at positive incidences. As the incidence angle changes from positive to negative, the separation bubble near the leading edge disappears and the boundary layer thickness reduces gradually. The separation point at the rear part of suction side moves downstream, yet the reattachment point barely changes. The Reynolds stress and turbulent kinetic energy profiles change dramatically at zero and positive incidence. This illustrates that the incidence angle has great influence on the development of the boundary layer and the flow field structures.


Author(s):  
Dario Barsi ◽  
Carlo Costa ◽  
Davide Lengani ◽  
Daniele Simoni ◽  
Marina Ubaldi

2018 ◽  
Vol 850 ◽  
pp. 156-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Dandois ◽  
Ivan Mary ◽  
Vincent Brion

A large-eddy simulation of laminar transonic buffet on an airfoil at a Mach number $M=0.735$, an angle of attack $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=4^{\circ }$, a Reynolds number $Re_{c}=3\times 10^{6}$ has been carried out. The boundary layer is laminar up to the shock foot and laminar/turbulent transition occurs in the separation bubble at the shock foot. Contrary to the turbulent case for which wall pressure spectra are characterised by well-marked peaks at low frequencies ($St=f\cdot c/U_{\infty }\simeq 0.06{-}0.07$, where $St$ is the Strouhal number, $f$ the shock oscillation frequency, $c$ the chord length and $U_{\infty }$ the free-stream velocity), in the laminar case, there are also well-marked peaks but at a much higher frequency ($St=1.2$). The shock oscillation amplitude is also lower: 6 % of chord and limited to the shock foot area in the laminar case instead of 20 % with a whole shock oscillation and intermittent boundary layer separation and reattachment in the turbulent case. The analysis of the phase-averaged fields allowed linking of the frequency of the laminar transonic buffet to a separation bubble breathing phenomenon associated with a vortex shedding mechanism. These vortices are convected at $U_{c}/U_{\infty }\simeq 0.4$ (where $U_{c}$ is the convection velocity). The main finding of the present paper is that the higher frequency of the shock oscillation in the laminar regime is due to a different mechanism than in the turbulent one: laminar transonic buffet is due to a separation bubble breathing phenomenon occurring at the shock foot.


Author(s):  
Souvik Naskar ◽  
S. Sarkar

Abstract Modern commercial airliners use multi-element aerofoils to enhance take-off and landing performance. Further, multielement aerofoil configurations have been shown to improve the aerodynamic characteristics of wind turbines. In the present study, high resolution Large Eddy Simulation (LES) is used to explore the low Reynolds Number (Re = 0.832 × 104) aerodynamics of a 30P30N multi-element aerofoil at an angle of attack, α = 4°. In the present simulation, wake shed from a leading edge element or slat is found to interact with the separated shear layer developing over the suction surface of the main wing. High receptivity of shear layer via amplification of free-stream turbulence leads to rollup and breakdown, forming a large separation bubble. A transient growth of fluctuations is observed in the first half of the separation bubble, where levels of turbulence becomes maximum near the reattachment and then decay depicting saturation of turbulence. Results of the present LES are found to be in close agreement with the experiment depicting high vortical activity in the outer layer. Some features of the flow field here are similar to those occur due to interactions of passing wake and the separated boundary layer on the suction surface of high lift low pressure turbine blades.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-38
Author(s):  
Kenji Miki ◽  
Ali Ameri

Abstract There is a need to improve predictions of losses resulting from large eddy simulations (LES) of low-pressure turbines (LPT) in gas turbines. This may be done by assessing the accuracy of predictions against validation data and understanding the source of any inaccuracies. LES is a promising approach for capturing the laminar/turbulent transition process in a LPT. In previous studies, the authors utilized LES to model the flow field over a Variable Speed Power Turbine (VSPT) blade and successfully captured characteristic features of separation/reattachment and transition on the suction side at both the cruise (positive incidence) and take-off conditions (negative incidence) and as well, simulated the effect of freestream turbulence (FST) on those phenomena. The predicted pressure loading profiles agreed well with the experimental data for both a high and a low FST case at a Reynolds number of Reex = 220,000. In this paper, we present wake profiles resulting from computations for a range of FST values. Although the predicted wake profiles for the lowest FST case (Tu = 0.5%) matched the experimental data, at higher FST (Tu = 10-15%,) the wake was wider than the experimentally measured wake and for both cases were displaced laterally when compared to the experimental measurements. In our investigation of the causes of the said discrepancies we have identified important effects which could strongly influence the predicted wake profile. Predicted losses were improved by assuring the validity of the flow solution.


2020 ◽  
pp. 146808742096234
Author(s):  
Yunde Su ◽  
Derek Splitter ◽  
Seung Hyun Kim

This paper investigates the effect of laminar-to-turbulent flame transition modeling on the prediction of cycle-to-cycle variations (CCVs) in large eddy simulation (LES) of spark-ignition (SI) engines. A laminar-to-turbulent flame transition model that describes the non-equilibrium sub-filter flame speed evolution during an early stage of flame kernel growth is developed. In the present model, the flame transition is characterized by the flame kernel size at which the flame transition ends, defined here as the flame transition scale. The proposed model captures the effects that variations in a turbulent flow field have on the evolution of early-stage burning rates, through variations in the flame transition scale. The proposed flame transition model is combined with the front propagation formulation (FPF) method and a spark-ignition model to predict CCVs in a gasoline direct injection SI engine. It is found that multi-cycle LES with the proposed flame transition model reproduces experimentally-observed CCVs satisfactorily. When the transition model is not considered or when variations in the transition process are neglected, CCVs are significantly under-predicted for the case considered here. These results indicate the importance of modeling the laminar-to-turbulent flame transition and the effect of turbulence on the transition process, when predicting CCVs, under certain engine conditions. The LES results are also used to analyze sources for variations in the flame transition. It is found, for the present engine case, that the most important source is the cycle-to-cycle variation in the turbulence dissipation rate, which is used to measure the strength of turbulence in the proposed model, near a spark plug. The large-scale velocity field and the variations of the laminar flame speed due to the mixture composition and thermal stratification are also found to be important factors to contribute to the variations in the flame transition.


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