Experimental Determination of Transition to Turbulence in a Rectangular Channel With Eddy Promoters

1994 ◽  
Vol 116 (3) ◽  
pp. 484-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Kapat ◽  
J. Ratnathicam ◽  
B. B. Mikic´

We report on laminar-to-turbulent transition in a rectangular channel in the presence of periodically placed cylindrical eddy promoters. Transition is identified through the analysis of power spectral density (PSD) of velocity fluctuations. Placement of the eddy promoters in the channel, depending on the geometric configuration, can significantly reduce the value of Reynolds number at transition. The critical Reynolds number (based on the average velocity and the channel height) ranges from 1500 (for an unobstructed channel) to about 400 (for the most unstable configuration we have deployed). For all the configurations tested, demarcation of transition can be correlated with the expression: Reτ≡τ¯w,αv/ρH/2/ν=44˜51, where τw,αv is the spatially averaged value of mean wall shear stress and H is the channel height.

1991 ◽  
Vol 113 (4) ◽  
pp. 602-607 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. T. Obot ◽  
J. A. Jendrzejczyk ◽  
M. W. Wambsganss

Easily applied methods are proposed, based on tests with air and water, for direct determination of the onset of transition in flow passages using static and dynamic wall pressure data. With increasing Reynolds number from laminar flow, the characteristic feature of transition is the change from steady to oscillating pressure readings. It is established that the power spectral density (psd) representations exhibit a distinctive change in profile at transition. Further, it is shown that the root-mean-square (rms) values of the wall pressure fluctuations rise sharply at transition. The critical Reynolds numbers recorded via the change from steady to unsteady pressure readings are almost the same as those deduced from the psd and rms pressure data or from the familiar friction factor-Reynolds number plots.


1977 ◽  
Vol 99 (4) ◽  
pp. 693-698 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. A. Feliss ◽  
M. C. Potter ◽  
M. C. Smith

This paper complements an earlier paper by Karnitz, Potter, and Smith [1] (1974) in which the mechanism of the transition of a plane Poiseuille flow between parallel plates was examined. In the present investigation an experimental critical Reynolds number of 7500 (based on average velocity and channel height) was achieved at which the flow became unstable and transition to turbulence occurred. The linear theoretical Reynolds number of 7700 for instability appears to be a simple extrapolation of the present data as the disturbance intensity is allowed to shrink to zero. Bursting (an alternating turbulent to laminar flow) was observed at transition. The transient changes in the velocity profile when the flow is intermittent between a turbulent burst and a laminar flow were observed. The major portion of the burst profile is characteristic of the one-seventh power law profile common to fully turbulent flow. Disturbances were observed to amplify to turbulent bursts in the wall boundary layers in the entrance region of the channel in high Reynolds number flows (the Reynolds number must exceed the critical Reynolds number by a sufficient amount). Thus, the wall boundary layer becomes unstable, resulting in a transition to turbulence before the flow becomes fully developed at sufficiently high Reynolds numbers.


2016 ◽  
Vol 120 (1225) ◽  
pp. 473-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Koreanschi ◽  
O. Sugar-Gabor ◽  
R. M. Botez

ABSTRACTThe drag coefficient and the laminar-to-turbulent transition for the aerofoil component of a wing model are optimised using an adaptive upper surface with two actuation points. The effects of the new shaped aerofoils on the global drag coefficient of the wing model are also studied. The aerofoil was optimised with an ‘in-house’ genetic algorithm program coupled with a cubic spline aerofoil shape reconstruction and XFoil 6.96 open-source aerodynamic solver. The wing model analysis was performed with the open-source solver XFLR5 and the 3D Panel Method was used for the aerodynamic calculation. The results of the aerofoil optimisation indicate improvements of both the drag coefficient and transition delay of 2% to 4%. These improvements in the aerofoil characteristics affect the global drag of the wing model, reducing it by up to 2%. The analyses were conducted for a single Reynolds number and speed over a range of angles of attack. The same cases will also be used in the experimental testing of the manufactured morphing wing model.


1988 ◽  
Vol 110 (4) ◽  
pp. 431-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. T. Obot

It has been demonstrated conclusively that the widely observed differences in data for frictional pressure coefficient between circular and noncircular passages derive from the inseparably connected effects of transition and the choice of a length scale. A relatively simple approach, the critical friction method (CFM), has been developed and when applied to triangular, rectangular, and concentric annular passages, the reduced data lie with remarkable consistency on the circular tube relations. In accordance with the theory of dynamical similarity, it has also been shown that noncircular duct data can be reduced using the hydraulic diameter or any arbitrarily defined length scale. The proposed method is what is needed to reconcile such data with those for circular tubes. With the hydraulic diameter, the critical friction factor almost converges to a universal value for all passages and the correction is simply that required to account for the difference in critical Reynolds number. By contrast, with any other linear parameter, two corrections are needed to compensate for variations in critical friction factor and Reynolds number. Application of the method to roughened passages is discussed.


Author(s):  
Fethi Aloui ◽  
Amal Elawady ◽  
Khaled J. Hammad

Abstract The study is an experimental investigations using PIV. The measurements were obtained by PIV for an unsteady laminar flow across a rectangular channel with a cross-section 300 × 30mm2, in the middle of which is located a cylindrical or a square obstacle. In the case of the cylindrical configuration and due to the confinement, PIV measurements in the range of 40 < Re < 200 clearly show that the von Karman vortex shedding appears at a critical Reynolds number which is about 66. A post-processing of these PIV measurements using the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) technique is by keeping only the first most energetic six modes, can be used as a filtering process to remove noise from instantaneous velocity signals. In the case of the square obstacle, PIV measurements obtained in the range of 30 < Re < 350 show the absence of vortex detachments and the chaotic behavior of the wake behind the obstacle beyond a certain Reynolds number. By examining the POD post-possessing results, the existence of a dynamic detachments’ regime (instantaneous breaking and coalescence of vortices), can be clearly observed. Given the chaotic behavior of the wake behind the obstacle, the application of the POD filtering process to only the first most energetic modes, cannot lead to good results.


1972 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy W. Kao ◽  
Cheol Park

The stability of the laminar co-current flow of two fluids, oil and water, in a rectangular channel was investigated experimentally, with and without artificial excitation. For the ratio of viscosity explored, only the disturbances in water grew in the beginning stages of transition to turbulence. The critical water Reynolds number, based upon the hydraulic diameter of the channel and the superficial velocity defined by the ratio of flow rate of water to total cross-sectional area of the channel, was found to be 2300. The behaviour of damped and growing shear waves in water was examined in detail using artificial excitation and briefly compared with that observed in Part 1. Mean flow profiles, the amplitude distribution of disturbances in water, the amplification rate, wave speed and wavenumbers were obtained. A neutral stability boundary in the wave-number, water Reynolds number plane was also obtained experimentally.It was found that in natural transition the interfacial mode was not excited. The first appearance of interfacial waves was actually a manifestation of the shear waves in water. The role of the interface in the transition range from laminar to turbulent flow in water was to introduce and enhance spanwise oscillation in the water phase and to hasten the process of breakdown for growing disturbances.


1998 ◽  
Vol 120 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Gupta ◽  
Y. Jaluria

Experiments are performed to study forced convection water cooling of arrays of protruding heat sources with specified heat input. Each array has four rows, with three elements in each row. The arrays are mounted at the top or at the bottom of a rectangular channel. The Reynolds number, based on channel height, is varied from around 2500 to 9000. Flow visualization and temperature measurements revealed that the flow over the arrays was fully turbulent, even at the smallest Reynolds number. Different channel heights (ranging from 3 to 4 times the height of each element), different heat inputs to the modules, and different streamwise spacings between the elements are employed. The spanwise spacing between the elements is kept constant. It is found that the average Nusselt number is higher for smaller channel heights and streamwise spacing, at constant Reynolds number. The effect of buoyancy on the average heat transfer rate from the arrays is found to be small over the parametric ranges considered here. A small variation in the heat transfer coefficient is found in the spanwise direction. The observed trends are considered in terms of the underlying transport processes. The heat transfer data are also correlated in terms of algebraic equations. High correlation coefficients attest to the consistency of results. The data are compared with previous air and water cooling studies, wherever possible, and a good agreement is obtained.


2008 ◽  
Vol 614 ◽  
pp. 425-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
MINA NISHI ◽  
BÜLENT ÜNSAL ◽  
FRANZ DURST ◽  
GAUTAM BISWAS

Laminar-to-turbulent transition of pipe flows occurs, for sufficiently high Reynolds numbers, in the form of slugs. These are initiated by disturbances in the entrance region of a pipe flow, and grow in length in the axial direction as they move downstream. Sequences of slugs merge at some distance from the pipe inlet to finally form the state of fully developed turbulent pipe flow. This formation process is generally known, but the randomness in time of naturally occurring slug formation does not permit detailed study of slug flows. For this reason, a special test facility was developed and built for detailed investigation of deterministically generated slugs in pipe flows. It is also employed to generate the puff flows at lower Reynolds numbers. The results reveal a high degree of reproducibility with which the triggering device is able to produce puffs. With increasing Reynolds number, ‘puff splitting’ is observed and the split puffs develop into slugs. Thereafter, the laminar-to-turbulent transition occurs in the same way as found for slug flows. The ring-type obstacle height, h, required to trigger fully developed laminar flows to form first slugs or puffs is determined to show its dependence on the Reynolds number, Re = DU/ν (where D is the pipe diameter, U is the mean velocity in the axial direction and ν is the kinematic viscosity of the fluid). When correctly normalized, h+ turns out to be independent of Reτ (where h+ = hUτ/ν, Reτ = DUτ/ν and $U_{\tau}\,{=}\,\sqrt{\tau_{w}/ \rho}$; τw is the wall shear stress and ρ is the density of the fluid).


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