The vorticity shedding characteristics in attached and separated regions were investigated over three configurations, namely a backward facing circular arc, an ellipse at an angle of attack and a pitching airfoil. A fully automated data acquisition system was developed, including a two-component Laser-Velocimetry system in backscatter mode, an accurately controlled traversing mechanism and a MINK-11 minicomputer. Two-component velocity measurements were obtained over the above mentioned bodies, with steady and unsteady free streams. Emphasis was concentrated on the separation region, the free-shear layers and the wake downstream of these bodies. Two inviscid vortex models were developed to predict two different flow phenomena, namely the separated flow over a circular cylinder started impulsively from rest and propagating stall over a linear stationary cascade. / Ph. D.

Various researchers are interested in the structure of the surface pressure fluctuations for the development and use of noise prediction techniques for helicopter and turbomachinery rotors. This study, conducted in the Virginia Tech low speed boundary layer wind tunnel, covered the effects of zero and favorable streamwise pressure gradient flows on the surface pressure fluctuation spectra, coherence and convective wave speeds in turbulent boundary layers for momentum Reynolds numbers from 3000 to 18,800. The acceleration parameter, pressure gradient flow. K is near 2x10⁻⁷ for the favorable Small pinhole condenser microphones were used to obtain the surface pressure fluctuation data for all test cases. The longitudinal and lateral coherence functions and the convective wave speeds were obtained for both streamwise pressure gradient flows. The results presented are for the surface pressure fluctuation spectra nondimensionalized by different groupings of the outer and inner boundary layer variables. The grouping using the outer variables, U_e, π_w and δ₁ collapse the spectra for the low to middle range of frequencies for most test cases. The grouping using the inner variables, U_π and ν, collapse the spectra for the middle to high range of frequencies for all test cases. The value of p¹/r_w was near 3.8 and 2.8 for the smallest values of d⁺ in the zero and favorable pressure gradient flows, respectively. The spectral data was corrected using the correction developed by G.M. Corcos, but the pinhole correction developed by Bull and Thomas was not used in the data reduction process. However, some discussion is included on the effects of the pinhole correction for the results of this study. The coherence exhibits a decay that is not exponential in some cases, but the Corcos similarity parameters ωΔx/U_c and ωΔz/U_c collapse the data for all test cases. C The ratio of U_c/U_e shows an increase with increasing ωδ₁/U_e up to a certain value of ωδ₁/U_e where U_c/U_e becomes constant. This was observed in the present results for both streamwise pressure gradient flows. The experimental results presented show good agreement with previous research. / M.S.

Pressure signals were taken on a rotor blade surface of a single-stage, low-speed axial flow compressor. The data showed unsteady, stationary pressure perturbations that correlated with the locations of five large downstream support struts. In the present work, these data are thoroughly analysed. Strut-induced pressure amplitudes as measured on the rotor are presented as a function of the downstream strut locations. Unsteady lift and moment are calculated by integrating the pressures measured by the blade-mounted transducers. In addition, a sequence of instantaneous pressure distributions on the blade surfaces presented over time shows how the rotor is influenced by the potential effect of the struts. The strut is shown to produce a significant effect on rotor flow. This effect exceeds the unsteady stator effect at design rotor-stator-strut spacing, but falls off rapidly as the struts are moved downstream. / M.S.