Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1990. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-51). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Carleton University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 184-200). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

A plane jet is a statistically two-dimensional flow, with the dominant flow in the streamwise (x) direction, spread in the lateral (y) direction and zero entrainment in the spanwise (z) direction respectively (see Figure 1). A plane jet has several industrial applications, mostly in engineering environments, although seldom is a jet issuing through a smooth contoured nozzle encountered in real life. Notably, the Reynolds number and boundary conditions between industrial and laboratory environments are different. In view of these, it is important to establish effects of nozzle boundary conditions as well as the influence of Reynolds number, on jet development. Such establishments are essential to gain an insight into their mixing field, particularly relevant to engineering applications. To satisfy this need, this thesis examines the influence of boundary conditions, especially those associated with the formation of the jet and jet exit Reynolds number, on the flow field of a turbulent plane air jet by measuring velocity with a hot wire anemometer. A systematic variation is performed, of the Reynolds number Re over the range 1,500≤Re ≤16,500, the inner-wall nozzle contraction profile r* over the range 0≤r*≤3.60 and nozzle aspect ratio AR over the range 15≤AR≤72 (see notation for symbols). An independent assessment of the effect of sidewalls on a plane jet is also performed. Key outcomes are as follows: (1) Effects of Reynolds number Re: Both the mean and turbulence fields show significant dependence on Re. The normalized initial mean velocity and turbulence intensity profiles are Re-dependent. An increase in the thickness of boundary layer at the nozzle lip with a decrease in Re is evident. This dependence appears to become negligible for Re ≥10,000. The centerline mean velocity decay and jet spreading rates are found to decrease as Re is increased. Furthermore, the mean velocity field appears to remain sensitive to Reynolds number at Re = 16,500. Unlike the mean velocity field, the turbulent velocity field has a negligible Re-dependence for Re ≥10,000. An increase in Reynolds number leads to an increase in the entrainment rate in the near field but a reduced rate in the far field. The centerline skewness and the flatness factors show a systematic dependence on Reynolds number too. (2) Effects of the inner-wall nozzle exit contraction profile r*: The inner-wall nozzle exit contraction profile r* influences the initial velocity and turbulence intensity profiles. Saddle-backed mean velocity profiles are evident for the sharp-edged orifice configuration (r* ≈ 0) and top hat profiles emerge when r* ≥1.80. As r* is increased from 0 to 3.60, both the near and the far field decay and the spreading rates of the plane jet are found to decrease. Hence, the sharp-edged orifice-jet (r* ≈ 0) decays and spreads more rapidly than the jet through a radially contoured configuration (r* ≈ 3.60). The asymptotic values of the center-line turbulence intensity, skewness and flatness factors of the velocity fluctuations increase as r* tends toward zero. The non-dimensional vortex shedding frequency of StH ≈ 0.39, is higher for the sharp-edged orifice nozzle (r*≈ 0), than for the radially contoured (r* ≈ 3.60) nozzle whose StH ≈ 0.24. Thus, the vortex shedding should be strongly dependent on flow geometry and on nozzle boundary conditions. (3) Effects of nozzle aspect ratio AR: The initial velocity and turbulence intensity profiles are slightly dependent on nozzle aspect ratio of the plane air jet. It is believed that a coupled influence of the nozzle aspect ratio and sidewalls produce changes in the initial flow field. The axial extent over which a statistically 'two-dimensional' flow is achieved, is found to depend upon nozzle aspect ratio. This could be possibly due to the influence of the evolving boundary layer on the sidewalls or due to increased three-dimensionality, whose influence becomes significantly larger as nozzle aspect ratio is reduced. A statistically two dimensional flow is only achieved over a very limited extent for AR = 15. In the self-similar region, the rates of centreline velocity decay, spreading of the mean velocity field and jet entrainment increase with an increase in nozzle aspect ratio. An estimate of the critical jet aspect ratio, where three-dimensional effects first emerge and its axial location is made. Results show that the critical aspect ratio increases with nozzle aspect ratio up to AR <30. For AR≥30, the critical aspect ratio based on jet half width, attains a constant value of about 0.15. Thus, it appears that when the width of the flow approximately equals the spacing between the sidewalls, the plane air jet undergoes a transition from 2-D to 3-D. A distinct hump of the locally normalized turbulence intensity at an axial distance between 10 to 12 nozzle widths downstream, characterizes the centerline turbulence intensity for all nozzle aspect ratios. This hump is smaller when nozzle aspect ratio is larger. (4) Effects of the sidewalls: A jet issuing from a nozzle of AR = 60 and measured at Re = 7,000 is tested with sidewalls, i.e. plane-jet and without sidewalls, i.e. free-rectangular-jet. It is found that the entire flow field behaves differently for the two cases. The initial velocity profiles are top hat for both jets. The free rectangular jet decays and spreads more rapidly in both the near and far field. It is found that the free rectangular jet behaves statistically two-dimensional up to a shorter axial distance (x/H = 70) as opposed to the plane jet whose two-dimensional region extends up to x/H = 160. Also noted are that the axial extent of the two-dimensional region depends strongly on nozzle aspect ratio. Beyond the 2-D region, the free rectangular jet tends to behave, statistically, like a round jet. The locally normalized centerline turbulence intensity also depend on sidewalls. Turbulence intensity for the plane jet asymptotes closer to the nozzle (around x/H = 30) whereas for the free rectangular jet, turbulence intensity varies as far downstream as x/H = 100, and then asymptotes. A constant StH of 0.36 is found for the free rectangular jet whereas an StH of 0.22 is obtained for the plane jet. It is noted that the effects of jet exit Reynolds number, inner-wall nozzle exit contraction profile, nozzle aspect ratio and sidewalls on the plane air jet are all non-negligible. The effect of viscosity is expected to weaken with increased Reynolds number and this may contribute to the downstream effects on the velocity field. Both the nozzle contraction profile and nozzle aspect ratio provide different exit boundaries for the jet. Such boundary conditions not only govern the formation of the initial jet but also its downstream flow properties. Hence, the initial growth of the shear layers and the structures within these layers are likely to evolve differently with different boundary conditions. Thus, the interaction of the large-scale structures with the surroundings seems to depend on nozzle boundary conditions and consequently, influences the downstream flow. In summary, the present study supports the notion that the near and far fields of the plane jet are strongly dependent on Reynolds number and boundary conditions. Therefore, the present thesis contains immensely useful information that will be helpful for laboratory-based engineers in selection of appropriate nozzle configurations for industrial applications. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--School of Mechanical Engineering, 2005.

When sound waves propagate in a duct in the presence of turbulent flow, turbulent mixing can cause attenuation of the sound waves extra to that caused by the viscothermal effects. Experiments show that compared to the viscothermal effects, this turbulent absorption becomes the dominant contribution to the sound attenuation at sufficiently low frequencies. The mechanism of this turbulent absorption is attributed to the turbulent stress and the turbulent heat transfer acting on the coherent perturbations (including the sound waves) near the duct wall, i.e. sound-turbulence interaction. The purpose of the current investigation is to understand the mechanism of the sound-turbulence interaction in low-Mach-number internal flows by theoretical modeling and numerical simulations. The turbulence absorption can be modeled through perturbation turbulent Reynolds stresses and perturbation turbulent heat flux in the linearized perturbation equations. In this thesis, the linearized perturbation equations are reviewed, and different models for the turbulent absorption of the sound waves are investigated. A new non–equilibrium model for the perturbation turbulent Reynolds stress is also proposed. The proposed model is validated by comparing with experimental data from the literature, and with the data from Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) of pulsating turbulent channel flow. Good agreement is observed. / <p>QC 20150526</p>

Diese Arbeit stellt das neue Fesselballonsystem 'Balloon-bornE moduLar Utility for profilinG the lower Atmosphere' (BELUGA) vor, das für die Messung turbulenter Energie- und Strahlungsflüsse in der bewölkten arktischen atmosphärischen Grenzschicht entwickelt wurde. Mit dem Schwerpunkt auf Turbulenz werden der technische Aufbau und die drei Instrumentenpakete von BELUGA sowie Methoden zur Analyse von Turbulenzdaten beschrieben. BELUGA wurde während zweier Feldkampagnen in der Arktis eingesetzt, die auf dem arktischen Meereis im Juni 2017 und in Grönland im März/April 2018 stattfanden. Anhand zweier Fallstudien liefern die BELUGA-Messungen wertvolle Einblicke in die kleinskaligen turbulenten Prozesse und Strahlungsprozesse, die in der arktischen Grenzschicht wechselwirken. Eine erste Studie analysiert eine Inversion der spezifischen Luftfeuchte über einem beständigen Stratocumulus und die turbulente Kopplung zwischen diesen Regionen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass ein turbulenter Austausch von Wärme und Feuchtigkeit zwischen der Feuchteinversion und der Wolke durch die stabile Inversionsschicht hindurch möglich ist, wenn sich die Feuchteinversion direkt über der Wolkendecke befindet. Die Bereitstellung von Feuchtigkeit durch turbulenten Transport trägt wahrscheinlich zur Langlebigkeit der arktischen Wolken bei. Die zweite Studie befasst sich mit einem Grenzschichtstrahlstrom, d.h. einem lokalen Windmaximum in niedriger Höhe, der in der spätwinterlichen stabilen arktischen Grenzschicht beobachtet wurde. Der Grenzschichtstrahlstrom zeigt eine charakteristische Vertikalstruktur von Turbulenzparametern wie lokalen Dissipationsraten, die direkt ober- und unterhalb des Windmaximums erhöht sind. Daraus folgt, dass das Vorhandensein eines Grenzschichtstrahlstromes die vertikale Durchmischung in der stabilen Grenzschicht unterstützt, was sich auf die vertikale Verteilung von advehierter Feuchtigkeit, Aerosolpartikeln und anderen Substanzen auswirken kann. Beide Fallstudien unterstreichen die Bedeutung der kleinskaligen Turbulenz für die Entwicklung der Grenzschicht in einer stabilen thermodynamischen Schichtung. Damit tragen die BELUGA-Messungen zu einem besseren Prozessverständnis in einer sich verstärkt erwärmenden Arktis mit vielfältigen Rückkopplungsprozessen bei. / This thesis introduces the new tethered balloon system Balloon-bornE moduLar Utility for profilinG the lower Atmosphere (BELUGA) that has been developed for collocated measurements of turbulent and radiative energy fluxes in the cloudy Arctic atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). With a focus on turbulence, the technical setup and the three instrument packages of BELUGA are presented together with turbulence data analysis methods. BELUGA was deployed during two field campaigns in the Arctic, which took place on Arctic sea ice in June 2017 and in Greenland in March/April 2018. By means of two case studies, the BELUGA measurements provide valuable insights into the small-scale turbulent and radiative processes interacting in the Arctic ABL. A first study analyzes a specific humidity inversion (SHI) above a persistent stratocumulus and the turbulent coupling between these regions. The results show that turbulent exchange of heat and moisture between the SHI and the cloud is possible through the stable inversion layer, when the SHI is located directly above the cloud top. Providing moisture via turbulent transport probably contributes to the persistence of Arctic clouds. The second study addresses a low-level jet (LLJ) observed in the late-winter stable Arctic ABL. The LLJ is associated with a characteristic vertical structure of turbulence parameters such as local dissipation rates, with enhanced intensity just above and below the jet core. It is concluded that the presence of a LLJ promotes vertical mixing in the stable ABL, which can impact the vertical distribution of advected moisture, aerosol particles, and other substances. Both case studies highlight the importance of small-scale turbulence for shaping the ABL under conditions of stable thermodynamic stratification. Thus, the BELUGA measurements contribute to an improved understanding of interacting atmospheric processes in Arctic amplification.

This thesis focuses on generating real world turbulence levels in a water tunnel rotor test using fractal grids and characterizing the effect of the fractal grid generated-turbulence on the performance of hydrokinetic turbines. The research of this thesis is divided into three studies: one field study and two laboratory studies. The field study was conducted at the Canadian Hydro Kinetic Turbine Test Centre (CHTTC) on the Winnipeg River. An Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) was used in the field study to collect flow measurements in the river. The laboratory studies were conducted at the University of Victoria (UVic) fluids research lab and the Sustainable Systems Design Lab (SSDL). In addition, the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique was used in the experiential studies to obtain quantitative information about the vector flow field along the test section, both upstream and downstream of the rotor’s plane. The first study is a field study aiming to provide real flow characteristics and turbulence properties at different depths from the free-surface to boundary layer region of a fast river current by conducting a field study in the Winnipeg River using ADV. A novel technique to deploy and control an ADV from free-surface to boundary layer in a fast-current channel is introduced in this work. Flow characteristics in the river, including mean flow velocities and turbulence intensity profiles are analyzed. The obtained results indicate that the maximum mean velocity occurs below the free-surface, suggesting that the mean velocity is independent of the channel depth. From the free-surface to half depth, it was found that changes in both the mean velocity and turbulence intensity are gradual. From mid-depth to the river bed, the mean velocity drops rapidly while the turbulence intensity increases at a fast rate. The turbulent intensity varied from 9% at the free-surface to around 17.5% near the river bed. The results of this study were used in the second lab study to help designing a fractal grid for a recirculating water flume tank. The goal was to modify the turbulence intensity in the water tunnel such that the generated turbulence was similar to that in the river at a location typical of a hydrokinetic device. The properties of fractal-generated turbulence were experimentally investigated by means of 2D Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). The streamwise turbulent intensity profiles for different grids along the channel are presented. Additionally, visualization of the average and fluctuating flow fields are also presented. The results are in good agreement with results in literature. The third and final study investigated the power coefficient of a scale hydrokinetic turbine rotor in controlled turbulent flow (7.4 % TI), as well as in the low-turbulence smooth flow (0.5% TI) typical of lab scale testing. PIV was employed for capturing the velocity field. The results show that using realistic TI levels in the water tunnel significantly decrease the turbine’s power coefficient compared to smooth flow, highlighting the importance of considering this effect in future experimental campaigns. / Graduate