Ground vehicles, both on roads or on rail, are sensitive to crosswinds and the handling, travelling speeds or in some cases, safety can be affected. Full modelling of the crosswind stability of a vehicle is a demanding task as the nature of the disturbance, the wind gust, is complex and the aerodynamics, vehicle dynamics and driver reactions interact with each other.  One of the objectives of this thesis, is to assess the aerodynamic response of simplified ground vehicles under sudden strong crosswind disturbances by using an advanced turbulence model. In the aerodynamic simulations, time-dependant boundary data have been used to introduce a deterministic wind gust model into the computational domain.  This thesis covers the implementation of such gust models into Detached-Eddy Simulations (DES) and assesses the overall accuracy. Different type of grids, numerical setups and refinements are considered. Although the overall use of DES is seen suitable, further investigations can be foreseen on more challenging geometries.  Two families of vehicle models have been studied. The first one, a box-like geometry, has been used to characterize the influence of the radius of curvature and benefited from unsteady experimental data for comparison. The second one, the Windsor model, has been used to understand the impact of the different rear designs. Noticeably, the different geometries tested have exhibited strong transients in the loads that can not be represented in pure steady crosswind conditions. The static coupling between aerodynamics and vehicle dynamics simulations enhances the comparisons of the aerodynamic designs. Also, it shows that the motion of the centre of pressure with respect the locations of the centre of gravity and the neutral steer point, is of prime interest to design vehicles that are less crosswind sensitive. Recommendations on the future work on crosswind sensitivity for ground vehicles are proposed at the end of this thesis. / <p>QC 20111206</p> / crosswind stability and unsteady aerodynamics

A numerical study of the flow field generated by injection through diamondshaped orifices into a high-speed flow is presented in this document. Jet interaction flows have a wide range of applications in the field of engineering. These applications include the use of jets for fuel injection in scramjets, for reaction control of high-speed aerodynamic bodies and as cooling jets for skins of high-speed vehicles. A necessary requirement in the use of transverse jets for these and other applications is a thorough understanding of the physics of the interaction between the jet and freestream. This interaction generates numerous flow structures that include multiple shocks, vortices, recirculation regions and shear layers. This study involves diamond-shaped orifices that have the advantage of generating weaker or attached interaction shocks as compared to circular injectors. These injectors also negate the effects due to the recirculation region that is formed upstream of the injector. This study was undertaken in order to gain further understanding of the flow features generated by diamond-shaped injectors in a high-speed flow. Numerical simulations were performed using two different levels of turbulence models. Reynolds™ Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations were performed using the GASP flow solver while Detached-Eddy Simulation (DES) runs were performed using the Cobalt flow solver. A total of fifteen diamond injector simulations were performed using the RANS model for a 15 half-angle diamond injector. The fifteen simulations spanned over five different injection angles and three jet total pressures. In addition to these, two circular injector simulations were also performed. In addition, low pressure normal injection through diamond and circular orifices simulations were performed using DES. Results obtained from CFD were compared to available experimental data. The resulting flow structure and the turbulent properties of the flow were examined in detail. The normal injection case through the diamond-shaped orifice at the lowest jet total pressure was defined as the baseline case and is presented in detail. In order to study the effect of different components of the vorticity transport equation, an in-house code was used post-process the results from the RANS runs.

High speed trains have become an integral part of the transportation systems around the world. With increasing speed, very high velocities are generated in the region around the train known as slipstream. Experimental studies have been conducted over the last few decades to study the effect of these phenomena. Slipstream velocities have been measured using anemometers placed near real trains running on the tracks and model trains running on rigs like moving model rig and rotating rail rig. However, most of these studies are quite expensive to conduct. The purpose of this thesis is to find an alternative way to measure the slipstream. Detached Eddy Simulation is used to simulate the flow around a 1:15 scaled model of an ETR500 high speed train with different configurations similar to tests conducted on the track and in the wind tunnel. The results from the simulations are compared with the data obtained from experimental tests conducted on the Torino-Novara high speed line. A wind tunnel test is also carried out to validate the CFD data. It is concluded from the results that the wind tunnel setup with a slip floor in front of the train can be used to find out if the train produces slipstream velocities that are within the limits indicated by the TSI standards.

L'intégration aérodynamique des turboréacteurs à grand taux de dilution nécessite, dès les phases de conception, une connaissance précise des propriétés instationnaires du développement du jet à l'aide de la simulation numérique. Différents niveaux de modélisation sont étudiés dans cette thèse pour évaluer la capacité des méthodes numériques à caractériser le développement du jet. Une configuration de jet moteur double-flux est ici étudiée, en s'appuyant sur une large base de données expérimentale. La modélisation par les équations de Navier-Stokes moyennées démontre une bonne capacité des modèles de turbulence à reproduire les champs moyens de ce type d'écoulement, particulièrement au niveau des couches de mélange. La capture des systèmes de choc développés au sein des jets primaire et secondaire, ainsi que la prévision des niveaux de turbulence des écoulements sont en revanche peu satisfaisantes. Un recalage de la simulation sur les conditions turbulentes expérimentales, à l'aide de différentes configurations, pallie en partie ce défaut. La nécessité de procéder à un calcul et non plus à une modélisation des phénomènes turbulents conduit à l'application d'une méthode de calcul à résolution de turbulence. L'approche hybride de simulation des tourbillons détachés type DES (Detached Eddy Simulation) de cet écoulement montre une précision au moins équivalente pour la prévision des champs moyens et apporte une grande quantité d'informations supplémentaire sur les champs fluctuants et les caractéristiques instationnaires des couches de mélange du jet, en accord avec les données expérimentales. On conclue sur l'applicabilité de cette méthode dans un contexte industriel,son gain de précision rapporté à son temps de calcul et la perspective d'une telle approche pour une configuration de jet installée plus complexe. / The aerodynamic integration of Ultra-High Bypass Ratio turbofans raises the need for an accurate prediction of the unsteady properties of the jet development using Computational Fluid Dynamics, since the design stages. The ability of numerical methods in predicting these phenomena are assessed in this thesis, using different modelling approaches. A dual-stream jet configuration is investigated, using an associated wind-tunnel test campaign. Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes simulations, using several turbulence models, are shown to correctly reproduce the mean flow especially concerning the shear layers. Shock cells and turbulence levels predictions within the primary and secondary jet flows are however perfectible compared to the test results. Turbulence-accounting approaches based upon experimental data and using different configurations partially overcome this issue. An unsteady methodis then applied in order to resolve turbulent phenomena instead of modelling them. The hybrid Detached-Eddy Simulation of the flow demonstrates an at least equivalent accuracy concerning the mean flow and provides additional information on the fluctuating fields and shear layers unsteady properties, in fair agreement with the experimental results. Prospects discuss benefits and consequences of this approach taking into account its cost and the industrial context of this application,as well as its potential use for a more complex, installed jet configuration.

The objective of this research is to develop an efficient and accurate methodology to resolve flow non-linearity of fluid-structural interaction. To achieve this purpose, a numerical strategy to apply the detached-eddy simulation (DES) with a fully coupled fluid-structural interaction model is established for the first time. The following novel numerical algorithms are also created: a general sub-domain boundary mapping procedure for parallel computation to reduce wall clock simulation time, an efficient and low diffusion E-CUSP (LDE) scheme used as a Riemann solver to resolve discontinuities with minimal numerical dissipation, and an implicit high order accuracy weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) scheme to capture shock waves. The Detached-Eddy Simulation is based on the model proposed by Spalart in 1997. Near solid walls within wall boundary layers, the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations are solved. Outside of the wall boundary layers, the 3D filtered compressible Navier-Stokes equations are solved based on large eddy simulation(LES). The Spalart-Allmaras one equation turbulence model is solved to provide the Reynolds stresses in the RANS region and the subgrid scale stresses in the LES region. An improved 5th order finite differencing weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) scheme with an optimized epsilon value is employed for the inviscid fluxes. The new LDE scheme used with the WENO scheme is able to capture crisp shock profiles and exact contact surfaces. A set of fully conservative 4th order finite central differencing schemes are used for the viscous terms. The 3D Navier-Stokes equations are discretized based on a conservative finite differencing scheme, which is implemented by shifting the solution points half grid interval in each direction on the computational domain. The solution points are hence located in the center of the grid cells in the computational domain (not physical domain). This makes it possible to use the same code structure as a 2nd order finite volume method. A finite differencing high order WENO scheme is used since a finite differencing WENO scheme is much more efficient than a finite volume WENO scheme. The unfactored line Gauss-Seidel relaxation iteration is employed for time marching. For the time accurate unsteady simulation, the temporal terms are discretized using the 2nd order accuracy backward differencing. A pseudo temporal term is introduced for the unsteady calculation following Jameson's method. Within each physical time step, the solution is iterated until converged based on pseudo time step. A general sub-domain boundary mapping procedure is developed for arbitrary topology multi-block structured grids with grid points matched on sub-domain boundaries. The interface of two adjacent blocks is uniquely defined according to each local mesh index system (MIS) which is specified independently. A pack/unpack procedure based on the definition of the interface is developed to exchange the data in a 1D array to minimize data communication. A secure send/receive procedure is employed to remove the possibility of blocked communication and achieve optimum parallel computation efficiency. Two terms, "Order" and "Orientation", are introduced as the logics defining the relationship of adjacent blocks. The domain partitioning treatment of the implicit matrices is to simply discard the corner matrices so that the implicit Gauss-Seidel iteration can be implemented within each subdomain. This general sub-domain boundary mapping procedure is demonstrated to have high scalability. Extensive numerical experiments are conducted to test the performance of the numerical algorithms. The LDE scheme is compared with the Roe scheme for their behavior with RANS simulation. Both the LDE and the Roe scheme can use high CFL numbers and achieve high convergence rates for the algebraic Baldwin-Lomax turbulence model. For the Spalart-Allmaras one equation turbulence model, the extra equation changes the Jacobian of the Roe scheme and weakens the diagonal dominance. It reduces the maximum CFL number permitted by the Roe scheme and hence decreases the convergence rate. The LDE scheme is only slightly affected by the extra equation and maintains high CFL number and convergence rate. The high stability and convergence rate using the Spalart-Allmaras one equation turbulence model is important since the DES uses the same transport equation for the turbulence stresses closure. The RANS simulation with the Spalart-Allmaras one equation turbulence model is the foundation for DES and is hence validated with other transonic flows including a 2D subsonic flat plate turbulent boundary layer, 2D transonic inlet-diffuser, 2D RAE2822 airfoil, 3D ONERA M6 wing, and a 3D transonic duct with shock boundary layer interaction. The predicted results agree very well with the experiments. The RANS code is then further used to study the slot size effect of a co-flow jet (CFJ) airfoil. The DES solver with fully coupled fluid-structural interaction methodology is validated with vortex induced vibration of a cylinder and a transonic forced pitching airfoil. For the cylinder, the laminar Navier-Stokes equations are solved due to the low Reynolds number. The 3D effects are observed in both stationary and oscillating cylinder simulation because of the flow separations behind the cylinder. For the transonic forced pitching airfoil DES computation, there is no flow separation in the flow field. The DES results agree well with the RANS results. These two cases indicate that the DES is more effective on predicting flow separation. The DES code is used to simulate the limited cycle oscillation of NLR7301 airfoil. For the cases computed in this research, the predicted LCO frequency, amplitudes, averaged lift and moment, all agree excellently with the experiment. The solutions appear to have bifurcation and are dependent on the initial perturbation. The developed methodology is able to capture the LCO with very small amplitudes measured in the experiment. This is attributed to the high order low diffusion schemes, fully coupled FSI model, and the turbulence model used. This research appears to be the first time that a numerical simulation of LCO matches the experiment. The DES code is also used to simulate the CFJ airfoil jet mixing at high angle of attack. In conclusion, the numerical strategy of the high order DES with fully coupled FSI model and parallel computing developed in this research is demonstrated to have high accuracy, robustness, and efficiency. Future work to further maturate the methodology is suggested.

Detached Eddy Simulation (DES) is a hybrid turbulence model, a modification to the one-equation model proposed by Spalart and Allmaras (1997) [26]. It combines the advantages of both the RANS and LES models to predict any fluid flow. Presently, the focus is on using Homogeneous Turbulence to test the DES model. In an attempt to scrutinize this model, many cases are considered involving the variance of DES grid spacing parameter, CDES, the grid density, Reynolds number and cases with different initial conditions. Choosing Homogeneous Turbulence for our study alienates complications related to the geometry, boundary conditions and other flow characteristics helping us in studying the behavior of the model thoroughly. Also, the interdependencies of the model grid spacing parameter, grid density and the numerical scheme used are also investigated. Many previous implementations of the DES model have taken the value of CDES=0.65. Through this work, many issues including the sensitivity of CDES will be made clear. The code used in running the test cases is called LESTool, developed at University of Kentucky, Lexington. The two main test cases considered are based on the benchmark experimental study by Comte Bellot and Corrsin (1971) [12] and the Direct Numerical Scheme (DNS) simulation by Blaisdell et al. (1991) [10].

Since its introduction in 1997, the use of Detached Eddy Simulation (DES) and similar hybrid turbulence techniques has become increasingly popular in the field of CFD. However, with increased use some of the limitations of the DES model have become apparent. One of these is the dependence of DES on grid construction, particularly regarding the point of transition between the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes and Large Eddy Simulation models. An additional issue that arises with unstructured grids is the definition of the grid spacing in the implementation of a DES length scale. To lay the ground work to study these effects the Spalart-Allmaras one-equation turbulence model, SA based DES hybrid turbulence model, and the Scale Adaptive Simulation hybrid turbulence model are implemented in an unstructured grid CFD code, UNCLE. The implemented SA based DES model is validated for flow over a three-dimensional circular cylinder for three different turbulent Reynolds numbers. Validation included studying the pressure, skin friction coefficient, centerline velocity distributions averaged in time and space. Tools to output the mean velocity profiles and Reynolds stresses were developed. A grid generation code was written to generate a two/three dimensional circular cylinder grid to simulate flow over the cylinder in UNCLE. The models implemented and validated, and the additional tools mentioned will be used in the future.

Thesis(M.S.)--Auburn University, 2007. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references.

<P> The work presented m this thesis focused on using the hybrid Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS)/Large Eddy Simulation (LES) methodology to investigate the flow pulsation phenomenon in compound rectangular channels for isothermal flows. The specific form of the hybrid URANS/LES approach that was used is the Strelets (2001) version of the Detached Eddy Simulation (DES). It is of fundamental interest to study the problem of flow pulsations, as it is one of the most important mechanisms that directly affect the heat transfer occurring in sub-channel geometries such as those in nuclear fuel bundles. The predictions associated with the heat transfer and fluid flow in sub-channel geometry can be used to develop simplified physical models for sub-channel mixing for use in broader safety analysis codes. The primary goal of the current research work was to determine the applicability of the DES approach to predict the flow pulsations in sub-channel geometries. It was of interest to see how accurately the dynamics associated with the flow pulsations can be resolved from a spatial-temporal perspective using the specific DES model. The research work carried out for this thesis was divided into two stages. </p> <p> In the first stage of the research work, effort was concentrated to primarily understand the field of sub-channel flow pulsations and its implications from both an experimental and numerical point of view. It was noted that unsteady turbulence modeling approaches have great potential in providing insights into the fundamentals of sub-channel flow pulsations. It was proposed that for this thesis work, the Shear Stress Transport (SST) based DES model be used to understand the dynamics associated with sub-channel flow pulsations. To the author's knowledge the DES-SST based turbulence model has never been used for resolving the effects of sub-channel flow pulsations. Next, the hybrid URANS/LES turbulence modeling technique was reviewed in great detail to understand the philosophy of the hybrid URANS/LES technique and its ability to resolve fundamental flows of interest. Effort was directed to understand the switching mechanism (which blends the URANS region with the LES region) in the DES-SST model for fully wall bounded turbulent flows without boundary layer separation. To the author's knowledge, the DES-SST model has never been used on a fully wall bounded turbulent flow problem without boundary layer separation. Thus, the DES-SST model was first completely validated for a fully developed turbulent channel flow problem without boundary layer separation. </p> <p> In the second stage of the research work, the DES-SST model was used to study the flow pulsation phenomena on two rectangular sub-channels connected by a gap, on which extensive experiments were conducted by Meyer and Rehme (1994). It was found that the DES-SST model was successful in resolving significant portion of the flow field in the vicinity of the gap region. The span-wise velocity contours, velocity vector plots, and time traces of the velocity components showed the expected cross flow mixing between the sub-channels through the gap. The predicted turbulent kinetic energy showed two clear peaks at the edges of the gap. The dynamics of the flow pulsations were quantitatively described through temporal auto-correlations, spatial cross-correlations and power spectral functions. The numerical predictions were in general agreement with the experiments in terms of the quantitative aspects. From an instantaneous time scale point of view, the DES-SST model was able to identify different flow mixing patterns. The pulsating flow is basically an effect of the variation of the pressure field which is a response to the instability causing the fluid flow pulsations. Coherent structures were identified in the flow field to be comprised of eddies, shear zones and streams. Eddy structures with high vorticity and low pressure cores were found to exist near the vicinity of the gap edge region. A three dimensional vorticity field was identified and found to exist near the gap edge region. The instability mechanism and the probable cause behind the quasi-periodic fluid flow pulsations was identified and related to the inflectional stream-wise velocity profile. Simulations were also performed with two different channel lengths in comparison to the reference channel length. Different channel length studies showed similar statistical description of the flow field. However, frequency independent results were not obtained. In general, simulations performed using the DES-SST model were successful in capturing the effects of the fluid flow pulsations. This modeling technique has great potential to be used for actual rod bundle configurations. </p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Recent design trends in steam turbines strive for high aerodynamic loading and high aspect ratio to meet the demand of higher efficiency. These design trends together with the low structural frequency in last stage steam turbines increase the susceptibility of the turbine blades to flutter. Flutter is the self-excited and self-sustained aeroelastic instability phenomenon, which can result in rapid growth of blade vibration amplitude and eventually blade failure in a short period of time unless adequately damped. To prevent the occurrences of flutter before the operation of new steam turbines, a compromise between aeroelastic stability and stage efficiency has to be made in the steam turbine design process. Due to the high uncertainty in present flutter prediction methods, engineers use large safety margins in predicting flutter which can rule out designs with higher efficiency. The ability to predict flutter more accurately will allow engineers to push the design envelope with greater confidence and possibly create more efficient steam turbines. The present work aims to investigate the influence of tip clearance flow on the prediction of steam turbine flutter characteristics. Tip clearance flow effect is one of the critical factors in flutter analysis for the majority of aerodynamic work is done near the blade tip. Analysis of the impact of tip clearance flow on steam turbine flutter characteristics is therefore needed to formulate a more accurate aeroelastic stability prediction method in the design phase.Besides the tip leakage vortex, the induced vortices in the tip clearance flow can also influence blade flutter characteristics. However, the spatial distribution of the induced vortices cannot be resolved by URANS method for the limitation of turbulence models. The Detached-Eddy Simulation (DES) calculation is thus applied on a realistic-scale last stage steam turbine model to analyze the structure of induced vortices in the tip region. The influence of the tip leakage vortex and the induced vortices on flutter prediction are analyzed separately. The KTH Steam Turbine Flutter Test Case is used in the flutter analysis as a typical realistic-scale last stage steam turbine model. The energy method based on 3D unsteady CFD calculation is applied in the flutter analysis. Two CFD solvers, an in-house code LUFT and a commercial software ANSYS CFX, are used in the flutter analysis as verification of each other. The influence of tip leakage vortex on the steam turbine flutter prediction is analyzed by comparing the aeroelastic stability of two models: one with the tip gap and the other without the tip gap. Comparison between the flutter characteristics predicted by URANS and DES approaches is analyzed to investigate the influence of the induced vortices on blade flutter characteristics. The multiple induced vortices and their relative rotation around the tip leakage vortex in the KTH Steam Turbine Flutter Test Case are resolved by DES but not by URANS simulations. Both tip leakage vortex and induced vortices have an influence on blade loading on the rear half of the suction side near the blade tip. The flutter analysis results suggest that the tip clearance flow has a significant influence on blade aerodynamic damping at the least stable interblade phase angle (IBPA), while its influence on the overall shape of the damping curve is minor. At the least stable IBPA, the tip leakage vortex shows a stabilization effect on rotor aeroelastic stabilities while the induced vortices show a destabilization effect on it. Meanwhile, a non-linear unsteady flow behavior is observed due to the streamwise motion of induced vortices during blade oscillation, which phenomenon is only resolved in DES results.