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Experimental investigations of liquid helium flows Selected turbulent flows of He II, the superfluid phase of liquid 4 He, are inves- tigated experimentally. The second sound attenuation technique is employed to directly probe the tangle of quantized vortices, thin topological defects within the superfluid, while relatively small particles made of solid hydrogen are dispersed in He II to visualize the overall flow of the liquid via the particle tracking ve- locimetry. Considering the known particle-vortex interaction mechanisms, steady thermal counterflow in a square channel is investigated. Significant inhomogene- ity of the vortex tangle density along the channel height (near the flow-generating heater) is shown to develop. The means of energy transport in turbulent flows of He II are found strikingly different from those taking place in turbulent flows of viscous fluids. Moreover, individual particles in counterflow are observed to intermittently switch between two distinct motion regimes along their trajecto- ries. The regimes are identified and qualitatively described. Steady counterflow jets in He II are realized and the spatial arrangement of the underlying vortex tangle is explored. Finally, macroscopic vortex rings are thermally generated and observed in He II. A method for tracking their...

Vortex detection has been a long-standing and challenging topic in fluid analysis. Recent state-of-the-art extraction and visualization of vortices in unsteady fluid flow employ objective vortex criteria, which makes feature extraction independent of reference frames or observers. However, even objectivity can only guarantee that different observers reach the same conclusions, but not necessarily guarantee that these conclusions are the only physically meaningful or relevant ones. Moreover, a significant challenge is that a single observer is often not sufficient to accurately observe multiple vortices that follow different motions. This thesis presents a novel mathematical framework that represents physically realizable observers as the Lie algebra of the Killing fields on the underlying manifold, together with a software system that enables the exploration and use of an interactively chosen set of observers, resulting in relative velocity fields and objective vortex structures in real-time. Based on our mathematical framework, our system facilitates the objective detection and visualization of vortices relative to well-adapted reference frame motions, while at the same time guaranteeing that these observers are physically realizable. We show how our framework speeds up the exploration of objective vortices in unsteady 2D flow, on planar as well as on spherical domains.

We present, extend, and apply a method to extract the contribution of a subregion of a data set to the global flow. To isolate this contribution, we decompose the flow in the subregion into a potential flow that is induced by the original flow on the boundary and a localized flow. The localized flow is obtained by subtracting the potential flow from the original flow. Since the potential flow is free of both divergence and rotation, the localized flow retains the original features and captures the region-specific flow that contains the local contribution of the considered subdomain to the global flow. In the remainder of the paper, we describe an implementation on unstructured grids in both two and three dimensions for steady and unsteady flow fields. We discuss the application of some widely used feature extraction methods on the localized flow and describe applications like reverse-flow detection using the potential flow. Finally, we show that our algorithm is robust and scalable by applying it to various flow data sets and giving performance figures.

Flow visualization has been a very active subfield of scientific visualization in recent years. From the resulting large variety of methods this paper discusses partition-based techniques. The aim of these approaches is to partition the flow in areas of common structure. Based on this partitioning, subsequent visualization techniques can be applied. A classification is suggested and advantages/disadvantages of the different techniques are discussed as well.

Visualizing flow structures according to the users’ interests provides insight to scientists and engineers. In previous work, a flow structure based on streamline predicates, that examine, whether a streamline has a given property, was defined. Evaluating all streamlines results in characteristic sets grouping all streamlines with similar behavior with respect to a given predicate. Since there are infinitely many streamlines, the algorithm chooses a finite subset for the computation of an approximated discrete version of the characteristic sets. However, even the construction of characteristic sets based on a finite set of streamlines tends to be computationally expensive. Based on a thorough analysis of all processing steps, we present and compare different acceleration approaches. The techniques are based on simplifications that result in characteristic set boundaries deviating from the correct but computational expensive boundaries. We developmeasures for objective comparison of the introduced errors. An adaptive refinement approach turns out to be the best compromise between computation time and quality.

The goal of this project was to determine whether i) fused deposition modeling could be employed to manufacture molds for vascular constructs, ii) whether vascular constructs could be created from these molds, and iii) to verify practical equivalence between observed fluid velocities. Dye tracking was to be employed to characterize fluid velocity profiles through the in vitro vascular constructs, including a half-vessel model and a full vessel model of an iliac artery aneurysm. A PDMS half-vessel construct was manufactured, and the movement of dye through the construct was tracked by a cellphone camera. Thresholds were applied to each video in HSB or YUV mode in ImageJ, and analyzed to determine the velocity of the fluid through the construct. COMSOL simulations of the half-vessel were conducted for comparison to the empirical observations. Plots describing the flow velocities along the maximum streamline path length were generated, and a one sample t-test was conducted at a 5% significance level to determine whether there was a significant difference between velocity values obtained by dye tracking and the COMSOL simulations. It was determined that the empirical dye tracking trials failed to demonstrate agreement between the measured and predicted flow rates. A full vessel construct was not completed due to unforeseen time constraints. Dye tracking was not determined to be reliable as a means of measuring the maximum velocity of fluid. Discrepancies between the empirical observations and the COMSOL simulation are discussed. The discrepancy was attributed to limitations in the experimental protocol; low frame rate, poor control over lighting conditions, and the subjectivity involved in image processing. Methods of improving upon the manufacturing and experimental protocols used for the half-vessel are proposed for future work, such as improving control over lighting conditions, choosing a camera with a higher frame rate, constructing a more stable fixture, exploring PIV. Additionally, the technical problems leading to the failure to complete the full vessel model are discussed, and changes in the manufacturing process are proposed to allow dissolution or removal of the aneurysm model.

A wing with a Wortmann FX-63-137-ESM airfoil section has been used to study some unique problems encountered in wing aerodynamics in the range of Reynolds numbers between 50,000 and 500,000. The wind-tunnel testing conducted in the 6'x 6' Stability tunnel included strain-gauge data, pressure data, and flow-visualization studies. The laminar separation bubble which frequently occurs on the upper surface of the wing is found to dominate its performance and gives rise to a hysteresis loop for lift and drag. Changes in airfoil performance due to positive flap or control surface deflections resemble changes witnessed at higher Reynolds numbers. Negative deflections are seen to considerably change the stall behavior and the flow over the airfoil. This is due to the considerably greater effect on the separation bubble for negative flap deflections. The structure and mechanism of the laminar separation bubble can also be altered by the introduction of selected acoustic disturbance and increased free-stream turbulence. The wind-tunnel test-section environment is, therefore, capable of considerably altering wing performance in this regime. / Ph. D. / incomplete_metadata