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ABSTRACT The performance of aircraft engines can be significantly affected by the variety of foreign particles that are mixed into the air while operating under miscellaneous conditions. In particular, aircraft engines that operate in sandy or dusty conditions may fail within minutes of exposure to particle-laden flow due to foreign particle deposition on hot section components or erosion occurring on the compressor and turbine blades. For these reasons, the effect of sand ingestion on erosion, which may occur in the turbine and compressor blades, was studied in this master's thesis. In this master's thesis, the effect of sand ingestion on erosion on the M250 turboshaft engine's compressor blades will be investigated with the aid of numerical methods. In this study, we used the OpenFOAM software to solve the multiphase flow problem from the standpoint of finite control methods and the Eulerian-Lagrangian framework. The initial sand distribution conditions were taken from the Ph.D. thesis written by Olshefski, K. T. (2023) [1]. The compressor blade was modeled as 2D, which has a NACA 6510 profile shape, with a chord length of 63 mm. The results show that the leading edge and the suction side of the compressor, i.e. the upper half of the compressor, eroded more compared to the trailing edge, and the pressure side. Results also show that as the sand particle distribution becomes non-uniform the most eroded region shifts toward the trailing edge. In addition, for varying angles of attack, the region where the erosion occurs alters periodically. We observed that as the angle of attack increases, the eroded region shifts toward the trailing edge, but when the angle of attack is kept increasing the eroded region shifts back to the leading edge again. In conclusion, the non-uniformity of sand particle loading has a strong effect on the determination of the eroded regions. Furthermore, the variation of the angle of attack has a huge role in both the determination of eroded regions and the amount of eroded material. / Master of Science / GENERAL AUDIENCE ABSTRACT In this master's thesis, the effect of sand ingestion on compressor blade erosion was investigated with the help of numerical methods. The compressor is one of the vital parts of air-breathing engines such as turboshaft, turbofan, turbojet, and turboprop engines. Therefore, the erosion on the compressor blades may cause pressure surges, which could cause severe problems in the operation of aircraft or airplanes operating under dusty conditions. Historically, it is reported that a TransAmerican aircraft propelled by Alison T-56 engines lost two of its four engines after 3 to 4 minutes of exposure to volcanic ash while flying over Mt. St. Helens in 1980. Another example of the effects of sand ingestion is an MV-22 Osprey crash that happened during a training exercise in Hawaii, claiming the lives of two US Marines and injuring twenty other personnel in 2015. It was attributed that the cause of the fatal accident was the ingestion of dust that caused engine failure. Therefore, our intention in studying this field is to have an understanding of the regions of compressor blades that are vulnerable to erosion. In this master's thesis, numerical methods based on the finite volume method were used to obtain numerical solutions to estimate erosion on the compressor blade by utilizing OpenFOAM. We would like to recommend a nice OpenFOAM tutorial for those who are interested in applying numerical methods using OpenFOAM, taught by Jozsef Nagy accessible on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/@OpenFOAMJozsefNagy. Also, for creating geometry and mesh generation of an airfoil for the use of OpenFOAM, we would like to recommend the tutorial presented by Ali Ikhsanul, accessible on YouTube via this link https://www.youtube.com/@aliikhsanul7982. These tutorial videos could help those who are interested in Openfoam but do not have much experience with Openfoam. The work in this master's thesis indicates that the leading edge of the compressor blade is more prone to be eroded than the trailing edge. In addition, it is shown that the eroded region distribution is highly dependent on the angle of attack of sand particles.

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A low-speed, axisymmetric turbulent boundary layer under a strong adverse pressure gradient is experimentally studied for its relevance to marine applications, urban air-transportation and turbulence ingestion noise. The combined effect of lateral curvature and streamwise pressure gradient are examined on the mean flow, turbulence structure, velocity correlations and wall pressure fluctuations. Additionally, the upstream influence of a rotor operating in this flow is examined to improve the understanding of the turbulence necessary to develop advanced noise prediction tools. Measurements were made in Virginia Tech Stability tunnel documenting the flow over a 0.432-m diameter body-of-revolution comprised of a forward nose-cone, a constant diameter mid-body and a 20 degree tail-cone, at a length based Reynolds number of 1.2 million. The principal finding of this work is the resemblance of the boundary layer to a free-shear layer where the turbulence far from the wall plays a dominant role, unlike in the canonical case of the flat-plate boundary layer. The mean flow along the tail developed inflection points in the outer regions and the associated velocity and turbulence stress profiles were self-similar with a recently proposed embedded shear layer scaling. As the mean flow decelerates downstream, the large-scale motions energize and grow along with the boundary layer thickness; However, the structure is roughly self-similar with the shear-layer scaling, emphasizing the role of the shear-layer in the large-scale structure. Additionally, the correlation structure is discussed to provide information towards the development of turbulence models and aeroacoustic predictions. The associated wall pressure fluctuations, measured with a longitudinal array of microphones, evolved significantly downstream with the dimensional wall pressure spectra weakening by over 20-dB per Hz. However, the spectra collapsed to within 2-dB with the wall-wake scaling, where the pressure-scale is the wall shear stress, and the time-scale is derived from the boundary layer thickness and edge velocity. The success of this scaling, even in the viscous roll-off regions, suggests the increasing importance of the outer region on the near-wall turbulence and wall-pressure. Investigation of the space-time structure revealed the presence of a quasi-periodic feature with the conditional signature of a roller-eddy. The structure appeared to scale with the wall-wake scaling, and was found to convect downstream at speeds matching those at the inflection points (and outer turbulence peak). It is hypothesized that the outer region turbulence in strong adverse pressure gradient flow strongly drive the near-wall turbulence and therefore both the wall pressure and shear stress. Subsequent measurements made with the rotor operating at the tail, using high-speed particle image velocimetry, provided the space-time structure of the inflow turbulence as a function of the rotor thrust. The impact of the rotor on the mean flow, turbulence and correlation structure in the vicinity of the rotor is discussed to supply information towards validating numerical simulations and developing turbulence models that account for the distortion due to the rotor. This work was sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, in particular Drs. Ki-Han Kim and John Muench under grants N00014-17-1-2698 and N00014-20-1-2650. / Doctor of Philosophy / Understanding turbulent flows adjacent to surfaces placed in fluid flows is necessary to develop efficient technologies to mitigate undesirable drag, vibrations and noise. Particularly, this is of an increased interest with the imminent abundance of urban short-haul air transportation. While several fundamental aspects of these flows have been clarified, certain specific areas still remain to be addressed, including the impact of curved surfaces, like those of submarine hulls and aircraft fuselage, and the impact of mean pressure gradients. This study seeks to fill some of these gaps by studying the flow over a body-of-revolution through wind tunnel experiments. The nature of the velocity and wall-pressure fluctuations are examined in detail. It was found that the boundary layer was significantly different from the canonical case of a flat-plate flow, with the mean velocity and turbulence structure developing the characteristics of a free-shear layer (flows unbounded by surfaces). Specifically, the velocity and turbulence intensity appeared self-similar with a recently proposed embedded shear layer scaling, which is based on the parameters at the inflection point in the mean velocity profile. The large-scale motions in the outer regions, despite energizing and growing as the flow decelerated downstream, appeared self-similar with the shear layer parameters, emphasizing the role of shear layer motions within in the boundary layer. This is important since the turbulence relatively further from the wall are now the important sources of pressure fluctuations and therefore drag, vibrations and noise. The associated wall-pressure fluctuation were studied with a focus on the wall-pressure spectrum and the space-time structure. A quasi-periodic feature was detected in the instantaneous fluctuations, which had a conditional structure reminiscent of a conditional roller, and appeared to convect downstream at speeds matching those at the inflection points in the velocity profile. Therefore it is hypothesized that the large-scale motions in the embedded shear layer play a dominant role on the near-wall turbulence and therefore on the wall pressure and shear-stress. This is different from the behavior of the wall-studied flow past a flat-plate. It is therefore important to factor this into technologies aiming to increase the efficiency and quieten the vehicles

Increasing commercial and military aircraft operations in arid environments are increasing the likelihood of sand and dust ingestion. Turbine engines are particularly susceptible to the ingestion of sand and dust, which can erode cold-section components and deposit onto hot-section components. Ultimately, the erosion and deposits will shorten the operational lifespan of these engines and limit their availability thereby increasing maintenance costs and risking safety. Mitigating these risks has become more prevalent in recent years due to increasing combustion temperatures in effort to increase fuel efficiency. Increasing combustion temperatures directly increases deposit formation onto hot-section components. Monitoring deposit formation on existing turbine engine platforms and improving deposit resilience on new designs has been the industry focus for the last two decades. This study focused on statistically modeling the initial onset of microparticle deposits onto an analogous hot-section surface. Generally, as deposits accumulate onto a hot-section surface, the existing deposit formation is more likely to bond with incoming particulate at a faster rate than an exposed bare surface. Predicting the initial deposits onto a bare surface can determine the accelerated deposition rate depending on subsequent particulate impinging onto the surface. To emulate the initial deposits, a HASTELLOY® X test coupon was exposed to 20 μm to 40 μm samples of Arizona Road Test Dust (ARD) at varying loadings and aerosol densities. The Virginia Tech Aerothermal Rig was used for all test scenarios at flow-particle temperatures between 1000°C to 1100°C. Several statistical models were developed as a function of many independent variables, culminating with a final sticking probability (SP) model. Overall, the SP of individual ARD particulate is a primary function of flow-particle temperature and normal impact momentum. Tangential impact momentum of a particle will decrease the SP, while surface temperatures reaching isothermal conditions with the flow will increase SP. However, there are specific cases where lower surface temperatures and high particle temperatures result in a high SP. Particle size was a strong predictor of SP where particles between 10 μm to 19 μm were 5 to 10 times greater than the 19 μm to 40 μm range. Additional studies will be necessary to examine some additional parameters that become more prominent with smaller particle sizes. Ultimately, the intention of the models is to assist turbine engine designers to improve resilience to deposit formation on hot-section components. / PHD

Diets of varying forage base were fed to dairy heifers to test the accuracy of an prediction equation to accurately predict dry matter intake (DMI). Heifers ranging from 120 to 430 kg body weight, were randomly assigned to treatments with forage bases of 1) 100% corn silage, 2) 75% corn silage : 25% alfalfa haylage, 3) 50 % corn silage : 50% alfalfa haylage, or 4) 25% corn silage : 75% alfalfa haylage. Diets were fed for an average of 187 days. Rations were formulated to meet NRC requirements for .68 kg ADG and reformulated monthly. Animals consistently gained an average of .8 kg per day. Statistical analysis showed actual DMI to be significantly less than predicted levels of DMI. The correlation coefficient of actual DMI to predicted DMI was .59. In spite of increased rates of gain, differences due to treatment, ration acid detergent fiber (ADF) and season were not significant. Depressed intake may be the result of metabolic control of intake as ADG approaches .8 kg. This suggests that current recommendations for TDN may be excessive for dairy heifers reared in confinement. / Master of Science

Particle ingestion and deposition is an issue of concern for gas turbine engines operating in harsh environments. The ingested particles accelerate the deterioration of engine components and thus reduce its service life. This effect is observed to a greater extent in aircrafts/helicopters operating in particle laden environment. Understanding the effects of particle ingestion at engine representative condition leads to improved designs for turbomachinery. Experiments have been in an Aerothermal Rig facility at Virginia Tech to study particle deposition at engine representative temperatures. The Aerothermal Rig was upgraded to achieve air temperatures of up to 1100°C at the test section. The experiments are performed using Arizona Road Dust (ARD) of 20-40 μm size range. The temperature of air and particles are around 1100°C at a constant velocity of 70 m/s. The target coupon is made of Hastelloy X, a nickel-based alloy and the angle at which the particles impact the coupon varies from 30° to 80°. The experiments were performed with different amounts of total particle injected, concentration, and coupon angle to understand their effects on deposition. Similar research was carried out in the past at the same facility to study particle deposition at temperatures up to 1050°C and 70 m/s flow velocity. However, this previous research only studied how the coupon angle affects particle deposition; other parameters such as total particle input and particle concentration were not studied. It was found that particle deposition increases significantly at higher temperatures beyond 1050°C for higher coupon angle and amount of sand injected. Results from current study also show that deposition increases with increase in total sand injected, concentration, and coupon angle for a given temperature and velocity. / Master of Science

A rotor immersed in a thick turbulent boundary layer produces unsteady loading on the blades which generates unwanted noise and vibration. Two point velocity fluctuations were measured in detail to determine the full four-dimensional correlation function of a boundary layer generated over a smooth wall in the Virginia Tech Stability Wind Tunnel. The correlation function reveals anisotropy in the flow dominated by a large scale correlation structure elongated in the streamwise direction and inclined relative to the wall. This correlation function was then evaluated in the blade frame of reference of an idealized 10 bladed rotor partially immersed in the flow. Blade to blade upwash coherence shows significant asymmetry which is a direct result of the anisotropy of the flow. Using a newly developed theory, the correlation function was used to predict the far-field radiated noise from the rotor at various operating and flow conditions. Predictions show the sound field is dominated by the effects of "haystacking" which is further increased with the inclusion of the presence of the wall. Directivity predictions suggest the far-field sound field acts like a monopole/dipole combination. / Master of Science

The current study investigated the relationship between principles of social learning theory and binge eating episodes in 31 normal weight bulimic women. Participants were asked to monitor the following: (1) levels of self-efficacy related to resisting the urge to binge and/or purge as well as levels of self-efficacy related to handling stressful events, (2) mood states, (3) enjoyment of daily activities, (4) number of stressful events, and (5) number of binging and purging episodes. Participants were asked to monitor these events four times a day for seven days. Measures of locus of control and enjoyment ratings of binging and purging were also gathered prior to monitoring. Results indicated that components of social learning theory predict number of binging and purging episodes. The best predictors were a combination frequency of binging, lowered levels of self-efficacy to resist the urge to binge, and having a general tendency to not feel in control of one's response-outcomes. However, heterogeneity within the group was apparent in that the predictive models failed to significantly predict binging and purging for all participants. It was also the case that there were differences in predictors of binging and purging on an individual level of analysis. For all individuals, self-efficacy to resist the urge to binge/purge was the only consistent predictor of these episodes. For four individuals, frequency of prior binging was an important predictor. Post-hoc analyses suggest that for the group as a whole self-efficacy expectancies affect current behavior more than current behavior affects future expectancies. Even here, variability exists at the individual level of analysis. For four participants, behaviors were more strongly related to subsequent expectancies than expectancies were related to subsequent behaviors. These findings increase our understanding of the role of social learning theory in predicting episodes of binge eating and purging, often thought to be a cycle of maladaptive, negatively reinforced behaviors. The results also have important implications for assessment and treatment of bulimia using a cognitive/behavioral model. The presence of individual differences in the applicability of the predictive models and the relationships between expectancies and behaviors over the course of several time periods suggests that a treatment approach emphasizing the relationship between expectancies and behaviors may have more or less meaning for different individuals. Future research should replicate, cross-validate and expand these findings in order to clarify these issues. / Ph. D.