No description available.

This work was successful in demonstrating the feasibility, accuracy, and importance of including the effects of total pressure gradients in evaluating propulsion nozzle performance. In fact, in the cases considered here inlet flow nonuniformities produced effects greater than those which resulted from a consideration of just the two-dimensionality of the flow. For the hyperbolic nozzle and the turbofan bypass nozzle, two-dimensional effects were found to produce a reduction in discharge coefficient of only 0.1 to 0.6%. Whereas, nonuniform inlet flow effects produced an additional decrease in the discharge coefficient of about 1%. Agreement with the solutions of Oswatitsch and Rothstein (18) and Wehofer and Moger (6) is good. However, available experimental data does not provide conclusive proof of the program's accuracy. It is expected that more test data will soon be available from tests conducted by Wehofer and Matz at the Arnold Engineering Development Center. Also, more experimental data is available for nozzles with subsonic exhausts and for convergent nozzles (2). When, as recommended in the next section, the capability of handling subsonic exit flow and convergent nozzles is incorporated into the program, further comparison to experimental data will be possible. / Master of Science

An experimental program is designed to study the salient features of separated and reattached flows in pressure gradients generated in asymmetric diverging and converging channels. The channels comprised a straight flat floor and a curved roof that was preceded and followed by straight parallel walls. Reference measurements were also made in a parallel-wall channel to facilitate the interpretation of the pressure gradient flows. A transverse square rib located at the start of convergence/divergence was used to create separation inside the channels. In order to simplify the interpretation of the relatively complex separated and reattached flows in the asymmetric converging and diverging channels, measurements were made in the plain converging and diverging channel without the rib on the channel wall. All the measurements were obtained using a high resolution particle image velocimetry technique. The experiments without the ribs were conducted in the diverging channel at Reynolds number based on half channel depth (Reh) of 27050 and 12450 and in the converging channel at Reh = 19280. For each of these three test conditions, a high resolution particle image velocimetry technique (PIV) was used to conduct detailed velocity measurements in the upstream parallel section, within the converging and diverging section, and downstream of the converging and diverging sections. From these measurements, the boundary layer parameters and profiles of the mean velocities, turbulent quantities as well as terms in the transport equations for turbulent kinetic energy and Reynolds stresses were obtained to document the effects of pressure gradient on the flow. In the adverse pressure gradient case, the turbulent quantities were enhanced more significantly in the lower boundary layer than the upper boundary layer. On the other hand, favorable pressure gradient attenuated the turbulence levels and the effect was found to be similar on both the upper and the lower boundary layers. For the separated and reattached flows in the converging, diverging and parallel-wall channels at Reh = 19440, 12420 and 15350, respectively. The Reynolds number based on the approach velocity and rib height was Rek  2700. From these measurements, profiles of the mean velocities, turbulent quantities and the various terms in the transport equations for turbulent kinetic energy and Reynolds stresses were also obtained. The flow dynamics in the upper boundary layer in the separated region and the early stages of flow redevelopment were observed to be insensitive to the pressure gradients. In the lower boundary layer, however, the flow dynamics were entirely dominated by the separated shear layer in the separated region as well as the early region of flow redevelopment. The effects of the separated shear layer diminished in the redevelopment region so that the dynamics of the flow were dictated by the pressure gradients. The proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) was applied to educe the dominant large scale structures in the separated and reattached flows. These dominant scales were used to document structural differences between the canonical upstream flow and the flow field within the separated and redeveloping region. The contributions of these dominant structures to the dynamics of the Reynolds normal and shear stresses are also presented and discussed. It was observed that the POD recovers Reynolds shear stress more efficiently than the turbulent kinetic energy. The reconstruction reveals that large scales contribute more to the Reynolds shear stress than the turbulent kinetic energy. / February 2009

No description available.

An experimental program is designed to study the salient features of separated and reattached flows in pressure gradients generated in asymmetric diverging and converging channels. The channels comprised a straight flat floor and a curved roof that was preceded and followed by straight parallel walls. Reference measurements were also made in a parallel-wall channel to facilitate the interpretation of the pressure gradient flows. A transverse square rib located at the start of convergence/divergence was used to create separation inside the channels. In order to simplify the interpretation of the relatively complex separated and reattached flows in the asymmetric converging and diverging channels, measurements were made in the plain converging and diverging channel without the rib on the channel wall. All the measurements were obtained using a high resolution particle image velocimetry technique. The experiments without the ribs were conducted in the diverging channel at Reynolds number based on half channel depth (Reh) of 27050 and 12450 and in the converging channel at Reh = 19280. For each of these three test conditions, a high resolution particle image velocimetry technique (PIV) was used to conduct detailed velocity measurements in the upstream parallel section, within the converging and diverging section, and downstream of the converging and diverging sections. From these measurements, the boundary layer parameters and profiles of the mean velocities, turbulent quantities as well as terms in the transport equations for turbulent kinetic energy and Reynolds stresses were obtained to document the effects of pressure gradient on the flow. In the adverse pressure gradient case, the turbulent quantities were enhanced more significantly in the lower boundary layer than the upper boundary layer. On the other hand, favorable pressure gradient attenuated the turbulence levels and the effect was found to be similar on both the upper and the lower boundary layers. For the separated and reattached flows in the converging, diverging and parallel-wall channels at Reh = 19440, 12420 and 15350, respectively. The Reynolds number based on the approach velocity and rib height was Rek  2700. From these measurements, profiles of the mean velocities, turbulent quantities and the various terms in the transport equations for turbulent kinetic energy and Reynolds stresses were also obtained. The flow dynamics in the upper boundary layer in the separated region and the early stages of flow redevelopment were observed to be insensitive to the pressure gradients. In the lower boundary layer, however, the flow dynamics were entirely dominated by the separated shear layer in the separated region as well as the early region of flow redevelopment. The effects of the separated shear layer diminished in the redevelopment region so that the dynamics of the flow were dictated by the pressure gradients. The proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) was applied to educe the dominant large scale structures in the separated and reattached flows. These dominant scales were used to document structural differences between the canonical upstream flow and the flow field within the separated and redeveloping region. The contributions of these dominant structures to the dynamics of the Reynolds normal and shear stresses are also presented and discussed. It was observed that the POD recovers Reynolds shear stress more efficiently than the turbulent kinetic energy. The reconstruction reveals that large scales contribute more to the Reynolds shear stress than the turbulent kinetic energy.

An experimental program is designed to study the salient features of separated and reattached flows in pressure gradients generated in asymmetric diverging and converging channels. The channels comprised a straight flat floor and a curved roof that was preceded and followed by straight parallel walls. Reference measurements were also made in a parallel-wall channel to facilitate the interpretation of the pressure gradient flows. A transverse square rib located at the start of convergence/divergence was used to create separation inside the channels. In order to simplify the interpretation of the relatively complex separated and reattached flows in the asymmetric converging and diverging channels, measurements were made in the plain converging and diverging channel without the rib on the channel wall. All the measurements were obtained using a high resolution particle image velocimetry technique. The experiments without the ribs were conducted in the diverging channel at Reynolds number based on half channel depth (Reh) of 27050 and 12450 and in the converging channel at Reh = 19280. For each of these three test conditions, a high resolution particle image velocimetry technique (PIV) was used to conduct detailed velocity measurements in the upstream parallel section, within the converging and diverging section, and downstream of the converging and diverging sections. From these measurements, the boundary layer parameters and profiles of the mean velocities, turbulent quantities as well as terms in the transport equations for turbulent kinetic energy and Reynolds stresses were obtained to document the effects of pressure gradient on the flow. In the adverse pressure gradient case, the turbulent quantities were enhanced more significantly in the lower boundary layer than the upper boundary layer. On the other hand, favorable pressure gradient attenuated the turbulence levels and the effect was found to be similar on both the upper and the lower boundary layers. For the separated and reattached flows in the converging, diverging and parallel-wall channels at Reh = 19440, 12420 and 15350, respectively. The Reynolds number based on the approach velocity and rib height was Rek  2700. From these measurements, profiles of the mean velocities, turbulent quantities and the various terms in the transport equations for turbulent kinetic energy and Reynolds stresses were also obtained. The flow dynamics in the upper boundary layer in the separated region and the early stages of flow redevelopment were observed to be insensitive to the pressure gradients. In the lower boundary layer, however, the flow dynamics were entirely dominated by the separated shear layer in the separated region as well as the early region of flow redevelopment. The effects of the separated shear layer diminished in the redevelopment region so that the dynamics of the flow were dictated by the pressure gradients. The proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) was applied to educe the dominant large scale structures in the separated and reattached flows. These dominant scales were used to document structural differences between the canonical upstream flow and the flow field within the separated and redeveloping region. The contributions of these dominant structures to the dynamics of the Reynolds normal and shear stresses are also presented and discussed. It was observed that the POD recovers Reynolds shear stress more efficiently than the turbulent kinetic energy. The reconstruction reveals that large scales contribute more to the Reynolds shear stress than the turbulent kinetic energy.

The Kim and Chan experiment in 2004 gave the first experimental evidence of a possible supersolid state. Even though the origin of this state is not clear yet, several experimental and theoretical investigations suggest defects are responsible for this curious phase. We have used heat pulses and thermal quenching to study pressure gradients and annealing mechanisms in solid 4He crystals. Large pressure gradients exist in crystals grown at constant volume. These can be enhanced by phase transitions, thermal quenching or by partial melting. Annealing reduces defect densities and hence pressure gradients in crystals. Our measurements show that the pressure at different points in a crystal can behave differently, even if there is little change in the crystals average pressure. We measured the activation energy that is associated with the annealing process.

Wakes are present in many engineering flows. These flows include internal flows such as mixing chambers and turbomachinery as well as external flows like flow over high-lift or multi-element airfoils. Many times these wakes are exposed to flow conditions such as adverse pressure gradients and streamline curvature that alter the mean flow and turbulent structure of the wake. The ability to understand how pressure gradients and streamline curvature affects the structure of the wake is essential to predicting how the wake will affect the performance of the application in which it is found. The effects of pressure gradients and curvature of low-speed wakes has been extensively documented. As the transonic flow regime is becoming of more interest as gas speeds in turbomachinery increase this work fills a void in the body of wake knowledge pertaining to curved wakes in high speed flows. An under-resolved direct numerical simulation of transonic wake flow being shed by a cambered airfoil in the presence of adverse pressure gradients and streamline curvature is therefore presented here. It was observed that the turbulence characteristics arising from the cambered airfoil that generates the wake dominate the evolution of the wake for different distances downstream depending on the component of the Reynolds stresses that is being considered. These characteristics dissipated the most quickly in the shear stresses and endured the longest in the tangential normal stresses. Previous work in low-speed wakes has indicated that curvature creates new production terms that translate into asymmetry in the profiles of the wake. Curvature was observed to have limited influence on the evolution of the streamwise normal stresses and an extensive impact on the tangential normal stresses. The transport of the Reynolds shear stresses indicate that the asymmetry in this stress is caused indeed by curvature but through turbulent diffusion and not production. The k-ε turbulence model overpredicted the effect of curvature on the turbulence stresses in the wake. This led to accelerated wake decay and spread compared to the UDNS data.

The purpose of our work is to estimate arterial stiffness based on the virtual fields method and using pressure gradients and arterial wall motion. Currently, the gold standard to estimate arterial stiffness relies primarily on the pulse wave velocity, which provides a relation between arterial stiffness and the velocity of the pressure wave propagating through the arterial wall. The pulse wave velocity method has been improved over the years, but still depends on specific assumptions regarding, for example, blood pressure, arterial geometry, and linear material response. The proposed method directly links arterial wall displacements and pressure gradients to arterial stiffness and paves the way to computing arterial stiffness with higher accuracy.

Predicting sediment transport at sandy beaches is a significant challenge in civil engineering owing to the variability in hydrodynamic, morphological, and geotechnical properties within a site and across multiple sites. Additionally, there are difficulties in measuring in-situ properties, and challenges in identifying and quantifying the different relevant driving and resisting forces. These challenges are further exacerbated in the intertidal zone where the addition of infiltration-exfiltration, wave run-up and run-down, bore collapse, cyclic emergence and submergence of sediments, interactions between standing waves and incident bores, and other processes must be considered. Among these many processes, pore pressure gradients within sandy beach sediments affect sediment transport by reducing the sediment's effective stress to zero (this process is called liquefaction). Despite the known importance of these pressure gradients with respect to sediment transport, there has been little field evidence of the role that these pore pressure gradients have on sediment transport, how they relate to the hydrodynamic properties, and their inclusion into predictive sediment transport equations. This study is based on field measurements of hydrodynamic and geotechnical properties, as well as pore pressure gradients during storm and non-storm conditions at sandy beaches in the intertidal zone. From the analysis of these field measurements, it was found that (1) liquefying pressure gradients are likely to develop in sediments that are rapidly inundated during storm conditions; (2) the magnitude of pore pressure gradients is related to the asymmetry of the pressure gradient and can occur with shoreward-directed near bed velocities; and (3) during non-storm conditions, pressure gradients that often do not exceed liquefaction criteria occurred more (less) frequently during a time period where erosion occurred in large (small) quantities, indicating that small non-liquefying pore pressure gradients may facilitate sediment transport. The results of this study demonstrate that current methods of scour calculations must include effects of pore pressure gradients to reduce error. Additionally, from this work it was found that sediment transport can be directed shoreward under momentary liquefaction. Finally, the results of this study show that sediment pore pressure gradients are related to wave skewness, spatial group steepness, and temporal group steepness which may aid modelling of pore pressure gradients. / Doctor of Philosophy / The transport of sediment particles (in this case, sand grains at beaches) is difficult to predict because of the many different governing processes that can be hard to measure, may be hard to relate to erosion or sediment accumulation specifically, and the variability in sediment and flow properties (grain size, fluid velocity, and others) at a specific location and across different locations. Storms, like hurricanes, tropical storms, and tsunamis, can drastically change the expected water properties (like water depth, wave height, and wave period), and the effects of water pressure within the sand bed. When a wave moves across the sand it causes a change in the water pressure that is within the sand. This water pressure is not the same throughout the sand with depth. When the gradient, or the difference between the water pressure at two different vertical locations, is large enough, the sand behaves like a fluid (like quicksand) and becomes easier to move, this process is called liquefaction. Even though previous work has shown that these pressure gradients (and the resulting liquefaction) is important for sediment transport, there have been few field measurements demonstrating their impact on sediment transport and how these gradients (and the resulting liquefaction) relate to wave and sand properties. This study presents field measurements of pressure gradients, wave and sediment properties, and sediment transport events during both storm and non-storm conditions. From these field measurements, it was shown that (1) during an extreme storm event, pressure gradients that liquefy the sediment are likely to occur on sediments that are not normally subjected to waves; (2) liquefying pressure gradients can occur when waves arrive at the beach, which may cause sediment to be moved shoreward; and (3) during non-storm conditions, pressure gradients that do not liquefy the sand occurred frequently during a sediment transport event, suggesting that these smaller pressure gradients may contribute to sediment transport by reducing the effective weight of the sediment. This work can be used to further understand the behavior of sediment pore pressure gradients, their relation to hydrodynamic properties, and how they influence sediment transport allowing for better predictions of sediment transport, beach nourishment calculations, and the design of coastal structures.