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Thesis (M. S.)--Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Menon, Suresh; Committee Member: Cvitanović, Predrag; Committee Member: Sankar, Lakshmi N.; Committee Member: Smith, Marilyn J.; Committee Member: Yeung, Pui-Kuen

It is recognized that detailed knowledge of turbulence parameters, as well as velocities, can aid in understanding and modeling mixing rate-dominated phenomena in stirred vessels. Measurements using a laser-Doppler velocimeter and modeling using a k-ε turbulence model and FLUENT, a general-purpose fluid flow modeling program, have been conducted of the flow in a baffled, turbine-agitated vessel. The complex flow patterns and high turbulence intensities explain why flows in stirred vessels are difficult to attack experimentally or numerically. In the measurements, the necessary corrections for the periodic, nondissipative velocity fluctuations in the near-impeller region, which were caused by the periodic passage of the impeller blades, were made by an autocorrelation method. With the contributions of the periodic fluctuations removed, meaningful turbulence data including turbulence intensities, autocorrelation functions, turbulence energy spectra, turbulence scales, and turbulence energy dissipation rates were obtained. Integral scales and energy dissipation rates were a particular objective in this work because of their usefulness in modeling local mixing rates in turbulent flows. An energy balance around a region containing the impeller and the impeller stream showed that 60% of the energy transmitted into the vessel via the impeller was dissipated in the region, and 40% was dissipated in the rest of the vessel. An equation for calculating local energy dissipation rates ε from total turbulence energy and resultant integral scales, ε = A q³/² /L(res), appeared adequate with constant A = 0.85 (where q ≡ uᵢuᵢ/2, L(res) ≡√LᵢLᵢ, and uᵢ and Lᵢ are, respectively, the i-th component of fluctuation velocity and the turbulence integral scale measured in direction i). Both the k-ε model (two-dimensional) and FLUENT (which employed three-dimensional k-ε and Reynolds stress models) obtained mean velocity profiles fairly close to the experimental data, but both predicted k and ε significantly lower than the measured values. The reason for the underestimation of k and ε was not entirely clear, but may have been caused by use of only the random parts of velocities for computing k and ε at the impeller boundary. The objective of modeling complex turbulent flows in stirred vessels has been accomplished, a goal which until recently would have been considered beyond the possibility of computation.

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No description available.

For aerospace and naval applications where low radiated noise levels are a requirement, rotor noise generated by inflow turbulence is of great interest. Inflow turbulence is stretched and distorted as it is ingested into a thrusting rotor which can have a significant impact on the noise source levels. This thesis studies the distortion of subsonic, high Reynolds number turbulent flow, with viscous effects ignored, that occur when a rotor is embedded in a turbulent boundary layer. The analysis is based on Rapid Distortion Theory (RDT), which describes the linear evolution of turbulent eddies as they are stretched by a mean flow distortion. Providing that the gust does not distort the mean flow streamlines the solution for a mean flow with shear is found to be the same as the solution for a mean potential flow with the addition of a potential flow gust. By investigating the inflow distortion of small-scale turbulence for various simple flows and rotor inflows with weak shear, it is shown that RDT can be applied to incompressible shear flows to determine the flow distortion. It is also shown that RDT can be applied to more complex flows modeled by the Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) equations. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.

A numerical study of axisymmetric synthetic jet flow was conducted. The synthetic jet cavity was modeled as a rigid chamber with a piston-like moving diaphragm at its bottom. The Shear-Stress-Transportation (SST) k-omega and #61559; turbulence model was employed to simulate turbulence. Based on time-mean analysis, three flow regimes were identified for typical synthetic jet flows. Typical vortex dynamics and flow patterns were analyzed. The effects of changes of working frequency, cavity geometry (aspect ratio), and nozzle geometry were investigated. A control-volume model of synthetic jet cavity was proposed based on the numerical study, which consists of two first-order ODEs. With appropriately selected parameters, the model was able to predict the cavity pressure and average velocity through the nozzle within 10% errors compared with full simulations. The cavity model can be used to generate the boundary conditions for synthetic jet simulations and the agreement to the full simulation results was good. The saving of computational cost is significant. It was found that synthetic jet impingement heat transfer outperforms conventional jet impingement heat transfer with equivalent average jet velocity. Normal jet impingement heat transfer using synthetic jet was investigated numerically too. The effects of changes of design and working parameters on local heat transfer on the impingement plate were investigated. Key flow structures and heat transfer characteristics were identified. At last, a parametric study of an active heat sink employing synthetic jet technology was conducted using Large Eddy Simulation (LES). Optimal design parameters were recommended base on the parametric study.

In this study, numerical simulations of a low emission lab-scale non-premixed combustor are conducted and analyzed. The objectives are to provide new insight into the physical phenomena in the SPRF (Stagnation Point Reverse Flow) combustor built in the Georgia Tech Combustion Lab, and to compare three Large Eddy Simulation (LES) combustion models (Eddy Break-Up [EBU], Steady Flamelet [SF] and Linear Eddy Model [LEM]) for non-premixed combustion. The nominal operating condition of the SPRF combustor achieves very low NOx and CO emissions by combining turbulent mixing of exhaust gases with preheated reactants and chemical kinetics. The SPRF numerical simulation focuses on capturing the complex interaction between turbulent mixing and heat release. LES simulations have been carried out for a non-reactive case in order to analyze the turbulent mixing inside the combustor. The LES results have been compared to PIV experimental data and the code has been validated. The dominating features of the operational mode of the SPRF combustor (dilution of hot products into reactants, pre-heating and pre-mixing) have been analyzed, and results from the EBU-LES, SF-LES and LEM-LES simulations have been compared. Analysis shows that the LEM-LES simulation achieves the best agreement with the observed flame structure and is the only model that captures the stabilization processes observed in the experiments. EBU-LES and SF-LES do not predict the correct flow pattern because of the inaccurate modeling of sub-grid scale mixing and turbulence-combustion interaction. Limitations of these two models for this type of combustor are discussed.

Magnetohydrodynamics describes the motions of an electrically conducting fluid under the influence of magnetic fields. Such flows are encountered in a large variety of applications, from steel industry to heat exchangers of nuclear fusion reactors. <p><p>Here we are concerned with situations where the magnetic field is relatively strong and the flow manifests turbulent motions. The interaction of the fluid with the electromagnetic field is still insufficiently understood and efficient predicting methods are lacking. Our goal is to provide more insight on this problem by making heavy use of numerical methods. In this work, two different classes of problem are investigated. <p><p>First we consider that the turbulent character of the fluid is well developed and that solid boundaries are sufficiently far away to be completely neglected. The main effects of a strong magnetic field in that case are to damp the motion and to homogenize the flow along its direction, leading to a quasi two dimensional state. Using numerical simulations we have studied the dynamics of the flow in Fourier space and in particular the non linear energy transfers between turbulent eddies. Further we investigated the scale-by-scale anisotropy and compared various methods to address this quantity. Finally, the evolution of a passive scalar embedded in the flow was analyzed and it turned out that the characteristic anisotropy of the velocity field is reflected in the distribution of the scalar quantity. <p><p>In the second problem, the flow in a duct of square cross section subject to a transverse magnetic field has been considered. Here, unlike in the previous situation, the magnetic field has globally a destabilizing effect on the flow, because of the strong inhomogeneities it produces. For instance, high velocity regions develop along the walls that are parallel to the magnetic field. There, we are mostly interested in the possible development of persistent time-dependent fluctuations. It is observed that the transition between laminar and turbulent regimes occurs through at least two distinct bifurcations. The first one takes place at moderate Reynolds number and is characterized by highly organized fluctuations. The second is encountered at higher Reynolds number and presents very strong and localized disturbances.<p>/Il existe un grand nombre d'applications industrielles dans lesquelles un écoulement de métal liquide est soumis à un champ magnétique. La production d'acier par coulée continue, la fabrication de matériaux semi-conducteurs ou encore les échan-geurs de chaleur des futurs réacteurs à fusion nucléaire en sont de bons exemples. L'interaction du liquide conducteur avec le champ magnétique est à l'origine de nombreux phénomènes inhabituels en hydrodynamique classique et doit dès lors être décrite par la magnétohydrodynamique (ou MHD en abrégé). Le but de ce travail est d'étudier la physique de ces interactions, en se basant sur la résolution numérique des équations qui les gouvernent.<p><p>Plusieurs aspects du problème ont été considérés indépendamment. Tout d'abord, l'étude de la turbulence homogène a permis de mettre en evidence les comportements du fluide loin de toute paroi solide. Ceci est mis un oeuvre dans un domaine spatial périodique, où les variables sont représentées par leur série de Fourier. L'influence du champ magnétique dans ce cas consiste à dissiper les fluctuations turbulentes et à rendre le champ de vitesse anisotrope. Les principaux résultats obtenus dans ce cadre concernent la distribution ainsi que le transfert d'énergie dans l'espace spectral, l'anisotropie des différentes échelles turbulentes de l'écoulement ainsi que le transport d'un scalaire passif au sein du fluide. <p><p>Dans un deuxième temps, le travail a porté sur l'écoulement dans une conduite rectangulaire soumise à un champ magnétique et dont les parois sont conductrices d'électricité. La particularité de cet écoulement réside dans les zones de vitesse élevées qui se développent le long des parois parallèles au champ magnétique. Celles-ci donnent lieu à un intense cisaillement qui a généralement pour effet de rendre l'écoulement instable. La simulation numérique de ce problème a permis l'étude des instabilités au sein du fluide et de la transition du régime laminaire vers la turbulence. <p> / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished