In this study the complete four dimensional space time correlation function was measured in the wake of an untripped circular cylinder at a Reynolds number of 60 000. This correlation serves as the complete inflow boundary condition for an open rotor ingesting inhomogeneous turbulence. An important aspect of the turbulence ingestion problem is understanding how different inflow boundary conditions effect the sound produced by a rotor. In the present study the turbulence structure of two plane wakes were compared. Measurements completed by a previous study in the wake of a NACA 0012 airfoil were compared with the measurements completed by the present study in the wake of a cylinder. The mean flows of both plane wakes were found to be very similar, however the Reynolds stress profiles show that the cylinder wake is substantially more turbulent. The structures of the two-point correlation function in each wake are also similar, although the cylinder wake had greater maximum correlation values and was correlated at greater separations. The two-point correlation was used along with proper orthogonal decomposition to compute the average instantaneous velocity fields of both wake flows. These velocity fields represent the average eddy structures present in each wake flow. The eddy structure comparisons show that the structures in the cylinder wake are larger and better correlated at longer time delays. / Master of Science / Any fan or propeller that ingests any unsteady flow will produce noise. This is especially important in propeller aircraft and marine vehicles where turbulence is generated from appendages on the vehicle’s body. This self-generated turbulence travels downstream and is eventually drawn into the propeller and produces noise. The broad study that the present work is a part of is concerned with understanding this ingestion noise problem so that the interaction can be better modeled and the sound produced can be predicted. To predict the sound produced by a fan or propeller ingesting turbulence, detailed information about the inflow condition is needed. In the present study the turbulence structure of the wake shed by a circular cylinder at 20 meters per second. The two-point velocity correlation in the wake serves as the complete inflow condition for the turbulence ingestion problem. The structure of the cylinder wake inflow condition was compared with the structure of an airfoil wake to evaluate how the differences in the two flows would influence the sound produced by a rotor ingesting the two conditions. The two flows were found to be quite similar in the mean flow. The cylinder wake was found to be significantly more turbulent than the airfoil wake and was correlated over greater distances. This suggests that the structures in the cylinder wake are larger and remain coherent longer than those in the airfoil wake. The average instantaneous velocity fields were estimated in both wake flows and showed that the structures in the cylinder wake were significantly different from the structures in the airfoil wake. These flow structure comparisons show why the differences seen in the turbulence profiles and two-point correlations exist.

Experimental investigations were conducted with and without the presence of the surface-mounted obstacle to quantify its effects on the far wake. The obstacle chosen for this study was a 3:2 elliptical nose NACA 0020 tail wing-body (Rood body), approximately of height equal to the boundary layer thickness at one of the measurement locations of the flow. The experiments were performed by varying the Reynolds number of the flow and manipulating the pressure gradient distributions using a NACA 0012 airfoil placed within the wind tunnel test section. The measurements were acquired utilizing a spanwise traversing boundary layer rake and a point pressure sensing microphone array. The findings reveal that the presence of the obstacle introduces disruptions in the flow, such as vortex and jet regions in the wake. However, the overall flow behavior remains consistent with that of an undisturbed turbulent boundary layer, for varying Reynolds numbers and pressure gradients. Notably, an adverse pressure gradient and lower Reynolds number both accentuate the prominence of the jet and vortex region within the wake, with the trend reversing towards the other end of the spectrum. This behavior is akin to the larger turbulent boundary layer under adverse pressure gradients and lower Reynolds numbers. Furthermore, the presence of obstacles induces an increase in the overall level of the wall pressure spectrum by approximately 2 dB, regardless of the flow condition. Additionally, it leads to a deviation in the slope of the mid-frequency range of the autospectra compared to the smooth wall case. Specifically, the mid-slope frequency of an undisturbed turbulent boundary layer is steeper than that observed in the disturbed wake flow caused by the obstacle. / Master of Science / The interaction between turbulence and aerodynamic surfaces gives rise to wall-pressure fluctuations, which in turn induce structural vibrations and acoustic noise. On surfaces turbulent flows meet, antennae, flaps, and other frequently mounted measuring devices. The flow in their wake is impacted by the coherence of a turbulent boundary layer being disrupted by these impediments mounted on aerodynamic surfaces. They also alter the nature of the pressure fluctuations that are generated on the surface of interest. The far wake of a Rood Body obstacle was studied using a point pressure sensing microphone array and a spanwise traversing boundary layer rake. Experimental measurements were taken for a range of Reynolds numbers and pressure gradient environments at the Virginia Tech Stability Wind Tunnel. Results show that the boundary layer rake measurements resolve the presence of the obstacle wake successfully, by characterizing the wake structures and confirming the presence of jet and vortex regions in the wake of the obstacle. Surface pressure measurements reveal that the presence of the obstacle causes the low-frequency content of the wall pressure to be less dominant than the no obstacle case, while the high-frequency content becomes more dominant in the presence of the obstacle. The presence of obstacles also increases the overall levels of the wall pressure spectrum by approximately 2 dB.

Depuis la découverte des modes asymétriques dans le sillage d'un corps simplifié d'automobile, réminiscents d'une bifurcation à bas nombre de Reynolds, se posent des questions propres au développement aérodynamique des véhicules terrestres telles que l'influence du vent latéral, de l'assiette et du rétreint d'arrière-corps couramment utilisé en phase d'optimisation. Notre travail s'attache à répondre expérimentalement à ces questions pour des géométries simplifiées mais aussi réelles. Les essais sont réalisés en soufflerie industrielle à l'échelle 2/5 pour le corps académique et en pleine échelle pour les monospaces. Nous montrons que le désalignement du véhicule par rapport à l'écoulement incident n'a pour effet que de modifier l'orientation du mode asymétrique sans en changer l'intensité. Nous construisons un modèle simple prédisant non seulement cette orientation mais aussi les conséquences sur les efforts aérodynamiques transverses. La contribution de l'instabilité sur les coefficients aérodynamiques de portance ou d'effort latéral est de l'ordre de 0,02 indépendamment du vent de travers et de l'assiette du véhicule. Les rétreints d'arrière-corps affectent également la dynamique du sillage et son orientation, mais l'instabilité n'est jamais supprimée. Ces résultats sont retrouvés pour des véhicules réels de type monospace dont le sillage est donc également soumis au même mode asymétrique, révélé sans ambigüité par des expériences de sensibilité en assiette. Nos résultats indiquent que, pour tous les véhicules considérés, le mode asymétrique de sillage est systématiquement présent dans l'enveloppe de conduite. Le contrôle ou la suppression de ce mode devrait offrir de nouvelles perspectives d'optimisation des véhicules à culot droit de type monospaces ou SUV. / Since the recent discovery of asymmetric modes in the wake of a simplified vehicle geometry, reminiscent from a bifurcation at low Reynolds numbers, some questions related to the aerodynamic development of ground vehicles such as the influence of lateral wind, pitch and afterbody boat-tail classically used during shape optimization remain unanswered. Our work is devoted to assess those questions experimentally for simplified but also real geometries. The tests are conducted in an industrial wind-tunnel, at the 2/5-scale for the academic body and at the full scale for the minivans. We show that the vehicle's misalignment only modifies the asymmetric mode's orientation without affecting its intensity. We build a model predicting not only this orientation but also the consequences on the cross-flow aerodynamic loading. The contribution of the instability to the lift or side force coefficients is of the order of 0,02 independently of lateral wind or of the vehicle's pitch. Afterbody boat-tails also impact the wake dynamics and its orientation but the instability is never suppressed. These results are retrieved for real vehicles such as minivans, whose wake is then subjected to the same asymmetric mode as well, revealed unambiguously with pitch sensitivity experiments. Our results indicate that, for all considered vehicles, the asymmetric wake mode is systematically present in the driving envelope. The control or the suppression of this mode should offer new optimization's perspectives for blunt based vehicles such as minivans or SUVs.