The use of counter-rotating propellers is often desirable for aerospace and ocean engineering applications. Counter-rotating propellers offer higher peak efficiencies, better off-design performance, and roll control capabilities. But counter-rotating propeller matching is a difficult and complex procedure. Although much research has been done on the design of optimal counter-rotating propeller sets, there has been less focus on predicting the performance of unmatched counter-rotating sets. In this study, it was desired to use off-the-shelf marine propellers to make a counter-rotating pair for a high speed autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). Counter-rotating propellers were needed to provide roll control for the AUV. Pre-existing counter-rotating propeller design methods were not applicable because they all require inputs of complex propeller blade geometries. These geometries are rarely known for off-the-shelf propellers. This study proposes a new method for predicting the counter-rotating performance of unmatched propeller sets. It is suggested here that propeller performance curves can be used to predict counter-rotating thrust and torque performance. Propeller performance tests were run in the Virginia Tech Water Tunnel for a variety of small, off-the shelf propellers. The collected data was used to generate the propeller performance curves. The propellers were then paired up and tested as counter-rotating sets. A momentum theory based model was formulated that predicted counter-rotating performance using the propeller performance data. The counter-rotating data was used to determine the effectiveness of the method. A solution was found that successfully predicted the counter-rotating performance of all of the tested propeller sets using six interaction coefficients. The optimal values of these coefficients were used to write two counter-rotating performance prediction programs. The first program takes the forward and aft RPMs and the flow speed as inputs, and predicts the generated thrust and torque. The second program takes the flow speed and the desired thrust as inputs and calculates the forward and aft RPM values that will generate the desired thrust while producing zero torque. The second program was used to determine the optimal counter-rotating set for the HSAUV. / Master of Science

Reverse thrust operations of a model scale Contra-Rotating Open Rotor design were numerically modelled to produce individual rotor thrust and torque results comparable to experimental measurements. The aims of this research were to develop an understanding of the performance and aerodynamics of open rotors during thrust reversal operations and to establish whether numerical modelling with a CFD code can be used as a prediction tool given the highly complex flowfield. A methodology was developed from single rotor simulations initially before building a 3D‘frozen rotor’ steady-state approach to model contra-rotating blade rows in reverse thrust settings. Two different blade pitch combinations were investigated (β1,2 =+30°,- 10° and β1,2 =-10°,-20°). Thrust and torque results compared well to the experimental data and the effects of varying operating parameters, such as rpm and Mach number, were reproduced and in good agreement with the observed experimental behaviour. The main flow feature seen in all the reverse thrust cases modelled, both single rotor and CROR, is a large area of recirculation immediately downstream of the negative pitch rotor(s).This is a result of a large relative pressure drop region generated by the suction surfaces of the negative pitch blades. An initial 3D unsteady sliding-mesh calculation was performed for one CROR reverse thrust case. The thrust and torque values were in poor agreement with experimental values and the disadvantages relating to time costs and required computational resources for this technique were illustrated. However, the results did yield a nominal unsteady variation of thrust and torque due to rotor phase position. Overall the work shows that it may be possible to develop a CROR reverse thrust prediction tool of beneficial quality using CFD models. The research also shows that the frozen rotor approach can be adopted without undermining the fidelity of the results.

No description available.

Ces travaux de doctorat portent sur la réduction du bruit d'origine aérodynamique émis par les ventilateurs et les doublets d'hélices contra-rotatifs. La méthodologie proposée consiste à intégrer des méthodes rapides et précises de prédiction des niveaux sonores dans le processus de conception. Cette thématique a vu son intérêt augmenter depuis que l'Union Européenne a restreint les limites d'exposition au bruit en milieu de travail et dans les zones habitées à proximité des aéroports. Parmi les méthodes numériques employées en aéroacoustique, les méthodes hybrides de prédiction du bruit sont considérées comme particulièrement appropriées pour la conception automatisée du fait de leur coût modéré en temps de calcul. Ces méthodes séparent la résolution de l'écoulement aérodynamique de celle de la génération du bruit et de sa propagation en champ lointain. L'écoulement aérodynamique est obtenu par simulation numérique, tandis que l'acoustique est traitée par méthodes analytiques. Ces méthodes analytiques développées et validées pour déterminer le bruit d'un profil aérodynamique placé dans un écoulement turbulent seront étendues pour traiter le réponse acoustique de pales en rotation. Ces travaux se concentrent sur deux configurations de ventilateurs basses vitesses. La première configuration traitée est le doublet d'hélices contra-rotatif de 4.2m de diamètre de la soufflerie L-1 de l'Institut von Karman (VKI). Ce système permet d'étudier le phénomène de bruit tonal et à large bande dû à l'impact des sillages turbulents, générés par l'hélice amont, sur l'hélice aval. La deuxième configuration traitée est un ventilateur à quatre pales du CETIAT (France) installé seul dans un large plenum. Ce système permet d'étudier le bruit propre ou bruit de bord de fuite causé par l'interaction des tourbillons générés par l'écoulement autour de la pale avec le bord de fuite de la pale. Pour cette configuration, des données expérimentales sont rendues disponibles dans le cadre d'un projet commun entre le VKI et le CETIAT. Les méthodes hybrides sont développées et mises en oeuvre pour ces deux mécanismes de bruit présents dans les deux configurations de ventilateur. L'objectif de ces travaux de thèse est d'employer les méthodes hybrides ainsi calibrées et validées pour réaliser l'optimisation du doublet d'hélices contra-rotatif de la soufflerie L-1. Le coeur de ces travaux portera sur l'extension des méthodes hybrides pour la prédiction du bruit d'un profil dans un écoulement turbulent uniforme au cas du bruit tonal et à large bande d'interaction de sillages et du bruit à large bande de bord de fuite dans des ventilateurs basses vitesses. Il sera montré qu'il est possible de déterminer le spectre de bruit de manière rapide et précise en s'appuyant sur la connaissance du champ aérodynamique dont les quantités seront extraites de simulations numériques stationnaires (RANS) pour alimenter la formulation analytique retenue. Cette dernière doit être adaptée au mécanisme de bruit étudié, à savoir l'interaction d'une pale de ventilateur avec un sillage ou celle du bord de fuite avec la turbulence qui s'est développé le long de la pale. Les deux mécanismes de bruit sont d'abord modélisés avec des fonctions analytiques qui sont calibrés avec les données des simulations numériques. Les modèles de sources de bruit ainsi que les estimations finales de spectre de bruit sont comparées aux données expérimentales disponibles et à des simulations directes. Enfin la méthodologie retenue est mise en oeuvre dans le cadre de l'optimisation du doublet d'hélices L-1 au moyen d'un algorithme génétique. L'étude détaillée de la sensibilité des paramètres et des contraintes de l'optimisation apporte un nouveau regard sur l'optimisation multi-objectif efficacité-bruit qui sera de plus en plus utilisée pour la conception de turbomachine dans le futur. / Abstract : The context of this thesis is the reduction of noise emitted by ventilation fans and aeronautical counter-rotating open rotors, which will be achieved by implementing fast and accurate noise prediction methods in the design process. The interest towards this subject has increased since the European Union enforced lower limits of exposure to noise in work environments and also to environmental noise in the proximity of airports. In the field of computational aeroacoustics, hybrid methods for noise prediction are considered particularly suitable for use in an automated design procedure due to their low computational cost. In fact they split the description of the flow field, which is made by computational fluid dynamics, from the quantification of the source of noise and of its propagation, obtained by using analytic formulations. Such analytic methods have already been used successfully for the prediction of the noise emitted by an airfoil placed in a turbulent flow; it is therefore natural to try to extend their applicability to the case of rotating blades. Two application cases have been chosen for this thesis. The first one is the 4.2 m diameter counter-rotating fan of the von Karman Institute (VKI) L1 low-speed wind tunnel, which is used to study the phenomenon of wake-interaction tonal and broadband noise. The second application case is a four-bladed low-speed ventilation fan in which the dominant source of noise is the trailing-edge or self-noise caused by the turbulent eddies passing over the trailing-edge of the blade. In this case, an experimental database has been made available by CETIAT, France, in the framework of a collaborative project with VKI. The final step of the project will be to use the prediction codes developed for both the noise phenomena in the geometric optimization of the L1 counter-rotating fan. The fundamental question that will be addressed in the thesis is how to extend the hybrid CFD-analytic methods to predict noise from an airfoil in a uniform turbulent flow to the case of tonal and broadband wake-interaction noise and trailing-edge broadband noise in low-speed fans. It will be shown that it is possible to provide a fast and reasonably accurate prediction of the spectrum of noise emitted by low-speed fans by extracting flow data from Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations and using them as input to Amiet's analytic formulation, provided that this has been carefully adapted to the studied noise generation phenomenon, i.e. the interaction of the leading-edge of a fan blade with an incoming wake or of the trailing-edge with the turbulent boundary layer over the blade surface. Concerning the methodology, both noise generation mechanisms will first be modeled with analytic functions, then the necessary flow field input will be extracted from RANS simulations and the models will be validated with respect to experimental data, whenever possible, or to higher fidelity simulations. The last step of the project is the application of these noise prediction methods to the shape optimization of the L-1 fan blades by means of a genetic algorithm. The sensitivity analysis of the design parameters and of the constraints used in the optimization process provides a new perspective on the multi-objective efficiency-noise optimization approach which will be increasingly used in turbomachinery design in the future.

This work investigated a numerical approach to the search of a maximum heat transfer rate density (the overall heat transfer dissipated per unit of volume) from a two-dimensional laminar multiscale array of cylinders in cross-flow under an applied fixed pressure drop and subject to the constraint of fixed volume. It was furthermore assumed that the flow field was steady state and incompressible. The configuration had two degrees of freedom in the stationary state, that is, the spacing between the cylinders and the diameter of the smaller cylinders. The angular velocity of the cylinders was in the range 0 ≤ ϖ, ≤ 0.1. Two cylinders of different diameters were used, in the first case, the cylinders were aligned along a plane which lay on their centrelines. In the second case, the cylinder leading edge was aligned along the plane that received the incoming fluid at the same time. The diameter of the smaller cylinder was fixed at the optimal diameter obtained when the cylinders were stationary. Tests were conducted for co-rotating and counterrotating cylinders. The results were also compared with results obtained in the open literature and the trend was found to be the same. Results showed that the heat transfer from a rotating array of cylinders was enhanced in certain cases and this was observed for both directions of rotation from an array which was aligned on the centreline. For rotating cylinders with the same leading edge, there is heat transfer suppression and hence the effect of rotation on the maximum heat transfer rate density is insignificant. This research is important in further understanding of heat transfer from rotating cylinders, which can be applied to applications ranging from contact cylinder dryers in the chemical processes industry and rotating cylinder electrodes to devices used for roller hearth furnaces. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering / unrestricted

The main objective of this thesis is to design blades for the axial pump with two counter-rotating rotors for design point. Then compare results with the standard concept with one runner and guide blades.

This diploma thesis deals with hydraulic design and optimization of the blades of the axial pump. Main objective of the thesis is to design two stage pump with counter-rotating rotors meeting conditions of design point. In addition to the design solution the thesis includes theoretical part which deals with dividing and function description of hydrodynamic pumps.

Nowadays Snecma focuses on new engine architectures in order to meet the future demands in civil aviation. One of these considered concepts is aircrafts powered by counter rotating fan engines which aim at tackling both noise and polluting emissions. A powerful way to reduce the perceived noise is to reduce the fan rotating speeds, which requires to lower fan pressure ratio. This thesis continues a study on an innovative counter rotating fan architecture carried out by Snecma from 2005 to 2010 for VITAL (European Commission funded project). It is a way to meet the noise target while maintaining acceptable engine dimensions and matching installation constraints since each fan has a smaller diameter than the current ones, and an individual low pressure ratio. Therefore the drag is decreased and less fuel is burnt. In order to fulfill these ambitious objectives, the first step of this thesis is to use the code of the VITAL model developed with Janus (Snecma in-house code) in order to create a new code for the PROOSIS software. When modeling two counter rotating fans, the key point is to take into account the influence from the first stage on the second one.  Since the aft fan “sees” a perturbed flow by the inlet fan wake, its characteristic map is not the usual one anymore. One major challenge was the new design of a two separated flow and three-spool counter rotating engine driven by a gearbox which meets the very high bypass ratio target. The model finally turned out to be operational for a relevant set of initialization parameters and thus makes now possible more accurate studies on counter rotating turbofan engines in the R&T unit.

No description available.

Three-dimensional large-eddy simulations (LES) of single and multiple jets in cross-flow (JICF) were conducted using the 19-bit Lattice Boltzmann Equation (LBE) method coupled with a conventional Navier-Stokes (NS) finite-volume scheme. In this coupled LBE-NS approach, the LBE-LES was employed to simulate the flow inside jet nozzles, while the NS-LES was used to simulate the cross-flow. The key application area was to study the micro-blowing technique (MBT) for drag control similar to recent experiments at NASA/GRC. A single jet in the cross-flow case was used for validation purposes, and results were compared with experimental data and full LBE-LES simulation. Good agreement with data was obtained. Transient analysis of flow structures was performed to investigate the contribution of flow structures to the counter-rotating vortex pair (CRVP) formation. It was found that both spanwise roller (at the lee side of the jet) and streamwise vortices (at the jet-side) contribute to the generation of the CRVP. Span-wise roller at the corner of the jet experiences high spanwise vortex compression as well as high streamwise vortex stretch. As a result, they get realigned, mix with the jet-side streamwise vortices, and eventually generate the CRVP. Furthermore, acoustic pulses were used to test the proper information exchange from the LBE domain to the NS domain, and vice-versa. Subsequently, MBT over a flat plate with porosity of 25 percent was simulated using nine jets in a compressible cross-flow at a Mach number of 0.4. Three cases with injection ratios of 0.003, 0.02 and 0.07 were conducted to investigate how the blowing rate impacts skin friction. It is shown that MBT suppressed the near-wall vortices and reduced the skin friction by up to 50 percent. This is in good agreement with experimental data.