Despite its importance in various industrial applications there is still a lack of experimental studies on the dynamic and thermal field of swirling jets in the near-field region. The present study is an attempt to close this lack and provide new insights on the effect of rotation on the turbulent mixing of a passive scalar, on turbulence (joint) statistics as well as the turbulence structure. Swirl is known to increase the spreading of free turbulent jets and hence to entrain more ambient fluid. Contrary to previous experiments, which leave traces of the swirl generating method especially in the near-field, the swirl was imparted by discharging a slightly heated air flow from an axially rotating and thermally insulated pipe (6 m long, diameter 60 mm). This gives well-defined axisymmetric streamwise and azimuthal velocity distributions as well as a well-defined temperature profile at the jet outlet. The experiments were performed at a Reynolds number of 24000 and a swirl number (ratio between the angular velocity of the pipe wall and the bulk velocity in the pipe) of 0.5. By means of a specially designed combined X-wire and cold-wire probe it was possible to simultaneously acquire the instantaneous axial and azimuthal velocity components as well as the temperature and compensate the former against temperature variations. The comparison of the swirling and non-swirling cases clearly indicates a modification of the turbulence structure to that effect that the swirling jet spreads and mixes faster than its non-swirling counterpart. It is also shown that the streamwise velocity and temperature fluctuations are highly correlated and that the addition of swirl drastically increases the streamwise passive scalar flux in the near field. / QC 20101124

Trailing edge noise control is an important problem associated mainly with wind turbines. As turbulence in the air flows over a wind turbine blade, it impacts the trailing edge and scatters, producing noise. Traditional methods of noise control involve modifying the physical trailing edge, or the scattering efficiency. Recently, inspired by the downy covering of owl feathers, researchers developed treatments that can be applied to the trailing edge to significantly reduce trailing edge noise. It was hypothesized that the noise reduction was due to manipulating the incoming turbulence, rather than the physical trailing edge itself, representing a new method of noise control. However, only acoustic measurements were reported, meaning the associated flow physics were still unknown. This thesis describes a comprehensive wall jet experiment to measure the flow effects near the bio-inspired treatments, termed “finlets” and “rails,” and relate those flow effects to the noise reduction. This was done using far-field microphones, a single hot-wire probe, and surface pressure fluctuation microphones. The far-field noise results showed that each treatment successfully reduced the noise, by up to 7 dB in some cases. The surface pressure measurements showed that the spanwise coherence was slightly reduced when the treatments were applied to the trailing edge. The velocity measurements clearly established the presence of a shear layer near the top of the treatments. As a whole, the dataset led to the shear-sheltering hypothesis: the bio-inspired treatments are effective based on reducing the spanwise pressure correlation and by sheltering the trailing edge from turbulent structures with the shear layer they create. / Master of Science / This thesis describes a project aimed at developing a technology inspired by the silent flight of owls, with the end goal of using this technology to reduce the noise generated by wind turbines. Specifically, the phenomenon known as "trailing edge noise" is the primary source of wind turbine noise, and is the noise source of interest here. It occurs when air turbulence (which can be thought of as unsteady air fluctuations) crashes into the rear (trailing) edge of wind turbine blades, scattering and producing noise. Typically, methods of reducing this noise source involve changing the shape of the trailing edge; this may not always be practical for existing wind turbines. Recently, inspired by the downy covering of owl feathers, researchers developed treatments that can be applied directly to the trailing edge, significantly reducing trailing edge noise. This bio-inspired concept was verified with numerous acoustic measurements. Based on those measurements, researchers hypothesized that the noise reduction was achieved by manipulating the incoming turbulence before it scattered off the trailing edge, rather than by changing the existing wind turbine blade, representing a new method of trailing edge noise control. However, as only acoustic measurements (not flow measurements) were reported, the changes in turbulence could not be examined. With the above motivation in mind, this thesis describes a comprehensive wind tunnel experiment to measure the changes in the aerodynamics and turbulence near the bio-inspired treatments, and relate those changes to the reduction in trailing edge noise. This was done using a hot-wire probe to measure the aerodynamics, as well as microphones to measure the radiated noise and surface pressure fluctuations. As a whole, the experimental results led to the shear-sheltering hypothesis: the bio-inspired treatments are effective based on the creation of a shear layer (a thin region between areas with different air speeds) which shelters the trailing edge from some turbulence, as well as by de-correlating surface pressure fluctuations along the trailing edge.

Highly loaded single stage gas turbines are being developed to minimize the turbine size and weight. Such highly loaded turbines often result in transonic flows, which imply a reduction in the efficiency due to the shock losses. The efficiency of a turbine is defined as the ratio between the real work extracted by the turbine rotor from the fluid and the maximum available enthalpy for a given pressure ratio. The relationship between turbine performance and design parameters is not yet fully comprehended due to the complexity of the flow field and unsteady flow field interactions. Hence, experimental and numerical studies remain necessary to understand the flow behavior at different conditions to advance the state of the art of the prediction tools. The purpose of the current research is to develop a methodology to determine the efficiency with an accuracy better than 1 % in a cooled and uncooled high pressure (HP) turbine tested in a short duration facility with a running time of about 0.4s. Such low level of uncertainty requires the accurate evaluation of a large number of quantities simultaneously, namely the mass flow of the mainstream, the coolant, and leakage flows properties, the inlet total pressure and total temperature, the stage exit total pressure, the shaft power, the mechanical losses and the heat transfer. The experimental work is carried out in a compression tube facility that allows testing the turbine at the temperature ratios, Re and Mach numbers encountered in real engines. The stage mass flow is controlled by a variable sonic throat located downstream of the stage exit. Due to the absence of any brake, the turbine power is converted into rotor acceleration. The accurate measurement of this acceleration as well as those of the inertia and the rotational speed provides the shaft power. The inertia of the whole rotating assembly was accurately determined by accelerating and decelerating the shaft with a known energy. The mass-flow is derived from the measured turbine inlet total pressure and the vane sonic throat. The turbine sonic throat was evaluated based on a zero-dimensional model of the turbine. The efficiencies of two transonic turbines are measured at design and off-design conditions. The turbine design efficiency is obtained as 91.8 %. The repeatability of the measurements for 95% confidence level varies between 0.3 % and 1.1 % of the efficiency depending on the test case. The theoretical uncertainty level of 1.2 % is mainly affected by the uncertainty of exit total pressure measurements. Additionally, the effect of vane trailing edge shock formations and their interactions with the rotor blade are analyzed based on the experimental data, the numerical tools and the loss correlations. The changes of blade and vane performances are measured at mid-span for three different pressure ratios which influence the vane and rotor shock mechanisms. Moreover, the unsteady forces on the rotor blades and the rotor disk were calculated by integration of the unsteady static pressure field on the rotor surface.

The increased fatigue loads and decreased power output of a wind turbine placed in the wake of another turbine is a well-known problem when building new wind-power farms and a subject of intensive research. These problems are caused by the velocity gradients and high turbulence levels present in the wake of a turbine. In order to better estimate the total power output and life time of a wind-power farm, knowledge about the development and stability of wind-turbine wakes is crucial. In the present thesis, the flow field around small-scale model wind turbines has been investigated experimentally in two wind tunnels. The flow velocity was measured with both hot-wire anemometry and particle image velocimetry. To monitor the turbine performance, the rotational frequency, the power output and the total drag force on the turbine were also measured. The power and thrust coefficients for different tip-speed ratios were calculated and compared to the blade element momentum method, with a reasonable agreement. The same method was also used to design and manufacture new turbine blades, which gave an estimate of the distribution of the lift and drag forces along the blades. The influence of the inlet conditions on the turbine and the wake properties was studied by subjecting the turbine to both uniform in flow and different types of boundary layer in flows. In order to study the stability and development of the tip vortices shed from the turbine blades, a new experimental setup for phase-locked measurements was constructed. The setup made it possible to introduce perturbations of different frequencies and amplitudes, located in the rear part of the nacelle. With a newly developed method, it was possible to characterize the vortices and follow their development downstream, using only the streamwise velocity component. Measurements were also performed on porous discs placed in different configurations. The results highlighted the importance of turbine spacings. Both the measurements on the turbine and the discs were also used to compare with large eddy simulations using the actuator disc method. The simulations managed to predict the mean velocity fairly well in both cases, while larger discrepancies were seen in the turbulence intensity. / <p>QC 20140424</p>

Examensarbetet har utförts hos RotoSub AB i Linköping. RotoSub fokuserar på innovativa lösningar inom brusreducering för fläktar och är även utvecklingspartner med det österrikiska företaget Noctua, som utvecklar och tillverkar kompaktfläktar och processorkylare inom elektronikbranschen. Under examensarbetet har en flödestestkammare för kompaktfläktar utvecklats och tillverkats. Testkammaren utnyttjar ett högupplöst motstånd som ger möjlighet till ett flertal driftpunkter för att konstruera detaljerade fläktkurvor. Detta låter RotoSub noggrant analysera och undersöka fläktkaraktäristiken under utvecklingsstadiet. I rapporten undersöks två metoder för att bestämma luftflödet genom testkammaren. Däribland en känd geometri i form av munstycken, enligt den amerikanska standarden ANSI/AMCA 210-16 samt utnyttjandet av en varmtrådsanemometer. Vidare undersöks alternativ för att konstruera ett högupplöst motstånd med hög pålitlighet och repeterbarhet, samt en tryckmätningsmetod som tillåter en jämn avläsning av det statiskatrycket som testfläkten ger upphov till. Under utvecklingen tillverkades prototyper där koncept testades och utvärderades, innan slutprodukten kunde modelleras i ett CAD-program för att slutligen tillverkas fysiskt. Slutprodukten tillverkades huvudsakligen i styren-akrylnitril (SAN) samt ett fåtal komponenter i polylaktid (PLA) och aluminium. Testkammaren använder sig av en tryckring med fyra tryckportar, en varmtrådsanemometer för att mäta luftflödet samt en roterande skiva som drivs av en stegmotor för att högupplöst variera motståndet i testkammaren. Testkammaren har visat sig kapabel att konstruera fläktkurvor för samtliga fläktstorlekar undersökta under arbetet med god repeterbarhet. Vidare arbete finns gällande tätning, då ett visst läckage finns i testkammaren vilket ger ett systematiskt fel i fläktkurvorna vid låga flöden där maximalt statiskt tryck inte kan uppnås. / This undergraduate thesis has been carried out at RotoSub AB in Linköping, Sweden. RotoSub develop innovative solutions for noise-reduction in fans. RotoSub are also development partners to the Austrian company Noctua, who design and develop fans and processor coolers for the electronics industry. During the thesis a compact airflow test chamber has been designed and constructed. The test chamber utilises a high-resolution load to measure and create a fan curve. The high-resolution load ensures that a large amount of operating points can be measured, which gives RotoSub the opportunity to closely analyse the characteristics of the fan being tested. In this thesis two different methods of measuring the airflow through the test chamber have been studied. Firstly a method of using nozzles to calculate the flow according to the standard ANSI/AMCA 210-16. Secondly the use of hot-wire anemometry to measure the airflow through the test chamber. Methods of measuring static pressure behind the test fan with high accuracy and stable readings have also been studied. Different high-resolution loads have been studied to ensure high repeatability and reliability. During the development phase, prototypes of the different components were created to allow for testing and evaluation before a final design was chosen. After the designs for each component was decided, the final design was modelled in CAD before being fabricated and constructed. The construction mostly utilises styrene-acrylonitrile (SAN) but with certain components made from polylactic acid (PLA) and aluminium. Pressure readings are taken behind the fan being tested using static ports placed on the outside of a hollow diffuser, mounted on the inlet of the test chamber. The hollow diffuser is filled with foam to stabilise the pressure readings. The chosen method of measuring airflow through the test chamber was hot-wire anemometry for its broad measurement range, high accuracy and simplicity in implementation. The design of the high-resolution load was chosen to be a rotating gate with two ports. As the gate rotates these ports openor close. The rotating gate is driven by a stepper-motor. This design allowed for very fine control at high loads and ensures reliable operation with a minimal amount of moving parts. Tests with the finished test chamber have shown that the test chamber is capable of measuring and creating high-resolution fan curves with high repeatability. However the test chamber cannot measure static pressure at zero flow as there are currently leaks within the test chamber that allows a small amount of flow through the chamber when the variable load is fully closed. This leads to a systematic error when creatingfan curves, mainly at lower flow rates and higher static pressures. Further work with this test chamber is needed to reduce leaks, which would improve measurement precision.

Many industrial applications acquire necessary thermal energy through the combustion process. The basic element of each combustion appliance is a burner and one~part~of~it~is a~nozzle system that supplies fuel to a combustion chamber. The geometry of the fuel nozzle significantly affects the intensity of mixing the fuel with the combustion air and thus the stability of the combustion. The main subject of~this diploma thesis is~determination of~velocity coefficients for nozzles with different geometries. The knowledge of~correct values of~velocity coefficients is a key parameter for the design of~the burner and~its subsequent operation. For the calculation of~velocity coefficients, the exit nozzle velocities were used. For chosen nozzles, a~theoretical exit nozzle velocities were calculated. They were compared with the actual exit nozzle velocities, which were measured experimentally using the hot-wire anemometry, and with velocities, which were calculated using the CFD simulation method.

A burner is very important device in process furnaces that significantly affect the production of emissions during the combustion process. One of the key things in development of the modern low-NOX burners is the evaluation of flow field downstream of an axial blade swirler inside the burner. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is often used to predict the attributes of the flow. Predicted values should be validated with measurement. It is the reason why the velocity fields for several choosen swirlers were measured. The hot wire anemometry was choosen and the dual-sensor probe was used during the measurement. The data can be then used for CFD validation. This thesis describes procedure of measurement set-up. The experimental facility was designed according to the anemometry method. The new probe traversing system was designed, which provides desired accuracy. Five different swirlers were measured. Large data set, need for customized post-processing and control over calculation procedures lead to new software design. For each swirler the velocity profiles were gathered and the swirl numbers calculated. That final data were transferred in to graphical format. Uncertainty of measured data was calculated. Results show counter-rotating flow in some areas closed to the swirler. Some drawbacks of current measurement set-up are discussed. Based on the thesis reader can obtain the information and knowledge for consequent measurements of swirl burners velocity profiles.

This thesis deals with turbulent flows in 90 degree curved pipes of circular cross-section. The flow cases investigated experimentally are turbulent flow with and without an additional motion, swirling or pulsating, superposed on the primary flow. The aim is to investigate these complex flows in detail both in terms of statistical quantities as well as vortical structures that are apparent when curvature is present. Such a flow field can contain strong secondary flow in a plane normal to the main flow direction as well as reverse flow. The motivation of the study has mainly been the presence of highly pulsating turbulent flow through complex geometries, including sharp bends, in the gas exchange system of Internal Combustion Engines (ICE). On the other hand, the industrial relevance and importance of the other type of flows were not underestimated. The geometry used was curved pipes of different curvature ratios, mounted at the exit of straight pipe sections which constituted the inflow conditions. Two experimental set ups have been used. In the first one, fully developed turbulent flow with a well defined inflow condition was fed into the pipe bend. A swirling motion could be applied in order to study the interaction between the swirl and the secondary flow induced by the bend itself. In the second set up a highly pulsating flow (up to 40 Hz) was achieved by rotating a valve located at a short distance upstream from the measurement site. In this case engine-like conditions were examined, where the turbulent flow into the bend is non-developed and the pipe bend is sharp. In addition to flow measurements, the effect of non-ideal flow conditions on the performance of a turbocharger was investigated. Three different experimental techniques were employed to study the flow field. Time-resolved stereoscopic particle image velocimetry was used in order to visualize but also quantify the secondary motions at different downstream stations from the pipe bend while combined hot-/cold-wire anemometry was used for statistical analysis. Laser Doppler velocimetry was mainly employed for validation of the aforementioned experimental methods. The three-dimensional flow field depicting varying vortical patterns has been captured under turbulent steady, swirling and pulsating flow conditions, for parameter values for which experimental evidence has been missing in literature. / QC 20120425

Rotating-disk flow has been investigated not only as a simple model of cross flow instability to compare with swept-wing flow but also for industrial flow applications with rotating configurations. However the exact nature of laminar-turbulent transi- tion on the rotating-disk flow is still major problem and further research is required for it to be fully understood, in particular, the laminar-turbulent transition process with absolute instability. In addition the studies of the rotating-disk turbulent boundary- layer flow are inadequate to understand the physics of three-dimensional turbulent boundary-layer flow. In present thesis, a rotating-rotating disk boundary-layer flow has been inves- tigated experimentally using hot-wire anemometry. A glass disk with a flat surface has been prepared to archieve low disturbance rotating-disk environment. Azimuthal velocity measurements using a hot-wire probe have been taken for various conditions. To get a better insight into the laminar-turbulent transition region, a new way to describe the process is proposed using the probability density function (PDF) map of azimuthal fluctuation velocity. The effect of the edge of the disk on the laminar-turbulent transition process has been investigated. The disturbance growth of azimuthal fluctuation velocity as a function of Reynolds number has a similar trend irrespective of the various edge conditions. The behaviour of secondary instability and turbulent breakdown has been in- vestigated. It has been found that the kinked azimuthal velocity associated with secondary instability just before turbulent breakdown became less apparent at a cer- tain wall normal heights. Furthermore the turbulent breakdown of the stationary mode seems not to be triggered by its amplitude, however, depend on the appearance of the travelling secondary instability. Finally, the turbulent boundary layer on a rotating disk has been investigated. An azimuthal friction velocity has been directly measured from the azimuthal velocity profile in the viscous sub-layer. The turbulent statistics normalized by the inner and outer sclaes are presented. / QC 20120529

The development of the constant voltage anemometer (CVA) for the boundary layer data system (BLDS) has been motivated by a need for the explicit autonomous measurement of velocity fluctuations in the boundary layer. The frequency response of a sensor operated by CVA has been studied analytically and experimentally. The thermal lag of the sensor is quantified by a time constant, MCVA. When the time constant is decreased, the half-amplitude cut-off frequency, fCVA, is increased, thereby decreasing the amount of attenuation during measurements. In this thesis, three main approaches have been outlined in theory and tested experimentally to determine the feasibility and effectiveness of implementing them with CVA to limit attenuation: operation at higher Vw, implementation of software compensation, and utilization of smaller diameter sensors. Operation of CVA at higher voltage results in little improvement in frequency response but is accompanied by increased danger of wire burnout. However, sensors do need to be operated at high wire voltages to be more sensitive to velocity fluctuations and less sensitive to temperature fluctuations, without reaching a temperature high enough for wire burnout. Software compensation of the CVA output has been shown not to be useful for measurements with BLDS. The electrical noise present in the CVA measurement system is amplified by the correction algorithm and creates measurements that are not representative of the fluctuations being measured. Decreasing sensor diameter leads to a significant decrease of MCVA and therefore increase of fCVA. Under similar operating conditions, a 2.5 micron diameter sensor showed less roll off in the frequency spectra (measured higher turbulence intensities) than a 3.8 micron diameter sensor for tests in both a turbulent jet and in a turbulent boundary layer. Smaller sensors are more fragile and have been shown to have a decrease in sensitivity as compared to larger sensors; however, for some applications, the increase in frequency response may be worth the trade-off with fragility and sensitivity.