Novel amphiphilic graft copolymers with a backbone of poly(norbornene) (PNB) with poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) grafts have been synthesised by a combination of ring opening metathesis and anionic polymerisation methods. The polymer has been prepared with hydrogenous and deuterated grafts and with grafts of different degrees of polymerisation. These graft copolymers spread at the air-water and air-PEO solution interface forming thin films and their organisation and dynamic behaviour is discussed. Monolayer behaviour was characterised from surface pressure isotherms and it was demonstrated that the shape of the isotherm is dependent on graft length and on the concentration of PEO in the subphase. Using neutron reflectometry the organisation of such spread films at the air-water interface have been obtained over a range of surface concentrations for each length of PEO graft. Data were analysed by both exact calculation methods and the partial kinematic approximation and the models adopted were verified by applying the model independent Bayesian analysis. All yield the same description i.e. the hydrophobic backbone remains at the uppermost surface while the PEO grafts penetrate the subphase. The PEO layer increases in thickness with increased surface concentration and graft length. In each case the rate of increase with surface concentration was initially rapid but above a critical concentration, a slower rate was observed. In this latter regime the variation of the tethered layer height scales with surface density (ơ) and degree of polymerisation of the graft (N) as, r(_s) = N(^1.06)ơ(^0.33),which agrees well with scaling and self consistent field theory of polymer brushes. The dynamic behaviour of each copolymer film spread on water has been studied using surface quasi-elastic light scattering. A resonance between the capillary and dilational waves is observed at identical surface concentrations for each copolymer film. The viscoelastic behaviour of the dilational mode is reminiscent of Kramers-Kronig relations. The phenomenon of resistive mode mixing was observed in frequency dependency studies.

Reduction of surface pressure fluctuations is desirable in various aerodynamic and hydrodynamic applications. Over the past few years, studies on canopy surface treatments have been conducted to investigate the fundamental mechanisms of surface pressure attenuation termed as pressure shielding. This work talks about the design, development and experimental testing of unidirectional canopy surface treatments which are evenly spaced arrays of streamwise rods placed parallel to the wall without an entrance condition. The canopy designs are based on surface treatments tested by Clark et al. (2014) inspired by the downy coating on owl wings. The main objective of the work is to establish fundamental physical and mathematical basis for treatments that shield aerodynamic surfaces from turbulent pressure fluctuations, while maintaining the wall-normal transport of momentum and low aerodynamic drag. Experimental testing of these canopy treatments are performed in the Anechoic Wall-Jet facility at Virginia Tech. Different canopy configurations are designed to understand the effect of various geometric parameters on the surface pressure attenuation. The treatment is found to exhibit broadband reduction in the surface pressure spectrum. Attenuation develops in two frequency regions which scale differently depending on two different mechanisms. Canopies seems to reduce the large-scale turbulent fluctuations up to nearly twice the height. Semi-analytical model is developed to predict surface pressure spectra in a wall-jet and canopy flow. The rapid term model shows that the inflection in the streamwise mean velocity profile is the most dominant source of surface pressure fluctuations. Synchronized pressure and velocity measurements elucidate significant features of the sources that could be affecting surface pressure fluctuations. Overall, this study explores the qualitative and quantitative physics behind pressure shielding mechanism which find application particularly in trailing edge noise reduction. / Doctor of Philosophy / Unsteady pressure fluctuations originating from interaction of turbulent flow over surfaces often cause undesirable effects. Trailing edge noise in wind turbines and helicopter blades, cabin noise and interior wind noise are some of noise sources which originate from surface pressure fluctuations. Previous studies have demonstrated that surface treatments help in reducing the unsteady surface pressure fluctuations therefore shielding surfaces and this phenomenon is termed as 'Pressure Shielding'. These are surface treatments inspired from the downy coating on owl's wings. This study is motivated by recent works conducted at Virginia Tech on experimental investigation of unidirectional canopy treatments. These are evenly spaced arrays of streamwise rods held horizontal at the downstream end. Most previous surface treatments contain some entrance condition such as steps, supports or gaps which effect the surface pressure measurements and disturb the incoming flow. In this study, the canopies are developed without any entrance condition therefore assist in capturing the fundamental mechanisms of the flow interaction with the canopy rods.

Les membranes biologiques jouent un rôle essentiel dans la vie cellulaire. Afin d’étudier leur comportement et leurs interactions avec des molécules, des modèles de monocouches lipidiques ont été développés. Leur compression sur balance de Langmuir permet d’obtenir une isotherme pression de surface-aire moléculaire permettant de caractériser notamment les transitions de phase et le comportement interfacial des monocouches. Seules les études de simulations de dynamique moléculaire permettent d’obtenir les propriétés structurales des lipides organisés en monocouche à l’échelle atomique. Nous avons modélisé une monocouche de 1-palmitoyl-2-oléoyl-sn-glycéro-3-phosphocholine (POPC), phospholipides majoritaires des membranes, puis réalisé une série de dynamiques moléculaires à différentes tensions de surface en utilisant GROMACS et le champ de force tout atome GAFF. Une isotherme de compression de POPC a été obtenue pour la première fois par simulation de dynamique moléculaire. L’analyse structurale des POPC a mis en évidence des variations conformationelles avec l’augmentation de la pression ainsi qu'une distribution bimodale de l’orientation des têtes polaires. L’analyse des angles dièdres a permis d’identifier les torsions responsables de cette flexibilité. Un comportement indépendant des chaînes hydrophobes a été observé et corrélé à un assemblage préférentiel des chaînes oléoyle d’une part et palmitoyle d’autre part. La connaissance des propriétés structurales et organisationnelles des monocouches de POPC est essentielle à la caractérisation des interactions mises en jeu dans la cohésion des films lipidiques et fournit une base à l’étude de leur perturbation par des molécules. / Biomembranes play an essential role in many relevant processes in cellular biology. In order to gain insight into their behaviour and interactions with molecules, models such as lipid monolayers have been developed. Monolayer compression on Langmuir trough provides surface pressure – molecular area isotherms, and allows characterisation of phase and interfacial properties of the monolayer. Such a characterisation can be completed by atomistic study of the monolayer phospholipids and molecular interactions from molecular dynamic simulations. Our work is focused on 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC), a lipid comprising a saturated and an unsaturated acyl chain, major lipids in eukaryotic cell membranes. We performed MD simulations at 293 K and 300 K at different surface pressures using the all-atom general amber force field (GAFF). Simulated surface pressure-area isotherms were obtained for the first time, and a good agreement was found with experimental isotherms. Based on the structural analyses, two orientations of the head groups clearly appear. We propose that the conformational variations around the bonds connecting the phosphorus atom to the adjacent oxygen are involved in these specific orientations. Both acyl chains have distinct structural properties upon compression and suggest an independent behavior of the saturated and unsaturated chains that could be correlated with the formation of chain-type clusters observed along the simulated trajectories. Molecular insight in structural properties of POPC monolayer provides essential clues for the study of membrane-molecule interaction.

Much research and experiments have gone into studying idealized wing-body junction flows and their impact on horseshoe vortex and wake formation.  The vortices have been found to generate regions of high surface pressure fluctuations and turbulence that are detrimental to structural components and acoustics.  With the focus in the military and commercial industry on reducing the acoustical impact of aircraft and their engines, very little research has been done to examine the potential impact wing-body junctions may have on acoustics, especially for high lifting bodies such as propellers.  Two similar tests were conducted in the Virginia Tech Open Jet Wind Tunnel where boundary layer measurements, oil flow visualizations, acoustic linear array and surface pressure fluctuation measurements of a baseline Rood airfoil model and two novel junction fairing designs were all taken.  Boundary layer measurements were taken at four locations along the front half of the flat plate and the profiles were shown to be all turbulent despite the low Reynolds number of the flow, (test 1: Re_"<1400, test 2: Re_"<550).  Oil flow visualizations were taken and compared to those of previous researchers and the location of separation and line of low shear along with the maximum width of the wake and width of wake at the trailing edge all scaled relatively well with the Momentum Deficit Factor, defined for wing-body junction flows [Fleming, J. L., Simpson, R. L., Cowling, J. E. & Devenport, W. J., 1993. An Experimental Study of a Turbulent Wing-Body Junction and Wake Flow. Experiments in Fluids, Volume 14, pp. 366-378. ].  A linear microphone array was used to estimate the directivity of the facility acoustic background noise to be used to improve background subtraction methods for surface pressure fluctuation measurements.  Surface pressure fluctuation spectra were taken ahead of the leading edge of the plate and along the surface of the models.  These showed that the fairings reduced pressure fluctuations along the plate upstream of the leading edge, with fairing 1 reducing them to clean tunnel flow levels.  On the surface of the models, the fairings tended to reduce low frequency (<1000Hz) pressure fluctuation peaks when compared to the baseline model and increase the pressure fluctuations in the high frequency range.  Simple scaling arguments indicate that this spectral change may be more beneficial than detrimental as low frequency acoustics especially those between 800 Hz and 1200 Hz are the frequencies that humans perceive as the loudest noise levels.  Scaling the frequencies measured to those of full scale applications using Strouhal numbers show that frequencies below 1000 Hz in this experiment result in frequencies at the upper limit of the human hearing frequency range.  Low frequency acoustic waves also tend to travel farther and high frequency acoustic waves are more apt to be absorbed by the surrounding atmosphere. / Master of Science

Measurements were made in a zero pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer over two roughness patches containing hemispherical and cubical elements. The elements were 3 mm in height and spaced 16.5 mm apart in an array containing 7 streamwise rows and 6 spanwise columns for a total of 42 elements per patch. The boundary layer thickness was approximately 60 mm, so the ratio of element height to that thickness was a large amount at k/δ = 20. A three velocity component laser Doppler velocimeter measured instantaneous velocities. Mean flow and turbulence statistics were calculated as well velocity energy spectra. Surface pressure fluctuations were measured using a two-microphone subtraction method. The results show that hemispherical elements produce larger turbulence quantities in their wakes compared to the cubes. This is due to the hemispheres having a frontal area nearly 60% larger than that of the cubes. The turbulence levels behind the hemispheres is a maximum behind the first streamwise row of elements, and decreases afterwards. The cubical elements maintain a nearly constant amount of turbulence in their wake, signifying little interaction between cubical elements. Surface pressure fluctuations vary little in the streamwise direction of the patches. The hemispherical elements produce a larger sound pressure level behind them than the cube elements do. Velocity spectra results show large normal stress energy for regions at and below the element height. The energy for locations high in the boundary layer increases as the flow moves downstream. Coherency plots show that there is a large correlation between the turbulent structure and production of shear stress at the roughness height. Any measurements taken at or below the roughness height are highly correlated under 10 kHz, while locations higher in the boundary layer are correlated under 2 kHz. / Master of Science

No description available.

No description available.

The aerodynamic flow and fluctuating surface pressure of a plane, turbulent, two-dimensional wall jet flow into still air over smooth and rough surfaces has been investigated in a recently constructed wall jet wind tunnel testing facility. The facility has been shown to produce a wall jet flow with Reynolds numbers based on the momentum thickness, Re<SUB>&delta</SUB> = &deltaU<SUB>m</SUB>/&nu, of between 395 and 1100 and nozzle exit Reynolds numbers, Re<SUB>j</SUB> = U<SUB>m</SUB>b/&nu, of between 16000 and 45000. The wall jet flow properties (&delta, &delta<SUP>*</SUP>, &theta, y<SUB>1/2</SUB>, U<SUB>m</SUB>, u<SUP>*</SUP>, etc.) were measured and characterized over a wide range of initial flow conditions and measurement locations relative to the wall jet source. These flow properties were measured for flow over a smooth flow surface and for flow over roughness patches of finite extent. The patches used in the current study varied in length from 305 mm to 914 mm (between 24 and 72 times the nozzle height, b) and were placed so that the leading edge of the patch was fixed at 1257 mm (x/b = 99) downstream of the wall jet source. These roughness patches were of a random sand grain roughness type and the roughness grain size was varied throughout this experiment. The tests covered roughness Reynolds numbers (k<SUP>+</SUP>) ranging from less than 2 to over 158 (covering the entire range of rough wall flow regimes from hydrodynamically smooth to fully rough). For the wall jet flows over 305 mm long patches of roughness, the displacement and momentum thicknesses were found to vary noticeably with the roughness grain size, but the maximum velocity, mixing layer length scale, y<SUB>/2</SUB>, and the boundary layer thickness were not seen to vary in a consistent, determinable way. Velocity spectra taken at a range of initial flow conditions and at several distinct heights above the flow surface showed a limited scaling dependency on the skin friction velocity near the flow surface. The spectral density of the surface pressure of the wall jet flow, which is not believed to have been previously investigated for smooth or rough surfaces, showed distinct differences with that seen in a conventional boundary layer flow, especially at low frequencies. This difference is believed to be due to the presence of a mixing layer in the wall jet flow. Both the spectral shape and level were heavily affected by the variation in roughness grain size. This effect was most notable in overlap region of the spectrum. Attempts to scale the wall jet surface pressure spectra using outer and inner variables were successful for the smooth wall flows. The scaling of the rough wall jet flow surface pressure proved to be much more difficult, and conventional scaling techniques used for ordinary turbulent boundary layer surface pressure spectra were not able to account for the changes in roughness present during the current study. An empirical scaling scheme was proposed, but was only marginally effective at scaling the rough wall surface pressure. / Ph. D.

This dissertation presents measurements of the far-field noise associated with the interaction of grid-generated turbulence with a series of airfoils of various chord lengths, thicknesses, and camber. The radiated noise was measured for a number of angles of attack for each airfoil to determine the effects of angle of attack on the leading edge noise. Measurements are compared with numerous theories to determine the mechanism driving the production of leading edge noise. Calculations were also made using a boundary element method to determine the effects of airfoil shape on the unsteady loading spectrum on the different airfoils to attempt to explain the far-field noise. Measurements of the unsteady surface pressure on a single airfoil were made for a number of angles of attack to determine the effects of wind tunnel interference corrections on the unsteady surface pressure. These measurements were compared with those of Mish (2003) to determine the effects of the interference correction. An attempt was also made to correlate the unsteady loading on the airfoil with the far-field noise. The airfoils studied were a 0.203-m chord NACA 0012, a 0.61-m chord NACA 0015, a 0.914-m chord NACA 0012, a 0.914-m chord DU96, and a 0.914-m chord S831. All airfoils spanned the entire 1.83-m height of the test section. Measurements were made using the Virginia Tech Stability Wind Tunnel in its acoustic configuration with an anechoic test section with side walls made of stretched Kevlar fabric to reduce aerodynamic interference. Measurements were made in grid-generated turbulence with an integral length scale of 8.2-cm and a turbulence intensity of 3.9%. Far-field noise measurements were made at Mach numbers of 0.087 and 0.117 with various configurations of up to 4 Bruel and Kjaer microphones mounted at an observer angle of 90° measured from the wind tunnel axis. Unsteady surface pressure measurements were made on the NACA 0015 airfoil immersed in the same grid generated turbulence used in the far-field noise study. An array of microphones mounted subsurface along the airfoil chord and a spanwise row was used to measure the unsteady surface pressure. These measurements were made at angles of attack from 0 through 16° in 2° increments. Far-field noise measurements of the leading edge noise show a consistent angle of attack effect. The radiated noise increases as the angle of attack is increased over the frequency range. These effects are small for large integral scale to airfoil chord ratios. The larger airfoils have been shown to generate significantly less leading edge noise at high frequencies, but this effect does not appear to be solely dependent upon the leading edge radius. The leading edge noise can be predicted with accuracy using the method of Glegg et al. (2008). Unsteady surface pressure measurements have been shown to be largely independent of the wind tunnel interference correction as shown by comparison with Mish (2008). The same low frequency reduction described by Mish was seen for an interference correction that was nearly 30% larger. The unsteady sectional lift spectra have been shown to be related to the far-field noise spectra by a factor close to the dipole efficiency factor; however, no correlation could be found between the instantaneous unsteady surface pressure and the radiated noise. The spanwise averaged unsteady pressure difference spectra have been shown to be related to the far-field noise spectra by the dipole efficiency factor. / Ph. D.

The presence of roughness on a surface subject to high Reynolds number flows promotes the formation of a turbulent boundary layer and the generation of a fluctuating pressure field imposed on the surface. While numerous studies have investigated the wall pressure fluctuations over zero-pressure gradient smooth walls, few studies have examined the effects of surface roughness on the wall pressure field. Additionally, due to the difficulties in obtaining high Reynolds number flows over fully rough surfaces in laboratory settings, an even fewer number of studies have investigated this phenomenon under flow conditions predicted to be fully free of transitional effects that would ensure similarity laws could be observed. This study presents the efforts to scale and describe the wall pressure spectrum of a rough wall, high Reynolds number turbulent boundary layer free of transitional effects. Measurements were taken in the Virginia Tech Stability Wind Tunnel for both smooth and rough walls. A deterministic roughness fetch composed of 3-mm hemispheres arranged in a 16.5-mm square array was used for the rough surface. Smooth and rough wall flows were examined achieving Reynolds numbers up to Re_θ = 68700 and Re_θ = 80200 respectively, with the rough wall flows reaching roughness based Reynolds numbers up to k_g⁺ = 507 with a simultaneous blockage ratio of δ/k_g = 76. A new roughness based inner variable scaling is proposed that provides a much more complete collapse of the rough wall pressure spectra than previous scales had provided over a large range of Reynolds numbers and roughness configurations. This scaling implies the presence of two separate time scales associated with the near wall turbulence structure generation. A clearly defined overlap region was observed for the rough wall surface pressure spectra displaying a frequency dependence of Ï ^-1.33, believed to be a function of the surface roughness configuration and its associated transport of turbulent energy. The rough wall pressure spectra were shown to decay more rapidly, but based on the same function as what defined the smooth wall decay. / Master of Science