The contributions of vortex stretching, dilatation, baroclinic torque, and viscous diffusion to vorticity transport are experimentally investigated in a high-Reynolds number cavity combustor using high-speed particle image velocimetry and broadband chemiluminescence. An adaptive wall geometry forming converging, diverging, and nominal configurations is implemented to study the effects of pressure gradient on local flow physics and vorticity dynamics. The spatial profiles of the local turbulence terms are conditioned on the mean flame front to characterize the influence of the pressure gradient field and exothermic heat release on vortex dynamics in the cavity. In addition to isolate the influence of combustion on the flow, a nonreacting analysis is performed and a correlation is made between combustor geometry and the turbulence transport processes. Vorticity transport through dilatation was found to be significant relative to the other transport terms across all the configurations studied. These results contrast with direct numerical simulations of high Reynolds number flows in homogeneous isentropic turbulence. In addition, a scaling is proposed to quantify the significance of the flow induced vorticity and pressure fields on dilatation and baroclinic torque vorticity production. Experimental studies of similar confined combustors show a similar trend to the numerical studies with baroclinic torque dominating the transport mechanisms, motivating this study to understand the dependence of vorticity transport on the underlying flow physics.

La dynamique instable des jets tournants est étudiée, en tenant compte des variations de masse volumique au sein de l'écoulement. Un code de simulation numérique directe permettant de résoudre les équations de Navier-Stokes à masse volumique variable a été développé, en utilisant une méthode originale et efficace pour résoudre le champs de pression. Analytiquement, deux modes instables bidimensionnels ont été mis en évidence, et sont identifiés comme des modes de Couette-Taylor et de Rayleigh-Taylor, ainsi qu'un troisième mode tridimensionnel, du à un couplage de vitesse. La dynamique instable de cet écoulement résulte d'une compétition entre ces trois modes, et les simulations numériques montrent que ces modes perdurent non linéairement. Ensuite, le comportement spatio-temporel de cette instabilité est étudiée par simulation numérique directe, et il a été montré qu'il existe une transition vers des modes absolument instables, sous l'effet du rapport de densité s ainsi que du taux de rotation q. Cette dynamique est également étudiée expérimentalement au travers de plusieurs méthodes de mesures, et la présence de mode globaux auto-entretenus est mise en évidence qui sont en bon accord avec les résultats numériques. Finalement, le phénomène de l'éclatement tourbillonnaire est étudié, et montre le rôle prépondérant de la viscosité réelle. En effet, l'éclatement tourbillonnaire est un mécanisme permettant de soulager le système de l'intensification de la vorticité, au travers de la viscosité, alors qu'il n'apparaît pas en traitant les équations d'Euler tronquées. / The unstable dynamics of a swirling jet flow is studied, including density variations within the flow. A direct numerical simulation method was developed to solve variable density Navier-Stokes equations, using an accurate and efficient pressure solver. Analitically, two unstable bi-dimensionnal modes are highlighted, and are identified as Couette-Taylor and Rayleigh-Taylor modes. A three-dimensionnal mode is also highlighted, wich is created by the shear. Numerical simulations show that those modes are nonlinearly persistant. Then, the spatio-temporal instability behaviour is studied numerically, and show that the instability undergoes to a convective/absolute transition with density ratio s and rotation rate q. This dynamic is also studied experiementally through different methods, and Global selfsustained modes are highlighted wich are in ggod agreement with numerical results. Finally, the vortex breakdown phenomenon is studied, and show the crucial role of real viscosity. Indeed, the vorticity intensification is relaxed through the viscosity effect, while it is not treating the truncated Euler Equations.

Bubbly turbulent flows occur in a variety of industrial, naval and geophysical problems. In these flows, the bubbles in the flow interact with turbulence and/or vortical structures present in the continuous phase, resulting in bubble motion and deformation, and at the same time modifying the turbulence and/or vortical structures. Despite the fact that this has been a subject of interest for some time, mechanisms of bubble break-up due to turbulence and turbulence modulation due to bubbles are not well understood. To help understand this two-way coupled problem, we study in this thesis, the interaction of single and multiple bubbles with vortical structures; the thesis being broadly divided in to three parts. In the first part, we study the interaction of a single bubble with a single vortical structure, namely a vortex ring, formed in the continuous phase (water). This may be thought of as a simplified case of the interaction of bubbles with vortical structures in any turbulent flow. We then increase the complexity and study the interaction of a single bubble with naturally occurring vortical structures present in a fully developed turbulent channel flow, and then finally to the case of a large number of bubbles injected in to a fully developed turbulent channel. The bubble motions and deformations in all three cases are directly imaged using high speed visualizations, while the flow field information is obtained using time-resolved Particle-Image Velocimetry (PIV) in the first two cases, and from pressure drop measurements within the channel in the latter case. The interaction of a single vortex ring with a bubble has been studied for a large range of vortex ring strengths, represented in terms of a Weber number (We). We find that in all cases, the bubble is first captured by the low pressure within the core of the ring, then stretched azimuthally within the core, and gradually broken up in to a number of smaller bubbles. Along with these bubble deformations, the vorticity within the core of the ring is also modified significantly due to bubble capture. In particular, at low We, we find that the core of the ring fragments as a result of the interaction resulting in a large reduction in the enstrophy of the ring and its convection speed. In the second part of the thesis, interaction of a single bubble with naturally occurring vortical structures present in a fully developed turbulent channel is studied. In this case, single bubbles of different sizes are injected either from bottom or top wall into a channel at Reynolds number of about 60,000. We study the trajectories of the single bubble, and also investigate the effect that such bubbles have on the naturally occurring vortical structures present in these flows. The injected bubble is found to have three broadly different types of bubble paths when injected from the bottom wall, which are sliding along the wall, bouncing motions and vertical escape from the vicinity of the wall. Even at the same bubble diameter Db and channel flow Re, we find that different realizations show considerable variations, with all three bubble paths being possible. PIV measurements of a bubble captured by a naturally occurring vortical structure in the flow, shows a more rapid decrease in enstrophy compared to naturally occurring structures in the absence of bubbles, as seen in the interaction of a bubble with a vortex ring. We also find that the bubble can interact with multiple vortical structures, depending on their strength and spatial distribution in the flow, resulting in a complex bouncing bubble motion. In the third part of the study, a large number of bubbles are injected in to the channel through porous plates fixed at the top and bottom channel walls. The main parameters here are the channel Re, bubble void fraction (α) and the orientation of injection. In this case, in addition to bubble visualizations, the pressure drop through the channel is measured at different vertical locations. These measurements show large vertical variations in the measured pressure drop due to the presence of bubbles. The overall drag reduction in these cases is obtained from an integral of the pressure drop variation along the vertical direction. The visualizations show a number of bubble dynamics regimes depending on the parameters, with possibilities of both increased and decreased drag compared to the reference no bubble case. From simultaneous measurements, we relate the variations in drag reduction to the different bubble dynamics regimes. We find that at the same void fraction (α), the drag reduction obtained can be very different due to changes in bubble dynamics regimes caused by changes in other parameters. Top wall injection is observed to give good drag reductions over a wide range of flow Re and α, but is seen to saturate beyond a threshold α. In contrast, the bottom wall injection case shows that drag reduction continuously increases with αat high Re. The present study shows a maximum of about 60% increase and a similar 60% reduction in wall drag over the entire range of conditions investigated.

Defective or diseased native valves have been replaced by bileaflet mechanical heart valves (BMHVs) for many years. However, severe complications still exist, and thus blood damage that occurs in BMHV flows must be well understood. The aim of this research is to numerically study platelet damage that occurs in BMHV flows. The numerical suspension flow method combines lattice-Boltzmann fluid modeling with the external boundary force method. This method is validated as a general suspension flow solver, and then validated against experimental BMHV flow data. Blood damage is evaluated for a physiologic adult case of BMHV flow and then for BMHVs with pediatric sizing and flow conditions. Simulations reveal intricate, small-scale BMHV flow features, and the presence of turbulence in BMHV flow. The results suggest a shift from previous evaluations of instantaneous flow to the determination of long-term flow recirculation regions when assessing thromboembolic potential. Sharp geometries that may induce these recirculation regions should be avoided in device design. Simulations for predictive assessment of pediatric sized valves show increased platelet damage values for potential pediatric valves. However, damage values do not exceed platelet activation thresholds, and highly damaged platelets are found far from the valve. Thus, the increased damage associated with resized valves is not such that pediatric valve development should be hindered. This method can also be used as a generic tool for future evaluation of novel prosthetic devices or cardiovascular flow problems.

The flow field and forces on an isolated oscillating NACA 0012 airfoil in a uniform flow is studied using viscous vortex particle method. The simulations are carried out at very low chord (c) based Reynolds number (Re=1000), motivated by the current interest in development of Micro Air Vehicles (MAV). The airfoil is forced to oscillate in both heave and pitch at different normalized oscillation frequencies (f), which is represented by the non-dimensional reduced frequency fc/U).( From the unsteady loading on the airfoil, the net energy transfer to the airfoil is calculated to determine the propensity for the airfoil to undergo self-induced oscillations or flutter at these very low Reynolds numbers. The simulations are carried out using a viscous vortex particle method that utilizes discrete vortex elements to represent the vorticity in the flow field. After validation of the code against test cases in the literature, simulations are first carried out for the stationary airfoil at different angles of attack, which shows the stall characteristics of the airfoil at this very low Reynolds numbers. For the airfoil oscillating in heave, the airfoil is forced to oscillate at different reduced frequencies at a large angle of attack in the stall regime. The unsteady loading on the blade is obtained at different reduced frequencies. This is used to calculate the net energy transfer to the airfoil from the flow, which is found to be negative in all cases studied. This implies that stall flutter or self-induced oscillations are not possible under the given heave conditions. The wake vorticity dynamics is presented for the different reduced frequencies, which show that the leading edge vortex dynamics is progressively more complex as the reduced frequency is increased from small values. For the airfoil oscillating in pitch, the airfoil is forced to oscillate about a large mean angle of attack corresponding to the stall regime. The unsteady moment on the blade is obtained at different reduced frequencies, and this is used to calculate the net energy transfer to the airfoil from the flow, which is found to be positive in all cases studied. This implies that stall flutter or self-induced oscillations are possible in the pitch mode, unlike in the heave case. The wake vorticity dynamics for this case is found to be relatively simple compared to that in heave. The results of the present simulations are broadly in agreement with earlier stall flutter studies at higher Reynolds numbers that show that stall flutter does not occur in the heave mode, but can occur in the pitch mode. The main difference in the present very low Reynolds number case appears to be the broader extent of the excitation region in the pitch mode compared to large Re cases studied earlier. region in the pitch mode compared to large Re cases studied earlier.