Trailing edge noise is a common noise source in aerodynamic applications, such as wind turbines, duct fan blades, and propellers. As sound is a nuisance for people near this machinery, methods of reducing trailing edge noise are being investigated. A proven method of trailing edge noise reduction is using a serrated trailing edge. Many prior experiments have shown that a trailing edge with sawtooth serrations can reduce trailing edge noise compared to a straight trailing edge, but the mechanism by which sawtooth serrations reduce noise is not fully understood. Previous theoretical models have assumed that the turbulence field convecting past a serrated trailing edge is unchanged by the presence of the serrations, but experiments have shown that this is not the case in reality. This work attempts to further explore the mechanisms behind why trailing edge serrations reduce trailing edge noise. Additionally, it evaluates the usefulness of a wall jet wind tunnel for use in the study of serrated trailing edges. Experiments were conducted in an anechoic wall jet wind tunnel using a straight trailing edge configuration and a serrated trailing edge configuration. It was found that there may be differences in the unsteady surface pressure over serrated edges in one-sided flows as compared to two-sided flows, like on that of an airfoil, most notably in relation to the magnitude of the unsteady pressure on the serrations. In the wall jet and in agreement with other studies, it was found that the unsteady pressure fluctuations increase towards the tip of the serration in one-sided flows. This is counter to what is found in some studies of two-sided flows. Good agreement was found between some models of the wavenumber-frequency wall pressure spectrum of a turbulent boundary layer and the measured wall pressure spectrum on the straight trailing edge, and these models also produced good predictions of the noise produced by this trailing edge using Amiet's equation. A surface pressure microphone array was used to estimate the zero spanwise wavenumber surface pressure spectrum. This spectrum was used in Amiet's method to predict the measured trailing edge noise. Predictions using the wavenumber-filtered measurement tended to overpredict the measured far field noise most likely due to the inclusion of broader wavenumber content through the array's side lobe response and the breadth of the main lobe. The serrated trailing edge was found to increase coherence between two points on the same serration while reducing coherence between two points on different serrations. It was concluded that the presence of the serrations decorrelates small-scale turbulent eddies. Additionally, it was found that while the serrated trailing edge did reduce the noise produced, its destructive effect on the geometry-based resonance of the straight trailing edge configuration may have amplified the magnitude of the reduction. Finally, it was concluded that the serrations do indeed affect the hydrodynamic field near the trailing edge, and the theoretical models which make the assumption otherwise must be refined. / Master of Science / Trailing edge noise is a common noise source in aerodynamic applications, such as wind turbines, duct fan blades, and propellers. As sound is a nuisance for people near this machinery, methods of reducing trailing edge noise are being investigated. A proven method of trailing edge noise reduction is using a serrated trailing edge. Many prior experiments have shown that a trailing edge with sawtooth serrations can reduce trailing edge noise compared to a straight trailing edge, but the mechanism by which sawtooth serrations reduce noise is not fully understood. This work attempts to further explore the mechanisms behind why trailing edge serrations reduce noise. Experiments were conducted in an anechoic wind tunnel facility. It was found that a one-sided flow over a serrated trailing edge may be significantly different from that over a two-sided flow. Good agreement was found between prediction models and measurements of trailing edge noise. The serrated trailing edge was effective at reducing the coherence of turbulent eddies across the roots of the sawtooth serrations. It was concluded that the serrated trailing edge is effective at reducing noise, and that one means of doing so is decreasing the correlation of small-scale turbulent eddies, and that current models of the flow over serrations may need to be refined.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has been applied to investigate two aspects of a mixing process for high level nuclear waste tanks. Through CFD the applicability of Poreh’s correlations that are currently used to describe the radial wall jets in the Pulse Jet Mixing (PJM) process were assessed. In addition, simulations were conducted in order to investigate mean hydrodynamic characteristics of sparged non-Newtonian fluids for the use in the PJM process. Three single phase turbulent simulations using the commercial package STAR-CCM+ were successively conducted. A model validated with experimental data was developed and successively altered to see effects of low characteristic ratio and a curved impingement surface. Results suggested that Poreh’s correlations are applicable under PJM conditions and geometry. Lastly, multi-phase Eulerian-Eulerian Simulations were conducted using the commercial software package ANSYS Fluent. Altering the characteristic ratio (h/D) of a sparged non-Newtonian fluid system resulted in a trend of flattening air volume fraction and air axial velocity profiles with decreasing characteristic ratio.

In a novel application of the temporal numerical simulation, an investigation ofturbulence modeling techniques is carried for the turbulent wall jet over aconvex surface (Coanda wall jet.) The simultaneous presence of multipleinstability mechanisms and the interaction with the turbulence dynamics at thesolid boundary produces a unique combination of different large turbulentcoherent structures that constitutes both a consistent challenge for numericalsimulations and an ideal test bed for turbulence models.The Temporal Direct Numerical Simulation (TDNS) of the Coanda wall jetrestricts the focus from the global turbulent Coanda wall jet to a smaller, localportion of the flow and offers a wide array of advantages to the present work. Inparticular, the size of the computational domain can be arbitrarily chosen inboth the spanwise and the streamwise directions. This allows to either suppressor enhance individual physical mechanisms and, consequently, to selectivelyreproduce different large coherent structures within the local flow. In the firstpart, temporal numerical simulations are employed to reproduce four differentflow scenarios of the local Coanda wall jet with a level of numerical resolutionthat, because of the reduced size of the computational domain, cannot be matchedby standard DNS of the entire physical flow (spatial DNS, or SDNS.)The TDNS of these four flow scenarios are then used in the second part for ana--posteriori analysis of different turbulence models in order to addresscommon shortcomings shown by Hybrid Turbulence Models (HTM). For each flowscenario, the turbulent flow field is deliberately decomposed in resolved andunresolved flows by the application of different filters in space correspondingto different grid resolution. The behavior of turbulence models can be reproducedfrom the resolved flow and compared to the turbulent stress tensor directlycalculated from the unresolved part of the flow field. Starting from the RANSlimit, turbulence models with different levels of complexity are studied.Successively, the performance of these models is analyzed at intermediatenumerical resolutions between RANS, LES, and DNS. Finally, an improvedformulation of the Flow Simulation Methodology (FSM) is proposed.

A research program was designed to investigate the characteristics of three-dimensional laminar wall jet flow of both Newtonian and two shear-thinning non-Newtonian fluids. The non-Newtonian fluids were prepared from xanthan gum solutions of various concentrations. Both experimental and numerical methodologies were employed in this study. The wall jet was created using a circular pipe of diameter 7 mm and flows into an open fluid tank. The initial Reynolds numbers based on the pipe diameter and jet exit velocity ranged from 250 to 800. The velocity measurements were conducted using a particle image velocimetry technique. The measurements were conducted at several streamwise locations to cover both the developing and self-similar regions. For the numerical study, the complete nonlinear Navier-Stokes equation was solved using an in-house colocated finite volume based CFD code. A Carreau model was employed for the non-Newtonian fluids. The viscosity in the governing equations was obtained explicitly. From the PIV measurements and CFD results, velocity profiles and jet half-widths were extracted at selected downstream locations to study the effects of Reynolds number and specific fluid type on the jet characteristics. It was observed that the numerical results are in reasonable agreement with the experimental data. The decay of maximum velocity, jet spread rates, skin friction coefficient, streamwise velocity profiles, and secondary flows depend strongly on the initial Reynolds number irrespective of the fluid. The results also show that the jet spreads more in the spanwise direction than in the transverse direction in the early flow development whereas the reverse is true in the downstream region. Important differences were observed when the results for the non-Newtonian fluids were compared with those for Newtonian fluid.

A research program was designed to investigate the characteristics of three-dimensional laminar wall jet flow of both Newtonian and two shear-thinning non-Newtonian fluids. The non-Newtonian fluids were prepared from xanthan gum solutions of various concentrations. Both experimental and numerical methodologies were employed in this study. The wall jet was created using a circular pipe of diameter 7 mm and flows into an open fluid tank. The initial Reynolds numbers based on the pipe diameter and jet exit velocity ranged from 250 to 800. The velocity measurements were conducted using a particle image velocimetry technique. The measurements were conducted at several streamwise locations to cover both the developing and self-similar regions. For the numerical study, the complete nonlinear Navier-Stokes equation was solved using an in-house colocated finite volume based CFD code. A Carreau model was employed for the non-Newtonian fluids. The viscosity in the governing equations was obtained explicitly. From the PIV measurements and CFD results, velocity profiles and jet half-widths were extracted at selected downstream locations to study the effects of Reynolds number and specific fluid type on the jet characteristics. It was observed that the numerical results are in reasonable agreement with the experimental data. The decay of maximum velocity, jet spread rates, skin friction coefficient, streamwise velocity profiles, and secondary flows depend strongly on the initial Reynolds number irrespective of the fluid. The results also show that the jet spreads more in the spanwise direction than in the transverse direction in the early flow development whereas the reverse is true in the downstream region. Important differences were observed when the results for the non-Newtonian fluids were compared with those for Newtonian fluid.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is an important semiconducting metal oxide and is expected to play an important role in future applications related to photonic crystals, energy storage, and photocatalysis. Two aspects regarding the combustion synthesis have been investigated; scale-up in laboratory synthesis and advanced nanoparticle synthesis. Concerning the scale-up issue, a novel curved wall-jet (CWJ) burner was designed for flame synthesis. This was achieved by injecting precursors of TiO2 through a central port into different flames zones that were stabilized by supplying fuel/air mixtures as an annular-inward jet over the curved wall. This provides a rapid mixing of precursors in the reaction zone with hot products. In order to increase the contact surface between the precursor and reactants as well as its residence time within the hot products, we proposed two different modifications. The CWJ burner was modified by adding a poppet valve on top of the central port to deliver the precursor tangentially into the recirculating flow upstream within the recirculation zone. Another modification was made by adopting double-slit curved wall-jet (DS-CWJ) configuration, one for the reacting mixture and the other for the precursor instead of the central port. Particle growth of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles and their phases were investigated. Ethylene (C2H4), propane (C3H8), and methane (CH4) were used with varying equivalence ratio and Reynolds number and titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) was the precursor. Flow field and flame structure were quantified using particle image velocimetry (PIV) and OH planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) techniques, respectively. TiO2 nanoparticles were characterized using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman Spectroscopy, and BET nitrogen adsorption for surface area analysis. The flow field quantified by PIV consisted of a wall-jet region leading to a recirculation zone, an interaction jet region, followed by a merged-jet region. The modified CWJ burner revealed appreciable mixing characteristics between the precursor and combustion gases within these regions, with a slight increase in the axial velocity due to the precursor injection. This led to more uniformity in particle size distribution of the synthesized nanoparticles with the poppet valve (first modification). The double-slit modification improved the uniformity of generated nanoparticles at a very wide range of stable experimental conditions. Images of OH fluorescence showed that flames are tightly attached to the burner tip and TTIP has no influence on these flames structures. The particle size was slightly affected by the operating conditions. The phase of TiO2 nanoparticles was mainly dependent on the equivalence ratio and fuel type, which impact flame height, heat release rate and high temperature residence time of the precursor vapor. For ethylene and methane flames, the anatase content is proportional to the equivalence ratio, whereas it is inversely proportional in the case of propane flames. The anatase content reduced by 8% as we changed Re between 8,000 and 19,000, implying that the Re has a slight effect on the anatase content. The synthesized TiO2 nanoparticles exhibited high crystallinity and the anatase phase was dominant at high equivalence ratios (φ >1.6) for C2H4, and at low equivalence ratios (φ <1.3) for the C3H8 flame. Concerning advanced nanoparticle synthesis, a multiple diffusion burner and flame spray pyrolysis (FSP) were adopted in this study to investigate the effect of doping/coating on TiO2 nanoparticles. The nanoparticles were characterized by the previously mentioned techniques in addition to thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) for carbon content, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) for surface chemistry, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis) for light absorbance, inductively coupled plasma (ICP) for metal traces, and superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) for magnetic properties. Results from multi diffusion burner show that doping TiO2 with vanadium changes the phase from anatase to rutile while doping and coating with carbon or SiO2 does not affect the phase. Doping with iron reduces the band gab of TiO2 particles by reducing the conduction band. FSP results show that iron doping changes the valance band of the nanoparticles and enhances their paramagnetic behavior as well as better light absorption than pure titania, which make these particles good candidates for photocatalytic applications.

The far field acoustics generated by turbulent flow over rough surfaces has been experimentally investigated in an acoustically treated wall jet facility. The facility allows direct measurement of the far field sound from small patches of surface roughness, without contamination from edge or other aerodynamic noise sources. The facility is capable of generating turbulent boundary layer flows with momentum thickness Reynolds numbers between 450 and 1160. The variation of surface conditions tested cover the range from hydrodynamically smooth surfaces through most of the transitional range, with h+ variations from 3 to 85. Single microphone narrow band acoustic spectra, measured in the far field, show sound levels as much as 15 dB above the background from 0.186 m2 roughness patches. The measurements revealed the spectral shape and level variations with flow velocity, boundary layer thickness, and roughness size; providing the first data set large enough to assess the affects of many aerodynamic properties on the acoustic spectra. Increases in the size of grit type roughness produced significant increases in acoustic levels. Patches of hydrodynamically smooth roughness generated measurable acoustic levels, confirming that acoustic scattering is at least one of the physical mechanisms responsible for roughness noise. The shapes of the measured spectra show a strong dependence on the form of the surface roughness. The acoustic spectra generated by periodic two-dimensional surfaces have a much narrower louder peak than that generated by three-dimensional grit type roughness. Measurements also show the orientation of the two-dimensional surface significantly affects the acoustic levels and directivity. The variation of sound levels with flow velocity and roughness size suggests the acoustic field is significantly affected by changes in the near wall flow due to the presence of the roughness. Current models of noise generated by rough surfaces predict the general trends seen in measurements for flows over grit and two-dimensional roughness in the range of 20<h+<50. However, in cases with a low Reynolds number or large grit size, where the roughness is likely to significantly affect the hydrodynamic pressure field, the scattering models did not perform as well. / Ph. D.

This study focuses on measuring and normalizing the roughness noise of multiple roughness types across numerous layouts and flow speeds. Using the Virginia Tech Anechoic Wall Jet Facility, far field noise was recording for the flow of a turbulent wall jet boundary layer over cubes, hemispheres, and gravel, with element heights in the range of 14.3 - 55.2% of the boundary layer thickness. The sound radiated from the various layouts showed that the elements acted as independent sources when separated by three element diameters center-to-center or more. When the elements were placed shoulder to shoulder, interaction between the elements and shielding of the higher velocity flow lowered the noise per element produced. The far field roughness noise was then normalized using the theory of Glegg et al. (2007), which assumes a dipole efficiency factor. Comparisons were made between the theoretical drag spectrum model proposed by Glegg et al. (1987) and a modified version of this model made using the empirical data gathered. Overall, the theory of Glegg et al. (2007) succeeds greatly in collapsing the data into its non-dimensional drag spectra, but the original model spectrum did not fit well. The modified spectrum showed much greater fit with the data at all layouts and speeds. The collapse of the data using the theory of Glegg et al. (2007) confirms that roughness noise is dipole in nature. / Master of Science

The aim of this work was to understand the physical requirements as well as to develop methodology required to employ Time Resolved Digital Particle Image Velocimetry (TRDPIV) for measuring high speed, high magnification, near wall flow fields. Previous attempts to perform measurements such as this have been unsuccessful because of both limitations in equipment as well as proper methodology for processing of the data. This work addresses those issues and successfully demonstrates a test inside of a transonic turbine cascade as well as a high speed high magnification wall jet. From previous studies it was established that flow tracer delivery is not a trivial task in a high speed high back pressure environment. Any TRDPIV measurement requires uniform spatial seeding density, but time-resolved measurements require uniform temporal seeding density as well. To this end, a high pressure particle generator was developed. This advancement enhanced current capability beyond what was previously attainable. Unfortunately, this was not sufficient to resolve the issue of seeding all together, and an advanced data reconstruction methodology was developed to reconstruct areas of the flow field that where lost do to inhomogeneous seeding. This reconstruction methodology, based on Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD), has been shown to produce errors in corrected velocities below tradition spatial techniques alone. The combination of both particle generator and reconstruction methodology was instrumental for successfully acquiring TRDPIV measurements in a high speed high pressure environment such as a transonic wind tunnel facility. This work also investigates the development of a turbulent wall jet. This experiment helped in demonstrating the capability of taking high speed high magnification TRDPIV measurements. This experiment was very unique in that it is one of only a few experiments that studied the developing region of these jets. The Reynolds number ranged for this experiment from 150 – 10,000 which corresponded to velocities of 1 - 80 m/s. The results from this experiment showed good agreement with currently published time averaged data. Using scaling laws for fully developed jets a new scaling law was found for the developing region of the jet that could be applied to all Reynolds numbers in this study. A temporal investigation was also carried out using the temporal coefficients from POD. A vortex identification scheme was also applied to all of the Reynolds numbers showing clear trends as Reynolds number increased. / Master of Science

This thesis reports on investigations carried out to study of the effect of horizontal wall jets on rough, fixed and mobile beds in open channel flow. Experimental tests were carried out, using fixed and mobile sediment beds. Computer simulation models for the flow within the jet and resulting sediment transport were developed and their results analysed in this study. In the experimental phase, tests were carried out with both fixed and mobile sediment beds. The shape of the water surface, numerous point velocity measurements and measurements of the evolving scour hole shape were made. Detailed descriptions of the turbulent flow field over a fixed rough bed and for scour holes at equilibrium were obtained for a range of initial jet conditions. Fully turbulent, multiphase flow was modelled using the Fluent Computational Fluid Dynamics software. This was used to analyze the flow caused by a jet in a rectangle open-channel with a rough bed, and also the flow pattern in a channel with a local scour hole. The volume of fluid (VOF) multiphase method and K- model was used to model the fluid flow in both cases. The model predictions of velocity and shear stress were compared against experimental observations. The experimental data was used to develop new empirical relationships to describe the pattern of boundary shear stress caused by a wall jet over fixed beds and in equilibrium scour holes. These relationships were linked with existing bed-load transport rate models in order to predict the temporal evolution of scour holes. An analytical model describing the relationship between the wall jet flow and the development of a local scour hole shape was reported and its predictions compared with experimental data.