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The Two Point Correlation Structure of a Cylinder Wake

In this study the complete four dimensional space time correlation function was measured in the wake of an untripped circular cylinder at a Reynolds number of 60 000. This correlation serves as the complete inflow boundary condition for an open rotor ingesting inhomogeneous turbulence. An important aspect of the turbulence ingestion problem is understanding how different inflow boundary conditions effect the sound produced by a rotor. In the present study the turbulence structure of two plane wakes were compared. Measurements completed by a previous study in the wake of a NACA 0012 airfoil were compared with the measurements completed by the present study in the wake of a cylinder. The mean flows of both plane wakes were found to be very similar, however the Reynolds stress profiles show that the cylinder wake is substantially more turbulent. The structures of the two-point correlation function in each wake are also similar, although the cylinder wake had greater maximum correlation values and was correlated at greater separations. The two-point correlation was used along with proper orthogonal decomposition to compute the average instantaneous velocity fields of both wake flows. These velocity fields represent the average eddy structures present in each wake flow. The eddy structure comparisons show that the structures in the cylinder wake are larger and better correlated at longer time delays. / Master of Science / Any fan or propeller that ingests any unsteady flow will produce noise. This is especially important in propeller aircraft and marine vehicles where turbulence is generated from appendages on the vehicle’s body. This self-generated turbulence travels downstream and is eventually drawn into the propeller and produces noise. The broad study that the present work is a part of is concerned with understanding this ingestion noise problem so that the interaction can be better modeled and the sound produced can be predicted. To predict the sound produced by a fan or propeller ingesting turbulence, detailed information about the inflow condition is needed. In the present study the turbulence structure of the wake shed by a circular cylinder at 20 meters per second. The two-point velocity correlation in the wake serves as the complete inflow condition for the turbulence ingestion problem. The structure of the cylinder wake inflow condition was compared with the structure of an airfoil wake to evaluate how the differences in the two flows would influence the sound produced by a rotor ingesting the two conditions. The two flows were found to be quite similar in the mean flow. The cylinder wake was found to be significantly more turbulent than the airfoil wake and was correlated over greater distances. This suggests that the structures in the cylinder wake are larger and remain coherent longer than those in the airfoil wake. The average instantaneous velocity fields were estimated in both wake flows and showed that the structures in the cylinder wake were significantly different from the structures in the airfoil wake. These flow structure comparisons show why the differences seen in the turbulence profiles and two-point correlations exist.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/78296
Date30 June 2017
CreatorsMolinaro, Nicholas Joseph
ContributorsAerospace and Ocean Engineering, Devenport, William J., Alexander, William Nathan, Lowe, K. Todd
PublisherVirginia Tech
Source SetsVirginia Tech Theses and Dissertation
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
FormatETD, application/pdf
RightsIn Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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