Mechanical Engineering - Research Publications
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ItemAn energy-efficient pathway to turbulent drag reduction(NATURE PORTFOLIO, 2021-10-04)Simulations and experiments at low Reynolds numbers have suggested that skin-friction drag generated by turbulent fluid flow over a surface can be decreased by oscillatory motion in the surface, with the amount of drag reduction predicted to decline with increasing Reynolds number. Here, we report direct measurements of substantial drag reduction achieved by using spanwise surface oscillations at high friction Reynolds numbers ([Formula: see text]) up to 12,800. The drag reduction occurs via two distinct physical pathways. The first pathway, as studied previously, involves actuating the surface at frequencies comparable to those of the small-scale eddies that dominate turbulence near the surface. We show that this strategy leads to drag reduction levels up to 25% at [Formula: see text] = 6,000, but with a power cost that exceeds any drag-reduction savings. The second pathway is new, and it involves actuation at frequencies comparable to those of the large-scale eddies farther from the surface. This alternate pathway produces drag reduction of 13% at [Formula: see text] = 12,800. It requires significantly less power and the drag reduction grows with Reynolds number, thereby opening up potential new avenues for reducing fuel consumption by transport vehicles and increasing power generation by wind turbines.
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ItemHeat Transfer Coefficient Estimation for Turbulent Boundary Layers(The University of Queensland, 2020-12-11)Convective heat transfer in rough wall-bounded turbulent flows is prevalent in many engineering applications, such as in gas turbines and heat exchangers. At present, engineers lack the design tools to accurately predict the convective heat transfer in the presence of non-smooth boundaries. Accordingly, a new turbulent boundary layer facility has been commissioned, where the temperature of an interchangeable test surface can be precisely controlled, and conductive heat losses are minimized. Using this facility, we can estimate the heat transfer coefficient (Stanton number, St), through measurement of the power supplied to the electrical heaters and also from measurements of the thermal and momentum boundary layers evolving over this surface. These methods have been initially investigated over a shorter smooth prototype heated surface and compared with existing St prediction models. Preliminary results suggest that we can accurately estimate St in this facility.
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ItemAn investigation of cold-wire spatial resolution using a DNS database(The University of Queensland, 2020-12-11)The effect of spatial resolution of cold-wire anemometry on both the variance and energy spectrum of temperature fluctuations is analyzed through the use of a numerical database. Temperature fluctuation snapshots from a direct numerical simulation (DNS) of a heated smooth-wall turbulent channel flow are spatially averaged in the spanwise direction to simulate the wire filtering. The results show that the wire length does not affect the mean temperature while it significantly attenuates the variance of temperature fluctuations, particularly in the vicinity of the wall. As the filter length grows, the peaks of the one- and two-dimensional energy spectrograms are further attenuated. Limited attenuation is seen when the filter length is smaller than 30 wall units in the vicinity of the wall, whereas a complete suppression of the near-wall energetic peak is observed when the filter length exceeds 100 wall units.
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ItemCharacterizing the turbulent drag properties of rough surfaces with a Taylor-Couette set-up(Cambridge University Press, 2021-07-25)Wall roughness induces extra drag in wall-bounded turbulent flows. Mapping any given roughness geometry to its fluid dynamic behaviour has been hampered by the lack of accurate and direct measurements of skin-friction drag. Here, the Taylor–Couette (TC) system provides an opportunity as it is a closed system and allows direct and reliable measurement of the skin-friction. However, the wall curvature potentially complicates the connection between the wall friction and the wall roughness. Here, we investigate a highly turbulent TC flow, with a hydrodynamically fully rough, rotating inner cylinder, while the outer cylinder is kept smooth and stationary. We carry out particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements in the Twente Turbulent Taylor–Couette (T3C) facility with Reynolds numbers in the range of 4.6 × 105 < Rei < 1.77 × 106. From these we find, while taking into account the influence of the curved walls on the turbulence, that the observed effects of a hydrodynamically fully rough surface are similar for TC turbulence and flat-plate turbulent boundary layer flows (BL). Hence, the equivalent sand grain height ks, that characterizes the drag properties of a rough surface, is similar for both flow geometries. Next, we obtain the dependence of the torque (skin-friction drag) on the Reynolds number for a given wall roughness, characterized by ks, and find agreement with the same results derived from PIV measurements within 5%. Our findings demonstrate that global torque measurements in the TC facility could be well suited to reliably deduce wall-drag properties for any rough surface.
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ItemDispersive stresses in turbulent flow over riblets(Cambridge University Press, 2021-06-25)We carry out direct numerical simulations of turbulent flow over riblets, streamwise- aligned grooves that are designed to reduce drag by modifying the near-wall flow. Twenty riblet geometries and sizes are considered, namely symmetric triangular with tip angle, and, asymmetric triangular, blade and trapezoidal. To save on computational cost, simulations are performed using the minimal-channel flow configuration. With this unprecedented breadth of high-fidelity flow data near the wall, we are able to obtain more general insights into the flow physics of riblets. As observed by García-Mayoral & Jiménez (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 678, 2011, pp. 317-347), we confirm that the drag-change curves of all the present groove geometries better collapse when reported with the viscous-scaled square root of the groove area, rather than the riblet spacing. Using a two-dimensional generalization of the Fukagata-Iwamoto-Kasagi identity in difference form we isolate the different drag-change contributions. We show that the drag increase associated with dispersive stresses carried by secondary flows can be as important as the one associated with the turbulent stresses and the pre-eminence of dispersive stresses can be estimated by the groove width at the riblet mean height.
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ItemThe smooth-wall-like behaviour of turbulence over drag-altering surfaces: a unifying virtual-origin framework(CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS, 2021-03-18)We examine the effect on near-wall turbulence of displacing the apparent, virtual origins perceived by different components of the overlying flow. This mechanism is commonly reported for drag-altering textured surfaces of small size. For the particular case of riblets, Luchini et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 228, 1991, pp. 87–109) proposed that their effect on the overlying flow could be reduced to an offset between the origins perceived by the streamwise and spanwise velocities, with the latter being the origin perceived by turbulence. Later results, particularly in the context of superhydrophobic surfaces, suggest that this effect is not determined by the apparent origins of the tangential velocities alone, but also by the one for the wall-normal velocity. To investigate this, the present paper focuses on direct simulations of turbulent channels imposing different virtual origins for all three velocity components using Robin, slip-like boundary conditions, and also using opposition control. Our simulation results support that the relevant parameter is the offset between the virtual origins perceived by the mean flow and turbulence. When using Robin, slip-like boundary conditions, the virtual origin for the mean flow is determined by the streamwise slip length. Meanwhile, the virtual origin for turbulence results from the combined effect of the wall-normal and spanwise slip lengths. The slip experienced by the streamwise velocity fluctuations, in turn, has a negligible effect on the virtual origin for turbulence, and hence the drag, at least in the regime of drag reduction. This suggests that the origin perceived by the quasi-streamwise vortices, which induce the cross-flow velocities at the surface, is key in determining the virtual origin for turbulence, while that perceived by the near-wall streaks, which are associated with the streamwise velocity fluctuations, plays a secondary role. In this framework, the changes in turbulent quantities typically reported in the flow-control literature are shown to be merely a result of the choice of origin, and are absent when using as origin the one experienced by turbulence. Other than this shift in origin, we demonstrate that turbulence thus remains essentially smooth-wall-like. A simple expression can predict the virtual origin for turbulence in this regime. The effect can also be reproduced a priori by introducing the virtual origins into a smooth-wall eddy-viscosity framework.
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ItemInfluence of riblet shapes on the occurrence of Kelvin-Helmholtz rollers(CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS, 2021-03-02)We investigate turbulent flow over streamwise-aligned riblets (grooves) of various shapes and sizes. Small riblets with spacings of typically less than 20 viscous units are known to reduce skin-friction drag compared to a smooth wall, but larger riblets allow inertial-flow mechanisms to appear and cause drag reduction to break down. One of these mechanisms is a Kelvin–Helmholtz instability that García-Mayoral & Jiménez (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 678, 2011, pp. 317–347) identified in turbulent flow over blade riblets. In order to evaluate its dependence on riblet shape and thus gain a broader understanding of the underlying physics, we generate an extensive data set comprising 21 cases using direct numerical simulations of fully developed minimal-span channel flow. The data set contains six riblet shapes of varying sizes between maximum drag reduction and significant drag increase. Comparing the flow fields over riblets to that over a smooth wall, we find that in this data set only large sharp-triangular and blade riblets have a drag penalty associated with the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability and that the mechanism appears to be absent for blunt-triangular and trapezoidal riblets of any size. We therefore investigate two indicators for the occurrence of Kelvin–Helmholtz rollers in turbulent flow over riblets. First, we confirm for all six riblet shapes that the groove cross-sectional area in viscous units serves as a proxy for the wall-normal permeability that is necessary for the development of Kelvin–Helmholtz rollers. Additionally, we find that the occurrence of the instability correlates with a high momentum absorption at the riblet tips. The momentum absorption can be qualitatively predicted using Stokes flow.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableInteractions between scales in wall turbulence: phase relationships, amplitude modulation and the importance of critical layers(CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS, 2021-03-05)We present a framework for predicting the interactions between motion at a single scale and the underlying stress fluctuations in wall turbulence, derived from approximations to the Navier–Stokes equations. The dynamical equations for an isolated scale and stress fluctuations at the same scale are obtained from a decomposition of the governing equations and formulated in terms of a transfer function between them. This transfer function is closely related to the direct correlation coefficient of Duvvuri & McKeon (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 767, 2015, R4), and approximately to the amplitude modulation coefficient described in Mathis et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 628, 2009, pp. 311–337), by consideration of interactions between triadically consistent scales. In light of the agreement between analysis and observations, the modelling approach is extended to make predictions concerning the relationship between very-large motions and small-scale stress in the logarithmic region of the mean velocity. Consistent with experiments, the model predicts that the zero-crossing height of the amplitude modulation statistic coincides with the wall-normal location of the very large-scale peak in the one-dimensional premultiplied spectrum of streamwise velocity fluctuations, the critical layer location for the very large-scale motion. Implications of fixed phase relationships between small-scale stresses and larger isolated scales for closure schemes are briefly discussed.
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ItemCoriolis effect on centrifugal buoyancy-driven convection in a thin cylindrical shell(Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2021-03-10)We study the effect of the Coriolis force on centrifugal buoyancy-driven convection in a rotating cylindrical shell with inner cold wall and outer hot wall. This is done by performing direct numerical simulations for increasing inverse Rossby number Ro−1 from zero (no Coriolis force) to 20 (very large Coriolis force) and for Rayleigh number Ra from 107 to 1010 and Prandtl number Pr=0.7, corresponding to air. We invoke the thin-shell limit, which neglects the curvature and radial variations of the centripetal acceleration. As Ro−1 increases from zero, the system forms an azimuthal bidirectional wind that reaches its maximum momentum at an optimal Ro−1opt, associated with a maximal skin-friction coefficient Cf and a minimal Nusselt number Nu. Just beyond Ro−1opt, the wind weakens and an axial, quasi-two-dimensional cyclone, corotating with the system, begins to form. A local ‘turbulence’ inverse Rossby number (non-dimensionalised by the eddy turnover time) determines the onset of cyclone formation for all Ra, when its value reaches approximately 4. At Ro−1≫Ro−1opt, the system falls into the geostrophic regime with a sudden drop in Nu. The bidirectional wind for Ro−1≤Ro−1opt is a feature of this system, as it hastens the boundary layer transition from laminar to turbulent, towards the ultimate regime. We see the onset of this transition at Ra=1010 and Ro−1≃Ro−1opt, although the mean flow profile has not yet fully collapsed on the Prandtl–von Kármán (logarithmic) law.
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ItemDirect Numerical Simulations of Turbulent Flow Over Various Riblet Shapes in Minimal-Span Channels(Springer Verlag, 2020-11-20)Riblets reduce skin-friction drag until their viscous-scaled size becomes large enough for turbulence to approach the wall, leading to the breakdown of drag-reduction. In order to investigate inertial-flow mechanisms that are responsible for the breakdown, we employ the minimal-span channel concept for cost-efficient direct numerical simulation (DNS) of rough-wall flows (MacDonald et al., J. Fluid Mech., vol. 816, 2017, pp. 5–42). This allows us to investigate six different riblet shapes and various viscous-scaled sizes for a total of 21 configurations. We verify that the small numerical domains capture all relevant physics by varying the box size and by comparing to reference data from full-span channel flow. Specifically, we find that, close to the wall in the spectral region occupied by drag-increasing Kelvin–Helmholtz rollers (García-Mayoral & Jiménez, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 678, 2011, pp. 317–347), the energy-difference relative to smooth-wall flow is not affected by the narrow domain, even though these structures have large spanwise extents. This allows us to evaluate the influence of the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability by comparing fluctuations of wall-normal and streamwise velocity, pressure and a passive scalar over riblets of different shapes and viscous-scaled sizes to those over a smooth wall. We observe that triangular riblets with a tip angle a = 30° and blades appear to support the instability, whereas triangular riblets with a = 60°–90° and trapezoidal riblets with a = 30° show little to no evidence of Kelvin–Helmholtz rollers.