Effect of Freestream Turbulence on Wall-bounded Tip Vortex Breakdown and Boundary Layer Stability PDF Download

Author: Jack Medzorian
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Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Wall-bounded tip vortices appear in a variety of aerodynamic applications, such as, aircraft engines, inlet S-ducts, turbomachinery tip leakage, and vortex generators used for flow separation control. Studies show that vortex flows with high swirl that are exposed to a sufficient adverse pressure gradient will trigger the onset of vortex instability. However, it is not known whether the addition of freestream turbulence or the presence of a wall will stabilize a vortex due to momentum entrainment or trigger early bursting via amplification of an instability pathway. In this study, a wall-bounded vortex is analyzed in a low-speed wind tunnel to evaluate the effects that adverse pressure gradient and freestream turbulence have on vortex stability boundaries. Experimental techniques such as high-speed stereoscopic particle image velocity is used to capture three-dimensional flow fields of the wall bounded vortex. In addition to the PIV measurements, point measurements are taken using Laser Doppler Velocimetry to obtain turbulent characterization of the freestream and boundary layer flow. The results in this study predict an increase in vortex stability with freestream turbulence. Near a wall, further increases in vortex stability is depicted due to increased diffusion and reduction in rotational momentum. Furthermore, turbulent kinetic energy in a vortex core is decreased in high freestream turbulence when the vortex is near a wall due to a reduction in roll up and entrainment of high turbulence that exists in turbulent boundary layers near the wall. Turbulent boundary layers exposed to high freestream turbulence and adverse pressure gradients appear in a variety of aerodynamic application such as the suction side of airfoils within gas turbine engines and on aircraft wings. Non-equilibrium turbulent boundary layers exposed to a non-constant adverse pressure gradient have been shown to influence the outer region of the mean boundary layer profile due to the resilience of larger scale superstructures. However, it is not known whether the addition of freestream turbulence will increase the effect of history in a turbulent boundary layer due to increased entrainment of larger scales or decrease in effects from breakdown of these superstructures in the freestream. In this study, an experimental technique known as laser Doppler velocimetry is applied to obtain 2-dimensional, high-speed velocity measurements used for capturing mean profiles, turbulent statistics, and turbulent characterization of the freestream flow. The results in this study predict that pressure gradient history effects can have influence on Reynolds stress distributions past the outer region and into the log-region of the boundary layer due to diffusion of turbulence towards the wall. Additionally, pressure gradient effects, and thus the effects of a boundary layer's history, are significantly reduced when subjected to freestream turbulence due to dominant influence of turbulence within the wake region. Lastly, turbulent statistics show that a straight contoured wall, containing a smaller local pressure gradient but sustained over longer distance, has a greater adverse pressure gradient effect on a boundary relative to concave or convex contouring.