Designing vortices in pipe flow with topography-driven Langmuir circulation

We present direct numerical simulation of a mechanism for creating longitudinal vortices in pipe flow, compared with a model theory. By furnishing the pipe wall with a pattern of crossing waves, secondary flow in the form of streamwise vortex pairs is created. The mechanism, ‘CL1’, is kinematic and known from oceanography as a driver of Langmuir circulation. CL1 is strongest when the ‘wall wave’ vectors make an acute angle with the axis, $\varphi =10^{\circ }$ – $20^{\circ }$ , changes sign near $45^{\circ }$ and is weak and of opposite sign beyond this angle. A competing, dynamic mechanism driving secondary flow in the opposite sense is also observed, created by the azimuthally varying friction. Whereas at smaller angles ‘CL1’ prevails, the dynamic effect dominates when $\varphi \gtrsim 45^{\circ }$ , reversing the flow. Curiously, the circulation strength is a faster-than-linearly increasing function of Reynolds number for small $\varphi$ . We explore an analogy with Prandtl's secondary motion of the second kind in turbulence. A transport equation for average streamwise vorticity is derived, and we analyse it for three different crossing angles, $\varphi =18.6^{\circ }, 45^{\circ }$ and $60^{\circ }$ . Mean-vorticity production is organised in a ring-like structure with the two rings contributing to rotating flow in opposite senses. For the larger $\varphi$ , the inner ring decides the main swirling motion, whereas for $\varphi =18.6^{\circ }$ , outer-ring production dominates. For the larger angles, the outer ring is mainly driven by advection of vorticity and the inner by deformation (stretching) whereas, for $\varphi =18.6^{\circ }$ , both contribute approximately equally to production in the outer ring.

Impact of high and low vorticity turbulence on cloud environment mixing and cloud microphysics processes

Turbulent mixing of dry air affects evolution of cloud droplet size spectrum through various mechanisms. In a turbulent cloud, high and low vorticity regions coexist and inertial clustering of cloud droplets can occur in a low vorticity region. The non-uniformity in spatial distribution of size and number of droplets, variable vertical velocity in vortical turbulent structures, and dilution by entrainment/mixing may result in spatial supersaturation variability, which affects the evolution of the cloud droplet size spectrum by condensation and evaporation processes. To untangle the processes involved in mixing phenomena, a direct numerical simulation (DNS) of turbulent-mixing followed by droplet evaporation/condensation in a submeter-cubed-sized domain with a large number of droplets is performed in this study. Analysis focused on the thermodynamic and microphysical characteristics of the droplets and flow in high and low vorticity regions. The impact of vorticity production in turbulent flows on mixing and cloud microphysics is illustrated.

From inflow to interflow, through plunging and lofting: uncovering the dominant flow processes of a sediment-rich negatively buoyant river inflow into a stratified lake

<p>Lake and reservoir water quality is impacted greatly by the input of momentum, heat, oxygen, sediment, nutrients and contaminants delivered to them by riverine inflows. When such an inflow is negatively buoyant, it will plunge upon contact with the receiving ambient water and form a gravity-driven current near the bed (density current). If such a current is sediment-laden, its bulk density can be higher than that of the surrounding ambient water, even if its carrying fluid has a density lower than that of the surrounding ambient water. After sufficient sediment particles have settled however, the buoyancy of the current can reverse and lead to the plume rising up from the bed, a process referred to as lofting. In a stratified environment, the river plume may then find its way into a layer of neutral buoyancy to form an intermediate current (interflow). A deeper understanding of the wide range of hydrodynamic processes related to the transitions from open-channel inflow to underflow (plunging) and from underflow to interflow (lofting) is crucial in predicting the fate of all components introduced into the lake or reservoir by the inflow.</p><p>Field measurements of the plunging inflow of the negatively buoyant Rhône River into Lake Geneva (Switzerland/France) are presented. A combination of a vessel-mounted ADCP and remote sensing cameras was used to capture the three-dimensional flow field of the plunging and lofting transition zones over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales.</p><p>In the plunge zone, the ADCP measurements show that the inflowing river water undergoes a lateral (perpendicular to its downstream direction) slumping movement, caused by its density surplus compared to the ambient lake water and the resulting baroclinic vorticity production. This effect is also visible in the remote sensing images in the form of a distinct plume of sediment-rich water with a triangular shape leading away from the river mouth in the downstream direction towards a sharp tip. A wide range of vortical structures, which most likely impact the amount of mixing taking place, is also visible at the surface in the plunging zone.</p><p>In the lofting zone, the ADCP measurements show that the underflow undergoes a lofting movement at its edges. This is most likely caused by a higher sedimentation rate due to the lower velocities at the underflow edges and leads to a part of the underflow peeling off and forming an interflow, while the higher velocity core of the underflow continues following the bed. Here, the baroclinic vorticity production works in the opposite direction as that in the plunge zone. Further downstream, as more particles have settled and the surrounding ambient water has become denser, the remaining underflow also undergoes a lofting motion. The remnants of these lofting processes show in the remote sensing images as intermittent ‘boils’ of sediment rich water reaching the surface and traces of surface layer leakage.</p>

Experimental Drag and Mixing From Lobed Nozzles Under High Swirl Conditions From a Ducted Fan

The availability of aerodynamic performance and vorticity production data from mixers under swirl was a challenge for future full-scale design and CFD validation. This paper presents an experimental comparison of drag and mixing performance of a circular trialing edge, lobed nozzle and scalloped nozzle under high swirl conditions as produced by a ducted fan in a subsonic wind tunnel. The design methodology is shared in detail allowing for geometry reproduction. Swirl angles produced by the fan naturally varied between 12° up to 45° according to a free-vortex profile. Performance is compared in terms of net thrust, uniformity factor and vorticity production as measured by 6-component loadcells and a seven-hole pressure probe traverse. The goal of this work was threefold: to study the axial and normal vorticity production from mixers produced by the design methodology, a preliminary investigation into lobed mixers potential in engine plume cooling and to provide a data set for RANS-CFD validation. A better understanding of lobed mixer mixing mechanisms relative to performance is offered. It is shown that the change in minimum throttle to achieve forward thrust varied between devices as did the twist load due to angular forces. A 4% reduction in required fan power to achieve forward thrust was achieved with the lobed mixer. Furthermore, maximum net thrust increased up to 20% with the mixing nozzles compared to the standard round nozzle suggesting flow straightening can lead to thrust gain in high swirling jet flows to a level that counters increases in drag. Axial and normal vorticity were clearly identified. Co-rotating vortex pairs were produced by the mixers of physical size proportional to the lobe height and wavelength. Axial vorticity levels integrated up to 110% of the round nozzle and occupied 5 times the area. Similarly, integrated normal vorticity increased up to 80% over an area 120% larger. Uniformity factor was best for the scalloped mixer due to enhanced mass flow entrainment through the notch and not the vortex production itself.

Impact of Longitudinal Acceleration and Deceleration on Bluff Body Wakes

This study investigated the unsteady acceleration aerodynamics of bluff bodies through the study of a channel mounted square cylinder undergoing free-stream acceleration of ± 20 m / s 2 with Reynolds numbers spanning 3.2e4 to 3.6e5. To achieve this, a numerical simulation was created with a commercial finite volume unstructured computational fluid dynamics code, which was first validated using Improved Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation against experimental and direct numerical simulated results. Then, the free stream conditions were subjected to a periodic velocity signal where data were recorded and ensemble averaged over at least 30 distinct acceleration and deceleration data points. This enabled the comparison of body forces and flow field variations among accelerating, steady and decelerating free-stream conditions. Body force analysis determined that decelerating and accelerating drag forces varied −47% and 44%, respectively, in comparison to steady free-stream conditions. In addition, several differences were also observed and explored such as near-body flow structures, wake dynamics, Kármán vortices and vorticity production during the aforementioned conditions. The primary interest of this study was for the future application towards road vehicles for predictive dynamic modeling and aerodynamic development.

Numerical Investigation of Tip Leakage Vortex Cavitation in Axial Waterjet Pump With Different Tip Gap Sizes

The flow field in the tip region of the axial-flow waterjet pump is very complex. Although it has been studied for many years, many relevant phenomena have still been a puzzle. In present paper, many detailed data on instantaneous inner structures of the tip leakage flow and evolution of the tip leakage vortex cavitation with different tip gap sizes are offered. The numerical simulation has been conducted by using SAS turbulence model and ZGB cavitation model to understand the cavitation-vortex interaction mechanism. The predicted cavitation performance exhibits a reasonable agreement with the experimental results. Based on the illustration, with the impeller tip gap size decreasing, the cavitation area in rotating region gradually decreases. The cavitation development enhances vorticity production in an axial-flow waterjet pump. Vortices are mainly located at the impeller tip leakage region. The analysis of the relative vorticity transport equation indicates that the baroclinic torque term and the vortex dilation term have significant effects on cavitation, the main contributor to vortex generation is the vortex dilation term. In addition, in the impeller tip region, the effect of viscous diffusion term cannot be ignored, and the cavitation area has a larger amplitude of pressure pulsation.

ON THE TOPOGRAPHY-DRIVEN VORTICITY PRODUCTION IN SHALLOW LAKES

We analyse the vorticity production of lake-scale circulation in wind-induced shallow flows using a linear elliptic partial differential equation. The linear equation is derived from the vorticity form of the shallow-water equation using a linear bed friction formula. The features of the wind-induced steady-state flow are analysed in a circular basin with topography as a concave paraboloid, having a quadratic pile in the middle of the basin. In our study, the size of the pile varies by a size parameter. The vorticity production due to the gradient in the topography (and the distance of the boundary) makes the streamlines parallel to topographical contours, and beyond a critical size parameter, it results in a secondary vortex pair. We compare qualitatively and quantitatively the steady-state circulation patterns and vortex evolution of the flow fields calculated by our linear vorticity model and the full, nonlinear shallow-water equations. From these results, we hypothesize that the steady-state topographical vorticity production in lake-scale wind-induced circulations can be described by the equilibrium of the wind friction field and the bed friction field. Moreover, the latter can also be considered as a linear function of the velocity vector field, and hence the problem can be described by a linear equation.

Mean flow generation by three-dimensional nonlinear internal wave beams

We study the generation of resonantly growing mean flow by weakly nonlinear internal wave beams. With a perturbational expansion, we construct analytic solutions for three-dimensional internal wave beams, exact up to first-order accuracy in the viscosity parameter. We specifically focus on the subtleties of wave beam generation by oscillating boundaries, such as wave makers in laboratory set-ups. The exact solutions to the linearized equations allow us to derive an analytic expression for the mean vertical vorticity production term, which induces a horizontal mean flow. Whereas mean flow generation associated with viscous beam attenuation – known as streaming – has been described before, we are the first to also include a peculiar inviscid mean flow generation in the vicinity of the oscillating wall, resulting from line vortices at the lateral edges of the oscillating boundary. Our theoretical expression for the mean vertical vorticity production is in good agreement with earlier laboratory experiments, for which the previously unrecognized inviscid mean flow generation mechanism turns out to be significant.