Starting Nozzle Flow Simulation Using K-G Two-Equation Turbulence Model

The starting process of two-dimensional nozzle flows has been simulated with Euler, laminar and k - g two-equation turbulence Navier-Stokes equations. The flow solver is based on a combination of LUSGS subiteration implicit method and five spatial discretized schemes, which are Roe, HLLE, MHLLE upwind schemes and AUSM+, AUSMPW schemes. In the paper, special attention is for the flow differences of the nozzle starting process obtained from different governing equations and different schemes. Two nozzle flows, previously investigated experimentally and numerically by other researchers, are chosen as our examples. The calculated results indicate the carbuncle phenomenon and unphysical oscillations appear more or less near a wall or behind strong shock wave except using HLLE scheme, and these unphysical phenomena become more seriously with the increase of Mach number. Comparing the turbulence calculation, inviscid solution cannot simulate the wall flow separation and the laminar solution shows some different flow characteristics in the regions of flow separation and near wall.

Numerical Simulation of R-M Instability

In order to capture shock waves and contact discontinuities in the field and easy to program with parallel computation a new algorithm is developed to solve the N-S equations for simulation of R-M instability problems. The method with group velocity control is used to suppress numerical oscillations, and an adaptive non-uniform mesh is used to get fine resolution. Numerical results for cylindrical shock-cylindrical interface interaction with a shock Mach number Ms=1.2 and Atwood number A=0.818, 0.961, 0.980 (the interior density of the interface/outer density p(1)/p(2) = 10, 50, 100, respectively), and for the planar shock-spherical interface interaction with Ms=1.2 and p(1)/p(2) = 14.28are presented. The effect of Atwood number and multi-mode initial perturbation on the R-M instability are studied. Multi-collisions of the reflected shock with the interface is a main reason of nonlinear development of the interface instability and formation of the spike-bubble structures In simulation with double mode perturbation vortex merging and second instability are found. After second instability the small vortex structures near the interface produced. It is important factor for turbulent mixing.

An Experimental Study on Flame Propagation in Cornstarch Dust Clouds

Following the quantitative determination of dust cloud parameters, this study investigates the flame propagation through cornstarch dust clouds in a vertical duct of 780 mm height and 160 x 160 mm square cross section, and gives particular attention to the effect of small scale turbulence and small turbulence intensity on flame characteristics. Dust suspensions in air were produced using an improved apparatus ensuring more uniform distribution and repeatable dust concentrations in the testing duct. The dispersion-induced turbulence was measured by means of a particle image velocimetry (PIV) system, and dust concentrations were estimated by direct weighing method. This quantitative assessment made it possible to correlate observed flame behaviors with the parameters of the dust cloud. Upward propagating dust flames, from both closed/open bottom end to open/closed top end of the duct, were visualized by direct light and shadow photography. From the observation of propagation regimes and the measurements of flame velocity, a critical value of the turbulence intensity can be specified below which laminar flame propagation would be established. This transition condition was determined to be 10 cm/s. Laminar flames propagated with oscillations from the closed bottom end to the open top end of the testing duct, while the turbulent flames accelerated continuously. Both laminar and turbulent flames propagated with steady velocity from the open bottom end to the closed top end of the duct. The measured propagation velocity of laminar flames appeared to be in the range of 0.45-0.56 m/s, and it was consistent with the measurements reported in the literature. In the present experimental study, the influence of dust concentration on flame propagation was also examined, and the flame propagation velocity was found weakly sensitive to the variations in dust concentration. Some information on the flame structure was revealed from the shadow records, showing the typical heterogeneous feature of the dust combustion process.

Rayleigh-Marangoni-Bénard Convective Instability

The Rayleigh-Marangoni-Benard convective instability (R-M-B instability) and flow patterns in the two-layer system of silicon oil 10cSt and Fluorinert FC70 liquids are studied theoretically and experimentally. Both linear instability analysis and 2D numerical simulation (A=L/H=10) were performed to study the influence of thermocapillary force on the convective instability of the two-layer system. Time-dependent oscillations arising at the onset of convection were investigated in a larger various range of two-layer depth ratios (Hr=H1/H2) from 0.2 to 5.0 for different total depth less than 12mm. Our results are different from the previous study on the Rayleig-B閚ard instability and show the strong effects of thermocapillary force at the interface on the time-dependent oscillations at the onset of instability convection. Primary experimental results of the critical instability parameters and the convective structure in the R-M-B convection have been obtained by using the digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) system, and a good agreement in comparison with the results of numerical simulation was obtained.

Oscillatory Instabilities of Two-Layer Rayleigh-Marangoni-Benard Convection

The Rayleigh-Marangoni-Benard convective instability (R-M-B instability) in the two-layer systems such as Silicone oil (10cSt)/Fluorinert (FC70) and Silicone oil (2cSt)/water liquids are studied. Both linear instability analysis and nonlinear instability analysis (2D numerical simulation) were performed to study the influence of thermocapillary force on the convective instability of the two-layer system. The results show the strong effects of thermocapillary force at the interface on the time-dependent oscillations at the onset of instability convection. The secondary instability phenomenon found in the real two-layer system of Silicone oil over water could explain the difference in the comparison of the Degen's experimental observation with the previous linear stability analysis results of Renardy et al.

Experimental Study on Flow Induced Vibration of a Cylinder with Two Degrees of Freedom Near a Rigid Wall

The flow-induced vibration of a cylinder with two degrees of freedom near a rigid wall under the action of steady flow is investigated experimentally. The vibration amplitude and frequency of the cylinder and the vortex shedding frequency at the wake flow region of the cylinder are measured. The influence of gap-to-diameter ratio upon the amplitude response is analyzed. The experimental results indicate that when the reduced velocity (Vr) is in the range of 1.2 < Vr < 2.6, only streamwise vibration with small amplitude occurs, whose frequency is quite close to its natural frequency in the still water. When the reduced velocity Vr > 3.4, both the streamwise and transverse vibrations of the cylinder occur. In this range, the amplitudes of transverse vibration are much larger than those of streamwise vibrations, and the amplitudes of the streamwise vibration also get larger than those at the range of 1.2 < Vr < 2.6. At the range of Vr > 3.4, the frequency of streamwise vibration undergoes a jump at certain values of Vr, at which the streamwise vibrating frequency is twice as much as the transverse one. However, when the streamwise vibration does not experience a jump, its frequency is the same as that of the transverse vibration. The maximum values of second streamwise and transverse vibration amplitudes increase with increasing gap-to-diameter ratios.

Floating zone convection

der="0" alt="" hspace="8" width="141" height="200" align="left" />The microgravity research, as a branch of the advanced sciences and a spe- cialized field of high technology, has been made in China since the late 1980's. The research group investigating microgravity fluid physics consisted of our col- leagues and the authors in the Institute of Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and we pay special attention to the floating zone convection as our first research priority. Now, the research group has expanded and is a part of the National Microgravity Laboratory of the CAS, and the research fields have been extended to include more subjects related to microgravity science. Howev- er, the floating zone convection is still an important topic that greatly holds our research interests.

A smoothing technique for discrete delta functions with application to immersed boundary method in moving boundary simulations.

The effects of complex boundary conditions on flows are represented by a volume force in the immersed boundary methods. The problem with this representation is that the volume force exhibits non-physical oscillations in moving boundary simulations. A smoothing technique for discrete delta functions has been developed in this paper to suppress the non-physical oscillations in the volume forces. We have found that the non-physical oscillations are mainly due to the fact that the derivatives of the regular discrete delta functions do not satisfy certain moment conditions. It has been shown that the smoothed discrete delta functions constructed in this paper have one-order higher derivative than the regular ones. Moreover, not only the smoothed discrete delta functions satisfy the first two discrete moment conditions, but also their derivatives satisfy one-order higher moment condition than the regular ones. The smoothed discrete delta functions are tested by three test cases: a one-dimensional heat equation with a moving singular force, a two-dimensional flow past an oscillating cylinder, and the vortex-induced vibration of a cylinder. The numerical examples in these cases demonstrate that the smoothed discrete delta functions can effectively suppress the non-physical oscillations in the volume forces and improve the accuracy of the immersed boundary method with direct forcing in moving boundary simulations.

Large-eddy simulation of flows past a flapping airfoil using immersed boundary method

The numerical simulation of flows past flapping foils at moderate Reynolds numbers presents two challenges to computational fluid dynamics: turbulent flows and moving boundaries. The direct forcing immersed boundary (IB) method has been devel- oped to simulate laminar flows. However, its performance in simulating turbulent flows and transitional flows with moving boundaries has not been fully evaluated. In the present work, we use the IB method to simulate fully developed turbulent channel flows and transitional flows past a stationary/plunging SD7003 airfoil. To suppress the non-physical force oscillations in the plunging case, we use the smoothed discrete delta function for interpolation in the IB method. The results of the present work demonstrate that the IB method can be used to simulate turbulent flows and transitional flows with moving boundaries.

Fluctuation characteristics of arc voltage and jet flow in a non-transferred dc plasma generated at reduced pressure

A torch with a set of inter-electrode inserts between the cathode and the anode/nozzle with a wide nozzle exit was designed to generate plasma jets at chamber pressures of 500–10 000 Pa. The variation of the arc voltage was examined with the change in working parameters such as gas flow rate and chamber pressure. The fluctuation in the arc voltage was recorded with an oscilloscope, and the plasma jet fluctuation near the torch exit was observed with a high-speed video camera and detected with a double-electrostatic probe. Results show that the 300 Hz wave originated from the tri-phase rectified power supply was always detected under all generating conditions. Helmholtz oscillations over 3000 Hz was detected superposed on the 300 Hz wave at gas flow rates higher than 8.8 slm with a peak to valley amplitude lower than 5% of the average voltage value. No appreciable voltage fluctuation caused by the irregular arc root movement is detected, and mechanisms for the arc voltage and jet flow fluctuations are discussed.

Laser-driven coherent betatron oscillation in a laser-wakefield cavity

The origin of beam disparity in emittance and betatron oscillation orbits, in and out of the polarization plane of the drive laser of laser-plasma accelerators, is explained in terms of betatron oscillations driven by the laser field. As trapped electrons accelerate, they move forward and interact with the laser pulse. For the bubble regime, a simple model is presented to describe this interaction in terms of a harmonic oscillator with a driving force from the laser and a restoring force from the plasma wake field. The resulting beam oscillations in the polarization plane, with period approximately the wavelength of the driving laser, increase emittance in that plane and cause microbunching of the beam. These effects are observed directly in 3D particle-in-cell simulations.

Generation of plasma intrinsic oscillation at the front surface of a target irradiated by a circularly polarized laser pulse

In laser-target interaction, the effects of laser intensity on plasma oscillation at the front surface of targets have been investigated by one-dimensional particle in cell simulations. The periodical oscillations of the ion density and electrostatic field at the front surface of the targets are reported for the first time, which is considered as an intrinsic property of the target excited by the laser. The oscillation period depends only on initial plasma density and is irrelevant with laser intensity. Flattop structures with curves in ion phase space are found with a more intense laser pulse due to the larger amplitude variation of the electrostatic field. A simple but valid model is proposed to interpret the curves.

板条激光放大器中寄生振荡的研究

寄生振荡的存在使得放大器在信号光到达之前消耗了大量的反转粒子数,降低了放大器的激光增益和储能效率,严重地影响了激光放大器的性能,尤其对高功率激光放大器。在理论分析和实验研究的基础上,以Nd∶YAG晶体板条为例,用8条半导体激光阵列对晶体进行双侧抽运,研究了高功率激光放大器的寄生振荡现象,分析了板条晶体寄生振荡产生的原因,并详细比较了晶体在不同的抽运功率和表面处理下的放大效果,得到了2倍的单程放大,当输入能量为140 mJ时,获得了278 mJ的激光输出。

Diode-pumped Yb : GSO femtosecond laser

Compact femtosecond laser operation of Yb:Gd2SiO5 (Yb:GSO) crystal was demonstrated under high-brightness diode-end-pumping. A semiconductor saturable absorption mirror was used to start passive mode-locking. Stable mode-locking could be realized near the emission bands around 1031, 1048, and 1088 nm, respectively. The mode-locked Yb: GSO laser could be tuned from one stable mode-locking band to another with adjustable pulse durations in the range 1 similar to 100 ps by slightly aligning laser cavity to allow laser oscillations at different central wavelengths. A pair of SF10 prisms was inserted into the laser cavity to compensate for the group velocity dispersion. The mode-locked pulses centered at 1031 nm were compressed to 343 fs under a typical operation situation with a maximum output power of 396 mW. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America.

Late Pleistocene divergence and subsequent population expansion of two closely related fish species, Japanese anchovy (Engraulis japonicus) and Australian anchovy (Engraulis australis)

Climatic oscillations during the Pleistocene ice ages produced great changes in species' geographical distribution and abundance, which could be expected to have genetic consequences. Living in the temperate upwelling zones of the northwestern Pacific, Ja