Space experiments of thermocapillary convection in two-liquid layers

In 1999, the space experiments on the Marangoni convection and thermocapillary convection in a system of two immiscible liquid layers in microgravity environment were conducted on board the Chinese scientific satellite SJ-5. A new system of two-layer liquids such as FC-70 liquid and paraffin was used successfully, with the paraffin melted in the space. Two different test-cells are subjected to a temperature gradient perpendicular or parallel to the interface to study the Marangoni convection and thermocapillary convection, respectively. The experimental data obtained in the first Chinese space experiment of fluid are presented. Two-dimensional numerical simulations of thermocapillary convections are carried out using SIMPLEC method A reasonable agreement between the experimental investigation and the numerical results is obtained.

Effect of surface tension on the mode selection of vertically excited surface waves in a circular cylindrical vessel

Singular perturbation theory of two-time-scale expansions was developed in inviscid fluids to investigate patternforming, structure of the single surface standing wave, and its evolution with time in a circular cylindrical vessel subject to a vertical oscillation. A nonlinear slowly varying complex amplitude equation, which involves a cubic nonlinear term, an external excitation and the influence of surface tension, was derived from the potential flow equation. Surface tension was introduced by the boundary condition of the free surface in an ideal and incompressible fluid. The results show that when forced frequency is low, the effect of surface tension on the mode selection of surface waves is not important. However, when the forced frequency is high, the surface tension cannot be neglected. This manifests that the function of surface tension is to cause the free surface to return to its equilibrium configuration. In addition, the effect of surface tension seems to make the theoretical results much closer to experimental results.

On the computation of space-time correlations by large-eddy simulation

The effect of subgrid-scale (SGS) modeling on velocity (space-) time correlations is investigated in decaying isotropic turbulence. The performance of several SGS models is evaluated, which shows superiority of the dynamic Smagorinsky model used in conjunction with the multiscale large-eddy simulation (LES) procedure. Compared to the results of direct numerical simulation, LES is shown to underpredict the (un-normalized) correlation magnitude and slightly overpredict the decorrelation time scales. This can lead to inaccurate solutions in applications such as aeroacoustics. The underprediction of correlation functions is particularly severe for higher wavenumber modes which are swept by the most energetic modes. The classic sweeping hypothesis for stationary turbulence is generalized for decaying turbulence and used to analyze the observed discrepancies. Based on this analysis, the time correlations are determined by the wavenumber energy spectra and the sweeping velocity, which is the square root of the total energy. Hence, an accurate prediction of the instantaneous energy spectra is most critical to the accurate computation of time correlations. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.

Surface waves in a vertically excited circular cylindrical container

The nonlinear free surface amplitude equation, which has been derived from the inviscid fluid by solving the potential equation of water waves with a singular perturbation theory in a vertically oscillating rigid circular cylinder, is investigated successively in the fourth-order Runge-Kutta approach with an equivalent time-step. Computational results include the evolution of the amplitude with time, the characteristics of phase plane determined by the real and imaginary parts of the amplitude, the single-mode selection rules of the surface waves in different forced frequencies, contours of free surface displacement and corresponding three-dimensional evolution of surface waves, etc. In addition, the comparison of the surface wave modes is made between theoretical calculations and experimental measurements, and the results are reasonable although there are some differences in the forced frequency.

Instability of the vertically forced surface wave in a circular cylindrical container

The nonlinear amplitude equation, which was derived by Jian Yongjun employing expansion of two-time scales in inviscid fluids in a vertically oscillating circular cylindrical vessel, is modified by introducing a damping term due to the viscous dissipation of this system. Instability of the surface wave is analysed and properties of the solutions of the modified equation are determined together with phase-plane trajectories. A necessary condition of forming a stable surface wave is obtained and unstable regions are illustrated. Research results show that the stable pattern of surface wave will not lose its stability to an infinitesimal disturbance.

Two-phase flow patterns in a 90 degrees bend at microgravity

Bends are widely used in pipelines carrying single- and two-phase fluids in both ground and space applications. In particular, they play more important role in space applications due to the extreme spatial constraints. In the present study, a set of experimental data of two-phase flow patterns and their transitions in a 90degrees bend with inner diameter of 12.7 mm. and curvature radius of 76.5 mm at microgravity conditions are reported. Gas and liquid superficial velocities are found to range from (1.0 similar to 23.6) m/s for gas and (0.09 similar to 0.5) m/s for liquid, respectively. Three major flow patterns, namely slug, slug-annular transitional, and annular flows, are observed in this study. Focusing on the differences between flow patterns in bends and their counterparts in straight pipes, detailed analyses of their characteristics are made. The transitions between adjoining flow patterns are found to be more or less the same as those in straight pipes, and can be predicted using Weber number models satisfactorily. The reasons for such agreement are carefully examined.

Numerical estimate of the stability curve for the flow past a rotating cylinder

It is demonstrated that the primary instability of the wake of a two-dimensional circular cylinder rotating with constant angular velocity can be qualitatively well described by the Landau equation. The coefficients of the Landau equation are determined by means of numerical simulations for the Navier-Stokes equations. The critical Reynolds numbers, which depend on the angular velocity of the cylinder, are evaluated correctly by linear regression. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.

国内非牛顿流体力学进展

非牛顿流体;;本构方程;;流变测量;;流动稳定性;;收缩流动;;聚合物加工;;石油工业;;生物流体力学

Periodic vortex breakdown in wide spherical gaps

The flow field with vortex breakdown in wide spherical gaps was studied numerically by a finite difference method under the axisymmetric condition. The result shows that the flow bifurcates to periodic motion as the Reynolds number or the eccentricity of the spheres increases. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.

Hopf bifurcation in wakes behind a rotating and translating circular cylinder

A low-dimensional Galerkin method, initiated by Noack and Eckelmann [Physica D 56, 151 (1992)], for the prediction of the flow field around a stationary two-dimensional circular cylinder in a uniform stream at low Reynolds number is generalized to the case of a rotating and translating cylinder. The Hopf bifurcation describing the transition from steady to time-periodic solution is investigated. A curve indicating the transitional boundary is given in the two-dimensional parameter plane of Reynolds number Re and rotating parameter alpha. Our results show that rotation may delay the onset of vortex street and decrease the vortex-shedding frequency. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.

Numerical simulation of axisymmetric unsteady incompressible flow by a vorticity-velocity method

A new numerical method for solving the axisymmetric unsteady incompressible Navier-Stokes equations using vorticity-velocity variables and a staggered grid is presented. The solution is advanced in time with an explicit two-stage Runge-Kutta method. At each stage a vector Poisson equation for velocity is solved. Some important aspects of staggering of the variable location, divergence-free correction to the velocity held by means of a suitably chosen scalar potential and numerical treatment of the vorticity boundary condition are examined. The axisymmetric spherical Couette flow between two concentric differentially rotating spheres is computed as an initial value problem. Comparison of the computational results using a staggered grid with those using a non-staggered grid shows that the staggered grid is superior to the non-staggered grid. The computed scenario of the transition from zero-vortex to two-vortex flow at moderate Reynolds number agrees with that simulated using a pseudospectral method, thus validating the temporal accuracy of our method.

Study of the shock motion in a hypersonic shock system turbulent boundary-layer interaction

Wall pressure fluctuations and surface heat transfer signals have been measured in the hypersonic turbulent boundary layer over a number of compression-corner models. The distributions of the separation shock oscillation frequencies and periods have been calculated using a conditional sampling algorithm. In all cases the oscillation frequency distributions are of broad band, but the most probable frequencies are low. The VITA method is used for deducing large scale disturbances at the wall in the incoming boundary layer and the separated flow region. The results at present showed the existence of coherent structures in the two regions. The zero-cross frequencies of the large scale structures in the two regions are of the same order as that of the separation shock oscillation. The average amplitude of the large scale structures in the separated region is much higher than that in the incoming boundary layer. The length scale of the separation shock motion region is found to increase with the disturbance strength. The results show that the shock oscillation is of inherent nature in the shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interaction with separation. The shock oscillation is considered to be the consequence of the coherent structures in the separated region.

Numerical investigation of dynamic stall of an oscillating aerofoil

The flow structure around an NACA 0012 aerofoil oscillating in pitch around the quarter-chord is numerically investigated by solving the two-dimensional compressible N-S equations using a special matrix-splitting scheme. This scheme is of second-order accuracy in time and space and is computationally more efficient than the conventional flux-splitting scheme. A 'rigid' C-grid with 149 x 51 points is used for the computation of unsteady flow. The freestream Mach number varies from 0.2 to 0.6 and the Reynolds number from 5000 to 20,000. The reduced frequency equals 0.25-0.5. The basic flow structure of dynamic stall is described and the Reynolds number effect on dynamic stall is briefly discussed. The influence of the compressibility on dynamic stall is analysed in detail. Numerical results show that there is a significant influence of the compressibility on the formation and convection of the dynamic stall vortex. There is a certain influence of the Reynolds number on the flow structure. The average convection velocity of the dynamic stall vortex is approximately 0.348 times the freestream velocity.

Computation of turbulent-flow in a square duct - aspects of the secondary flow and its origin

A numerical study of turbulent flow in a straight duct of square cross-section is made. An order-of-magnitude analysis of the 3-D, time-averaged Navier-Stokes equations resulted in a parabolic form of the Navier-Stokes equations. The governing equations, expressed in terms of a new vector-potential formulation, are expanded as a multi-deck structure with each deck characterized by its dominant physical forces. The resulting equations are solved using a finite-element approach with a bicubic element representation on each cross-sectional plane. The numerical integration along the streamwise direction is carried out with finite-difference approximations until a fully-developed state is reached. The computed results agree well with other numerical studies and compare very favorably with the available experimental data. One important outcome of the current investigation is the interpretation analytically that the driving force of the secondary flow in a square duct comes mainly from the second-order terms of the difference in the gradients of the normal and transverse Reynolds stresses in the axial vorticity equation.