Mass Transport in Shallow Turbulent Wake Flow by Planar Concentration Analysis Technique

A planar concentration analysis (PCA) system is used for observing the transport and mixing of a tracer mass in a shallow turbulent free-surface wake flow of a large cylindrical obstacle. The nonintrusive, fieldwise PCA measuring technique is applied to evaluate depth-averaged mass concentrations by making use of light attenuation due to absorption and scattering processes related to a dissolved tracer mass. The scalar fields are decomposed into a low-frequency quasiperiodic part, the coherent flow, and a randomly fluctuating part. From accompanying near-surface velocity measurements, large-scale coherent structures are identified and related to the coherent mass fields. This allows one to assess the role of the large-scale vortices for advection and diffusion in shallow wake flows. The time–mean wake flow displays a self-similar spanwise distribution both for mass and velocity. The longitudinal development of shallow wakes initially shows the growth of unbounded wakes; in the wake far field an attenuated behavior applies.     

Hydraulics of Tangential Vortex Intake for Urban Drainage

A tangential vortex intake is a compact structure that can convey storm water efficiently as a swirling flow down a vortex dropshaft. It has been studied in physical models and successfully employed in urban drainage and hydroelectric plant applications, but a comprehensive account of the key flow characteristics has not been reported and a theoretical design guideline of a tangential intake is not available. In this study the hydraulics of tangential slot vortex intakes is investigated via extensive experiments. It is found that the flow in the tapering and downward sloping vortex inlet channel is strongly dependent on the geometry of the inlet and dropshaft. Under some conditions, hydraulic instability and overflow can occur, rendering the design ineffective. It is shown that the hydraulic stability depends on the discharge at which flow control shifts from upstream to downstream (Qc), as well as the free drainage discharge (Qf). A theoretical design criterion for stable flow is developed in terms of Qf and Qc as a function of the vortex inlet geometry. For a “stable” design, the flow in the tapering inlet evolves from supercritical flow to subcritical flow smoothly as the discharge increases. Fifteen different tangential vortex intake models are tested. The experimental observations are in excellent agreement with the theoretical prediction. The present study provides a general guideline for designing a tangential vortex intake that can convey the flow smoothly without unstable fluctuating flow associated with a hydraulic jump.     

Controllable motion synthesis in a gaseous medium

The generation of realistic motion satisfying user-defined requirements is one of the most important goals of computer animation. Our aim in this paper is the synthesis of realistic, controllable motion for lightweight natural objects in a gaseous medium. We formulate this problem as a large-scale spacetime optimization with user controls and fluid motion equations as constraints. We have devised novel and effective methods to make this large optimization tractable. Initial trajectories are generated with data-driven synthesis based on stylistic motion planning. Smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) is used during optimization to produce fluid simulations at a reasonable computational cost, while interesting vortex-based fluid motion is generated by recording the presence of vortices in the initial trajectories and maintaining them through optimization. Object rotations are refined as a postprocess to enhance the visual quality of the results. We demonstrate our techniques on a number of animations involving single or multiple objects.     

Using projection pursuit and proper orthogonal decomposition to identify independent flow mechanisms

In this paper, we develop a new dimension reduction technique, using the projection pursuit approach, to identify underlying physical mechanisms of the flow. By first applying the standard dimension reduction technique-proper orthogonal decomposition (POD), a low-dimensional subspace is defined. POD models of pressure fields have, in the past, been challenged with questions of interpretation in terms of flow mechanisms. To address this issue, the projection criterion is applied to decompose independent physical mechanisms in the non-Gaussian pressure field. This procedure leads to a non-orthogonal subspace decomposition that provides a suitable subspace for identification of physical mechanisms in intermittent flows. This approach provides a new tool to further our understanding of the fundamental nature of intermittent and independent phenomena in fluid flows. Finally, this technique is tested with experimental data collected at Texas Tech University's Wind Engineering Research Field Laboratory.     

Prediction of Critical Submergence for a Rectangular Intake

The effects of the blockage of a rectangular intake duct and impervious flow boundaries on the critical submergence of a rectangular intake are presented. The potential solution, based on the Rankine stagnation point, is determined to be another approximate method for the prediction of the critical submergence of this kind of intake. It is found that a critical cylindrical sink surface capped with two critical hemispherical sink surfaces at both ends with a radius equal to the radial distance of the stagnation point (which is 2/π times the critical submergence of the rectangular intake) can also be used to predict critical submergence. Theoretical results and available experimental data are compared. The theory presented in this study acceptably (by about 1–20%) estimates the critical submergence for the cases where the distance (clearances) of the impervious solid boundaries are larger than 1/2 of the small inner dimension of the intake. On the other hand, the theory overestimates the critical submergence by about 80% for the cases where the distances of the solid boundaries (especially those cutting the free surface such as the dead-end wall) become zero.     

Optimization and Analysis of Advective Travel Times beneath Hydraulic Structures

Steady, 2D Darcian seepage in a homogeneous isotropic porous medium under an impervious structure is studied by the methods of complex analysis. The geometry of the structure is studied focusing on the travel time of a marked (neutral tracer) particle from the upper pool to the tailwater. In the Verigin problem, the angle of inclination of a sheetpile resulting in minimal time along the bounding streamline is π/2. If the maximum of the minimum of the travel time is searched between all streamlines originated in the upper pool, then the optimal angles are found to be 0.404π and 0.596π. The minimization of the total volume of fluid that arrives from the upper pool to the tailwater during a prescribed time span is also considered. For arbitrary geometry, structure optimization with respect to travel time is carried out explicitly for the bounding streamline with a constraint on the wetted perimeter of a depressed structure. The minimal-time shape is found to be the Voshinin semicircular structure, which is mathematically generated by a line vortex.     

Convection Velocity of Vortex Structures in the Near Wake of a Circular Cylinder

The convection velocity of vortex structures in the near wake of a circular cylinder was experimentally investigated over the region 1.6–2.5 ? x/D ? 12.0 for R = 160–12,000. Dye injection technique of flow visualization and two completely noninvasive laser Doppler velocimeters were employed for R ? 320 and ?400, respectively. The convection velocity, Uc, is defined as the mean traveling velocity of vortex cores passing a streamwise separation during a mean elapsed time. For R ? 320, Uc was determined directly from the motion of dye-marked vortex cores filmed by a video camera. In the cases of R ≥ 400, the positions of peak vorticity and half of the half-velocity-defect width at each downstream section were first used to identify the mean path of vortex cores (i.e., the most probable trajectory of the vortex structures), along which spatial correlation measurements were then performed to determine the mean elapsed time corresponding to the maximum cross correlation. The present results show that, in laminar and transitional wakes, the ratio Uc/Uo increases from 0.53 to 0.84 over a region of 1.6 ? x/D ? 6.0 and then tends to be a constant of 0.84 for x/D ≥ 6.0. In a turbulent wake, Uc/Uo also increases from a certain value at a point downstream from the position of vortex formation to a mean value of about 0.86 at x/D ≥ 5.0–6.0, and then changes little with the increase of x/D. In addition, it is found that the dependence of Uc/Uo on R almost disappears for x/D ≥ 5.0.     

Characteristics of Steady Horseshoe Vortex System near Junction of Square Cylinder and Base Plate

This paper presents an experimental investigation on the characteristics of a horseshoe vortex system near the juncture of a square cylinder and a horizontal base plate, using particle image velocimetry and flow visualization technique. Experiments were conducted for Reynolds numbers (based on the free stream velocity and the width of square cylinder) ranging from 2.0×102 to 6.0×103. The flow patterns are first classified into four major regimes: Steady horseshoe vortex system, periodic oscillation vortex system with small displacement, periodic breakaway vortex system, and irregular vortex system. The classifications can be demonstrated as a figure of Reynolds number versus the ratio of the height of square cylinder to undisturbed boundary layer thickness. The study then mainly focused on the characteristics of steady horseshoe vortex system (corresponding to Reynolds numbers ranging from 2.0×102 to 2.5×103). The nondimensional characteristics, including the horizontal and vertical distances from the primary vortex core to frontal face of the vertical square cylinder and bottom boundary of the base plate, respectively, the height of stagnation point at frontal face of the square cylinder, and the down-flow discharge as well as circulation of the primary vortex, all increase with increase of the ratio of the height of square cylinder to undisturbed boundary layer thickness. However, they all decrease with the increase of the aspect ratio (i.e., the height-to-width ratio) of the square cylinder. The study provides essential properties of a steady horseshoe vortex system and gives an insight for related engineering applications. It can be served as a basis for more complicated horseshoe vortex systems occurring at high Reynolds numbers.     

Experimental investigation of the effect of fuel nozzle geometry on the stability of a swirling non-premixed methane flame

An experimental investigation on the stability of a swirling non-premixed methane flame is reported in this paper. Methane gas is supplied through a central nozzle, and combustion (co-flow) air is supplied through an annulus surrounding the nozzle. Two main parameters were varied independently, which are the nozzle geometry and swirl strength; however the exit velocity of the central (fuel nozzle) jet and co-airflow were also varied to provide a wide range of test conditions. Two nozzles were tested: a contracted circular (referred to hereafter as CCN) and a rectangular (referred to hereafter as RN), which have similar equivalent diameter, D_e (defined as the diameter of a round slot having the same exit area as the nozzle geometry). The contracted circular nozzle has a diameter of 4.82 mm, and the rectangular nozzle has a diameter of 4.71 with an aspect ratio of 2:1. The swirl strength of the co-flow was varied by changing the vanes’ angle. The main results obtained from this study show that the rectangular nozzle exhibits higher entrainment and jet spreading rates compared with its CCN counterpart. In addition, the results revealed that increasing the swirl strength creates a flow recirculation zone which is larger with the RN compared with that of the corresponding CCN. These flow features associated with the RN lead to an enhanced mixing which consequently promotes better flame stability compared with its CCN counterpart.     

Effect of Trapping on Vortices in Plasma

Microscopic trapping of electrons is considered in one- and two-dimensional potential wells (shallow and deep) and its effect on vortex formation is investigated by deriving modified Hasegawa Mima (HM) equations. Inhomogenieties in the number density and magnetic field are taken into account. The modified HM equations are analysed by considering bounce frequencies of the trapped particles. Solitary vortices are obtained via Kortweg deVries (KdV) type of equations and both exact and Sagdeev potential solutions are obtained. In general it is observed that trapping produces stronger non-linearities and this leads to the modification of the original HM equation.