Browsing by Subject "hypersonic"
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Item Characterization of the Influence of a Favorable Pressure Gradient on the Basic Structure of a Mach 5.0 High Reynolds Number Supersonic Turbulent Boundary Layer(2010-10-12) Tichenor, Nathan R.High-speed high Reynolds number boundary layer flows with mechanical non-equilibrium effects have numerous practical applications; examples include access-to-space ascent, re-entry and descent, and military hypersonic systems. However, many of the basic turbulent flow processes in this regime are poorly understood and are beyond the realm of modern direct numerical simulations Previous studies have shown that curvature driven pressure gradients significantly alter the state of the turbulence in high-speed boundary layers; the turbulence levels have been shown to decrease by large amounts (up to 100 percent) and the Reynolds shear stress has been shown to change sign. However, most of our understanding is based on point measurement techniques such as hot-wire and Laser Doppler anemometry acquired at low to moderate supersonic Mach numbers (i.e., M = 2-3). After reviewing the available literature, the following scientific questions remain unanswered pertaining to the effect of favorable pressure gradients: (1) How is state of the mean flow and turbulence statistics altered? (2) How is the structure of wall turbulence; break-up, stretch or a combination? (3) How are the Reynolds stress component production mechanisms altered? (4) What is the effect of Mach number on the above processes? To answer these questions and to enhance the current database, an experimental analysis was performed to provide high fidelity documentation of the mean and turbulent flow properties using two-dimensional particle image velocimetry (PIV) along with flow visualizations of a high speed (M4.88=), high Reynolds number (Re36,000??) supersonic turbulent boundary layer with curvature-driven favorable pressure gradients (a nominally zero, a weak, and a strong favorable pressure gradient). From these data, detailed turbulence analyses were performed including calculating classical mean flow and turbulence statistics, examining turbulent stress production, and performing quadrant decomposition of the Reynolds stress for each pressure gradient case. It was shown that the effect of curvature-driven favorable pressure gradients on the turbulent structure of a supersonic boundary layer was significant. For the strong pressure gradient model, the turbulent shear stress changed sign throughout the entire boundary layer; a phenomena was not observed to this magnitude in previous studies. Additionally, significant changes were seen in the turbulent structure of the boundary layer. It is believed that hairpin vortices organized within the boundary layer are stretched and then broken up over the favorable pressure gradient. Energy from these hairpin structures is transferred to smaller turbulent eddies as well as back into the mean flow creating a fuller mean velocity profile. It was determined that the effects of favorable pressure gradients on the basic structure of a turbulent Mach 5.0 boundary layer were significant, therefore increasing the complexity of computational modeling.Item Examining A Hypersonic Turbulent Boundary Layer at Low Reynolds Number(2013-05-15) Semper, Michael ThomasThe purpose of the current study was to answer several questions related to hypersonic, low Reynolds number, turbulent boundary layers, of which available data related to turbulence quantities is scarce. To that end, a unique research facility was created, instrumentation was developed to acquire data in the challenging low Reynolds number (low density) domain, and meaningful data was collected and analyzed. The low Reynolds number nature of the boundary layer (Re_theta = 3700) allows for tangible DNS computations/validations using the current geometry and conditions. The boundary layer examined in this experiment resembled other, higher Reynolds number boundary layers, but also exhibited its own unique characteristics. The Van Driest equivalent velocity scaling method was found to perform well, and the log layer of the law of the wall plot matched expected theory. Noticeably absent from the data was an overlap region between the two layers, which suggests a different profile for the velocity profiles at these low Reynolds number, hypersonic conditions. The low density effects near the wall may be having an effect on the turbulence that modifies this region in a manner not currently anticipated. The Crocco-Busemann relation was found to provide satisfactory results under its general assumptions. When compared to available data, the Morkovin scaled velocity fluctuations fell almost an order of magnitude short. Currently, it is not known if this deficit is due to inadequacies with the Strong Reynolds Analogy, or the Morkovin scaling parameters. The trips seem to promote uniformity across the span of the model, and the data seems to generally be in agreement across the spanwise stations. However, additional information is needed to determine if two-dimensional simulations are sufficient for these boundary layers. When the turbulent boundary layer power spectra is analyzed, the result is found to follow the traditional power law. This result verifies that even at low Reynolds numbers, the length scales still follow the behavior described by Kolmogorov. Moving downstream of the trips, the peak RMS disturbance value grows in amplitude until it reaches a critical value. After this point, the peak begins to decrease in amplitude, but the affected region spreads throughout the boundary layer. Once the influenced region covers a significant portion of the boundary layer, transition occurs.