Experiments in Fluids最新文献

Using temperature-sensitive phosphorescent materials, particle tracing technology presents a promising avenue to simultaneously obtain temperature and velocity fields in thermal fluids. However, the application of the technique is limited by the poor particle tracking ability of inorganic phosphorescent materials, particularly in low-speed flows due to their high density. To address this problem, this study developed fluid density-matched phosphorescent microspheres. Phosphorescent microspheres with hollow structures were synthesized via emulsion polymerization, which enables them to maintain the temperature measurement functionality while exhibiting favorable fluid density-matching properties and enhanced flow field tracking capabilities. The microsphere size and average density were meticulously controlled by adjusting the stirring time and temperature. The microsphere diameters were 57–120 μm, the theoretical average densities were 0.58–3.2 g/cm³, and the operational temperatures were 0–200 °C. The result of the numerical simulation indicates that the temperature response time of the microsphere was within 1.41 ms. Based on the developed microspheres, a temperature–velocity simultaneous measurement method was developed for low-speed thermal fluids. An application demonstration simultaneously measured the temperature and velocity fields in low-speed hot–cold mixed flows. Comparison with thermocouple measurements reveals that the current method can achieve a fluid temperature measurement with an error of 1.575%. The results underscore the efficacy of fluid density-matched phosphorescent microspheres in simultaneously acquiring temperature and velocity fields in low-speed thermal flows.

Graphic abstract

A novel type of low-speed water tunnel has been designed which uses an array of submersible electric thrusters to propel water through a test section centered within a large rectangular tank. This design can operate as a suction or blowdown tunnel to alternately create uniform, low-turbulence flow or spatially and temporally varying flows such as shear layers, wakes, and gusts. The thruster array architecture also enables an order of magnitude improvement in tunnel footprint for a given test section size, eschewing the need for bulky traditional elements such as the contraction, turning, and settling chambers. Planar digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) and single-component constant temperature anemometry (CTA) measurements of flow uniformity and turbulence intensity indicate comparable flow quality to larger traditional tunnels when operated in suction mode. Dye visualizations of low Reynolds number cylinder wake flows are also presented to demonstrate tunnel capabilities.

We describe the implementation of a 3d Lagrangian particle tracking (LPT) system based on event-based vision (EBV) and demonstrate its application for the near-wall characterization of a turbulent boundary layer (TBL) in air. The viscous sublayer of the TBL is illuminated by a thin light sheet that grazes the surface of a thin glass window inserted into the wind tunnel wall. The data simultaneously captured by three synchronized event cameras are used to reconstruct the 3d particle tracks within (400,upmu text{m}) of the wall on a field of view of (12.0,text{mm} times 7.5,text{mm}). The velocity and position of particles within the viscous sublayer permit the estimation of the local vector of the unsteady wall shear stress (WSS) under the assumption of linearity between particle velocity and WSS. Thereby, time-evolving maps of the unsteady WSS and higher-order statistics are obtained that are in agreement with DNS data at matching Reynolds number. Near-wall particle acceleration provides the rate of change of the WSS which exhibits fully symmetric log-normal superstatistics. Two-point correlations of the randomly spaced WSS data are obtained by a bin-averaging approach and reveal information on the spacing of near-wall streaks. The employed compact EBV hardware coupled with suited LPT tracking algorithms provides data quality on par with currently used, considerably more expensive, high-speed framing cameras.

In a microgravity environment, where gravity is almost absent, surface tension plays a dominant role in the behavior of fluid motion. The motion of fluids within storage tanks can lead to significant oscillations of the tank itself or even the entire vehicle, posing substantial safety risks. Solid foam particle anti-sloshing technology represents a novel research topic in addressing this issue. The anti-sloshing technology using solid foam particles is a novel research topic. In this experiment, ping-pong balls were used to simulate individual foam particles, and a transparent liquid tank was designed to observe their motion. Two different hydrophobic materials were applied to the surface of the balls to alter their surface tension in water. A drop tower was used to create a microgravity environment, and the motion of the balls in water under microgravity was recorded with a camera. Both static and dynamic analyses were conducted on the balls under normal gravity and microgravity conditions, considering water resistance, surface tension, and added mass forces. The control equations for the position and velocity of the ball’s center of mass were derived. The experimental results showed that under microgravity, hydrophilic balls tend to submerge into the water, while hydrophobic balls move upwards, away from the water surface. The equilibrium adsorption position of the hydrophilic balls differed significantly between microgravity and normal gravity conditions, with noticeable oscillatory movement in the vertical direction. The experimental results showed good agreement with the dynamic model.

In the present study, the propagation velocity and lateral spreading angle of turbulent spots on a wedge in transient hypersonic boundary layer flows were investigated and characterized by measuring the heat flux distribution using a fast-response temperature-sensitive paint (TSP) in a shock tunnel facility. The shock tunnel was operated under the over-tailored condition and provided with the low- to high-unit Reynolds number during a test duration, which was realized by the contact surface arrival in the shock tube that changed the temperature and density of the reservoir gas. Power spectral density estimated from the pressure recordings may indicate that the boundary layer flow was transitional. In TSP measurements, the global heat flux distribution on the wedge was accurately obtained qualitatively. Surprisingly, turbulent spots were visualized using TSP for each unit Reynolds number condition. The propagation velocities at the head, peak heat flux point, and tail of turbulent spots for low- and high-unit Reynolds number conditions were approximated from the TSP images to be 87 ~ 96%, 69 ~ 73%, and 52 ~ 57% of the boundary layer edge velocities at each condition, respectively. These results were in good agreement with the available data in previous investigations. The lateral spreading angle of turbulent spots was also measured to be 5° ~ 10° from the TSP images. This study showed that the fast-response TSP had the ability to visualize the temporally resolved turbulent spots by measuring the heat flux on the wedge.

Graphical abstract

Background-oriented schlieren (BOS) is a non-intrusive optical method for measuring density gradients in a fluid flow based on changes of local refractive index. The density gradients can be obtained by observing the displacement between two images of a background pattern, with and without the presence of the flow. Existing methods to estimate displacements include block matching and optical flow. Image registration in computer vision seeks reasonable transformations between two images such that one matches the other and has been under-utilized in determining the displacement for BOS image processing. Deformable image registration (DIR) methods allow non-global transformations and are proposed as displacement estimation methods for processing BOS images. Numerical ray tracing simulations are performed to generate synthetic BOS images of various flows. The estimated density gradient results of block matching, optical flow, and DIR methods are compared to the ground truth (the path-averaged density gradient of the schlieren object used in ray tracing) to assess and compare their performances. The performances of these methods are also validated on experimental BOS images to determine the displacement estimation method that is most suitable for high-speed, turbulent flows.

This paper presents an image velocimetry technique that employs supercooled water droplets as seeding particles in an icing wind tunnel. The innovative work involves reconstructing the pressure distribution using the velocity field measured by the water droplets and providing the water collection efficiency at the leading edge of the airfoil using pathlines. The study compares the relative errors of the velocity fields obtained through traditional particle image velocimetry (PIV) and the supercooled water droplet image velocimetry (SWDIV) methods. Results indicate that the velocity root mean square error of SWDIV is (17.4 %) of the incoming flow velocity, and the average angle error was 5.36°. The streamlines derived from the SWDIV method align well with the water droplet trajectories calculated using the Lagrangian approach, providing a more accurate representation of the flow dynamics involving supercooled water droplets of varying sizes. Using this technique, the study quantitatively analyzes the changing characteristics of the airfoil flow field during the anti-icing and de-icing processes under plasma actuation. Key observations include identifying changes in ice configuration, evaluating water droplet collection efficiency at the leading edge, and analyzing the velocity and pressure fields. In the icing wind tunnel experiments, the incoming flow velocity was 15 (text {m/s}), resulting in a Reynolds number of (1.8 times 10^5). The liquid water content was 1.0 (text {g/m}^3), with a median volume diameter of water droplets at 20 (upmu text {m}) and an average diameter of 6.4 (upmu text {m}) The static temperature of the incoming flow was − 10 °C. The anti-icing research revealed that plasma actuation prevents icing on the leading edge while maintaining the suction peak. However, runback ice formed downstream of the actuator at low incoming flow velocities, significantly reducing local negative pressure and leading to lift loss. Moreover, the aerodynamic effects generated by plasma reduced the peak water droplet collection coefficient at the leading edge by approximately 0.05. When the airfoil’s leading edge was covered with a 5 mm thick layer of mixed ice, its geometric shape became irregular, and the pressure peak was notably diminished. Upon activation of the plasma actuator, the resulting aerodynamic and thermal coupling melted the surface ice, disrupting the adhesion between the ice and the airfoil surface. This caused the ice to detach and be carried downstream by the airflow, effectively achieving de-icing within approximately 203 s. After ice removal, the negative pressure peak on the upper surface of the airfoil’s leading edge returned to baseline levels, restoring lift to a great degree.