1,721,043 research outputs found

    Recognition of coherent structures in the boundary layer of a low-pressure-turbine blade for different free-stream turbulence intensity levels

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    Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) has been adopted to analyze the instantaneous flow field developing on a high-lift turbine blade profile operating under low and elevated free-stream turbulence conditions (FSTI). Results reported in the paper allow us to analyze the dynamics leading to transition and separation of the suction side boundary layer, looking to generation, propagation and breakdown of coherent structures observed in the two different FSTI cases. To this end, measurements have been performed in two orthogonal planes. Results obtained in the blade-to-blade plane allow the detailed characterization of the propagation of Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) rolls generating, at low FSTI condition, as a consequence of a non-reattaching separation. Otherwise, data in the wall-parallel plane allow recognizing the presence of three-dimensional disuniformities induced at high FSTI by low and high speed streaks (Klebanoff mode). The sinuous breakdown of boundary layer streaks generates other complex three-dimensional coherent structures such as hairpin or cane-like vortices that induce transition. Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) has been adopted to in depth characterize these structures, thus further explaining the mechanisms through which the free-stream turbulence intensity modify the transition/separation processes of the suction side boundary layer of an highly loaded low pressure turbine blade

    A wavelet-based intermittency detection technique from PIV investigations in transitional boundary layers

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    The transition process of the boundary layer growing over a flat plate with pressure gradient simulating the suction side of a low-pressure turbine blade and elevated free-stream turbulence intensity level has been analyzed by means of PIV and hot-wire measurements. A detailed view of the instantaneous flow field in the wallnormal plane highlights the physics characterizing the complex process leading to the formation of large-scale coherent structures during breaking down of the ordered motion of the flow, thus generating randomized oscillations (i.e., turbulent spots). This analysis gives the basis for the development of a new procedure aimed at determining the intermittency function describing (statistically) the transition process. To this end, a wavelet-based method has been employed for the identification of the large-scale structures created during the transition process. Successively, a probability density function of these events has been defined so that an intermittency function is deduced. This latter strictly corresponds to the intermittency function of the transitional flow computed trough a classic procedure based on hotwire data. The agreement between the two procedures in the intermittency shape and spot production rate proves the capability of the method in providing the statistical representation of the transition process. The main advantages of the procedure here proposed concern with its applicability to PIV data; it does not require a threshold level to discriminate first- and/or second-order time-derivative of hot-wire time traces (that makes the method not influenced by the operator); and it provides a clear evidence of the connection between the flow physics and the statistical representation of transition based on theory of turbulent spot propagatio

    POD Analysis of the Unsteady Behavior of a Laminar Separation Bubble

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    Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements have been performed in order to analyze the unsteady flow field developing along the separated flow region of a laminar separation bubble. Data have been post-processed by means of Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) to improve the understanding of the physics of this complex phenomenon. The paper shows that the first two POD modes of the normal to the wall velocity component are coupled. Thus, they are representative of a vortex shedding phenomenon which is identified to be induced by Kelvin–Helmholtz instability. The POD allows the phase identification of each PIV image within the vortex shedding cycle. The computed eigenvectors are used to sort the experimental snapshots and then reconstruct a phase-averaged velocity field which highlighted the motion of vortices shed close to the bubble maximum displacement. Moreover, other sources of deterministic fluctuations characterized by frequencies which are different from the one induced by the Kelvin– Helmholtz instability are also revealed. Indeed, the most energetic POD mode of the streamwise velocity component is not related to the shedding frequency, while it describes large velocity fluctuations in the shear layer region upstream of the bubble maximum displacement, where the turbulent activity is not yet present. The POD decomposition presented here identifies the large scale structures within the flow, thus separately accounts for both coherent and stochastic contributions to the overall energy of the velocity fluctuations
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