Strong shock propagation for the finite-source circular blast in a confined domain

The circular explosion wave produced by the abrupt discharge of gas from a high-temperature heat source serves as a crucial model for addressing explosion phenomena in compressible flow.The reflection of the primary shock and its propagation within a confined domain are studied both theoretically and numerically in this research.Under the assumption of strong shock,the scaling law governing propagation of the main shock is proposed.The dimensionless frequency of reflected shock propagation is associated with the confined distance.The numerical simulation for the circular explosion problem in a confined domain is performed for validation.Under the influence of confinement,the principal shock wave systematically undergoes reflection within the domain until it weakens,leading to the non-monotonic attenuation of kinetic energy in the explosion fireball and periodic oscillations of the fireball volume with a certain frequency.The simulation results indicate that the frequency of kinetic energy attenuation and the volume oscillation of the explosive fireball align consistently with the scaling law.

Active control of flow past an elliptic cylinder using an artificial neural network trained by deep reinforcement learning

The active control of flow past an elliptical cylinder using the deep reinforcement learning(DRL)method is conducted.The axis ratio of the elliptical cylinderΓvaries from 1.2 to 2.0,and four angles of attackα=0°,15°,30°,and 45°are taken into consideration for a fixed Reynolds number Re=100.The mass flow rates of two synthetic jets imposed on different positions of the cylinderθ1andθ2are trained to control the flow.The optimal jet placement that achieves the highest drag reduction is determined for each case.For a low axis ratio ellipse,i.e.,Γ=1.2,the controlled results atα=0°are similar to those for a circular cylinder with control jets applied atθ1=90°andθ2=270°.It is found that either applying the jets asymmetrically or increasing the angle of attack can achieve a higher drag reduction rate,which,however,is accompanied by increased fluctuation.The control jets elongate the vortex shedding,and reduce the pressure drop.Meanwhile,the flow topology is modified at a high angle of attack.For an ellipse with a relatively higher axis ratio,i.e.,Γ1.6,the drag reduction is achieved for all the angles of attack studied.The larger the angle of attack is,the higher the drag reduction ratio is.The increased fluctuation in the drag coefficient under control is encountered,regardless of the position of the control jets.The control jets modify the flow topology by inducing an external vortex near the wall,causing the drag reduction.The results suggest that the DRL can learn an active control strategy for the present configuration.

Horizontal convection in a rectangular enclosure driven by a linear temperature profile

The horizontal convection in a square enclosure driven by a linear temperature profile along the bottom boundary is investigated numerically by using a finite difference method.The Prandtl number is fixed at 4.38,and the Rayleigh number Ra ranges from107 to 1011.The convective flow is steady at a relatively low Rayleigh number,and no thermal plume is observed,whereas it transits to be unsteady when the Rayleigh number increases beyond the critical value.The scaling law for the Nusselt number Nu changes from Rossby’s scaling Nu~Ra^(1/5)in a steady regime to Nu~Ra^(1/4)in an unsteady regime,which agrees well with the theoretically predicted results.Accordingly,the Reynolds number Re scaling varies from Re~Ra^(3/11)to Re~Ra^(2/5).The investigation on the mean flows shows that the thermal and kinetic boundary layer thickness and the mean temperature in the bulk zone decrease with the increasing Ra.The intensity of fluctuating velocity increases with the increasing Ra.

Numerical investigation of viscous fingering in Hele-Shaw cell with spatially periodic variation of depth

Viscous fingering in a modified Hele-Shaw cell is numerically investigated. The cell allows periodic variation of depth in the lateral direction. The wavenumber n of the depth perturbation has great influence on fingering patterns. For n = 1, the fingering pattern due to the interface instability remains the same as that in the conventional Hele- Shaw cell, while the depth variation causes the steady finger to be a little narrower. For n = 2, four different fingering patterns are captured, similar to the available experimental observations in a modified Hele-Shaw cell containing a centered step-like occlusion. It is found that new fingering patterns appear as n further increases, among which, two patterns with spatial oscillation along both edges of the finger are particularly interesting. One is a symmetric oscillatory finger for n = 3, and the other is an asymmetric one for n = 4. The influence of capillary number on fingering patterns is studied for n = 3 and 4. We find that spatial oscillation of the finger nearly ceases at moderate capillary numbers and occurs again as the capillary number increases further. Meanwhile, the wide finger shifts to the narrow one. It is accompanied by a sudden decrease in the finger width which otherwise decreases continuously as the capillary number increases. The wavenumber and the amplitude of depth perturbation have little effect on the finger width.