Flow Structure and Short-Term Riverbed Evolution in Curved Flumes

River bending is the major effect responsible for bed topography and bank changes.In this study,fluid velocity(measured by a three-dimensional Doppler advanced point current meter)and bed topographical data have been collected in 40 sections of an experimental model.The whole flume was composed of an organic glass bend,upstream and downstream water tanks,two transition straight sections,a circulation pump,and a connection pipeline.Each section has been found to be characterized by a primary circulation and a small reverse circulation,with some sections even presenting three more or more circulation structures.The minimum circulation intensity has been detected in proximity to the top of the curved channel,while a region with small longitudinal velocity has been observed near the concave bank of each bend,corresponding to the flat bed formed after a short period of scouring.The maximum sediment deposition and scour depth in the presence of a uniform distribution of living flexible vegetation within 10 cm of the flume wall have been found to be smaller than those observed in the tests conducted without vegetation.

Inlet Recirculation Influence to the Flow Structure of Centrifugal Impeller

Inlet recirculation is proved as an effective way for centrifugal compressor surge margin extension,and is successively used in some engineering applications.Unfortunately its working mechanism is still not being well understood,which leads to redesigning of inlet recirculation mostly by experience.Also,most study about inlet recirculation is steady to date.It is necessary to study surge margin extension mechanism about inlet recirculation.To expose the mechanism in detail,steady and unsteady numerical simulations were performed on a centrifugal compressor with and without inlet recirculation.The results showed that,with inlet recirculation,the inlet axial velocity is augmented,relative Mach number around blade tip leading edge area is significantly reduced and so is the flow angle.As the flow angle decreased,the incidence angle reduced which greatly improves the flow field inside the impeller.Moreover,inlet recirculation changes the blade loading around blade tip and restrains the flow separation on the blade suction side at the leading edge area.The unsteady results of static pressure around blade surface,entropy at inlet crossflow section and vorticity distributions at near tip span surface indicated that,at near stall condition,strong fluctuation exists in the vicinity of tip area due to the interaction between tip leakage flow and core flow.By inlet recirculation these strong flow fluctuations are eliminated so the flow stability is greatly enhanced.All these improvements mentioned above are the reason for inlet recirculation delays compressor stall.This research reveals the surge margin extension reason of inlet recirculation from an unsteady flow viewpoint and provides important reference for inlet recirculation structure design.

Instantaneous and time-averaged flow structures around a blunt double-cone with or without supersonic film cooling visualized via nano-tracer planar laser scattering

In a Mach 3.8 wind tunnel, both instantaneous and time-averaged flow structures of different scales around a blunt double-cone with or without supersonic film cooling were visualized via nano-tracer planar laser scattering （NPLS）, which has a high spatiotemporal resolution. Three experimental cases with different injection mass flux rates were carried out. Many typical flow structures were clearly shown, such as shock waves, expansion fans, shear layers, mixing layers, and turbulent boundary layers. The analysis of two NPLS images with an interval of 5 us revealed the temporal evolution characteristics of flow structures. With matched pressures, the laminar length of the mixing layer was longer than that in the case with a larger mass flux rate, but the full covered region was shorter. Structures like K-H （Kelvin-Helmholtz） vortices were clearly seen in both flows. Without injection, the flow was similar to the supersonic flow over a backward- facing step, and the structures were relatively simpler, and there was a longer laminar region. Large scale structures such as hairpin vortices were visualized. In addition, the results were compared in part with the schlieren images captured by others under similar conditions.

Investigation on 3Dt wake flow structures of swimming bionic fish

A bionic experimental platform was designed for the purpose of investigating time accurate three-dimensional flow field, using digital particle image velocimetry （DSPIV）. The wake behind the flapping trail of a robotic fish model was studied at high spatial resolution. The study was performed in a water channel. A robot fish model was designed and built. The model was fixed onto a rigid support frame- work using a cable-supporting method, with twelve stretched wires. The entire tail of the model can perform prescribed motions in two degrees of freedom, mainly in carangiform mode, by driving its afterbody and lunate caudal fin respectively. The DSPIV system was set up to operate in a trans- lational manner, measuring velocity field in a series of parallel slices. Phase locked measurements were repeated for a number of runs, allowing reconstruction of phase average flow field. Vortex structures with phase history of the wake were obtained. The study reveals some new and complex three-dimensional flow structures in the wake of the fish, including ＂reverse hairpin vortex＂ and ＂reverse Karman S-H vortex rings＂, allowing insight into physics of this complex flow.

Numerical study of the flow structures in flat plate and the wall-mounted hump induced by the unsteady DBD plasma

In this work,the dielectric-barrier-discharge plasma actuator was employed to study the flow structures induced by the plasma actuator over a flat plate and a wall-mounted hump.A phenomenological dielectric-barrier-discharge plasma model which regarded the plasma effect as the body force was implemented into the Navier–Stokes equations solved by the method of large eddy simulations.The results show that a series of vortex pairs,which indicated dipole formation and periodicity distribution were generated in the boundary layer when the plasma was applied to the flow over a flat plane.They would enhance the energy exchanged between the near wall region and the free stream.Besides,their spatial trajectories are deeply affected by the actuation strength.When the actuator was engaged in the flow over a wall-mounted hump,the vortex pairs were also produced,which was able to delay flow separation as well as to promote flow reattachment and reduce the generation of a vortex,achieving the goal of reducing dissipation and decreasing flow resistance.

Lagrangian-based investigation of the transient flow structures around a pitching hydrofoil

The objective of this paper is to address the transient flow structures around a pitching hydrofoil by com- bining physical and numerical studies. In order to predict the dynamic behavior of the flow structure effectively, the Lagrangian coherent structures （LCS） defined by the ridges of the finite-time Lyapunov exponent （FTLE） are utilized under the framework of Navier-Stokes flow computations. In the numerical simulations, the k-w shear stress trans- port （SST） turbulence model, coupled with a two-equation F-Reo transition model, is used for the turbulence closure. Results are presented for a NACA66 hydrofoil undergoing slowly and rapidly pitching motions from 0° to 15° then back to 0° at a moderate Reynolds number Re = 7.5 × 105. The results reveal that the transient flow structures can be observed by the LCS method. For the slowly pitching case, it consists of five stages： quasi-steady and laminar, transition from laminar to turbulent, vortex development, large-scale vortex shedding, and reverting to laminar. The observation of LCS and Lagrangian particle tracers elucidates that the trailing edge vortex is nearly attached and stable during the vortex development stage and the interaction between the leading and trailing edge vortex caused by the adverse pres- sure gradient forces the vortexes to shed downstream during the large-scale vortex shedding stage, which corresponds to obvious fluctuations of the hydrodynamic response. For the rapidly pitching case, the inflection is hardly to be observed and the stall is delayed. The vortex formation, interaction, and shedding occurred once instead of being repeated three times, which is responsible for just one fluctuation in the hydrody- namic characteristics. The numerical results also show that the FTLE field has the potential to identify the transient flows, and the LCS can represent the divergence extent of infinite neighboring particles and capture the interface of the vortex region.

FLOW STRUCTURES AND FORCE CHARACTERISTICS FOR FLAT PLATE IN OSCILLATORY FLOWS WITH K_c NUMBER FROM 2 TO 40 AND IN COMBINED FLOWS

The evolution of wake structures and variation of the forces on a flat plate in harmonic oscillatory and in-line combined flows are obtained numerically by improved discrete vortex method. For the oscillatory oncoming flow cases, when K_c number varies from 2 to 40, the vortex pattern changes from a 'harmonic wave' shaped (in a range of small K_c numbers) to a slight inclined 'harmonic wave' shaped (in a range of moderate K_c numbers), then to inclined vortex clusters with an angle of 50 ° to the oncoming flow direction (at K_c = 20), at last, as K_c number becomes large, the vortex pattern is like a normal Karman vortex street. The well predicted drag and inertia force coefficients are obtained, which are more close to the results of Keulegan & Carpenter's experiment as compared with previous vortex simulation by other au- thors. The existence of minimum point of inertia force coefficient C_m near K_c = 20 is also well predicted and this phenomenon can be interpreted according to the vortex structure. For steady-oscillatory in-line combined flow cases, the vortex modes behave like a vortex street, exhibit a 'longitudinal wave' structure, and a vor- tex cluster shape corresponding to the ratios of U_m to U_0 which are of O (10^(-1)), O(1)and O (10), respectively. The effect on the prediction of forces on the flat plate from the disturbance component in a combined flow has been demon- strated qualitatively. In addition to this, the lock-in phenomenon of vortex shedding has been checked.

Impact of depth ratio on flow structure and turbulence characteristics of compound open channel flows

Compound open channel flows appear in most natural rivers are of great importance in river management and flood control.In this study,large eddy simulations were carried out to simulate the compound open channel flows with four different depth ratios(hr=0.10,0.25,0.50,and 0.75).The main flow velocity,secondary flow,Reynolds stress,and bed shear stress were obtained from numerical simulations.The depth-averaged stream wise momentum equation was used to quantify the lateral momentum exchange between the main channel and floodplain.The instantaneous coherent structures were presented by the Q criterion method.The impact of hr on flow structure and turbulence charac-teristics was analyzed.The results showed that with the increase of hr,the high velocity area in the main channel shifted to the floodplain,and the dip phenomenon became more obvious;the Reynolds stress largely contributed to the lateral momentum exchange within the flows near the side walls of floodplain;and the vortex structures were found to significantly increase in the floodplain region.

Experiment on the Effect of Sediment Concentration on Flow Structure

The paper studies on the sediment-laden flow by using MicroADV.Laboratory calibration has been conducted to determine the relationship between backscattered signal strength and sediment concentration. Based on the experimental data,the interactions between sediment and fluid in open channel flow are investi- gated.The experiment shows that there exist inner relation between sediment concentration and turbulence, and the relationship is distinctry related to the diameter of particle as well as the flow co...

Research on bubble trajectory and flow structure in helical-axial multiphase pump

The oil-gas two-phase hybrid transportation technology is one of the innovative technology directions for the exploitation and transportation of marginal and deep ocean oilfields.The helical-axial multiphase pump is a key equipment for oil and gas extraction.At this stage,most of the research on this kind of pump focuses on the improvement of the structure and conveying performance.However,because of insufficient understanding of the flow behavior and mechanism of bubbles,it is easy to cause the gas-liquid separation.In this paper,the numerical simulation and test are combined to explore the changes in the bubble trajectory and flow structure of the helical-axial multiphase pump.The results shown that when the speed is lower than 1200 r/min,the bubble reaches the maximum volume at 1/2 of the midline of the impeller blade and it contact with the pressure surface,broken to the suction surface.When the rotation speed is higher than 1450 r/min,the number of bubbles in the impeller increases and the size decreases.The backflow occurs in the tip clearance and strength increases continuously.The research results have important significance for the theoretical design and engineering application of the helical-axial multiphase pump.

FLOW STRUCTURE AND SEDIMENT TRANSPORT WITH IMPACTS OF AQUATIC VEGETATION

Aquatic vegetation plays an important role in the flow structure of open channels and thus changes the fate and the transport of sediment. This article proposes a three-dimensional turbulence model by introducing vegetation density and drag force into the control equations of water flow in the presence of vegetation. The model was used to calculate the impacts of submerged vegetation on the vertical profiles of longitudinal flow velocities, the changes of the depth-averaged flow velocities in a compound channel with emergent vegetation in the floodplain, the removal of suspended sediment from the channels by emergent vegetation, and the bed changes around and in a vegetated island. Numerical investigations show that aquatic vegetation retards flow in the vegetation zone, reduces the sediment transport capacity, and contributes to erosion on both sides of the vegetated island. Calculated results agree well with experimental results.

EXPERIMENTS OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL FLOW STRUCTURE IN BRAIDED RIVERS

The braided river is a typical river pattern in nature, but there is a paucity of comprehensive data set describing the three-dimensional flow field in the braided river. A physical model experiment was used to study the flow characteristics in the typical braided river with a mid-bar between two anabranches. In the experiment, two kinds of mid-bar with the ratios of its length to maximal width of 3 and 5 were considered. Moreover, the mid-bar could be moved to adjust the width of two anabranches. The detailed measurements of velocity were conducted using an acoustic Doppler velocimeter over a grid defined throughout the whole braided river region, including the bifurcation, two anabranches and the confluence. In two kinds of mid-bar braided models, a separation zone was observed in the anabranch of the model in which the ratio of length to maximal width of mid-bar is 3, however the separation zone was not found in another model in which the ratio is 5. In addition, the opposite secondary cells were observed at the bend apex of anabranch in two models, and different longitudinal velocity distributions in the entrance region of anabranch account for this opposite flow structure. Finally, turbulent kinetic energy were shown and compared in different situations. The high turbulence occurs at the place with strong shear, especially at the boundary of the separation zone and the high velocity passing flow.

PDA MEASUREMENTS OF TWO-PHASE FLOW STRUCTURE AND PARTICLE DISPERSION FOR A PARTICLE-LADEN JET IN CROSSFLOW

The two-phase flow structure and particle dispersion for a dilute particle-laden jet in crossflow （JICF） were experimentally investigated by means of Phase Doppler Anemometry （PDA） measurement. The two-phase flow experiments were conducted for different flow conditions and solid particle parameters, including the ratio of the jet velocity to crossflow velocity, the particle size and mass loading. The experimental results indicate that the fine particles with the size of 70 micron and the mass loading of 0.05% have a minor influence on the mean and fluctuation velocity fields of the two-phase JICF. However, the fine particle transport by the two-phase JICF is dominantly and preferentially affected by the shear layer vortices and exhibits a somewhat enhanced dispersion as compared to the fluid. For the coarse particles with the particle size ranging from 300 micron to 700 micron and the mass loading less than 0.16%, the effect of the particle parameters on the fluid phase is associated with both the anisotropic properties of the flow field and the trajectory deviation of the settling particles from the fluid. Compared to the single-phase JICF, the two-phase JICF laden with the coarse particles is recognized to possess more pronounced mean velocity alteration and turbulence modulation of the fluid phase in the presence of the particles with the larger particle size and higher mass loading.

Unsteady flow structures in centrifugal pump under two types of stall conditions

The stall is an unsteady flow phenomenon that always causes instabilities and low efficiency for pumps. This paper focuses on the unsteady flow structures and evolutions under two types of stall conditions in centrifugal pump impellers. Two centrifugal pump impellers, one with 6 and another with 5 blades, are considered and a developed large-eddy simulation method is adopted. The results show that the alternative stall occurs in the impeller with 6 blades, while, the rotating stall is observed in that with 5 blades. The flow structure and the pressure fluctuation characteristics are further analyzed. For the alternative stall, the stall cells are fixed relative to the impeller, but a large vortex in the stalled passage is always swaying. The outlet vortex is generated from it, and then develops and sheds periodically. For the rotating stall, the stall cells first occur in the suction side of the blade. With the growth of the stall cells, the block area gradually increases until the inlet region is almost blocked, then moves to the pressure side with a continuous decay. When the rotating stall occurs, the amplitude of the pressure fluctuation is much larger than that under the alternative stall condition. The propagation of the stall cells has a significant effect on the pressure fluctuations in the impeller.

Numerical investigation on the flow structures in a narrow confined channel with staggered jet array arrangement

A series of numerical analyses have been performed to investigate the flow structures in a narrow confined channel with 12 staggered circular impingement holes and one bigger exit hole. The flow enters the channel through the impingement holes and exits through the far end outlet. The flow fields corresponding to two jet Reynolds numbers （25000 and 65000） and three channel con- figurations with different ratios of the channel height to the impingement hole diameter （Zr 1, 3, 5） are analyzed by solving the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations with the realizable k-e turbulence model. Detailed flow field information including the secondary flow, the interaction between the jets and the cross flow, and flow distribution along the channel has been obtained. Comparisons between the numerical and experimental results of the flow fields at the four planes along the channel are performed to validate the numerical method. The calculated impingement pattern, high velocity flow distribution, low velocity separation region and vortices are in good agreement with the experimental data, implying the validity and effectiveness of the employed numerical approach for analyzing relevant flow field.

Flow structure and unsteady fluctuation with separation over a two-dimensional backward-facing step

The flow over a backward-facing step(BFS)is a typical separation and reattachment flow.Its flow structures and unsteady mechanisms are still not well explored.In this paper,the global velocity fields of a BFS are obtained by a synchronous particle image velocimetry(PIV)system with Reh=5345(Reynolds number)and Er=2(expansion ratio).Flow structures are distinguished and defined by the fraction of the negative velocity(upn).The reattachment zone(Lr)is quantitatively defined as(u0.9,u/0.1)on the bottom wall.Spatial distribution of the large-scale vortices couples well with the divided flow structures and their temporal evolution presenting four stages(forming,developing,shedding and redeveloping)when travel downstream.The unsteady motions with various low frequencies are well explained by the coherent vortices and flow structures.Among the unsteady low frequency motions,the Kelvin Helmholtz(KH)vortices and the oscillation of Xr(OX)come likely from the free shear layer.The KH vortices contribute to the unsteadiness of the temporal flow,and the OX is the primary response to the vortical fluctuations.

Flow structures and hydrodynamics of unsteady cavitating flows around hydrofoil at various angles of attack

This paper investigates the unsteady structures and the hydrodynamics of cavitating flows. Experimental results are presented for a Clark-Y hydrofoil fixed at ？= 0？, 5？ and 8？, for various cavitation numbers, from subcavitating flow to supercavitation. The high-speed video camera and the particle image velocimetry（PIV） are applied to observe the transient flow structures. Statistics of the cavity lengths, the velocity and vorticity distributions, as well as the turbulent intensities are presented to quantify the unsteady process. Meanwhile, the dynamic measurement system is used to record the dynamic characteristics. The experimental results show that the flow structures and the hydrodynamics of the cavitation vary considerably with various combinations of angles of attack and cavitation numbers. Under various conditions, the cavitation can be generally grouped as the inception cavitation, the sheet cavitation, the cloud cavitation and the supercavitation. The cloud cavitation exhibits noticeable unsteady characteristics. Experimental evidence indicates that the hydrodynamics are clearly affected by the cavitating flow structures, the amplitude of the load fluctuation is much higher in the cloud cavitating cases.

FLOW STRUCTURE FORMATION AND EVOLUTION IN CIRCULATING GAS-FLUIDIZED BEDS

The occurrence of heterogeneous flow structures in gas-particle flows seriously affects the gas-solid contacting and transport processes in high-velocity gas-fluidized beds. Particles do not disperse uniformly in the flow but pass through the bed in a swarm of clusters. The so-called 揷ore-annulus?structure in the radial direction and 揝?shaped axial distribution of solids concentration characterize the typical flow structure in the system. A computational study, using the discrete particle approach based on molecular dynamics techniques, has been carried out to explore the mechanisms underlying formation of the clusters and the core-annulus structure. Based on energy budget analysis including work done by the drag force, kinetic energy, rotational energy, potential energy, and energy dissipation due to particle-particle and particle-wall collisions, the role of gas-solid interaction and inelastic collisions between the particles are elucidated. It is concluded that the competition between gas-solid interaction and particle-particle interaction determines the pattern formation in high-velocity gas-solid flows: if the gas-solid interaction (under elevated pressure) dominates, most of particle energy obtained by drag from the gas phase is partitioned such that particle potential energy is raised, leading to a uniform flow structure. Otherwise, a heterogeneous pattern exists, which could be induced by both particle-particle collisions and gas-solid interaction. Although both factors could cause the flow instability, the non-linear drag force is demonstrated to be the necessary condition to trigger heterogeneous flow structure formation. As gas velocity increases and goes beyond a critical value, the fluid-particle interaction suppresses particle collisional dissipation, and as a consequence a more homogeneous flow regime is formed.

Heat transfer and flow structure of two-dimensional thermal convection over ratchet surfaces

This paper presents a numerical study of the Rayleigh-Benard convection(RBC)in two-dimensional cells with asymmetric(ratchet)roughness distributed on the top and bottom surfaces.We consider two aspect ratios of roughness y=1,2 and the range of the Rayleigh number 1.0 xlO6<Ra<2.0x1010 with the Prandtl number Pr=4.The influences of the roughness on the heat transfer and the flow structure are found to be strongly dependent on both Ra and the roughness geometry.We find that the roughness can have a significant influence on the organization of the secondary comer rolls,and the comer rolls are evidently suppressed by the roughness for intermediate values of Ra.In the presence of the roughness,a sharp jump of the Nu values is identified as the Ra value is slightly increased,accompanied with the dramatic changes of the large-scale flow structure and the plume dynamics.The influences of the ratchet orientation on the heat transfer and the flow structure are discussed and analyzed.