Effect of Time Step Size and Turbulence Model on the Open Water Hydrodynamic Performance Prediction of Contra-Rotating Propellers

A growing interest has been devoted to the contra-rotating propellers （CRPs） due to their high propulsive efficiency, torque balance, low fuel consumption, low cavitations, low noise performance and low hull vibration. Compared with the single-screw system, it is more difficult for the open water performance prediction because forward and aft propellers interact with each other and generate a more complicated flow field around the CRPs system. The current work focuses on the open water performance prediction of contra-rotating propellers by RANS and sliding mesh method considering the effect of computational time step size and turbulence model. The validation study has been performed on two sets of contra-rotating propellers developed by David W Taylor Naval Ship R ＆ D center. Compared with the experimental data, it shows that RANS with sliding mesh method and SST k-ω turbulence model has a good precision in the open water performance prediction of contra-rotating propellers, and small time step size can improve the level of accuracy for CRPs with the same blade number of forward and aft propellers, while a relatively large time step size is a better choice for CRPs with different blade numbers.

Experimental study on performance of contra-rotating axial flow fan

Contra-rotating axial flow fan is a kind of the vital equipment in coal mines. Their work conditions directly affect the safety of staff and production. In the paper, the performance of the contra-rotating axial flow fan is experi- mentally investigated. The study is focused on the fan performance, the shaft power and the match between the motor and fan efficiency at different blade angles. The results show that the blade angle 43°/26° has the best aerodynamic perfor- mance. The first engine has a greater impact on the fan than the second one. The blade angle with the best aerodynamic performance does not necessarily correspond to the one with the best match between the motor and fan efficiency. The blade angle 43°/24° is the best choice for the operation of the fan in the present study.

Unsteady Flow Condition between Front and Rear Rotor of Contra-Rotating Small Sized Axial Fan

Contra-rotating small-sized axial fans are used as cooling fans for electric equipment. In the case of the contra-rotating rotors, the blade row distance between front and rear rotors is a key parameter for the performance and stable operation. The wake and potential interference occur between the front and rear rotors and leakage flow from the front rotor tip influences on the flow condition of the rear rotor near the shroud when the blade row distance is small. Therefore, it is important to clarify the flow condition between front and rear rotors. The fan static pressure curves were obtained by the experimental apparatus and the numerical analysis was also conducted to investigate the internal flow between front and rear rotors. The leakage flow from the front rotor tip reaches the leading edge of the rear rotor when the blade row distance is small as L = 10 mm and the pressure fluctuations at the leading edge of the rear rotor tip becomes larger than those at other radial positions. In the present paper, the vorticity contour between front and rear rotors is shown and pressure fluctuations related to the leakage flow from the front rotor is investigated using the numerical analysis result. Then, suitable blade row distance for the contra-rotating small sized axial fan is discussed based on the internal flow condition.

Study on Contra-Rotating Small-Sized Axial Flow Hydro Turbine

It is thought that small hydropower generation is alternative energy, and the energy potential of small hydropower is large. The efficiency of small hydro turbines is lower than that of large one, and these small hydro turbine’s common problems are out of operation by foreign materials. Then, there are demands for small hydro turbines to keep high per- formance and wide flow passage. Therefore, we adopted contra-rotating rotors which can be expected to achieve high performance and low-solidity rotors with wide flow passage in order to accomplish high performance and stable opera- tion. Final goal on this study is development of an electric appliance type small hydro turbine which has high portability and makes an effective use of the unused small hydro power energy source. In the present paper, the performance and the internal flow conditions in detail of contra-rotating small-sized axial flow hydro turbine are shown as a first step of the research with the numerical flow analysis. Then, a capability adopting contra-rotating rotors to an electric appliance type small hydro turbine was discussed. Furthermore, the high performance design for it was considered by the numeri- cal analysis results.

Modeling and Numerical Simulation of Wings Effect on Turbulent Flow between two contra-rotating cylinders

Many industries in the world take part in the pollution of the environment. This pollution often comes from the reactions of combustion. To optimize these reactions and to minimize pollution, turbulence is a funda- mental tool. Several factors are at the origin of turbulence in the complex flows, among these factors, we can quote the effect of wings in the rotating flows. The interest of this work is to model and to simulate numeri- cally the effect of wings on the level of turbulence in the flow between two contra-rotating cylinders. We have fixed on these two cylinders eight wings uniformly distributed and we have varied the height of the wings to have six values from 2 mm to 20 mm by maintaining the same Reynolds number of rotation. The numerical tool is based on a statistical model in a point using the closing of the second order of the transport equations of the Reynolds stresses (Reynolds Stress Model: RSM). We have modelled wings effect on the flow by a source term added to the equation tangential speed. The results of the numerical simulation showed that all the average and fluctuating variables are affected the value of the kinetic energy of turbulence as those of Reynolds stresses increase with the height of the wings.

Modeling and Numerical Simulation of Wings Effect on Turbulent Flow between Two Contra-Rotating Discs

Turbulence is a fundamentally interesting physical phenomenon which is of fundamental interest. Indeed, it is at the origin of several industrial applications, the control of energy in these industrial applications pass by the comprehension and the modelling of turbulent flows. Several factors are at the origin of turbulence in the complex flows, among these factors, we can quote the effect of wings in the rotating flows. The interest of this work is to model and to simulate numerically the effect of wings on the level of turbulence in the flow between two contra-rotating discs. We have fixed on these two discs eight wings uniformly distributed and we have varied the height of the wings to have eleven values from 0 to 18 mm by maintaining the same Reynolds number of rotation. The numerical tool is based on a statistical model in a point using the closing of the second order of the transport equations of the Reynolds stresses （Reynolds Stress Model： RSM）. We have modelled wings effect on the flow by a source term added to the equation tangential speed. The results of the numerical simulation showed that all the average and fluctuating variables are affected the value of the kinetic energy of turbulence as those of Reynolds stresses increase with the height of the wings.

Characteristics of an Axial-flux Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine with Contra-rotating Rotors under Unbalanced Load Condition from 3-D Finite Element Analysis

During recent years,the axial-flus PMSM with contra-rotating rotors has become a hot topic in academic research due to its high efficiency and simple structure.However,its back-EMF may be distorted under the condition of different angular positions.This paper investigates characteristics of the novel motor used for contra-propeller driving.Considering the torque ripple and current oscillation under unbalanced load condition,this paper analyzes the distorted back-EMF of the machine when its two rotors get different angular positions during rotating.The analysis results are validated by transient-magnetic 3-D FEA method,which the 3-D FEA software is used to model this motor and transient simulations are carried out to obtain its magnetic characteristic and main performances.A main focus is put on the back-EMF characteristic with different angular positions between the two rotors.Furthermore,the characteristic of torque production under unbalanced load is investigated.Finally,a prototype motor is fabricated to validate the analyses of this paper.

Internal Flow Condition between Front and Rear Rotor of Contra-Rotating Small-Sized Axial Fan at Low Flow Rate

Contra-rotating small-sized fans are used as cooling fans for electric equipment. The internal flow condition between the front and rear rotors of the contra-rotating small-sized fan is not known well especially at the low flow rate. Furthermore, the blade row distance between the front and rear rotors is an important parameter for the contra-rotating small-sized fan and its influence on the internal flow condition is not clarified at the low flow rate. Therefore, the internal flow condition of the contra-rotating small-sized fan at the low flow rate is investigated by the numerical analysis in this research. The numerical analysis results are validated by comparing the fan static pressure curves of the numerical results to the experimental results. The internal flow condition at the low flow rate is clarified using the numerical models of the different blade row distance L = 10 mm and 30 mm. In the present paper, pressure fluctuations phase locked each front and rear rotor’s rotation are shown and the influences of the wake and the potential interference are discussed by the unsteady numerical analysis results at the low flow rate.

Performance and Internal Flow of Contra-Rotating Small-Sized Cooling Fan

High pressure and large flow rate small-sized cooling fans are used for servers in data centers and there is a strong demand to increase its performance because of increase of quantity of heat from servers. Contra-rotating rotors have been adopted for some of high pressure and large flow rate cooling fans to meet the demand. The performance curve of the contra-rotating small-sized cooling fan with 40 mm square casing was investigated by an experimental apparatus and its internal flow condition was clarified by the numerical analysis. The fan static pressure of the front rotor was extremely low and it increased significantly at the rear rotor. The uniform flow was achieved at the inlet of the rear rotor because of the special shape of the casing between the front and rear rotors. On the other hand, the tip leakage flow was large enough to influence on the main flow of the test cooling fan by the design specification of high pressure with compact rotor diameter.

Aerodynamic Coupling Analysis of Counter⁃rotating Propfan and Inlet Flow Field

Taking a propfan engine as the research object,the CFD method was used for 3D modeling and unsteady slip flow for numerical calculation.The propfan rotation domain and the nacelle outside flow domain were meshed by using the partition splicing grid technology.Used the Reynolds⁃averaged of N⁃S equation,the Reynolds stress term uses the RNG turbulence model;and based on the slip grid method,numerical calculation of the flow field with different Mach numbers,front and rear blade angles and engine state were carried out;and the change law of propeller fan characteristics and the influence of slip flow on the inlet flow field were analyzed.The blade angle was the key parameter of the propeller fan characteristic conditions.When the blade angle increases from 41°to 50°,the thrust coefficient increases by 31.2%,and the power coefficient increases by 33.4%;in the climbing state of the propeller fan,the maximum total pressure distortion at the inlet port of 6.8%;the cross section is less affected by the slip flow of the propfan;and the pressure distribution is relatively uniform,but the area of the flow channel is small.The research results can provide a solution for the matching of the counter⁃rotating propeller fan and the engine and the arrangement of the air inlet measuring rake.

Comparison of Rotating Stall Warning by Different Methods for Variable Speed Configurations in a Contra-Rotating Compressor

Stall in compressors can cause performance degradation and even lead to disasters.These unacceptable consequences can be avoided by timely monitoring stall inception and taking effective measures.This paper focused on the rotating stall warning in a low-speed axial contra-rotating compressor.Firstly,the stall disturbance characteristics under different speed configurations were analyzed.The results showed that as the speed ratio(RR)increased,the stall disturbance propagation speed based on the rear rotor speed gradually decreased.Subsequently,the standard deviation(SD)method,the cross-correlation(CC)method,and the discrete wavelet transform(DWT)method were employed to obtain the stall initiation moments of three different speed configurations.It was found that the SD and CC methods did not achieve significant stall warning results in all three speed configurations.Besides,the stall initiation moment obtained by the DWT method at RR=1.125 was one period after the stall had fully developed,which was unacceptable.Therefore,a stall warning method was developed in the present work based on the long short-term memory(LSTM)regression model.By applying the LSTM model,the predicted stall initiation moments of three speed configurations were at the 557th,518th,and 333rd revolution,which were44,2,and 74 revolutions ahead of stall onset moments,respectively.Furthermore,in scenarios where a minor disturbance preceded the stall,the stall warning effect of the LSTM was greatly improved in comparison with the aforementioned three methods.In contrast,when the pressure fluctuation before the stall was relatively small,the differences between the stall initiation moments predicted by these four methods were not significant.

Unsteady aerodynamic noise prediction of contra-rotating open rotor using meshless method

The Contra-Rotating Open Rotor(CROR)design confronts significant noise challenges despite being one of the possible options for future green aeroengines.To efficiently estimate the noise emitted from a CROR,a three-dimensional unsteady prediction model based on the meshless method is presented.The unsteady wake flow and the aerodynamic load fluctuations on the blade are solved through the viscous vortex particle method,the blade element momentum theory and vortex lattice method.Then,the acoustic field is obtained through the Farassat’s formulation 1A.Validation of this method is conducted on a CROR,and a mesh-based method,e.g.,Nonlinear Harmonic(NLH)method,is also employed for comparison.It is found that the presented method is three times faster than NLH method while maintaining a comparable precision.A thorough parametric analysis is also carried out to illustrate the effects of rotational speed,rotor-rotor spacing and rear rotor diameter on the noise level.The rotor speed is found to be the most influencing factor,and by optimizing the speed difference between the front and rear rotors,a notable noise reduction can be expected.The current findings not only contribute to a deeper comprehension of the CROR’s aeroacoustic properties but also offer an effective tool for engineering applications.

CHARACTERISTICS OF FAN STALLING BASED ON CORRELATED DIMENSIONS

Different from the previous qualitative analysis of linear systems in time and frequency domains, the method for describing nonlinear systems quantitatively is proposed based on correlated dimensions. Nonlinear dynamics theory is used to analyze the pressure data of a contrarotating axial flow fan. The delay time is 18 and the embedded dimension varies from 1 to 25 through phase-space reconstruction. In addition, the correlated dimensions are calculated before and after stalling. The results show that the correlated dimensions drop from 1. 428 before stalling to 1. 198 after stalling, so they are sensitive to the stalling signal of the fan and can be used as a characteristic quantity for the judging of the fan stalling.

齿轮传动对转桨扇发动机总体性能建模

为了开展齿轮传动对转桨扇发动机总体性能计算,在双轴涡桨发动机性能模型基础上完善了减速器与对转桨扇性能计算模型,通过构建求解方程组完成了齿轮传动桨扇发动机总体性能建模。计算表明,本模型设计点性能计算结果与公开文献计算结果误差不高于0.1%。本模型可在控制规律设计中选择桨距角为被控参数,且桨距角的调节对对应桨性能及转速影响最大;选定燃气发生器某一参数作为被控参数,再从前后桨桨距角、转速及自由涡轮转速中选取两个被控参数,组合形成的10种三变量组合控制规律均能在本模型中完成计算。结果表明,本模型可支持开展桨扇发动机控制规律设计与性能计算,具有良好的适用性与收敛性。

对转桨扇三维流场特性数值研究

对转桨扇(Contra-rotating propfan,CRP)是下一代民用航空推进备选方案开式转子发动机最重要的气动部件,其气动性能对整机性能影响显著。对不同进距比下的对转桨扇三维流场进行数值模拟,结合压气机及螺旋桨相关理论分析了对转桨扇内部流场及其滑流区涡结构和滑流特征。结果表明,对转桨扇后排流动特征及性能参数变化幅度均超过前排。对转桨扇实际进口气流角受到轮毂附面层、诱导速度、抽吸效应的共同影响,可根据不同叶高位置轴向速度的分布规律判断三种影响分别起主导作用的位置。在对转桨扇滑流区中,桨尖涡是导致损失的主要原因,径向涡量衰减比周向和轴向涡量衰减更快。对转桨扇滑流在径向上影响至3.5倍叶高位置。气流出后排桨扇后会持续加速直至静压达到环境压力,加速区域长度约为5倍桨扇半径。

拉力式对转桨扇发动机的建模与性能评估

为了分析桨扇发动机的总体性能,为桨扇发动机的预研工作提供方案,建立了一种三轴拉力式对转桨扇发动机的仿真模型,将桨扇发动机看成桨扇和涡轴发动机匹配的结构。桨扇建模基于相似原理,从单排桨扇的气动性能入手,并考虑了桨扇轮毂的影响以及前后排对转桨扇的相互影响和空气流道的收缩,模型与实验数据的误差在2%以内。核心机建模采用三轴涡轴部件级模型。基于该模型进行了桨扇发动机的性能评估。结果表明,桨扇和进气道的耦合作用对发动机性能影响很小,可以忽略。桨扇轴距半径比对发动机性能有一定影响,可以设置在0.4~0.6以内。前后排桨距角始终保持为56°,当高度增加时,总推力下降、sfc上升。当马赫数增加时,总推力先下降再上升,sfc先上升后下降。桨距角是重要的性能调节参数,4°的桨距角变化量可以带来64%的推力变化。

Performance Test and Flow Measurement of Contra-Rotating Axial Flow Pump

An application of contra-rotating rotors has been proposed against a demand for developing higher specific speed axial flow pump. In the present paper, the advantage and disadvantage of using contra-rotating rotors are described in comparison with conventional type of rotor-stator, based on theoretical and experimental investigations. The advantages are as follows： （1） The pump is inherently designed as smaller sized and at lower rotational speed. （2） A stable head-characteristic curve for flow rate with negative slope appears. （3） As the rear rotor rotational speed is varied as independent control of front rotor, the wider range of high performance operation is obtained by rear rotor speed control in addition to front rotor speed control. The disadvantages are as follows： （1） The structure of double shaft system becomes complex. （2） The pump performance is inferior at over flow rate as the rear rotor loading is weakened. （3） The blade rows interaction from rear rotor to front rotor more strongly appears. Then the rear rotor design is a key to achieve higher pump performance. Some methods to overcome these disadvantages will be discussed in more details toward wider usage of contra-rotating axial flow pump in various industrial fields.

Experimental Investigation on the Development Process of Large-Scale Low-Speed Stall Disturbance in Contra-Rotating Compressor

In order to better understand the stall process of a contra-rotating compressor,the detailed characteristic and multi-channel unsteady pressure signals have been achieved by a special layout of high-frequency response pressure sensors.The array consists of thirty-one high-frequency response dynamic sensors coupled with two optical fiber sensors that were installed on the compressor casing in the direction of circumferential and chordwise of the upstream and downstream of the contra-rotating rotors.A significant hysteresis loop during the stall-recovery process of the contra-rotating compressor was captured successfully.The time series of unsteady signals when the compressor was working on the point of stall occurrence,the period of fully stall,and recovery stall were studied and discussed.Results show a large scale,and low-speed disturbance occurred abruptly at the leading-edge plane of the rear rotor and expands until it passes through both rotors.The single stall cell occupied a circumferential range of 135° and moved in the direction of the rear rotor with an 8.3%shaft speed.As the mass flow rate dropped,the stall cell speed decreases.During the stall recovery process,the rotational speed of disturbance suddenly increased from 7.5%to 18%and even increased to 47%just before the moment when flow recovered axisymmetric.Compared with the rear rotor,the front one dropped out unstable conditions earlier.

Performance and Flow Condition of Small-Sized Axial Fan and Adoption of Contra-Rotating Rotors

Small-sized axial fans are used as air coolers for electric equipments.But there is a strong demand for higher power of fans according to the increase of quantity of heat from electric devices.Therefore,higher rotational speed design is conducted,although it causes the deterioration of the efficiency and the increase of noise.Then the adoption of contra-rotating rotors for the small-sized axial fan is proposed for the improvement of the performance.In the present paper,the performance and the internal flow condition of the small-sized axial fan are shown as a first step of the research for the contra-rotating small-sized axial fan and the important points to apply contra-rotating rotors to the small-sized axial fan are discussed.Furthermore,the numerical flow analysis is conducted to investigate the performance of the contra-rotating small-sized axial fan and internal flow conditions and pressure distributions are clarified and the effect of contra-rotating rotors is considered.

一种高速对转桨扇的设计参数对性能的影响

为了研究对转桨扇的前后级桨距、级间距和桨扇直径等设计参数在不同进距比时对其性能的影响,采用NUMECA软件对一种高速对转桨扇的三维流场进行定常数值计算与分析。结果表明:前后级桨距的变化对对转桨扇的性能影响较明显;级间距的变化对对转桨扇的性能影响不大;相比于原尺寸桨扇,直径越小,对转桨扇整体的性能下降越明显。