Fulvio Scarano

Three-dimensional vortex organization in a high-Reynolds-number supersonic turbulent boundary layer

Tomographic particle image velocimetry was used to quantitatively visualize the three-dimensional coherent structures in a supersonic (Mach 2) turbulent boundary layer in the region between y/? = 0.15 and 0.89. The Reynolds number based on momentum thickness Re? = 34000. The instantaneous velocity fields give evidence of hairpin vortices aligned in the streamwise direction forming very long zones of low-speed fluid, consistent with Tomkins & Adrian (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 490, 2003, p. 37). The observed hairpin structure is also a statistically relevant structure as is shown by the conditional average flow field associated to spanwise swirling motion. Spatial low-pass filtering of the velocity field reveals streamwise vortices and signatures of large-scale hairpins (height > 0.5?), which are weaker than the smaller scale hairpins in the unfiltered velocity field. The large-scale hairpin structures in the instantaneous velocity fields are observed to be aligned in the streamwise direction and spanwise organized along diagonal lines. Additionally the autocorrelation function of the wall-normal swirling motion representing the large-scale hairpin structure returns positive correlation peaks in the streamwise direction (at 1.5? distance from the DC peak) and along the 45° diagonals, which also suggest a periodic arrangement in those directions. This is evidence for the existence of a spanwise–streamwise organization of the coherent structures in a fully turbulent boundary layer.

Effect of Interaction Strength on Unsteadiness in Shock-Wave-Induced Separations

The effect of the interaction strength on the unsteady behavior of a planar shock wave impinging on a low Reynolds turbulent boundary layer is investigated. This is achieved by means of a variation in incident shock angle under otherwise constant flow conditions. In addition, the effect of an order-of-magnitude variation in the Reynolds number is considered. This has been done for equivalent interaction strength, based on a similar probability of occurrence of instantaneous flow separations. The measurement technique employed is two-component planar particle image velocimetry. Common mechanisms for the large-scale reflected-shock unsteadiness are deduced by means of conditional statistics based on the separation bubble height. The results indicate that both upstream and downstream mechanisms are at work, the dominant mechanism depending on the interaction strength. No significant dependence on the Reynolds number was observed for interactions with a similar probability of instantaneous flow separations.

Three-dimensional instantaneous structure of a shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interaction

An experimental study is carried out to investigate the three-dimensional instantaneous structure of an incident shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interaction at Mach 2.1 using tomographic particle image velocimetry. Large-scale coherent motions within the incoming boundary layer are observed, in the form of three-dimensional streamwise-elongated regions of relatively low- and high-speed fluid, similar to what has been reported in other supersonic boundary layers. Three-dimensional vortical structures are found to be associated with the low-speed regions, in a way that can be explained by the hairpin packet model. The instantaneous reflected shock wave pattern is observed to conform to the low- and high-speed regions as they enter the interaction, and its organization may be qualitatively decomposed into streamwise translation and spanwise rippling patterns, in agreement with what has been observed in direct numerical simulations. The results are used to construct a conceptual model of the three-dimensional unsteady flow organization of the interaction.

Measurement of the body force field of plasma actuators

A novel technique is proposed and investigated for the estimation of the body force field resulting from the operation of a dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator. The technique relies on the measurement of the spatio-temporal evolution of the induced velocity field using high-speed particle image velocimetry (PIV). The technique has the advantage of providing spatial distribution of the body force vector field. A full Navier–Stokes term decomposition is applied on the evolving field along with additional closure norms in order to decouple the pressure gradient and body force terms. Results are compared with load-cell measurements of the direct reaction force and also momentum balance calculations based on the PIV field. Agreement between the different methods is observed. The data can easily be incorporated in computational flow solvers and also be used for validation and calibration of numerical plasma models.

Three-dimensional evolution of flow structures in transitional circular and chevron jets

The three-dimensional behavior of flow transition in circular and 6-chevron jets at Re = 5000 is investigated with experiments conducted on a free water jet by time-resolved tomographic particle image velocimetry. The emphasis is on the unsteady organization of coherent flow structures, which play a role in the generation of acoustic noise. Shedding and pairing of vortices are the most pronounced phenomena observed in the near field of the circular jet. The first and second pairing amplify the axial pulsatile motion in the jet column and lead to the growth of azimuthal waves culminating in the breakup of the vortex ring. Streamwise vortices of axial and radial vorticity are observed in the outer region and move inward and outward under the effect of the vortex rings. In the jet with chevrons, the axisymmetric ring-like coherence of the circular jet is not encountered. Instead, streamwise flow structures of azimuthal vorticity emanate from the chevron apices, and counter-rotating streamwise vortices of axial and radial vorticity develop from the chevron notches. The decay of streamwise vortices is accompanied by the formation of C-shaped structures. The three-dimensional analysis allows quantifying the vortex stretching and tilting activity, which, for the circular jet exit, is related to the azimuthal instabilities and the streamwise vortices connecting the vortex rings. In the chevron jet, stretching and tilting peak during the formation of C-structures. Following Powell’s aeroacoustic analogy, the spatial distribution of the source term is mapped, evaluating the temporal derivative of the Lamb vector. The spatio-temporal evolution of such source term is visualized revealing that the events of highest activity are associated with the processes of vortex-ring pairing and vortex-ring disruption for the circular jet, and with the decay of streamwise instabilities and the formation of C-shaped structures for the chevron case.

Collaborative framework for PIV uncertainty quantification: comparative assessment of methods

A posteriori uncertainty quantification of particle image velocimetry (PIV) data is essential to obtain accurate estimates of the uncertainty associated with a given experiment. This is particularly relevant when measurements are used to validate computational models or in design and decision processes. In spite of the importance of the subject, the first PIV uncertainty quantification (PIV-UQ) methods have been developed only in the last three years. The present work is a comparative assessment of four approaches recently proposed in the literature: the uncertainty surface method (Timmins et al 2012), the particle disparity approach (Sciacchitano et al 2013), the peak ratio criterion (Charonko and Vlachos 2013) and the correlation statistics method (Wieneke 2015). The analysis is based upon experiments conducted for this specific purpose, where several measurement techniques are employed simultaneously. The performances of the above approaches are surveyed across different measurement conditions and flow regimes.

Nanosecond-pulsed plasma actuation in quiescent air and laminar boundary layer

An experimental investigation of the working principles of a nanosecond-pulsed dielectric barrier discharge (ns-DBD) plasma actuator has been conducted. Special emphasis is given on the thermal effects accompanying the rapid deposition of energy associated with this kind of actuation. A ns-DBD plasma actuator has been operated in quiescent air conditions as well as in a flat plate laminar boundary layer, with external flow velocity of 5 and 10ms −1 . Schlieren imaging and particle image velocimetry have been used to characterize the actuation. Additionally, the back-current shunt technique has been used for current measurements, from which energy input (per pulse) is calculated. Cases of 10-, 20- and 50-pulse bursts are tested. Schlieren imaging in still air conditions shows the formation of a high-temperature region in the vicinity of the discharge volume. The spatial extent of the visible ‘hot spot’ depends upon the number of pulses within the burst, following a power law. Schlieren imaging of the span-wise effect of the plasma actuator reveals weak compression waves originating from the loci of discharge filaments. The thermal ‘hot spots’ exhibit significant three-dimensionality. Particle image velocimetry is used to measure the velocity field resulting from the ns-DBDs acting on a laminar boundary layer. The disturbance leads to formation of a Tollmien‐Schlichting wave train, with spectral content in good agreement with linear stability theory. It is observed that the group length of the wave train is proportional to the number of pulses within the burst.

A high-order time-accurate interrogation method for time-resolved PIV

A novel method is introduced for increasing the accuracy and extending the dynamic range of time-resolved particle image velocimetry (PIV). The approach extends the concept of particle tracking velocimetry by multiple frames to the pattern tracking by cross-correlation analysis as employed in PIV. The working principle is based on tracking the patterned fluid element, within a chosen interrogation window, along its individual trajectory throughout an image sequence. In contrast to image-pair interrogation methods, the fluid trajectory correlation concept deals with variable velocity along curved trajectories and non-zero tangential acceleration during the observed time interval. As a result, the velocity magnitude and its direction are allowed to evolve in a nonlinear fashion along the fluid element trajectory. The continuum deformation (namely spatial derivatives of the velocity vector) is accounted for by adopting local image deformation. The principle offers important reductions of the measurement error based on three main points: by enlarging the temporal measurement interval, the relative error becomes reduced; secondly, the random and peak-locking errors are reduced by the use of least-squares polynomial fits to individual trajectories; finally, the introduction of high-order (nonlinear) fitting functions provides the basis for reducing the truncation error. Lastly, the instantaneous velocity is evaluated as the temporal derivative of the polynomial representation of the fluid parcel position in time. The principal features of this algorithm are compared with a single-pair iterative image deformation method. Synthetic image sequences are considered with steady flow (translation, shear and rotation) illustrating the increase of measurement precision. An experimental data set obtained by time-resolved PIV measurements of a circular jet is used to verify the robustness of the method on image sequences affected by camera noise and three-dimensional motions. In both cases, it is demonstrated that the measurement time interval can be significantly extended without compromising the correlation signal-to-noise ratio and with no increase of the truncation error. The increase of velocity dynamic range scales more than linearly with the number of frames included for the analysis, which supersedes by one order of magnitude the pair correlation by window deformation. The main factors influencing the performance of the method are discussed, namely the number of images composing the sequence and the polynomial order chosen to represent the motion throughout the trajectory.

Surface pressure and aerodynamic loads determination of a transonic airfoil based on particle image velocimetry

The present investigation assesses a procedure to extract the aerodynamic loads and pressure distribution on an airfoil in the transonic flow regime from particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements. The wind tunnel model is a two-dimensional NACA-0012 airfoil, and the PIV velocity data are used to evaluate pressure fields, whereas lift and drag coefficients are inferred from the evaluation of momentum contour and wake integrals. The PIV-based results are compared to those derived from conventional loads determination procedures involving surface pressure transducers and a wake rake. The method applied in this investigation is an extension to the compressible flow regime of that considered by van Oudheusden et al (2006 Non-intrusive load characterization of an airfoil using PIV Exp. Fluids 40 988–92) at low speed conditions. The application of a high-speed imaging system allows the acquisition in relatively short time of a sufficient ensemble size to compute converged velocity statistics, further translated in turbulent fluctuations included in the pressure and loads calculation, notwithstanding their verified negligible influence in the computation. Measurements are performed at varying spatial resolution to optimize the loads determination in the wake region and around the airfoil, further allowing us to assess the influence of spatial resolution in the proposed procedure. Specific interest is given to the comparisons between the PIV-based method and the conventional procedures for determining the pressure coefficient on the surface, the drag and lift coefficients at different angles of attack. Results are presented for the experiments at a free-stream Mach number M = 0.6, with the angle of attack ranging from 0? to 8?.

Unsteady aspects of an incident shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interaction

An incident shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interaction at Mach 2.1 is investigated using particle image velocimetry in combination with data processing using the proper orthogonal decomposition, to obtain an instantaneous and statistical description of the unsteady flow organization. The global structure of the interaction is observed to vary considerably in time. Although reversed flow is often measured instantaneously, on average no reversed flow is observed. On an instantaneous basis, the interaction exhibits a multi-layered structure, characterized by a relatively highvelocity outer region and low-velocity inner region. Discrete vortical structures are prevalent along their interface, which create an intermittent fluid exchange as they propagate downstream. A statistical analysis suggests that the instantaneous fullness of the incoming boundary layer velocity profile is (weakly) correlated with the size of the separation bubble and position of the reflected shock wave. The eigenmodes show an energetic association between velocity fluctuations within the incoming boundary layer, separated flow region and across the reflected shock wave, and portray subspace features that represent the phenomenology observed within the instantaneous realizations.