Laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) measurement and large eddy simulation (LES) were used to study confined isothermal turbulent swirling flows in a model dump combustor. The aim was to gain deeper understanding of the flow and turbulence structures in dump combustors and to examine the capability of LES for prediction of turbulent swirling flows. A refractive index matching technique is used in the LDV measurement to improve the near-wall data. A high-order finite difference scheme on Cartesian grids with a scale-similarity subfilter scale model is used in the LES. Turbulent inflow boundary conditions with different energy spectra, different outflow boundary conditions, and grid resolutions are tested in the LES. Three test cases with different swirl numbers and Reynolds numbers are studied in the measurements and the simulations. The Reynolds numbers range from 10 000 to 20 000, and the swirl number is varied from 0 to 0.43. With appropriate inflow, outflow boundary conditions, and fine grid resolution, the LES results are in fairly good agreement with the LDV data. The experimental and numerical results show that turbulence in the dump combustor is highly anisotropic behind the sudden expansion and in the internal recirculation zone near the axis of the combustor. Turbulence decays rapidly along the streamwise direction downstream, and the structure of turbulence depends highly on the level of inlet swirl. At low swirl numbers, turbulence is primarily generated in the shear layer behind the sudden expansion; at high swirl numbers the near axis flow becomes very unstable and vortex breakdown occurs. The shear layer near the axis of the combustor caused by vortex breakdown generates most of the turbulent kinetic energy. Large-scale motions (coherent structures) are found in the near axis vortex breakdown region. A helical flow in the guiding pipe breaks down near the sudden expansion to form a large bubble-like recirculation zone whose center moves slowly around the axis. Downstream of the bubble the core of the rotational large scale azimuthal flow motion is off the combustor axis and rotates around the axis at a frequency about 18-25 Hz (Strouhal number about 0.17-0.4). As the swirl number increases the coherent structure becomes more evident, and the internal recirculation zone moves upstream. LES successfully simulated the vortex breakdown, the internal recirculation zones and the anisotropic turbulence structures for all the swirl numbers considered. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.

Large eddy simulation and experimental studies of a confined turbulent swirling flow

Topological flow evolutions in cylinder of a motored engine during intake and compression strokes

Thee owpatternsofaswirlingjetsubjecttotheine uencesofvariouscentralblockagesarestudiedexperimentally via the smoke-wire e ow visualization method. Details of the observed e ow structures are described and discussed. Thee owstructuresdisplay multiplemodes,depending on theblockageratio and swirlnumber. When theblockage ratio is less than about 0.1, swirling wake, vortex breakdown, and three-dimensional vortex shedding are observed for different ranges of swirl number. When the blockage ratio is greater than about 0.1, the bluff-body effect becomes signie cant. In this case, a pair of counter-rotating vortex rings and a central swirling jet characterize the e owe eld. Axisymmetric vortex breakdown and three-dimensional vortex shedding may appear on the central swirling jetwhen theswirlnumberorblockageratio islargerthan critical values.Somecharacteristicquantities of thee owe eld aremeasuredandcorrelated,includingthefreeseparationlines,recirculationlengths,andfrequencies of the vortex shedding.

Observations of Swirling Flows Behind Circular Disks

The results are reported for an extensive series of measurements (using laser Doppler anemometry) of the mean and fluctuating flow fields for swirling turbulent flow downstream of an orifice in a tube. The influence of a concentric outlet contraction is found to be negligible for low “supercritical” swirl. For high “subcritical” swirl, the outlet geometry is found to have a significant influence throughout the flow field and, in the case of an eccentric (i.e., offset) outlet, to lead to an asymmetric flow with a distorted core. In no case was the core found to precess or the flow to be periodic.

Influence of outlet geometry on strongly swirling turbulent flow through a circular tube

The effects of an above-exit circular disk on the flow structures, turbulence properties, and mixing characteristics of swirling jets separated by a large diameter blockage disk at jet exit are studied by using the smoke-wire flow-visualization technique and a two-component laser Doppler velocimeter. A carbon-dioxide tracer-gas experiment is conducted to examine the mixing capability of the flows modulated by the control disk. The smoke-streak flow patterns, characteristic lengths, velocity vectors, streamlines, velocity distributions, turbulence properties, and concentration distributions of the carbon dioxide are presented and discussed. Topological techniques are applied to analyze and interpret the flow patterns. With the variation of the distance between the control and blockage disks and the central jet Reynolds number, the bubble structures in the near field display complex behaviors of extension, escape, and encapsulation. Under the influence of the control disk, the central jet deflects radially, merges with the swirling annular flow, then turns downstream to form a recirculation bubble in the control-disk wake

F.C Tsai

Papers

Flow field characteristics of swirling double concentric jets