Showing papers on "Drag coefficient published in 2015"

Aerodynamic Shape Optimization Investigations of the Common Research Model Wing Benchmark

Abstract: Despite considerable research on aerodynamic shape optimization, there is no standard benchmark problem allowing researchers to compare results. This work addresses this issue by solving a series of aerodynamic shape optimization problems based on the Common Research Model wing benchmark case defined by the Aerodynamic Design Optimization Discussion Group. The aerodynamic model solves the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations with a Spalart–Allmaras turbulence model. A gradient-based optimization algorithm is used in conjunction with an adjoint method that computes the required derivatives. The drag coefficient is minimized subject to lift, pitching moment, and geometric constraints. A multilevel technique is used to reduce the computational cost of the optimization. A single-point optimization is solved with 720 shape variables using a 28.8-million-cell mesh, reducing the drag by 8.5%. A more realistic design is achieved through a multipoint optimization. Multiple local minima are found when starting...

Effects of vegetation on flow and sediment transport: comparative analyses and validation of predicting models

Abstract: The presence of vegetation modifies flow and sediment transport in alluvial channels and hence the morphological evolution of river systems. Plants increase the local roughness, modify flow patterns and provide additional drag, decreasing the bed-shear stress and enhancing local sediment deposition. For this, it is important to take into account the presence of vegetation in morphodynamic modelling. Models describing the effects of vegetation on water flow and sediment transport already exist, but comparative analyses and validations on extensive datasets are still lacking. In order to provide practical information for modelling purposes, we analysed the performance of a large number of models on flow resistance, vegetation drag, vertical velocity profiles and bed-shear stresses in vegetated channels. Their assessments and applicability ranges are derived by comparing their predictions with measured values from a large dataset for different types of submerged and emergent vegetation gathered from the literature. The work includes assessing the performance of the sediment transport capacity formulae of Engelund and Hansen and van Rijn in the case of vegetated beds, as well as the value of the drag coefficient to be used for different types of vegetation and hydraulic conditions. The results provide a unique comparative overview of existing models for the assessment of the effects of vegetation on morphodynamics, highlighting their performances and applicability ranges. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Nonperturbative estimate of the heavy quark momentum diffusion coefficient

Abstract: We estimate the momentum diffusion coefficient of a heavy quark within a pure SU(3) plasma at a temperature of about 1.5Tc. Large-scale Monte Carlo simulations on a series of lattices extending up to 1923×48 permit us to carry out a continuum extrapolation of the so-called color-electric imaginary-time correlator. The extrapolated correlator is analyzed with the help of theoretically motivated models for the corresponding spectral function. Evidence for a nonzero transport coefficient is found and, incorporating systematic uncertainties reflecting model assumptions, we obtain κ=(1.8–3.4)T3. This implies that the “drag coefficient,” characterizing the time scale at which heavy quarks adjust to hydrodynamic flow, is η−1D=(1.8–3.4)(Tc/T)2(M/1.5 GeV) fm/c, where M is the heavy quark kinetic mass. The results apply to bottom and, with somewhat larger systematic uncertainties, to charm quarks.

Aerodynamic Shape Optimization of an Adaptive Morphing Trailing-Edge Wing

Abstract: Adaptive morphing trailing-edge wings have the potential to reduce the fuel burn of transport aircraft. However, to take full advantage of this technology and to quantify its benefits, design studies are required. To address this need, the aerodynamic performance benefits of a morphing trailing-edge wing are quantified using aerodynamic design optimization. The aerodynamic model solves the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations with a Spalart–Allmaras turbulence model. A gradient-based optimization algorithm is used in conjunction with an adjoint method that computes the required derivatives. The baseline geometry is optimized using a multipoint formulation and 192 shape design variables. The average drag coefficient is minimized subject to lift, pitching moment, geometric constraints, and a 2.5g maneuver bending moment constraint. The trailing edge of the wing is optimized based on the multipoint optimized wing. The trailing-edge morphing is parameterized using 90 design variables that are optimized i...

An improved bulk air–sea surface flux algorithm, including spray-mediated transfer

Abstract: A bulk air–sea flux algorithm couples the ocean and the lower atmosphere through flux boundary conditions and can be used in various analyses and in numerical models. The algorithm described here has two features not present in any other existing bulk flux algorithm. First, it has a new air–sea drag relation. Here, for wind speeds above about 9 m s−1, the friction velocity u✻, which is related to the square root of the surface stress, is linearly related to UN10, the neutral-stability 10 m wind speed. When extrapolated to hurricane-strength winds, this drag relation has better properties than relations formulated in terms of a drag coefficient or a roughness length. The second unique feature of this flux algorithm is that it recognizes two routes by which heat and moisture cross the air–sea interface: one is the interfacial route, which is controlled by molecular processes right at the air–sea interface; the second is the spray-mediated route, which is governed by microphysical processes at the surface of sea spray droplets. Through microphysical theory and our analysis of 4000 sets of eddy-covariance measurements of the scalar fluxes, we separate the measured fluxes into the interfacial and spray contributions and thereby produce the only spray flux algorithm tested and validated against oceanic data. Because all components of our flux algorithm are physics-based and validated with data for winds up to 25 m s−1, one application is extrapolating this algorithm to hurricane-strength winds, where sea spray plays a dominant role in scalar transfer.

Sticky Thermals: Evidence for a Dominant Balance between Buoyancy and Drag in Cloud Updrafts

Abstract: The vertical velocities of convective clouds are of great practical interest because of their influence on many phenomena, including severe weather and stratospheric moistening. However, the magnitudes of forces giving rise to these vertical velocities are poorly understood, and the dominant balance is in dispute. Here, an algorithm is used to extract thousands of cloud thermals from a large-eddy simulation of deep and tropical maritime convection. Using a streamfunction to define natural boundaries for these thermals, the dominant balance in the vertical momentum equation is revealed. Cloud thermals rise with a nearly constant speed determined by their buoyancy and the standard drag law with a drag coefficient of 0.6. Contrary to suggestions that cloud thermals might be slippery, with a dominant balance between buoyancy and acceleration, cloud thermals are found here to be sticky, with a dominant balance between buoyancy and drag.

Numerical simulations of the early stages of high-speed droplet breakup

Abstract: Experiments reported in the literature are reproduced using numerical simulations to investigate the early stages of the breakup of water cylinders in the flow behind normal shocks. Qualitative features of breakup observed in the numerical results, such as the initial streamwise flattening of the cylinder and the formation of tips at its periphery, support previous experimental observations of stripping breakup. Additionally, the presence of a transitory recirculation region at the cylinder’s equator and a persistent upstream jet in the wake is noted and discussed. Within the uncertainties inherent to the different methods used to extract measurements from experimental and numerical results, comparisons with experimental data of various cylinder deformation metrics show good agreement. To study the effects of the transition between subsonic and supersonic post-shock flow, we extend the range of incident shock Mach numbers beyond those investigated by the experiments. Supersonic post-shock flow velocities are not observed to significantly alter the cylinder’s behavior, i.e., we are able to effectively collapse the drift, acceleration, and drag curves for all simulated shock Mach numbers. Using a new method that minimizes noise errors, the cylinder’s acceleration is calculated; acceleration curves for all shock Mach numbers are subsequently collapsed by scaling with the pressure ratio across the incident shock. Furthermore, we find that accounting for the cylinder’s deformed diameter in the calculation of its unsteady drag coefficient allows the drag coefficient to be approximated as a constant over the initial breakup period.

Parametrization of Drag and Turbulence for Urban Neighbourhoods with Trees

Abstract: Urban canopy parametrizations designed to be coupled with mesoscale models must predict the integrated effect of urban obstacles on the flow at each height in the canopy. To assess these neighbourhood-scale effects, results of microscale simulations may be horizontally-averaged. Obstacle-resolving computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of neutrally-stratified flow through canopies of blocks (buildings) with varying distributions and densities of porous media (tree foliage) are conducted, and the spatially-averaged impacts on the flow of these building-tree combinations are assessed. The accuracy with which a one-dimensional (column) model with a one-equation ( $$k$$ – $$l$$ ) turbulence scheme represents spatially-averaged CFD results is evaluated. Individual physical mechanisms by which trees and buildings affect flow in the column model are evaluated in terms of relative importance. For the treed urban configurations considered, effects of buildings and trees may be considered independently. Building drag coefficients and length scale effects need not be altered due to the presence of tree foliage; therefore, parametrization of spatially-averaged flow through urban neighbourhoods with trees is greatly simplified. The new parametrization includes only source and sink terms significant for the prediction of spatially-averaged flow profiles: momentum drag due to buildings and trees (and the associated wake production of turbulent kinetic energy), modification of length scales by buildings, and enhanced dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy due to the small scale of tree foliage elements. Coefficients for the Santiago and Martilli (Boundary-Layer Meteorol 137: 417–439, 2010) parametrization of building drag coefficients and length scales are revised. Inclusion of foliage terms from the new parametrization in addition to the Santiago and Martilli building terms reduces root-mean-square difference (RMSD) of the column model streamwise velocity component and turbulent kinetic energy relative to the CFD model by 89 % in the canopy and 71 % above the canopy on average for the highest leaf area density scenarios tested: $$0.50\hbox { m}^{2}~\hbox {m}^{-3}$$ . RMSD values with the new parametrization are less than 20 % of mean layer magnitude for the streamwise velocity component within and above the canopy, and for above-canopy turbulent kinetic energy; RMSD values for within-canopy turbulent kinetic energy are negligible for most scenarios. The foliage-related portion of the new parametrization is required for scenarios with tree foliage of equal or greater height than the buildings, and for scenarios with foliage below roof height for building plan area densities less than approximately 0.25.

Adjustment of Turbulent Boundary-Layer Flow to Idealized Urban Surfaces: A Large-Eddy Simulation Study

Abstract: Large-eddy simulations (LES) are performed to simulate the atmospheric boundary-layer (ABL) flow through idealized urban canopies represented by uniform arrays of cubes in order to better understand atmospheric flow over rural-to-urban surface transitions. The LES framework is first validated with wind-tunnel experimental data. Good agreement between the simulation results and the experimental data are found for the vertical and spanwise profiles of the mean velocities and velocity standard deviations at different streamwise locations. Next, the model is used to simulate ABL flows over surface transitions from a flat homogeneous terrain to aligned and staggered arrays of cubes with height $$h$$ . For both configurations, five different frontal area densities $$(\uplambda _\mathrm{f})$$ , equal to 0.028, 0.063, 0.111, 0.174 and 0.250, are considered. Within the arrays, the flow is found to adjust quickly and shows similar structure to the wake of the cubes after the second row of cubes. An internal boundary layer is identified above the cube arrays and found to have a similar depth in all different cases. At a downstream location where the flow immediately above the cube array is already adjusted to the surface, the spatially-averaged velocity is found to have a logarithmic profile in the vertical. The values of the displacement height are found to be quite insensitive to the canopy layout (aligned vs. staggered) and increase roughly from $$0.65h$$ to $$0.9h$$ as $$\uplambda _\mathrm{f}$$ increases from 0.028 to 0.25. Relatively larger values of the aerodynamic roughness length $$(z_0)$$ are obtained for the staggered arrays, compared with the aligned cases, and a maximum value of $$z_0$$ is found at $$\uplambda _\mathrm{f} = 0.111$$ for both configurations. By explicitly calculating the drag exerted by the cubes on the flow and the drag coefficients of the cubes using our LES results, and comparing the results with existing theoretical expressions, we show that the larger values of $$z_0$$ for the staggered arrays are related to the relatively larger drag coefficients of the cubes for that configuration compared with the aligned one. The effective mixing length $$(l_\mathrm{m})$$ within and above different cube arrays is also calculated and a local maximum of $$l_\mathrm{m}$$ within the canopy is found in all the cases, with values ranging from $$0.2h$$ to $$0.4h$$ . These patterns of $$l_\mathrm{m}$$ are different from those used in existing urban canopy models.

Wave Boundary Layer Turbulence over Surface Waves in a Strongly Forced Condition

Abstract: Accurate predictions of the sea state–dependent air–sea momentum flux require a thorough understanding of the wave boundary layer turbulence over surface waves. A set of momentum and energy equations is derived to formulate and analyze wave boundary layer turbulence. The equations are written in wave-following coordinates, and all variables are decomposed into horizontal mean, wave fluctuation, and turbulent fluctuation. The formulation defines the wave-induced stress as a sum of the wave fluctuation stress (because of the fluctuating velocity components) and a pressure stress (pressure acting on a tilted surface). The formulations can be constructed with different choices of mapping. Next, a large-eddy simulation result for wind over a sinusoidal wave train under a strongly forced condition is analyzed using the proposed formulation. The result clarifies how surface waves increase the effective roughness length and the drag coefficient. Specifically, the enhanced wave-induced stress close to the ...

Multifactorial Effects of Operating Conditions of Dielectric-Barrier-Discharge Plasma Actuator on Laminar-Separated-Flow Control

Abstract: A substantial number of large-eddy simulations are conducted on separated flow controlled by a dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator at a Reynolds number of 63,000. In the present paper, the separated flow over a NACA 0015 airfoil at an angle of attack of 12 deg, which is just poststall, is used as the base flow for separation control. The effects of the location and operating conditions of the plasma actuator on the separation control are investigated by a parametric study. The control effect is evaluated based on the improvement of not only the lift coefficient but also the drag coefficient over an airfoil. The most effective location of the plasma actuator for both lift and drag improvement is precisely confirmed to be upstream of the natural separation point. Even a low burst ratio is found to be sufficient to obtain the same improvements as the cases with a high burst ratio. The effective nondimensional burst frequency F+ is observed at 4≤F+≤6 for the improvement in the lift coefficient and at...

Numerical investigation of models for drag, lift, wall lubrication and turbulent dispersion forces for the simulation of gas–liquid two-phase flow

Abstract: In order to qualify CFD codes for accurate numerical predictions of transient evolution of flow regimes in a vertical gas–liquid two-phase flow in a pipe, suitable closure models (inter-phase forces) for the momentum exchange between the continuous and dispersed phases are needed. In this study, under the assumption of monodisperse bubbles, a consistent set of inter-phase force models have been investigated. The effect of Drag Force, Lift Force, Wall Lubrication Force and Turbulent Dispersion Force has been assessed. The predicted local radial distributions of four primitive variables: gas volume fraction, interfacial area concentration, gas velocity and liquid velocity, are validated against experimental data of Monros-Andreu et al. (2013, EPJ Web Conf. 45, 01105). New parameters have been introduced in the wall lubrication force models of Antal et al. (1991, Int. J. Multiphase Flow 7, 635) and Frank et al., (2004, Proc. of the Third Int. Symposium on Two-Phase Modelling and Experimentation, Pisa, Italy, 2008, Nucl. Eng. and Des. 238, 647) as well as implementing additional drag coefficient models using CFX expression language (CEL). In general, the predictions from the sets of inter-phase closure models presented in this paper yielded satisfactory agreement with the experimental results. Based on the result of the validation of different inter-phase force models, a set of Grace drag coefficient model, Tomiyama lift coefficient model, Antal et al.’s wall force model, and Favre averaged turbulent dispersion force was found to provide the best agreement with the experimental data.

Reynolds-dependence of turbulent skin-friction drag reduction induced by spanwise forcing

Abstract: This paper examines how increasing the value of the Reynolds number $Re$ affects the ability of spanwise-forcing techniques to yield turbulent skin-friction drag reduction. The considered forcing is based on the streamwise-travelling waves of spanwise wall velocity (Quadrio {\em et al. J. Fluid Mech.}, vol. 627, 2009, pp. 161--178). The study builds upon an extensive drag-reduction database created with Direct Numerical Simulation of a turbulent channel flow for two, 5-fold separated values of $Re$, namely $Re_\tau=200$ and $Re_\tau=1000$. The sheer size of the database, which for the first time systematically addresses the amplitude of the forcing, allows a comprehensive view of the drag-reducing characteristics of the travelling waves, and enables a detailed description of the changes occurring when $Re$ increases. The effect of using a viscous scaling based on the friction velocity of either the non-controlled flow or the drag-reduced flow is described. In analogy with other wall-based drag reduction techniques, like for example riblets, the performance of the travelling waves is well described by a vertical shift of the logarithmic portion of the mean streamwise velocity profile. Except when $Re$ is very low, this shift remains constant with $Re$, at odds with the percentage reduction of the friction coefficient, which is known to present a mild, logarithmic decline. Our new data agree with the available literature, which is however mostly based on low-$Re$ information and hence predicts a quick drop of maximum drag reduction with $Re$. The present study supports a more optimistic scenario, where for an airplane at flight Reynolds numbers a drag reduction of nearly 30\% would still be possible thanks to the travelling waves.

A comparison of opposition control in turbulent boundary layer and turbulent channel flow

Abstract: A comparison between classical opposition control applied in the configuration of a fully developed turbulent channel flow and applied locally in a spatially developing turbulent boundary layer is presented. It is found that the control scheme yields similar drag reduction rates if compared at the same friction Reynolds numbers. However, a detailed analysis of the dynamical contributions to the skin friction coefficient reveals significant differences in the mechanism behind the drag reduction. While drag reduction in turbulent channel flow is entirely based on the attenuation of the Reynolds shear stress, the modification of the spatial flow development is essential for the turbulent boundary layer in terms of achievable drag reduction. It is shown that drag reduction due to this spatial development contribution becomes more pronounced with increasing Reynolds number (up to Reτ = 660, based on friction velocity and boundary layer thickness) and even exceeds drag reduction due to attenuation of the Reynol...