Freestream

About: Freestream is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3428 publications have been published within this topic receiving 56147 citations.

Direct simulation of aerothermal loads for an aeroassist flight experiment vehicle

Abstract: Results of a numerical study using the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method are presented for the hypersonic flow about an elliptically blunted cone. The flow conditions are those for a proposed Aeroassist Flight Experiment (AFE) vehicle. The altitude range considered is that from 130 to 90 km which encompasses most of the transitional flow regime for the AFE vehicle, that is, the region bounded by free molecular and continuum flow. Freestream velocities of 9.9 to 7.5 km/sec are considered. The numerical simulations show that noncontinuum effects are evident for all cases considered. The onset of chemical dissociation occurs at a simulated altitude of about 130 km. Results presented highlight the thermal and chemical nonequilibrium nature of the flowfield and the impact of these effects on the surface heating and body drag. A calculation which included the additional effects of ionization and thermal radiation demonstrates that the inclusion of such efects would not significantly alter the surface quantities calculated in the present study. The radiative heating is negligible when compared with the convective heating, and the same would be true for the other conditions considered.

Effect of energy addition on MR → RR transition

Abstract: A combined computational and experimental study was performed to investigate the effect of a single laser energy pulse on the transition from a Mach Reflection (MR) to a Regular Reflection (RR) in the Dual Solution Domain (DSD). The freestream Mach number is 3.45 and two oblique shock waves are formed by two symmetric $22^\circ$ wedges. These conditions correspond to a point midway within the DSD wherein either an MR or an RR is possible. A steady MR was first obtained experimentally and numerically, then a single laser pulse was deposited above the horizontal center plane. In the experiment, the laser beam was focused resulting in a deposition volume of approximately 3 mm3, while in the simulation, the laser pulse was modeled as an initial variation of the temperature and pressure using Gaussian profile. A grid refinement study was conducted to assess the accuracy of the numerical simulations. For the steady MR, the simulation showed the variation of Mach stem height along the span due to side effects. The predicted spanwise averaged Mach stem height was 1.96 mm within 2% of the experimental value of 2 mm. The experiment showed that the Mach stem height decreased to 30% of its original height due to the interaction with the thermal spot generated by the laser pulse and then returned to its original height by $300\;\mu$ s. That the Mach stem returned to its original height was most likely due to freestream turbulence in the wind tunnel. The numerical simulation successfully predicted the reverse transition from a stable MR to a stable RR and the stable RR persisted across the span. This study showed the capability of a laser energy pulse to control the reverse transition of MR $\rightarrow$ RR within the Dual Solution Domain.

Low-Reynolds Number Wing Response to an Oscillating Freestream with and without Feed Forward Control

Abstract: The unsteady lift of a low Reynolds number wing in an oscillating freestream is documented in terms of its amplitude and phase. The phase variation of the lift relative to the freestream velocity shows a larger phase difference than predicted by classical unsteady flow theory. A constant time delay between the lift and the actuator was observed to be τ + =tdelayU/c = 5.3 when normalized by the freestream speed and chord. Feed forward control of pulsed-jet actuators is used to modulate the lift coefficient of the wing, in an attempt to suppress the lift oscillations. Suppression of the fluctuating lift at the fundamental frequency was partially successful, but additional “noise” was added to harmonics of the lift signal by the controller.

Large-eddy simulations of a turbulent Coanda jet on a circulation control airfoil

Abstract: Large-eddy simulations are performed of a turbulent Coanda jet separating from a rounded trailing edge of a simplified circulation control airfoil model. The freestream Reynolds number based on the airfoil chord is 0.49×106, the jet Reynolds number based on the jet slot height is 4470, and the ratio of the peak jet velocity to the freestream velocity is 3.96. Three different grid resolutions are used to show that their effect is very small on the mean surface pressure distribution, which agrees very well with experiments, as well as on the mean velocity profiles over the Coanda surface. It is observed that the Coanda jet becomes fully turbulent just downstream of the jet exit, accompanied by asymmetric alternating vortex shedding behind a thin (but blunt) jet blade splitting the jet and the external flow. A number of “backward-tilted” hairpin vortices (i.e., the head of each hairpin being located upstream of the legs) are observed around the outer edge of the jet over the Coanda surface. These hairpins cr...