We mimic a flapping wing through a fluid–structure interaction (FSI) framework based upon a generalized lumped-torsional flexibility model. The developed fluid and structural solvers together determine the aerodynamic forces, wing deformation and self-propelled motion. A phenomenological solution to the linear single-spring structural dynamics equation is established to help offer insight and validate the computations under the limit of small deformation. The cruising velocity and power requirements are evaluated by varying the flapping Reynolds number ( $20\leqslant Re_{f}\leqslant 100$ ), stiffness (represented by frequency ratio, $1\lesssim \unicode[STIX]{x1D714}^{\ast }\leqslant 10$ ) and the ratio of aerodynamic to structural inertia forces (represented by a dimensionless parameter $\unicode[STIX]{x1D713}$ ( $0.1\leqslant \unicode[STIX]{x1D713}\leqslant 3$ )). For structural inertia dominated flows ( $\unicode[STIX]{x1D713}\ll 1$ ), pitching and plunging are shown to always remain in phase ( $\unicode[STIX]{x1D719}\approx 0$ ) with the maximum wing deformation occurring at the end of the stroke. When aerodynamics dominates ( $\unicode[STIX]{x1D713}>1$ ), a large phase difference is induced ( $\unicode[STIX]{x1D719}\approx \unicode[STIX]{x03C0}/2$ ) and the maximum deformation occurs at mid-stroke. Lattice Boltzmann simulations show that there is an optimal $\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}^{\ast }$ at which cruising velocity is maximized and the location of optimum shifts away from unit frequency ratio ( $\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}^{\ast }=1$ ) as $\unicode[STIX]{x1D713}$ increases. Furthermore, aerodynamics administered deformations exhibit better performance than those governed by structural inertia, quantified in terms of distance travelled per unit work input. Closer examination reveals that although maximum thrust transpires at unit frequency ratio, it is not transformed into the highest cruising velocity. Rather, the maximum velocity occurs at the condition when the relative tip displacement ${\approx}\,0.3$ .
more »
« less
Interface-resolved simulations of particle suspensions in Newtonian, shear thinning and shear thickening carrier fluids
We present a numerical study of non-colloidal spherical and rigid particles suspended in Newtonian, shear thinning and shear thickening fluids employing an immersed boundary method. We consider a linear Couette configuration to explore a wide range of solid volume fractions ( $0.1\leqslant \unicode[STIX]{x1D6F7}\leqslant 0.4$ ) and particle Reynolds numbers ( $0.1\leqslant Re_{p}\leqslant 10$ ). We report the distribution of solid and fluid phase velocity and solid volume fraction and show that close to the boundaries inertial effects result in a significant slip velocity between the solid and fluid phase. The local solid volume fraction profiles indicate particle layering close to the walls, which increases with the nominal $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6F7}$ . This feature is associated with the confinement effects. We calculate the probability density function of local strain rates and compare the latter’s mean value with the values estimated from the homogenisation theory of Chateau et al. ( J. Rheol. , vol. 52, 2008, pp. 489–506), indicating a reasonable agreement in the Stokesian regime. Both the mean value and standard deviation of the local strain rates increase primarily with the solid volume fraction and secondarily with the $Re_{p}$ . The wide spectrum of the local shear rate and its dependency on $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6F7}$ and $Re_{p}$ point to the deficiencies of the mean value of the local shear rates in estimating the rheology of these non-colloidal complex suspensions. Finally, we show that in the presence of inertia, the effective viscosity of these non-colloidal suspensions deviates from that of Stokesian suspensions. We discuss how inertia affects the microstructure and provide a scaling argument to give a closure for the suspension shear stress for both Newtonian and power-law suspending fluids. The stress closure is valid for moderate particle Reynolds numbers, $O(Re_{p})\sim 10$ .
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1554044
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10427380
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics
- Volume:
- 852
- ISSN:
- 0022-1120
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 329 to 357
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
The relative velocities and positions of monodisperse high-inertia particle pairs in isotropic turbulence are studied using direct numerical simulations (DNS), as well as Langevin simulations (LS) based on a probability density function (PDF) kinetic model for pair relative motion. In a prior study (Rani et al. , J. Fluid Mech. , vol. 756, 2014, pp. 870–902), the authors developed a stochastic theory that involved deriving closures in the limit of high Stokes number for the diffusivity tensor in the PDF equation for monodisperse particle pairs. The diffusivity contained the time integral of the Eulerian two-time correlation of fluid relative velocities seen by pairs that are nearly stationary. The two-time correlation was analytically resolved through the approximation that the temporal change in the fluid relative velocities seen by a pair occurs principally due to the advection of smaller eddies past the pair by large-scale eddies. Accordingly, two diffusivity expressions were obtained based on whether the pair centre of mass remained fixed during flow time scales, or moved in response to integral-scale eddies. In the current study, a quantitative analysis of the (Rani et al. 2014) stochastic theory is performed through a comparison of the pair statistics obtained using LS with those from DNS. LS consist of evolving the Langevin equations for pair separation and relative velocity, which is statistically equivalent to solving the classical Fokker–Planck form of the pair PDF equation. Langevin simulations of particle-pair dispersion were performed using three closure forms of the diffusivity – i.e. the one containing the time integral of the Eulerian two-time correlation of the seen fluid relative velocities and the two analytical diffusivity expressions. In the first closure form, the two-time correlation was computed using DNS of forced isotropic turbulence laden with stationary particles. The two analytical closure forms have the advantage that they can be evaluated using a model for the turbulence energy spectrum that closely matched the DNS spectrum. The three diffusivities are analysed to quantify the effects of the approximations made in deriving them. Pair relative-motion statistics obtained from the three sets of Langevin simulations are compared with the results from the DNS of (moving) particle-laden forced isotropic turbulence for $St_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}}=10,20,40,80$ and $Re_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}}=76,131$ . Here, $St_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}}$ is the particle Stokes number based on the Kolmogorov time scale and $Re_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}}$ is the Taylor micro-scale Reynolds number. Statistics such as the radial distribution function (RDF), the variance and kurtosis of particle-pair relative velocities and the particle collision kernel were computed using both Langevin and DNS runs, and compared. The RDFs from the stochastic runs were in good agreement with those from the DNS. Also computed were the PDFs $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FA}(U|r)$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FA}(U_{r}|r)$ of relative velocity $U$ and of the radial component of relative velocity $U_{r}$ respectively, both PDFs conditioned on separation $r$ . The first closure form, involving the Eulerian two-time correlation of fluid relative velocities, showed the best agreement with the DNS results for the PDFs.more » « less
-
Solids dispersion is an important part of hydraulic fracturing, both in helping to understand phenomena such as tip screen-out and spreading of the pad, and in new process variations such as cyclic pumping of proppant. Whereas many frac fluids have low viscosity, e.g. slickwater, others transport proppant through increased viscosity. In this context, one method for influencing both dispersion and solids-carrying capacity is to use a yield stress fluid as the frac fluid. We propose a model framework for this scenario and analyse one of the simplifications. A key effect of including a yield stress is to focus high shear rates near the fracture walls. In typical fracturing flows this results in a large variation in shear rates across the fracture. In using shear-thinning viscous frac fluids, flows may vary significantly on the particle scale, from Stokesian behaviour to inertial behaviour across the width of the fracture. Equally, according to the flow rates, Hele-Shaw style models give way at higher Reynolds number to those in which inertia must be considered. We develop a model framework able to include this range of flows, while still representing a significant simplification over fully three-dimensional computations. In relatively straight fractures and for fluids of moderate rheology, this simplifies into a one-dimensional model that predicts the solids concentration along a streamline within the fracture. We use this model to make estimates of the streamwise dispersion in various relevant scenarios. This model framework also predicts the transverse distributions of the solid volume fraction and velocity profiles as well as their evolutions along the flow part.more » « less
-
Granular flows occur in a wide range of situations of practical interest to industry, in our natural environment and in our everyday lives. This paper focuses on granular flow in the so-called inertial regime, when the rheology is independent of the very large particle stiffness. Such flows have been modelled with the $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}(I),\unicode[STIX]{x1D6F7}(I)$ -rheology, which postulates that the bulk friction coefficient $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}$ (i.e. the ratio of the shear stress to the pressure) and the solids volume fraction $\unicode[STIX]{x1D719}$ are functions of the inertial number $I$ only. Although the $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}(I),\unicode[STIX]{x1D6F7}(I)$ -rheology has been validated in steady state against both experiments and discrete particle simulations in several different geometries, it has recently been shown that this theory is mathematically ill-posed in time-dependent problems. As a direct result, computations using this rheology may blow up exponentially, with a growth rate that tends to infinity as the discretization length tends to zero, as explicitly demonstrated in this paper for the first time. Such catastrophic instability due to ill-posedness is a common issue when developing new mathematical models and implies that either some important physics is missing or the model has not been properly formulated. In this paper an alternative to the $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}(I),\unicode[STIX]{x1D6F7}(I)$ -rheology that does not suffer from such defects is proposed. In the framework of compressible $I$ -dependent rheology (CIDR), new constitutive laws for the inertial regime are introduced; these match the well-established $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}(I)$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6F7}(I)$ relations in the steady-state limit and at the same time are well-posed for all deformations and all packing densities. Time-dependent numerical solutions of the resultant equations are performed to demonstrate that the new inertial CIDR model leads to numerical convergence towards physically realistic solutions that are supported by discrete element method simulations.more » « less
-
Laboratory experiments were performed on a geometrically scaled vertical-axis wind turbine model over an unprecedented range of Reynolds numbers, including and exceeding those of the full-scale turbine. The study was performed in the high-pressure environment of the Princeton High Reynolds number Test Facility (HRTF). Utilizing highly compressed air as the working fluid enabled extremely high Reynolds numbers while still maintaining dynamic similarity by matching the tip speed ratio (defined as the ratio of tip velocity to free stream, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}=\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}R/U$ ) and Mach number (defined at the turbine tip, $Ma=\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}R/a$ ). Preliminary comparisons are made with measurements from the full-scale field turbine. Peak power for both the field data and experiments resides around $\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}=1$ . In addition, a systematic investigation of trends with Reynolds number was performed in the laboratory, which revealed details about the asymptotic behaviour. It was shown that the parameter that characterizes invariance in the power coefficient was the Reynolds number based on blade chord conditions ( $Re_{c}$ ). The power coefficient reaches its asymptotic value when $Re_{c}>1.5\times 10^{6}$ , which is higher than what the field turbine experiences. The asymptotic power curve is found, which is invariant to further increases in Reynolds number.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2018.532
