arXiv subjects

Tom T. B. Wester

Publications and source records attributed to Tom T. B. Wester.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

Description of laminar-turbulent transition of an airfoil boundary layer measured by differential image thermography using directed percolation theory

The study presented here addresses the challenging problem of laminar-turbulent flow transition in boundary layers. Directed percolation theory has emerged as a promising approach to understand and describe this transition in different scenarios. This study utilizes differential image thermography (DIT) to investigate the boundary layer transition on the suction side of a heated airfoil, presenting new experimental findings. First, the DIT results underline the ability of capturing the near surface transition for the airfoil boundary layer with a high temporal and spatial resolution. Second, the evaluation reveals the effectiveness of directed percolation theory in describing the onset of the transition, showing agreement with all three universal exponents of (1+1)D directed percolation theory. Third, the study shows the applicability of this theory to a wide range of flow situations beyond the parameter space covered in previous examinations. These findings underscore the possible application of directed percolation models in fluid mechanics and suggest that the theory could serve as a high precision tool for describing the transition to turbulence.

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arXiv2021

Hybrid time series from PIV for characterization of turbulent flow fields: ASTRA -- Approach using Spatially and Temporally Resolved Advection

Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) has become increasingly popular to study structures in turbulent flows. PIV allows direct extraction and investigation of spatial structures in the given flow field. Increasing temporal resolution of PIV systems allows a more accurate capture of the flow evolution. Despite the very good spatial resolution of PIV, current systems can only match the multiple $kHz$ sampling rates of hot-wire or Laser Doppler Anemometer (LDA) measurements for a very short period in temporal analyses of flow. In this study, an advection-based approach is presented which uses Taylor's hypothesis of "frozen turbulence" for small scale turbulent patterns. Compared to the underlying raw data a major increase of the temporal resolution for extracted time series is shown. The quality of the presented approach is shown for two-point analyses, which would not be possible with presently known methods. To demonstrate this, different turbulent flow cases behind a fractal grid are studied. For the validation of the results corresponding hot-wire measurements at various positions along the centerline were used.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

How to design a 2D active grid for dynamic inflow modulation

Wind turbines operate under constantly changing turbulent inflow conditions. In the rotating system, wind gusts lead to variations in the angle of attack at local blade segments resulting in dynamic effects such as dynamic stall. Such highly non-linear effects are known to produce a significant overshoot in the lift and thus an increase in loads acting on the wind turbine, leading to long-term fatigue. To better understand these effects, it is essential to perform experiments under defined conditions on 2D airfoil segments in the wind tunnel. In this study, a so-called 2D active grid is presented which allows to generate local inflow conditions with defined fluctuations of the angle of incidence (AoI) in wind tunnel experiments. The focus of the investigations is on sinusoidal variations of AoI with high amplitudes generated by different grid configurations. By changing the AoI dynamic phenomena can be induced without the need to move the object under investigation. Inertial effects during force measurements and a changing shadow casting due to a moving airfoil in particle image velocimetry measurements do not appear. Additional variations in the longitudinal velocity component are another aspect in the presented work. Such longitudinal gusts can be combined with AoI variations in arbitrary phase. This can be used to mimic various inflow situations such as yaw or tower shadow effects on wind turbines.

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arXiv2020

Dynamic stall of an airfoil under tailored three-dimensional inflow conditions

Rotor blades of wind turbines in the atmospheric boundary layer regularly experience the aerodynamic phenomenon of dynamic stall consisting of a temporary overshoot of lift and detrimental fatigue loads. Particularly the formation of dynamic stall under three-dimensional inflow conditions raises open questions. Aerodynamic behavior of a DU 91-W2-250 wind profile undergoing light dynamic stall is thus analyzed in a wind tunnel. Effects of a gust with streamwise and spanwise periodic variation are investigated by comparing total and local lift generation with flow formation above the airfoil. The observed stall cycle is divided into five stages of which one reveals lift overshoot of up to $16~\%$. The aerodynamic response of the airfoil shows a delay of about $1/8$ period between evolution of local angle of attack and lift giving a counterclockwise dynamic polar. A proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) analysis of the flow field contributes to understand aerodynamic consequences of the three-dimensional gust. Local inflow, total lift as well as certain lift events are captured by one POD eigenmode, respectively. Obtained results lead to the conclusion that the flow and particularly the stalled wake of an airfoil facing a three-dimensional gust are strongly coupled in the spanwise direction. This yields to flow stabilization, inhibition of stall, and in turn, counterclockwise dynamic polar along with augmented total lift.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2018

Insights into the Periodic Gust Response of Airfoils

The unsteady lift response of an airfoil in a sinusoidal gust can be modeled by two transfer functions: the first-order Sears function and the second-order Atassi function, albeit leading to different results under certain conditions. Previous studies have shown that the Sears function holds in experiments, but recently Cordes et al. (2017) reported experimental data that corresponded to the Atassi function rather than the Sears function. In order to clarify the observed discrepancy, the specific differences between these models are isolated analytically in this study and are related to physical gust parameters. Gusts with these parameters are then produced in wind-tunnel experiments using an active-grid gust generator. Measurements of the unsteady gust loads on an airfoil in the wind tunnel at Reynolds numbers ($Re_c$) of $2.0\times 10^5$ and $2.6\times 10^5$ and reduced frequencies between 0.09 and 0.42 confirm that the decisive difference between the Sears and Atassi functions lies in the character of the gust and not in the characteristics of the airfoil. The differences in the gust-response data between Sears and Atassi gust conditions are shown to be significant only at low reduced frequencies. These findings are supported by numerical simulations of the experimental setup. Finally, the influence of boundary-layer turbulence on experimental convergence with model predictions is investigated. These results serve to clarify the conditions under which the Sears and Atassi functions can be applied, and they establish the validity of both in an experimental context.

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arXiv2017

Directed percolation in aerodynamics: resolving laminar separation bubble on airfoils

In nature, phase transitions prevail amongst inherently different systems, while frequently showing a universal behavior at their critical point. As a fundamental phenomenon of fluid mechanics, recent studies suggested laminar-turbulent transition belonging to the universality class of directed percolation. Beyond, no indication was yet found that directed percolation is encountered in technical relevant fluid mechanics. Here, we present first evidence that the onset of a laminar separation bubble on an airfoil can be well characterized employing the directed percolation model on high fidelity particle image velocimetry data. In an extensive analysis, we show that the obtained critical exponents are robust against parameter fluctuations, namely threshold of turbulence intensity that distinguishes between ambient flow and laminar separation bubble. Our findings indicate a comprehensive significance of percolation models in fluid mechanics beyond fundamental flow phenomena, in particular, it enables the precise determination of the transition point of the laminar separation bubble. This opens a broad variety of new fields of application, ranging from experimental airfoil aerodynamics to computational fluid dynamics.

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