Fluid mechanics

A microbubble generation system has been designed, constructed, and tested in a
circulating water tunnel. A 1.0 m long flat plate was subjected to a flow where the
Reynolds number ranged from ReL = 7.23x 10^5 - 1.04 x 10^6. Bubble diameters and skin
friction measurements were studied at various airflow rates and water velocities.
Bubbles were produced by forcing air through porous plates that were mounted
flush with the bottom of the test plate. Once emitted through the plates, the bubbles
traveled downstream in the boundary layer. The airflow rate and water velocity were
found to have the most significant impact on the size of the bubbles created.
Skin friction drag measurements were recorded in detail in the velocity and
airflow rate ranges. The coefficient of skin friction was determined and relationships
were then established between this coefficient and the void ratio.

This thesis presents two-dimensional hydrodynamic analysis of flapping foils for the propulsion of underwater vehicles using a source-vortex panel. Using a simulation program developed in MatLab, the hydrodynamic forces (such as the lift and the drag) as well as the propulsion thrust and efficiency are computed with this method. The assumptions made in the analysis are that the flow around a hydrofoil is two-dimensional, incompressible and inviscid. The analysis is first considered for the case of a deeply submerged hydrofoil followed by the case where it is located in shallow water depth or near the free surface. In the second case, the presence of the free surface and wave effects are taken into account, specifically at high and low frequencies and small and large amplitudes of flapping. The objective is to determine the thrust and efficiency of the flapping –foils under the influence of added effects of the free surface. Results show that the free-surface can significantly affect the foil performance by increasing the efficiency particularly at high Frequencies.

This thesis presents a complete method of modeling the autospectra of turbulence
in closed form via an expansion series using the von Kármán model as a basis function. It
is capable of modeling turbulence in all three directions of fluid flow: longitudinal,
lateral, and vertical, separately, thus eliminating the assumption of homogeneous,
isotropic flow. A thorough investigation into the expansion series is presented, with the
strengths and weaknesses highlighted. Furthermore, numerical aspects and theoretical
derivations are provided. This method is then tested against three highly complex flow
fields: wake turbulence inside wind farms, helicopter downwash, and helicopter
downwash coupled with turbulence shed from a ship superstructure. These applications
demonstrate that this method is remarkably robust, that the developed autospectral
models are virtually tailored to the design of white noise driven shaping filters, and that these models in closed form facilitate a greater understanding of complex flow fields in
wind engineering.

The goal of this Thesis is to demonstrate, through experimentation, that
ocean waves have a positive effect on the performance of an offshore wind
turbine. A scale model wind turbine was placed into a wave tank that was
completely covered and fitted with a variable speed fan to create different wind
and wave conditions for testing. Through testing, different power coefficient vs.
tip speed ratio graphs were created and a change in power coefficient was
observed between steady operating conditions and operating conditions with
waves. The results show a promising increase in power production for offshore
wind turbines when allowed to operate with the induced motion caused by the
amplitude and frequency of water waves created.

Vortex methods are grid-free; therefore, their use avoids a number of shortcomings of Eulerian, grid-based numerical methods for solving high Reynolds number flow problems. These include such problems as poor resolution and numerical diffusion. In vortex methods, the continuous vorticity field is discretized into a collection of Lagrangian elements, known as vortex elements. Vortex elements are free to move in the flow field which they create. The velocity field induced by these vortex elements is a solution to the Navier-Stokes equation, and in principle the method is suitable for high Reynolds number flows. In this dissertation, viscous vortex element methods are studied. Some modifications are developed. Discrete vortex element methods have been used to solve the Navier-Stokes equations in high Reynolds number flows. Globally satisfactory results have been obtained. However, computed pressure fields are often inaccurate due to the significant errors in the surface vorticity distribution. In addition, different ad hoc assumptions are often used in different proposed algorithms. In the present study, improvements are made to better represent the near-wall vorticity when obtaining numerical solutions for the Navier-Stokes equations. In particular, we split the boundary vortex sheet into two parts at each time step. One part remains a vortex sheet lying on the boundary of the solid body, and the other enters into the flow field as a free vortex element with a uniformly distributed vorticity. A set of kinematic relationships are used to determine the two appropriate portions of the split, and the position of the vortex element to be freed at the time of release. Another improvement is to include the nonlinear acceleration terms in the governing equations near the solid boundary when evaluating the surface pressure distribution. The aerodynamic force coefficients can then be obtained by summing up the pressure forces. By comparing the computed surface vorticities, surface pressures and aerodynamics force coefficients with existing numerical/experimental data in the cases of viscous flow around a circular cylinder, an aerofoil, and a bridge deck section, it is shown that the present approach is more accurate in modelling the flow features and force coefficients without making different ad hoc assumptions for different geometries. The computation is efficient. It can be useful in the study of the unsteady fluid flow phenomenon in practical engineering problems.

Boundary layers are regions where turbulence develops easily. In the case where the flow occurs on a surface showing a certain degree of roughness, turbulence eddies will interact with the roughness elements and will produce an acoustic field. This thesis aims at predicting this type of noise with the help of the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation of a wall jet using the Reynolds Average Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations. A frequency spectrum is reconstructed using a representation of the turbulence with uncorrelated sheets of vorticity. Both aerodynamic and acoustic results are compared to experimental measurements of the flow. The CFD simulation of the flow returns consistent results but would benefit from a refinement of the grid. The surface pressure spectrum presents a slope in the high frequencies close to the experimental spectrum. The far field noise spectrum has a 5dB difference to the experiments.

This study assesses the viability of using a towfish mounted ADV for quantifying water velocity fluctuations in the Florida Current relevant to ocean current turbine performance. For this study a motion compensated ADV is operated in a test flume. Water velocity fluctuations are generated by a 1.3 cm pipe suspended in front of the ADV at relative current speeds of 0.9 m/s and 0.15 m/s, giving Reynolds numbers on the order of 1000. ADV pitching motion of +/- 2.5 [degree] at 0.3 Hz and a heave motion of 0.3 m amplitude at 0.2 Hz are utilized to evaluate the motion compensation approach. The results show correction for motion provides up to an order of magnitude reduction in turbulent kinetic energy at frequencies of motion while the IMU is found to generate 2% error at 1/30 Hz and 9% error at 1/60 Hz in turbulence intensity.

Simulating the exact chaotic turbulent flow field about any geometry is a dilemma between accuracy and computational resources, which has been continuously studied for just over a hundred years. This thesis is a complete walk-through of the entire process utilized to approximate the flow ingested by a Sevik-type rotor based on solutions to the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations (RANS). The Multiple Reference Frame fluid model is utilized by the code of ANSYS-FLUENT and results are validated by experimental wake data. Three open rotor configurations are studied including a uniform inflow and the rotor near a plate with and without a thick boundary layer. Furthermore, observations are made to determine the variation in velocity profiles of the ingested turbulent flow due to varying flow conditions.

The concept of using Magnetohydrodynamics to provide thrust has been around for decades. However little work has been carried out in one of the fundamental aspects that allows for these systems to operate in seawater. Therefore a series of tests were carried out to determine how the electrochemical reactions occurring at the electrodes affect the seawater system. These tests were used to determine the effects magnetic fields have on seawater conductivity, the pH changes around the electrodes, and consider the double layer capacitance model as a means to decrease the amount of gas bubbles created at the electrodes. As a result significant increases in resistivity in seawater were observed when the magnetic field was introduced, pH changes were seen on both the cathode and anode, and pulsing of the applied potential may stimulate further work to be considered.

Barometric distillation is an alternative method of producing fresh water by desalination. This proposed process evaporates saline water at low pressure and consequently low temperature; low pressure conditions are achieved by use of barometric columns and condensation is by direct contact with a supply of fresh water that will be augmented by the distillate. Low-temperature sources of heat, such as the cooling water rejected by electrical power generating facilities, can supply this system with the latent heat of evaporation. Experiments are presented that show successful distillation with a temperature difference between evaporator and condenser smaller than 10ê C. Accumulation of dissolved gases coming out of solution, a classic problem in lowpressure distillation, is indirectly measured using a gas-tension sensor. The results of these experiments are used in an analysis of the specific energy required by a production process capable of producing 15 liters per hour. With a 20ê C difference, and neglecting latent heat, this analysis yields a specific energy of 1.85 kilowatt-hour per cubic meter, consumed by water pumping and by removal of non-condensable gases.