The streamwise and transverse velocities are measured simultaneously in isotropic grid turbulence at relatively high Reynolds numbers, Re(lambda) = 110-330. Using a conditional averaging technique, we extract typical intermittency patterns, which are consistent with velocity profiles of a model for a vortex tube, i.e., Burgers vortex. The radii of the vortex tubes are several of the Kolmogorov length regardless of the Reynolds number. Using the distribution of an interval between successive enhancements of a small-scale velocity increment, we study the spatial distribution of vortex tubes. The vortex tubes tend to cluster together. This tendency is increasingly significant with the Reynolds number. Using statistics of velocity increments, we also study the energetical importance of vortex tubes as a function of the scale. The vortex tubes are important over the background flow at small scales especially below the Taylor microscale. At a fixed scale, the importance is increasingly significant with the Reynolds number.
The elementary structures of turbulence, i.e., vortex tubes, are studied using velocity data obtained in laboratory experiments for boundary layers and duct flows at microscale Reynolds numbers 332-1934. While past experimental studies focused on intense vortex tubes, the present study focuses on all vortex tubes with various intensities. We obtain the mean velocity profile. The radius scales with the Kolmogorov length. The circulation velocity scales with the Kolmogorov velocity, in contrast to the case of intense vortex tubes alone where the circulation velocity scales with the rms velocity …
The most elementary structures of turbulence, i.e., vortex tubes, are studied using velocity data obtained in a laboratory experiment for boundary layers with microscale Reynolds numbers 295-1258. We conduct conditional averaging for enhancements of a small-scale velocity increment and obtain the typical velocity profile for vortex tubes. Their radii are of the order of the Kolmogorov length. Their circulation velocities are of the order of the root-mean-square velocity fluctuation. We also obtain the distribution of the interval between successive enhancements of the velocity increment as the…
At high Reynolds number, the interaction between two vortex tubes leads to intense velocity gradients, which are at the heart of fluid turbulence. This vorticity amplification comes about through two different instability mechanisms of the initial vortex tubes, assumed anti-parallel and with a mirror plane of symmetry. At moderate Reynolds number, the tubes destabilize via a Crow instability, with the nonlinear development leading to strong flattening of the cores into thin sheets. These sheets then break down into filaments which can repeat the process. At higher Reynolds number, the instabil…
The streamwise and transverse velocities are measured simultaneously in grid turbulence at Reynolds numbers 100-300. We extract typical intermittency patterns, which are consistent with velocity profiles of Burgers and Lamb-Oseen vortices. The radii of these vortex tubes are estimated to be several of the Kolmogorov length.
The internal flow in corrugated tubes of different helical pitch, covering from the laminar to turbulent regime, was studied in order to characterize the three-dimensional flow and the influence of corrugation geometry on pressure drop and convective heat transfer. With water as working fluid and an imposed wall heat flux, ranging from around 4 to 33 kW/m2, a numerical model was developed with a CFD commercial software, where k-omega SST was used to model turbulence. Experimental tests were performed covering Reynolds numbers in the range from around 300 up to 5000, which allowed to identify t…
The effect of surfactants on the tail and film dynamics of elongated gas bubbles propagating through circular capillary tubes is investigated by means of an extensive three-dimensional numerical study using a hybrid front-tracking/level-set method. The focus is on the visco-inertial regime, which occurs when the Reynolds number of the flow is much larger than unity. Under these conditions, `clean' bubbles exhibit interface undulations in the proximity of the tail \cite{Magnini_prf_2017}, with an amplitude that increases with the Reynolds number. We perform a systematic analysis of the impact o…
We use the boundary element method to study the low-Reynolds number locomotion of a spherical model microorganism in a circular tube. The swimmer propels itself by tangen- tial or normal surface motion in a tube whose radius is on the order of the swimmer size. Hydrodynamic interactions with the tube walls significantly affect the average swimming speed and power consumption of the model microorganism. In the case of swimming parallel to the tube axis, the locomotion speed is always reduced (resp. increased) for swimmers with tangential (resp. normal) deformation. In all cases, the rate of wor…
We present measurements of quasi-Keplerian flows in a Taylor-Couette device that identify the boundary conditions required to generate near-ideal flows that exhibit self-similarity under scaling of the Reynolds number. These experiments are contrasted with alternate boundary configurations that result in flows that progressively deviate from ideal Couette rotation as the Reynolds number is increased. These behaviors are quantitatively explained in terms of the tendency to generate global Ekman circulation and the balance of angular momentum fluxes through the axial and radial boundary layers.
A new method of accurate calculation of the coefficient of viscosity of a test liquid from experimentally measured terminal velocity of a ball falling in the test liquid contained in a narrow tube is described. The calculation requires the value of a multiplicative correction factor to the apparent coefficient of viscosity calculated by substitution of terminal velocity of the falling ball in Stokes formula. This correction factor, the so-called viscosity ratio, a measure of deviation from Stokes limit, arises from non-vanishing values of the Reynolds number and the ball/tube radius ratio. The…
The Reynolds stress in Holmboe instabilities at moderate Reynolds numbers is investigated using single wavelength simulations (SWS), multiple wavelength simulations (MWS), and laboratory experiments. The rightward and leftward propagating instabilities are separated with the two-dimensional discrete Fourier transform, enabling a direct comparison of the perturbation fields between the numerical simulations and linear stability analysis. The decomposition and superposition of the perturbation fields provide a new insight into the origin of Reynolds stresses. Conventionally, only the statistics …
Vortical structures of turbulence, i.e., vortex tubes and sheets, are studied using one-dimensional velocity data obtained in laboratory experiments for duct flows and boundary layers at microscale Reynolds numbers from 332 to 1934. We study the mean velocity profile of intense vortical structures. The contribution from vortex tubes is dominant. The radius scales with the Kolmogorov length. The circulation velocity scales with the rms velocity fluctuation. We also study the spatial distribution of intense vortical structures. The distribution is self-similar over small scales and is random ove…
An improved understanding of how vortices develop and propagate under pulsatile flow can shed important light on the mixing and transport processes including the transition to turbulent regime occurring in such systems. For example, the characterization of pulsatile flows in obstructed artery models serves to encourage research into flow-induced phenomena associated with changes in morphology, blood viscosity, wall elasticity and flow rate. In this work, an axisymmetric rigid model was used to study the behaviour of the flow pattern with varying constriction degree ($d_0$), mean Reynolds numbe…
We present a new design for a stirred tank that is forced by two parallel planar arrays of randomly actuated synthetic jets. This arrangement creates turbulence at high Reynolds number with low mean flow. Most importantly, it exhibits a region of 3D homogeneous isotropic turbulence that is significantly larger than the integral lengthscale. These features are essential for enabling laboratory measurements of turbulent suspensions. We use quantitative imaging to confirm isotropy at large, small, and intermediate scales by examining one-- and two--point statistics at the tank center. We then rep…
A hallmark of fluid turbulence theory is the universal power law scaling of the velocity difference statistics between two points in space in the inertial range between the large energy injection scale and the small energy dissipation scale. Even at the highest Reynolds numbers available, laboratory and natural flows such universal power laws have not been convincingly demonstrated. Here we show for the decaying active grid turbulence of the Max Planck Variable Density Turbulence Tunnel that the velocity difference statistics at high Reynolds numbers do not exhibit a power law, but have a univ…
We present experimental measurements of a wall-bounded gravity current, motivated by characterizing natural gravity currents such as oceanic overflows. We use particle image velocimetry and planar laser-induced fluorescence to simultaneously measure the velocity and density fields as they evolve downstream of the initial injection from a turbulent channel flow onto a plane inclined at 10$^\circ$ with respect to horizontal. The turbulence level of the input flow is controlled by injecting velocity fluctuations upstream of the output nozzle. The initial Reynolds number based on Taylor microscale…
Background and objective: Contrary to flows in small intracranial vessels, many blood flow configurations such as those found in aortic vessels and aneurysms involve larger Reynolds numbers and, therefore, transitional or turbulent conditions. Dealing with such systems require both robust and efficient numerical methods. Methods: We assess here the performance of a lattice Boltzmann solver with full Hermite expansion of the equilibrium and central Hermite moments collision operator at higher Reynolds numbers, especially for under-resolved simulations. To that end the food and drug administrati…
Direct numerical simulations of the Taylor-Green Vortex interacting with a hydrogen diffusion flame: Reynolds number and non-unity Lewis number effects
We analyze the data stemming from a forced incompressible hydrodynamic simulation on a grid of 2048^3 regularly spaced points, with a Taylor Reynolds number of Re~1300. The forcing is given by the Taylor-Green flow, which shares similarities with the flow in several laboratory experiments, and the computation is run for ten turnover times in the turbulent steady state. At this Reynolds number the anisotropic large scale flow pattern, the inertial range, the bottleneck, and the dissipative range are clearly visible, thus providing a good test case for the study of turbulence as it appears in na…
We present angular momentum transport (torque) measurements in two recent experimental studies of the turbulent flow between independently rotating cylinders. In addition to these studies, we reanalyze prior torque measurements to expand the range of control parameters for the experimental Taylor-Couette flows. We find that the torque may be described as a product of functions that depend only on the Reynolds number, which describes the turbulent driving intensity, and the rotation number, which characterizes the effects of global rotation. For a given Reynolds number, the global angular momen…
A numerical study of stably stratified flows past spheres at Reynolds numbers $Re=200$ and $Re=300$ is reported. In these flow regimes, a neutrally stratified laminar flow induces distinctly different near-wake features. However, the flow behaviour changes significantly as the stratification increases and suppresses the scale of vertical displacements of fluid parcels. Computations for a range of Froude numbers $Fr\in [0.1,\infty]$ show that as Froude number decreases, the flow patterns for both Reynolds numbers become similar. The representative simulations of the lee-wave instability at $Fr=…
[Abridged]We present high-resolution three-dimensional direct numerical simulations of breaking waves solving the two-phase Navier-Stokes equations. We investigate the role of the Reynolds and Bond numbers on the energy, bubble and droplet statistics of strong plunging breakers, and explore the asymptotic regimes at high Reynolds and Bond numbers to be compared with laboratory breaking waves. Energetically, the breaking wave transitions from laminar to three-dimensional turbulent flow on a timescale that depends on the turbulent Reynolds number up to a limiting value of $Re_λ\sim 100$, consist…
Inspired by the lotus effect, many studies in the last decade have focused on micro- and nano-patterned surfaces. They revealed that patterns at the micro-scale combined with high contact angles can significantly reduce skin drag. However, the mechanisms and parameters that control drag reduction, e.g. Reynolds number and pattern geometry, are still unclear. We propose an effective medium representation of the micro-features, that treats the latter as a porous medium, and provides a framework to model flow over patterned surfaces in both Cassie and Wenzel states. Our key result is a closed-for…
Most flows in nature and engineering are turbulent because of their large velocities and spatial scales. Laboratory experiments of rotating quasi-Keplerian flows, for which the angular velocity decreases radially but the angular momentum increases, are however laminar at Reynolds numbers exceeding one million. This is in apparent contradiction to direct numerical simulations showing that in these experiments turbulence transition is triggered by the axial boundaries. We here show numerically that as the Reynolds number increases turbulence becomes progressively confined to the boundary layers …
Experiments in a modified Taylor-Couette device, spanning Reynolds numbers of $10^5$ to greater than $10^6$, reveal the nonlinear stability of astrophysically-relevant flows. Nearly ideal rotation, expected in the absence of axial boundaries, is achieved for a narrow range of operating parameters. Departures from the optimal control space identify centrifugal instability of boundary layers as the primary source of turbulence likely observed in former experiments. By driving turbulence from a series of jets we demonstrate the robustly quiescent nature of quasi-Keplerian flows, indicating that s…
Modelling flow and acoustics in a constricted duct at low Mach numbers is important for investigating many physiological phenomena such as phonation, generation of arterial murmurs, and pulmonary conditions involving airway obstruction. The objective of this study is to validate computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and computational aero-acoustics (CAA) simulations in a constricted tube at low Mach numbers. Different turbulence models were employed to simulate the flow field. Models included Reynolds Average Navier-Stokes (RANS), Detached eddy simulation (DES) and Large eddy simulation (LES). Th…
The interaction of a shock wave with a spherical density inhomogeneity leads to the development of a vortex ring through the impulsive deposition of baroclinic vorticity. The present fluid dynamics videos display this phenomenon and were experimentally investigated at the Wisconsin Shock Tube Laboratory's (WiSTL) 9.2 m, downward firing shock tube. The tube has a square internal cross-section (0.25 m x 0.25 m) with multiple fused silica windows for optical access. The spherical soap bubble is generated by means of a pneumatically retracted injector and released into free-fall 200 ms prior to in…
Using water/salty-water laboratory experiments}, we investigate the mechanism of erosion by a turbulent jet impinging on a density interface, for moderate Reynolds and Froude numbers. Contrary to previous models involving baroclinic instabilities, we show that the entrainment is driven by interfacial gravity waves, which break and induce mixing. The waves are generated by the turbulent fluctuations of the jet and are amplified by a mechanism of wave-induced stress . Based on the physical observations, we introduce a scaling model which varies continuously from the $Fr_i^3$ to the $Fr_i$ power …
We study the buoyant rise of magnetic flux tubes embedded in an adiabatic stratification using two-and three-dimensional, MHD simulations. We analyze the dependence of the tube evolution on the field line twist and on the curvature of the tube axis in different diffusion regimes. To be able to achieve a comparatively high spatial resolution we use the FLASH code, which has a built-in Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) capability. Our 3D experiments reach Reynolds numbers that permit a reasonable comparison of the results with those of previous 2D simulations. When the experiments are run without A…
The scaling of different features of stream-wise normal stress profiles $\langle uu\rangle^+(y^+)$ in turbulent wall-bounded flows, in particular in truly parallel flows, such as channel and pipe flows, is the subject of a long running debate. Particular points of contention are the scaling of the "inner" and "outer" peaks of $\langle uu\rangle^+$ at $y^+\approxeq 15$ and $y^+ =\mathcal{O}(10^3)$, respectively, their infinite Reynolds number limit, and the rate of logarithmic decay in the outer part of the flow. Inspired by the landmark paper of Chen and Sreenivasan (2021), two terms of the in…
The motion of fluid particles as they are pushed along erratic trajectories by fluctuating pressure gradients is fundamental to transport and mixing in turbulence. It is essential in cloud formation and atmospheric transport, processes in stirred chemical reactors and combustion systems, and in the industrial production of nanoparticles. The perspective of particle trajectories has been used successfully to describe mixing and transport in turbulence, but issues of fundamental importance remain unresolved. One such issue is the Heisenberg-Yaglom prediction of fluid particle accelerations, base…
We discuss possible definitions for a stochastic slip velocity that describes the relative motion between large particles and a turbulent flow. This definition is necessary because the slip velocity used in the standard drag model fails when particle size falls within the inertial subrange of ambient turbulence. We propose two definitions, selected in part due to their simplicity: they do not require filtration of the fluid phase velocity field, nor do they require the construction of conditional averages on particle locations. A key benefit of this simplicity is that the stochastic slip veloc…
The flow instability and further transition to turbulence in a toroidal pipe (torus) with curvature (tube-to-coiling diameter) 0.049 is investigated experimentally. The flow inside the toroidal pipe is driven by a steel sphere fitted to the inner pipe diameter. The sphere is moved with constant azimuthal velocity from outside the torus by a moving magnet. The experiment is designed to investigate curved pipe flow by optical measurement techniques. Using stereoscopic particle image velocimetry, laser Doppler velocimetry and pressure drop measurements, the flow is measured for Reynolds numbers r…
We numerically investigate a two-time Lagrangian velocity correlation function (TTLVCF) for particle pairs in two-dimensional energy inverse-cascade turbulence. We consider self similarity of the correlation function by means of incomplete similarity. In this framework, we propose a self-similar form of the correlation function, whose scaling exponents cannot be determined by only using the dimensional analysis based on the Kolmogorov's phenomenology. As a result, the scaling laws of the correlation function can depend on the initial separation. This initial-separation dependency is frequently…
A Versatile Laboratory Approach to Reproduce and Analyze Internal Ocean Wave Dynamics
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill（北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校）；Scripps Institute of Oceanography（斯克里普斯海洋研究所）；Wake Forest University（维克森林大学）；Univ. Orléans, INSA CVL, PRISME, UPRES 4229（奥尔良大学，INSA中央-卢瓦尔河谷，PRISME，UPRES 4229）；Arizona State University（亚利桑那州立大学）
Compressible vortex rings, usually formed at the open end of a shock tube, often show interesting phenomena during their formation, evolution, and propagation depending on the shock Mach number (Ms) and exit flow conditions. The Mach number of the translating compressible vortex rings (Mv) investigated so far in the literature is subsonic as, the shock tube pressure ratio (PR) considered is relatively low. In this numerical study we focus on low to high vortex ring Mach numbers (0.31 < Mv < 1.08) cases with a particular focus on very high Mv cases that are not been reported in experiments as, …
The convective heat transfer and flow behavior of graphene-water nanofluids are studied experimentally by focusing on transitional flow. Graphene-water nanofluids with different particle mass fractions (0.025, 0.1 and 0.2%) are produced following two-step method and using PVP as a surfactant. Thermo-physical characterization is performed by measuring viscosity and thermal conductivity of the nanofluids. Convection characteristics are experimentally studied from laminar to turbulent flow regimes. It is seen that pressure drop increases dramatically in the transition region, and laminar to turbu…
We report on a investigation of turbulent bubbly flows. Bubbles of a size larger than the dissipative scale, cannot be treated as point-wise inclusions, and generate important hydrodynamic fields in the carrier fluid when in motion. Furthermore, when the volume fraction of bubbles is large enough, the bubble motion may induce a collective agitation due to hydrodynamic interactions which display some turbulent-like features. We tackle this complex phenomenon numerically, performing direct numerical simulations (DNS) with a Volume-of-fluid (VOF) method. In the first part of the work, we perform …
A specific asymptotic expansion at large Reynolds numbers (R)for the long wavelength perturbation of a non stationary anisotropic helical solution of the force less Navier-Stokes equations (Trkal solutions) is effectively constructed of the Beltrami type terms through multi scaling analysis. The asymptotic procedure is proved to be valid for one specific value of the scaling parameter,namely for the square root of the Reynolds number (R).As a result large scale structures arise as gradient lines of the energy determined by the initial conditions for two anisotropic Beltrami flows of the same h…
The transfer of kinetic energy from large to small scales is a hallmark of turbulent flows. Yet, a precise mechanistic description of this transfer, which is expected to occur via an energy cascade, is still missing. Several conceptually simple configurations with vortex tubes have been proposed as a testing ground to understand the energy cascade. Here, we focus on incompressible flows and compare the energy transfer occurring in a statistically steady homogeneous isotropic turbulent (HIT) flow with the generation of fine-scale motions in configurations involving vortex tubes. We start by fil…
An essential ingredient of turbulent flows is the vortex stretching mechanism, which emanates from the non-linear interaction of vorticity and strain-rate tensor and leads to formation of extreme events. We analyze the statistical correlations between vorticity and strain rate by using a massive database generated from very well resolved direct numerical simulations of forced isotropic turbulence in periodic domains. The grid resolution is up to $12288^3$, and the Taylor-scale Reynolds number is in the range $140-1300$. In order to understand the formation and structure of extreme vorticity fl…
The steady motion and deformation of a lipid-bilayer vesicle translating through a circular tube in low Reynolds number pressure-driven flow are investigated numerically using an axisymmetric boundary element method. This fluid-structure interaction problem is determined by three dimensionless parameters: reduced volume (a measure of the vesicle asphericity), geometric confinement (the ratio of the vesicle effective radius to the tube radius), and capillary number (the ratio of viscous to bending forces). The physical constraints of a vesicle -- fixed surface area and enclosed volume when it i…
We experimentally and numerically investigated the generation of plumes from a local heat source (LHS) and studied the interaction of these plumes with cellular convective motion (CCM) in a rectangular cavity filled with silicon oil at a Prandtl number (Pr) of approximately two thousand. The LHS is generated using a 0.2-W green laser beam. A roll-type CCM is generated by vertically heating one side of the cavity. The CCM may lead to the formation of an unusual spiral convective plume that resembles a vertical Archimedes spiral. A similar plume is obtained in a direct numerical simulation. We d…
When the intensity of turbulence is increased (by increasing the Reynolds number, e.g. by reducing the viscosity of the fluid), the rate of the dissipation of kinetic energy decreases but does not tend asymptotically to zero: it levels off to a non-zero constant as smaller and smaller vortical flow structures are generated. This fundamental property, called the dissipation anomaly, is sometimes referred to as the zeroth law of turbulence. The question of what happens in the limit of vanishing viscosity (purely hypothetical in classical fluids) acquires a particular physical significance in the…
The acoustic behavior of micro-perforated panels (MPP) is studied theoretically and experimentally at high level of pressure excitation. A model based on Forcheimer's regime of flow velocity in the perforations is proposed. This model is valid at relatively high Reynolds numbers and low Mach numbers. The experimental method consists in measuring the acoustical pressure at three different positions in an impedance tube, the two measurement positions usually considered in an impedance tube and one measurement in the vicinity of the rear surface of the MPP. The impedance tube is equipped with a p…
The standard magnetorotational instability (SMRI) is a promising mechanism for turbulence and rapid accretion in astrophysical disks. It is a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instability that destabilizes otherwise hydrodynamically stable disk flow. Due to its microscopic nature at astronomical distances and stringent requirements in laboratory experiments, SMRI has remained unconfirmed since its proposal, despite its astrophysical importance. Here we report a nonaxisymmetric MHD instability in a modified Taylor-Couette experiment. To search for SMRI, a uniform magnetic field is imposed along the rot…
We report the first direct evidence for the axisymmetric standard magnetorotational instability (SMRI) from a combined experimental and numerical study of a magnetized liquid-metal shear flow in a Taylor-Couette cell with independently rotating and electrically conducting end caps. When a uniform vertical magnetic field $B_i$ is applied along the rotation axis, the measured radial magnetic field $B_r$ on the inner cylinder increases linearly with a small magnetic Reynolds number $Rm$ due to the magnetization of the residue Ekman circulation. Onset of the axisymmetric SMRI is identified from th…
The dynamics, structure and stability of zonal jets in planetary flows are still poorly understood, especially in terms of coupling with the small-scale turbulent flow. Here, we use an experimental approach to address the questions of zonal jets formation and long-term evolution. A strong and uniform topographic $β$-effect is obtained inside a water-filled rotating tank thanks to the paraboloidal fluid free upper surface combined with a specifically designed bottom plate. A small-scale turbulent forcing is performed by circulating water through the base of the tank. Time-resolving PIV measurem…
The report elaborates for the first time visual observations of induced convections in a non-conducting diamagnetic fluid under the action of static gradient magnetic field in the absence of thermal gradients and the techniques employed to observe and record them. Suspension of Deionized (DI) and double distilled water and Lycopodium pollen grains was used as the fluid in a test tube. Permanent magnets having field strength of 0.12T each were used to provide the static gradient magnetic field. The suspension filled test tube was kept in a room temperature water bath. The convections were visua…
In this article we examine channel flow subject to spatially varying viscosity in the streamwise direction. The Reynolds number is imposed locally with three different ramps. The setup is reminiscent of transient channel flow, but with a space dependent viscosity rather than a time dependent viscosity. It is also relevant to various applications in nuclear engineering and in particular in test reactors, where the viscosity changes significantly in the streamwise direction, and there is a severe lack of Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) data to benchmark turbulence models in these conditions. A…
