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The investigation focused on the conversions of flow structures with a change in angle of attack (AOA) for a flexible cantilever wing, which experienced a self-excited vibration. Stereoscopic particle imaging velocimetry (Stereo-PIV) was utilized to measure the velocity field in the wing-tip region as AOA varied from 0 deg to 12 deg. At the Reynolds number (Re) of 3 × 104, instability waves shedding from the wing were amplified as they propagated and developed into Karman Vortex Street in the far downstream region at low AOAs (AOA = 4 deg and 6 deg). As AOA increased to 8 deg with the wing model was still steady, the Karman Vortex Street no longer existed. The wing started to vibrate at AOA = 10 deg owing to the self-excited vibration, and the Karman Vortex Street appeared again. The inception location of the Karman Vortex Street moved further upstream than in the cases at AOA = 4 deg and 6 deg. A new vortex structure, secondary vortex-pairs, appears outside the main wing-tip vortex (WTV).

A multiple surrogate-based optimization strategy in conjunction with an evolutionary algorithm has been employed to optimize the shape of a simplified hydraulic turbine diffuser utilizing three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes computational fluid dynamics solutions. Specifically, the diffuser performance is optimized by changing five geometric design variables to maximize the average pressure recovery factor for two inlet boundary conditions with different swirl, corresponding to different operating modes of the hydraulic turbine. Polynomial response surfaces and radial basis neural networks are used as surrogates, while a hybrid formulation of the NSGA-IIa evolutionary algorithm and a ϵ-constraint strategy is applied to construct the Pareto front from the two surrogates. The proposed optimization framework drastically reduces the computational load of the problem, compared to solely utilizing an evolutionary algorithm. For the present problem, the radial basis neural networks are more accurate near the Pareto front while the response surface performs better in regions away from it. By using a local resampling updating scheme the fidelity of both surrogates is improved, especially near the Pareto front. The optimal design yields larger wall angles, nonaxisymmetrical shapes, and delay in wall separation, resulting in 14.4% and 8.9% improvement, respectively, for the two inlet boundary conditions.

The objective of this paper is to apply combined experimental and computational modeling to investigate unsteady sheet/cloud cavitating flows. In the numerical simulations, a filter-based density corrected model (FBDCM) is introduced to regulate the turbulent eddy viscosity in both the cavitation regions on the foil and in the wake, which is shown to be critical in accurately capturing the unsteady cavity shedding process, and the corresponding velocity and vorticity dynamics. In the experiments, high-speed video and particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique are used to measure the flow velocity and vorticity fields, as well as cavitation patterns. Results are presented for a Clark-Y hydrofoil fixed at an angle of attack of a ¼8deg at a moderate Reynolds number, Re ¼7 � 10 5 , for both subcavitating and sheet/cloud cavitating conditions. The results show that for the unsteady sheet/cloud cavitating case, the formation, breakup, shedding, and collapse of the sheet/cloud cavity lead to substantial increase in turbulent velocity fluctuations in the cavitating region around the foil and in the wake, and significantly modified the wake patterns. The turbulent boundary layer thickness is found to be much thicker, and the turbulent intensities are much higher in the sheet/cloud cavitating case. Compared to the wetted case, the wake region becomes much broader and is directed toward the suction side instead of the pressure side for the sheet/cloud cavitation case. The periodic formation, breakup, shedding, and collapse of the sheet/cloud cavities, and the associated baroclinic and viscoclinic torques, are shown to be important mechanisms for vorticity production and modification. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4023650]

Validation of a three-dimensional computational algorithm for viscous flow analysis has been conducted for two types of Francis turbine runner geometry, one low head and one high head, using experimental measurement. Assessment has been made for both qualitative features of flow behavior, as well as quantitative distribution of blade pressure and head loss. The influence of the grid size on the accuracy of the numerical solution is also discussed. Effort has been made to address some of the design issues, and to demonstrate that the present computational algorithm can make useful contributions to help improve the current design practices.

The spiral casing of a hydraulic turbine is a complex flow device which contains a passage of 360-degree turning and multiple elements of airfoils (the so-called distributor). A three-dimensional flow analysis has been made to predict the flow behavior inside the casing and distributor. The physical model employs a two-level approach, comprising of (1) a global model that adequately accounts for the geometry of the spiral casing but smears out the details of the distributor, and represents the multiple airfoils by a porous medium treatment, and (2) a local model that performs detailed analysis of flow in the distributor region. The global analysis supplies the inlet flow condition for the individual cascade of distributor airfoils, while the distributor analysis yields the information needed for modeling the characteristics of the porous medium. Comparisons of pressure and velocity profiles between measurement and prediction have been made to assess the validity of the present approach. Flow characteristics in the spiral casing are also discussed.

Three-dimensional turbulent viscous flow analyses for hydraulic turbine elbow draft tubes are performed by solving Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations closed with a two-equation turbulence model. The predicted pressure recovery factor and flow behavior in the draft tube with a wide range of swirling flows at the inlet agree well with experimental data. During the validation of the Navier-Stokes flow analysis, particular attention was paid to the effect of grid size on the accuracy of the numerical result and the importance of accurately specifying the inlet flow condition.

Viscous flow analysis based on the full Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations is being applied to successfully predict turbulent flow characteristics and energy losses in different hydraulic turbine components. It allows the designer to evaluate the hydraulic performance of alternative designs before proceeding with laboratory testing or to perform elaborate parametric study to optimize the hydraulic design. In this paper, the applications of three-dimensional viscous flow analysis as an analytical design tool for elbow draft tube and spiral casing are presented and their impact on engineering design assessed.

A two-dimensional flow analysis of a radial inflow turbine distributor using full steady-state Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations is made. The numerical prediction of the total energy loss and the wicket gate torque is compared with experimental data. Also, a parametric study is carried out in order to evaluate the behavior of the numerical algorithm.