Introduction to

Active Control of Turbulent Flows

Dr. David Greenblatt

(week 7)
Course: 036-064
 Today
• The 4th AIAA Flow Control Conference, Seattle,
WA
• Separation Bubbles & their control
• Effect of curvature
• High Reynolds number flows
• High Mach number flows
• Three-dimensional effects:
• Infinite sweep, finite wing, swept wing, delta
wing
• Dynamic separation & reattachment control
 U∞
Separation Bubbles (examples)
Fence Step Cylinder

Short bubble
Long bubbles
U∞ U∞

Flap Cylinder + plate

Backward facing step
US U
hS hB

XB
Axi-symmetric Wall-mounted
Wall-mounted hump/bump
hump/bump
Separation Bubble Mean Structure
 Natural Excitation (Shedding) of
Separation Bubbles
US
US = velocity at separation
hB hB = maximum bubble height
XS = bubble length
XB fSh = shedding frequency

• Mabey: St = fshXB/U∞; 0.5 < St < 0.8 – purely empirical

• Kiya: St = fshXB/U∞ ~ 0.5; bubble is a self-excited flow maintained by a

feed back loop.

• Sigurdson & Roshko: St = fshhB/US ~ 0.08 - Consistent with Levi's

‘Universal Stouhal Law’. Kelvin-Helmoltz and shedding-type instabilities

Note that St is the natural (shedding) Strouhal number

F+B = feXB/U∞; is the forced “Stouhal number”
 Active Forcing of Separation Bubbles
Configuration Investigator (s) Original Parameter for Excitation Method and FB+ =f e X B / U ∞ Comment
Minimum Bubble Length Location
Backward-Facing Step Reisenthel et al (1985) f e h f / U ∞=0.05 −0.1 Oscillating Flap; 0.2 – 0.4 Excitation most effective near
Variable location in reattachment separation;
h f = flap height
region. Decrease in bubble-length with
increasing flap amplitude.
Roos & Kegelman (1986) f e hs / U ∞=0.29 Oscillating flap at separation 1.3 – 1.8 Laminar & turbulent flow;
hs = step height point ~30% reduction in bubble length.
Huppertz & Janke (1997) f e hs / U ∞=0.18 Hydrodynamic, with speaker at 0.44 Laminar flow;
separation point ~63% reduction in bubble length.

Coaxially Mounted Sigurdson & Roshko (1985) f e h B / U s ~ 0.16 −0.4 *
Circular Cylinder Sigurdson (1995) f e D / U ∞~ 2.5 −4 *
h B = bubble height
U s = velocity at separation
Kiya et al (1997) f e D / U ∞~ 2.5 −4
D = cylinder diameter
Hydrodynamic, with speaker at
separation point
Hydrodynamic, with speaker at
separation point
~ 1.3 – 3 Drag on cylinder face reduces with
reducing bubble size;
Higher excitation frequencies result
in smaller bubbles.
~0.5 High amplitude excitation can
eliminate the recirculation region.

Two-dimensional Siller & Fernholz (1997) f e h f / U ∞=0.05 Hydrodynamic, with speaker ~0.09 Reattachment length reduced by
Fence upstream of fence ~50%.
h f = fence height Sound pressure in chamber = 137dB

Deflected Flap Nishri & Wygnanski (1998) F + ≡f e L / U ∞~ 1 ** Hydrodynamic (with speaker) or ~0.7 Bubble length can be reduced by
flaperon at flap-shoulder increasing frequency or excitation
level.

* Parameter for minimum drag on cylinder face.

** Optimum reduced frequency for flow attachment.
Separation Bubble Length Reduction
Cylinder

Shimuzi et al (1993)
Separation Bubbles: Axisymmmetric
cylinder
Cylinder
Sigurdson & Roshko:
St = fshhB/US ~ 0.08

fehB/US ~ 0.3 Sigurdson & Roshko (1985)

Sigurdson (1995)
 Separation Bubbles
Cylinder
Sigurdson & Roshko:
St = fshhB/US ~ 0.08

fehB/US ~ 0.32
Shimuzi et al (1993)
Sigurdson (1995)
Minimum Cµ to attach flap flow

US >~ Ui , U∞

fehB/US=F+x(hs/L)x(U∞/US)

fehB/US ~ 1.6x(1/5)x(1) = 0.32

F+ = feL/U∞ = 1.6

At minimum Cµ, the universal

fehB/US ~ 0.3 is also appropriate to
maintain attached flow on a
deflected flap
Bursting of a leading-edge bubble
Control of a leading-edge bubble

u’

p’
 Effect of Curvature
e.g. MD NOTAR – Coanda effect

• Reduced noise
• Increased safety and reliability
• Reduced vibration
 Effect of Curvature
ym corresponds to Umax
y2 corresponds to Umax/2 = “jet width”

50

θ=80 deg
40
ym/b, curved jet
y2/b, curved jet
ym/b, plane jet
30 y2/b, plane jet
ym/b, y 2/b

20

10

0
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
x/b

Neuendorf et al (2004)
 Effect of Curvature
Vorticity contours of an
instantaneous PIV image ωx (y,z)

ωx [1/∆t]
θ=80 deg
2.5 0.07

0.05
2
normal wall distance y/y2

0.03
1.5 0.01

­0.01
1
­0.03
0.5 ­0.05

­0.07
0
­2.5 ­2 ­1.5 ­1 ­0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
spanwise location z/y2
 Effect of Curvature

Low-pass filtered vorticity contours of

an instantaneous PIV image ωx (y,z)
Low pass filtered
ωx [1/∆t]
θ=80 deg
2.5 0.07

0.05
2
normal wall distance y/y2

0.03
1.5 0.01

­0.01
1
­0.03
0.5 ­0.05

­0.07
0
­2.5 ­2 ­1.5 ­1 ­0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
spanwise location z/y2
002 
Effect of Curvature
Vorticity contours of an
mean PIV image ωx (y,z)

) θ=80 deg (b) Ωxy2/Umax

2.5
2.80

2.00
normal wall distance y/y2

2
1.20
1.5
0.40

­0.40
1
­1.20
0.5
­2.00

­2.80
0
­2.5 ­2 ­1.5 ­1 ­0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 ­0.05 0 0.05
spanwise
spanwise location
location z/y2 z/y2 V/Umax
 Effect of Curvature
Vorticity Averaging based on
pattern recognition algorithm;
figure 13 ωx (y,z)
PIV images
θ=80 deg
1 2 3 4

<ωx>y2 /Umax
1.5
2.80
_
v/Umax
2.00
no rm a l wa ll d is ta nce y/y 2

1.20
1 1
3 0.40
2
-0.40

0.5
4 -1.20

-2.00

-2.80
0
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 -0.1 0 0.1
spanwise location z/y2 <v>/Uma x 1m/s ec
 Effect of Curvature
Development of the streamwise component of circulation
Γx in the direction of streaming.
1.5 0.015

Γx, λ
1.0 Γx,∆z 0.010
streamwise circulation Γx, λ

streamwise circulation Γx,∆z

0.5 0.005

positive rotating structures

0.0 0.000
negative rotating structures

-0.5 -0.005

-1.0 -0.010
o o o
50 100 150
-1.5 -0.015
1 2 3
θ - θo
 Effect of Curvature
Development of the spanwise wave length λz and the minimum
correlation Coefficient g33 in the direction of streaming.

1/2 λz (CTA)
100 1/2 λz (PIV) 100
|| g33, min ||
1/2 spanwise wave length λ z [mm]

|| 33, min
10 10

correlation coefficient || g
y2 1.46
= 0.11(θ−θ0)
R
0.1 0.1

o o o
50 100 200
0.01 0.01
1 2 3 4 5

θ − θo
Unsteady Flow Separation
and Attachment
 Still to come …

Turbulence and its modeling

Validation of turbulence models
Three-dimensionality
Compressible flow
Basics of vortex control
Low Reynolds number applications