Module #5 - Free Stream Turbulence

Arvin N. Gastardo, AeE

Holy Angel University, Angeles City, Pampanga
agastardo@hau.edu.ph/agastardo@gmail.com

I. OVERVIEW III. DISCUSSION

When a wind tunnel is manufactured What is turbulence?

or montage or move to another position, the
A three-dimensional time-dependent
study about variation of pressure, Mach
motion in which vortex stretching causes
number, density and temperature
velocity fluctuations to spread to all
distribution, the variation of pitch and yaw
wavelengths between a minimum determined
components of flow angularity, boundary
by viscous forces and a maximum
layer treatment near the walls, noise and
determined by the boundary conditions of the
acoustics and the behaviors of vortexes in the
flow. It is the usual state of fluid motion
entire parts of it must be identify.
except at low Reynolds numbers.
Designer of wind tunnels strive to
Turbulent Fluid motion is an irregular
grade up the flow quality of wind tunnels by
condition of flow in which the various
using the best design rules and some
quantities show a random variation with time
manipulators to improve the role of wind
and space coordinates, so that statistically
tunnel in industrial designs. One area that has
distinct average values can be observed. At
of high importance is the reduction of the
the result, from abovementioned definitions
turbulence intensity across the test section
for turbulence, one may conclude that
that more discussion about it will be
Turbulence has its origins in the inherent
considered in this study.
instabilities of laminar flow.

II. LEARNING OUTCOMES

➢ Understand the effects of Free stream

turbulence on an airfoil. Figure 11. Laminar & Turbulent Flows

Turbulent flow is chaotic and the flow

velocity is very insightful to perturbations
and fluctuates wildly in time and in space,
and also contains swirling flow structures
with characteristic length, velocity and time

15
Aeronautical Laboratory 1 Manual
scales which are spread over very wide The two (2) sources of turbulence of wind
ranges. tunnel
Turbulence due to eddies (vortex
shedding, boundary layer, shear stress,
Undesirable effects of turbulence in
secondary flows) and noise (mechanical,
experimental measurements
vibration and aerodynamic) that There is a
The unwanted effects of turbulence correlation between them. Researchers
on the results of wind tunnel are studied. studied the effects of turbulence on the sound
These studies show that if the turbulence generation and velocity fluctuations due to
intensity in the test section is large enough, pressure waves in a large subsonic wind
they may trigger unfavorable transition and tunnel. The results of this research determine
the measurements i.e. drag, lift and velocity that while the share due to the monopole is
profiles may be incorrect. dominant, the share due to the dipole and
quadrupole remains less important.
In the other word, the flow shift from Furthermore, it is found that sound waves
laminar to turbulent flow on the model have a modest impact on the measured
surface significantly upstream of its actual longitudinal turbulence and is essentially
location in an environment where the free generated by eddies
stream turbulence level is more than real
value. Further, it has long been documented
that free stream turbulence can alter the
The methods of turbulence reduction
effective Reynolds number in turbulent flow
somewhere, the almost of significant Aforementioned before, turbulence
parameters are the function of Reynolds can have dramatic effects on the flow
number. measurement in the wind tunnels, therefore,
designers and researchers try to reduce it.
Small variations of the free stream
Various methods such as employment of
turbulence can change the behavior of
honeycombs, anti-turbulence screens, and
boundary layer, skin friction and shape
appropriate contraction ratio are possible
factor. However, the influence of free stream
means to reduce the turbulence level in wind
turbulence scale has not been determined
tunnels. In an attempt to improve the test
completely. Wind tunnels with identical
section flow quality, sudden expansion
levels of turbulence can produce different test
downstream of the corner turning vanes was
results due to differences in their turbulence
incorporated into the wind tunnel. Further,
spectra.
Significant flow quality improvements were
An acceptable value for turbulence also achieved by vertical flow treatment in
level of wind tunnel is a provision and the diffuser and downstream of the fan.
preliminary condition for dynamic similarity Wigeland et al used a 45-degree honeycomb
between the flow around the aircraft in flight flow manipulator, mounted parallel to the
and the flow around the model in the wind corner turning vanes, to improve the flow
tunnel. quality in the wind tunnel with little or no
settling chamber length. Flow quality in wind
tunnels is improved through subsequent
16
Aeronautical Laboratory 1 Manual
installation of acoustic baffles and dense and along the test section of wind tunnels
honeycomb. considered. The study shows that the
turbulence has a major character in flow
quality of wind tunnel and can excite
uncorrected results in experimental
investigations of wind tunnels. Noise and
eddy are the sources of turbulence that must
try to reduce them. Screens, honeycomb, high
contraction ratio and installation of trip strip
at suitable portion of the contraction for
handling of vortices and inflection type
instabilities are useful for turbulence
reduction.
Figure 12. Wind Tunnel with Acoustic Baffles
and Dense Honeycomb

Significant devices for turbulence

reduction in wind tunnels are screens.
Screens are employed to even the velocity
variation of flow out of the settling section.
They can remove fine vortex structures and
honeycombs can remove large vortex
structures. They also break large vortices into
smaller eddies that decay rapidly at short
distances.

Figure 13. Wind Tunnel Screen

Conclusion:
The role of turbulence in obtaining a
spatially uniform steady stream of air across
17
Aeronautical Laboratory 1 Manual