In order to improve the aerodynamic performance and stability of the floating platform of an isolated vertical axis wind turbine, a novel structure design concept of the wind turbine with a coaxial counter-rotating vertical axis was proposed. Based on the computational fluid dynamics theory, a numerical simulation was conducted with the application of the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) shear stress transfer (SST) k-ω turbulence model, and combined with the eddy current theory, the aerodynamic performance and stability with different tip speed ratios (TSR) were further compared. The results show that in the same flow field, the floating platform of the counter-rotating wind turbine is more stable. When TSR<1.3, the long-time stall makes the de-vortex of the counter-rotating wind turbine more serious, and the wind energy utilization efficiency is lower. When TSR>1.3, the wind energy in outflow field is more absorbed by the rotor of the counter-rotating wind turbine. In addition, the length of remote vortex is shorter and the intensity is lower. Therefore, the wind energy utilization efficiency is higher. Coaxial counter-rotating has a certain reference value for the performance optimization of the vertical axis wind turbine.
It is a challenging problem to efficiently calculate and systematically analyze the motion laws and working gait of the inchworm-like soft robot. A simple mechanical model consisting of a rigid slider and a curved beam is established under quasi-static conditions, in order to realize quasi-static modeling and simulation analysis of the inchworm-like soft robot. First, based on the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory, the total potential energy expression of the beam is obtained. Next, combining the boundary conditions and the governing equation derived from the total potential energy based on the variational principle, a set of ordinary differential equations are established. Then, through discretization and dimensionlessness of those equations, a class of nonlinear algebraic equations for numerical solution is proposed. Finally, in the light of the contact situation between curved beam and ground as well as the viscous and slip condition of the system, the motion of the robot is divided into three stages. Through numerical calculations, the different configurations of the curved beam in different stages with the change of the initial curvature amplitude are obtained, which makes it possible to describe the law, the gait, and the net displacement of the soft robot in a motion cycle and solve the problem of movement connection of soft robots at different stages. The quasi-static method is characterized by high computational efficiency, which is more suitable for analyzing the motion configuration of soft robots.
To predict the resonance frequency of the real liquefied natural gas (LNG) tank, a Cartesian grid based three-dimensional (3D) multiphase flow model is used to simulate violent sloshing in a prismatic tank at different filling levels and excitation frequencies. In this model, a semi-implicit finite difference method is adopted to solve the incompressible two-phase flow Navier-Stokes (N-S) equations on a staggered Cartesian grid. Besides, a radial basis function ghost cell method (RBFGCM) is used to treat the irregular tank walls and a 3D gradient-augmented level set (GALS) method is used to capture highly nonlinear free surfaces. Based on the present model, the violent sloshing induced by rolling excitations in the 3D prismatic tank is simulated. Satisfactory convergences of grid sizes and time steps demonstrate the high accuracy and reliability of the present method. Moreover, the present results of the impulsive pressure and wave elevation agree well with the experimental data for different filling water depths. In addition, violent sloshing phenomena are captured such as wave rolling. Furthermore, the relationship between the pressure amplitude on the tank wall and the excitation frequency at four filling levels are investigated to identify the resonance frequency of the prismatic tank, to provide theorical guides for structrual design of the tanks.
Tian Xinliang’s group proposed a novel flow control method called "Flexible coating reduces drag" (FCRD) with a flexible enclosure constructed behind the bluff body to adjust the fluid forces received and the flow pattern around it. Compared with the traditional flow control methods, FCRD does not change the structure of the control object and thus has a positive engineering application prospect. Besides, FCRD brings out a new "fluid-structure-fluid" interaction problem, which needs further investigation.
Domestic and foreign relevant literatures of granular column collapse movement models are concluded to analyze the effects of initial spatial characteristics, essential physical properties of particles, boundaries, and environment conditions of model on the movement and accumulation characteristics of granular columns. Besides, the related mechanisms of movement and accumulation characteristics of granular columns are also analyzed. Remarkable linear and power relationships exist between the movement distance and the aspect ratios of initial height to initial width. Similarly, remarkable linear and power relationships exist between accumulation height and aspect ratio of initial height to initial width. The movement patterns and energy consumption mechanisms for granular columns with large aspect ratios are significantly different from those with small aspect ratios. A consensus has basically been reached concerning the effect of particle size, particle stiffness, particle breakage, and wet particles on the movement and accumulation characteristics of granular columns. Some preliminary research achievements of the effects of different wall constraints, fluidization phenomenon due to the gas mixing and water condition on the movement and accumulation characteristics of granular column are obtained. However, there still exist disagreements in the conclusions about the influences of initial porosity of granular column, particle friction, and wall friction on the movement and accumulation characteristics of granular column. A review of the current research indicate that the research in the future will be focused on the relationship between forces acted on particles and movement regimes. The mechanisms of the effect of complex particle shape, surface, particle density, and water movement conditions on the movement and accumulation characteristics of granular column collapse will also be focused on in the future.
To study the variation characteristic of supercavity shape and gas-leaking mode in the initial generation and development process of a ventilated supercavity, a 3-D numerical model considering the compressibility of the ventilated gas and gravity effect was adopted to simulate the supercavitation flow by using the inhomogeneous multiphase flow model and the SST turbulence model, which is verified and validated by the experimental results. The process of initial generation and development of the ventilated supercavity were investigated over a wide range of air entrainment coefficients and Froude numbers. The results show that the development of the re-entrant jet supercavity is very unstable. The initial generation of the supercavity is accompanied by the cavity collapse and cavity shedding, the phenomenon of air-water mixture reversely flowing occurs in the devolopment of the supercavity, and the supercavity shape is difficult to be estimated. The twin vortex supercavity is initially developed by the re-entrant jet closure mode. Then, the supercavity closure mode transfers to the twin vortex after the supercavity is fully developed, and the supercavity shape and the internal pressure are relatively stable. When approaching the criteria for the formation of the twin vortex and re-entrant jet closure, the supercavity mode changes between the twin vortex and the re-entrant jet, resulting in a more complex variation of supercavitation flow and supercavity shape.
Removing the trapped water lump from the pipelines by using the hydraulic pigging (HP) method can effectively reduce the attenuation of oil quality. It is of great practical significance to study the critical oil velocity required to completely remove the water lump trapped in hilly oil pipelines. First, the flow patterns of water expelled by oil stream in an upward inclined pipeline are analyzed when the oil velocity in pipelines reachs the critical value required to completely remove the water. It is found that the flow process of the water removed by oil stream belongs to oil-water two phase stratified wavy flow. Next, the numerical model governing the flow of water expelled by oil is established in the bipolar coordinate system based on the flow pattern aforementioned, and the numerical solution method is also proposed. Finally, the numerical model is validated through the comparison of the results calculated by the model with the data from the literature. The flow of water lump expelled by diesel in an upward inclined pipeline is numerically studied, and the characteristics of the oil flow and water lump mobilization during the HP process are analyzed in detail. The results show that the water lump is mainly influenced by gravity pressure drop. The friction pressure drop could be neglected compared to the gravity pressure drop. When the oil velocity in the pipe is small, the water phase near the interface is carried downstream by the oil stream, while that near the pipe wall flows back to the bottom of the pipeline due to gravity. The postion of the minimum velocity in the water phase will shift to the pipe wall with the oil velocity increasing. When the minimum water velocity appears at the pipe wall for the first time, the oil velocity in pipelines can be regarded as the critical oil velocity required to completely remove the water lump in the pipelines.
To reduce the vibration damage to the riser, hydrodynamic parameters of a smooth riser and a riser with triple symmetrically distributed helical strakes are evaluated in an experiment. The wave and current in natural environment are conceptualized to the experimental condition of the oscillatory flow and the uniform flow. Experiment cases are divided into the static flow and the uniform flow, while the risers oscillate along the in-line, the transverse, and the diagonal direction. The added mass coefficient Cm and the drag coefficient Cd are calculated from experimental data by using the Morison equation. The results of the riser with strakes indicate that Cm is independent of the Keulegan-Carpenter (KC) number and the oscillating direction. Cd is found to be in inverse proportion to the ratio of 1/3 power of the KC number and the maximum flow speed to oscillatory velocity. This finding is consistent with the format of Morison parameters of a flat plate in oscillatory flow, which endows the classical theory with novel validation and implication in the design of a riser. Under the same condition, the Cd of the helical strake riser is promoted over 273% than the bare riser, which indicates that the helical strakes efficiently reduce the influence of oscillation under complex conditions. The results provide a new solution for vibration reduction of offshore structures, which is of high value in ocean engineering.
The propagation equation of variable-coefficient internal solitary waves was used to describe the propagation and evolution of weakly nonlinear internal solitary waves (ISWs)on slopes with different slopes. The results show that weakly nonlinear ISWs suffer from fission during the climbing process and split into the prominent wave and the trailing wave train. The ISWs are mainly influenced by the shoaling effect and the energy dissipation caused by terrain induction. For the ISWs with weak nonlinearity, the shoaling effect caused by topography is dominant, and causes the increase in wave amplitude and the decrease in wave speed. The wave amplitude and the wave speed, meanwhile, tend to be stable. Under the same terrain condition, as the initial wave amplitude increases, the increase in wave amplitude decreases, and the decrease in wave speed increases. As the slope increases, the energy dissipation effect of the nonlinear internal solitary wave in the propagation process is gradually greater than the shoaling effect, which makes the wave amplitude of the internal solitary wave increase first and then decrease in the propagation process. The ISWs change from concave to convex as the wave passes over the turning point (where the depth of the upper layer is the same as that of the lower layer).
The flow around a cylinder is a common research object of fluid mechanics. As the Reynolds number (Re) increases, the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability of the shear layer will occur in the wake behind the cylinder. Using the large eddy simulation method to investigate the problem numerically in a medium range of Re (Re=2000, 3900, 5000), the refined flow field behind the cylinder can be obtained, and an in-depth study of the instability of the shear layer can be conducted. To get the characteristic frequency of the shear layer instability, two methods, i.e., the traditional analysis of monitoring points and the dynamic mode decomposition method on the local flow field, are used. The results show that the frequencies obtained by the two methods are basically the same. However, compared with the traditional method, the dynamic mode decomposition method can overcome the random error caused by the artificial selection of monitoring points, and can give the characteristic frequency of shear layer instability more conveniently. In addition, it can further analyze the influence of different Re values on the instability characteristics of the shear layer based on different flow field modes.
The boundary layer transition process induced by different heights and quantities of the cylindrical roughness elements at Mach 3.0 is investigated experimentally by using the nano-tracer-based planar laser scattering (NPLS) technique. Fine structures of the boundary layers of both streamwise and spanwise induced by the cylindrical roughness elements in the supersonic flow are obtained, and the development of the boundary layer in the roughness element wakes is observed. The boundary layer after reattachment will keep the laminar state within a certain distance, meanwhile hairpin vortexes can be observed clearly during the development of the boundary layer. The fractal theory is used to quantitatively analyze the NPLS images of the boundary layer. This method can achieve the positions of the boundary layer transition in several cases. The research results show that the interaction between multiple roughness elements can inhibit the boundary layer transition and the evolution of hairpin vortexes. However, when the roughness elements on both sides are higher than those in the middle, the interaction between roughness elements has no obvious inhibitory effects on the development of the boundary layer.
A one-layer particle level set method in which Lagrangian particles are employed to track the interface features is proposed and utilized to capture the interface. First, the interface is captured by utilizing the level set method. Then, the interface is corrected based on the position information of Lagrangian particles and the smooth and accurate interface is obtained. The defect of poor volume conservation properties of the level set method is overcome, which greatly improves the accuracy of the moving interface. After that, a simple and effective particle reallocation strategy is presented, including the addition and deletion of particles, so that the method can accurately handle complex topological changes such as the interface merging and separation. Finally, the method proposed is verified by several benchmark examples, which can be used to accurately describe the moving interface.
The band structure properties of phononic crystal is important to evaluate the vibration and noise reduction of acoustic metamaterials. Taking the 2D hexachiral phononic crystal as an example, the band structure and Dirac cone properties were investigated by numerical analysis, and the four-fold accidental degenerate Dirac point was obtained in the center of Brillouin zone. By adjusting the design parameters of ligament structure, a double Dirac cone was broken and a novel directional band gap was formed. The influence of geometric parameters on the directional band gaps width was investigated, and the band structure inversion problem was further discussed. This research can provide support for the application of hexachiral phononic crystal in elastic wave manipulation and acoustic topological insulator.
