Abstract
A study of turbulence evolution and spectra within and just outside the core of a trailing vortex is performed. The vortex is generated by a vortex generator consisting of four blades positioned orthogonally to each other with the same angle of attack and placed in a low-speed wind tunnel. A grid is placed upstream of the vortex generator to produce free-stream turbulence, which wraps around and interacts with the columnar vortex. Instantaneous measurements of the three velocity components are obtained using a miniature four-sensor hot-wire probe. The study focuses on the distribution of turbulence energy and Reynolds stress among the different spectral components of the flow at different positions across the vortex core and different axial positions along the tunnel. The effect of background grid turbulence on the spectral energy distribution of the vortex is examined in comparison to the vortex alone.
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Acknowledgements
Research support for MLB was provided by the Iowa Presidential Fellowship Program, by the American Association of University Women sponsored Dissertation Fellowships and by IIHR – Hydroscience and Engineering. We are grateful to Mark Wilson and Douglas Houser for their help with the experimental set-up and instrumentation. We also thank the reviewers of the manuscript for their very helpful comments.
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Beninati, M.L., Marshall, J.S. An experimental study of the effect of free-stream turbulence on a trailing vortex. Exp Fluids 38, 244–257 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-004-0904-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-004-0904-1