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Experiments on integral length scale control in atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel

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Abstract

Accurate predictions of turbulent characteristics in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) depends on understanding the effects of surface roughness on the spatial distribution of velocity, turbulence intensity, and turbulence length scales. Simulation of the ABL characteristics have been performed in a short test section length wind tunnel to determine the appropriate length scale factor for modeling, which ensures correct aeroelastic behavior of structural models for non-aerodynamic applications. The ABL characteristics have been simulated by using various configurations of passive devices such as vortex generators, air barriers, and slot in the test section floor which was extended into the contraction cone. Mean velocity and velocity fluctuations have been measured using a hot-wire anemometry system. Mean velocity, turbulence intensity, turbulence scale, and power spectral density of velocity fluctuations have been obtained from the experiments for various configuration of the passive devices. It is shown that the integral length scale factor can be controlled using various combinations of the passive devices.

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Abbreviations

κ :

von Kármán constant

w :

Slot width

d :

Displacement height

f :

Frequency

f s :

Vortex shedding frequency

S t :

Strouhal number

u ′ :

Fluctuating velocity in x-direction

U :

Absolute velocity in x-direction

\(\overline{U}\) :

Mean velocity in x-direction

\(\overline{U}_z\) :

Mean velocity in x-direction at height z

u  ∗  :

Shear velocity

\(\overline{U}_{\rm ref}\) :

Reference velocity

\(\overline{U}_{\delta}\) :

Freestream velocity

x :

Distance in the direction of the flow

y :

Spanwise distance from test section centerplane

z :

Vertical distance from wind tunnel floor

z ref :

Reference height

z 0 :

Aerodynamic surface roughness length

Lu x :

Longitudinal integral length scale of turbulence

Ru x :

Longitudinal auto-correlation coefficient

S :

Length scale factor

P uu (f):

Power spectrum of longitudinal velocity fluctuations

α :

Power law exponent

δ :

Boundary layer thickness

σ u :

Standard deviation of u

ν :

Air viscosity

A F :

Frontal area of all passive devices

A T :

Total surface area

λ F :

Frontal area density

m :

Model

p :

Prototype

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful for the financial support provided by the Aerospace Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. We express our thanks to the technical staff of the department for manufacturing simulation hardware used in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Taitem Engineering, PC, 110 S Albany St, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Kapil Varshney

  2. Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, 208016, India

    Kamal Poddar

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  1. Kapil Varshney
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  2. Kamal Poddar
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Correspondence to Kapil Varshney.

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Varshney, K., Poddar, K. Experiments on integral length scale control in atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel. Theor Appl Climatol 106, 127–137 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-011-0415-y

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