Search Results (4)

In this paper, a new type of self-excited thermomechanical oscillator containing an oscillating shape memory alloy (SMA) filament with two symmetrically arranged spheres is investigated. The self-excitation of the oscillations is due to a heater of constant temperature, which causes periodic contractions of the filament when it approaches it. The contracted filament moves away from the heater a distance sufficient to cool it. Under the action of the weight of the spheres, the cooled filament re-approaches the heater, causing the above processes to repeat periodically. On the basis of experimental studies, approximating functions of the heater’s heat field distribution are derived. A dynamic model of the oscillator has been created, in which the minor and major hysteresis in the SMA alloy and the distribution of the heat field around the heater have been taken into account. Through numerical solutions of the differential equations, the laws of motion of the spheres are obtained. The displacements of the spheres in two perpendicular directions were measured using an experimental system. The obtained experimental results validate the proposed dynamic model and its assumptions with a high degree of confidence. Conclusions are drawn about the stochastic nature of the oscillations due to the hysteresis properties of the SMA and the temperature variation of the natural frequency of the oscillating system. Full article

When pressurized with a fluid, the sweeping jet actuator (SWJA) emits a self-induced and self-sustained temporally continuous, but spatially oscillating bi-stable jet at the outlet. The SWJA adds up local momentum using the Coanda extension without any moving parts and, therefore, can be a promising tool for suppressing aerodynamic flow separation. However, the SWJA needs to be integrated into curved aerodynamic surfaces with an angle. The present study focuses on investigating the effects of various exit nozzle geometries on the flow field. The geometric parameters considered were the exit nozzle angle, diffuser arm length, and curvature. The working fluid was air, and the mass flow rate was 0.015 lb/s. A set of time-dependent flow fields was computed using a two-dimensional unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) simulation. The time history of pressure was recorded inside the upper and lower feedback channels. The jet oscillation frequency was obtained by employing the fast Fourier transform (FFT) for all datasets. The results were compared against the baseline case and data available in the literature. The results showed that external geometric variations at the nozzle exit had a negligible impact on the oscillation frequency. However, there were notable effects on the pressure and velocity distribution in the flow field, indicating that the actuator had sensitivity towards the geometric variation of the exit nozzle—the wider the exit nozzle, the lower the downstream velocity. Notably, we observed that the mean velocity at the exit nozzle downstream for the curvature case was 40.3% higher than the reference SWJA. Full article

In this study, two-dimensional time-resolved particle image velocimetry (2D-TR-PIV) was used to investigate the effect of the external domain on oscillating jets from double-feedback fluidic oscillators. Two different cases with different Re numbers (2680–10,730), as free external domain and fully confined were studied. Time-averaged results showed although a self-oscillating jet was attained for the free external domain, it could not be achieved for a fully confined geometry. For a fully confined geometry at Re = 2680, two symmetric vortices did not allow the jet to oscillate and at Re = 6440, the flow pattern in the external region became non-symmetric due to the Coanda vortex, subsequently, the self-oscillating jet was not observed. At Re = 10,730, the strength of the jet was inclined to cope with such vortices and tended to oscillate. However, strong vortices were created near the exit region of the fluidic oscillator, which led to an almost non-symmetric pattern. In addition, the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) method and phase-averaged analysis were applied to obtain the unsteady behavior of flow and the most energetic dynamic structure. Interestingly, at Re = 6440, the third mode was still energetic for fully confined, but for other cases, the first two modes were the most energetic modes, which showed vigorous coherent structures. Full article

The self-resonating waterjet (SRWJ) has been applied in petroleum, natural gas, and mining engineering ever since its strong erosion ability in deep-hole drilling was recognized. Aiming at further improving the working efficiency of SRWJs, the effects of the exit angle of the organ-pipe nozzle on the axial pressure oscillations of the jet were experimentally studied. Six exit angles of θ = 0°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75°, and 90° were employed in the experiment, and the axial pressure oscillation peak (P_max) and amplitude (P_a) were used for characterizing the performance of SRWJs. It was found that the exit angle greatly affects the axial pressure oscillations, including the development trends against the standoff distance and the magnitudes of P_max and P_a. Under testing with two inlet pressures, the exit angle of θ = 0° always resulted in the greatest P_max and P_a within the range of the testing standoff distance. With the increase of standoff distance, both P_max and P_a first increased and then decreased when the exit angle was 0°; while they kept decreasing when the exit angle was 30°, 45°, 60°, 75°, and 90°. Moreover, the exit angles of θ = 90° and 60°, corresponding to inlet pressures of P_i = 10 MPa and 20 MPa, led to both the minimum magnitudes of P_max and P_a under the experimental conditions. The results also indicate that the exit angle affects the interactions between the nozzle lip and the jet and help provide information for improving the working efficiency of SRWJs in practical applications. Full article