Browsing by Author "Silva, Paulo A. S. F."

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    A comprehensive CFD investigation of tip vortex trajectory in shrouded wind turbines using compressible RANS solver
    (Elsevier, 2024-03-12) Silva, Paulo A. S. F.; Tsoutsanis, Panagiotis; Vaz, Jerson R. P.; Macias, Marianela M.
    It is well known that a shroud placed around a wind turbine can increase its power coefficient, but it brings complex mechanisms by which the shroud alters the flow passing through the rotor. Such mechanisms impose numerical challenges, as the shrouded turbines present nonlinear behavior in the wake. This paper deals with a comprehensive analysis of tip vortex trajectory in shrouded wind turbines using Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes numerical solutions. The analysis includes aerodynamic performance and vortex characteristics of the whole wind turbine. The Multiple Reference Frame is used on a high-order unstructured compressible solver to study both, isolated and shrouded rotor. The NREL Phase VI Unsteady Aerodynamic Experiment rotor is used as a test case. The accuracy of results for wind speeds between 7 and 25 ms^-1 is discussed. Overall, good agreement is achieved between the computed pressure distributions and the experimental reference values. At stalled blade, more efforts are needed to improve numerical solutions, especially for integrated load quantities. The vortex structure is examined, showing that shroud impacts tip vortex trajectory by the increase of the axial induced velocity at the rotor plane. This result, demonstrates that the classical Prandtl tip loss is not accurate for shrouded turbine analysis, and modern finite blade functions are needed. The influence of the flow conditions on the tip vortex trajectory, flow separation and shroud interaction are also discussed.
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    Hovering rotor solutions by high-order methods on unstructured grids
    (Elsevier, 2019-12-19) Ricci, Francesco; Silva, Paulo A. S. F.; Tsoutsanis, Panagiotis; Antoniadis, Antonis F.
    This paper concerns the implementation and evaluation of high-order reconstruction schemes for predicting three well established hovering rotor flows i.e. Caradonna and Tung, PSP and UH-60A. Monotone Upstream Centred Scheme for Conservation Laws (MUSCL) and Weighted Essentially Non-Oscillatory (WENO) spatial discretisation schemes, up to fourth-order, are employed to approximate the compressible Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations in a rotating reference frame, on mixed-element unstructured grids. Various flow speed conditions are simulated including subsonic and transonic, with the latter stretching the discontinuities capturing abilities of the numerics. We consistently evaluate the accuracy, cost and robustness of the developed numerical framework by analysing the discretisation error with respect to the grid resolution. A thorough validation is conducted for all cases by comparing the obtained numerical solutions with experimental data points and relevant literature
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    Numerical investigation of full helicopter with and without the ground effect
    (Elsevier, 2022-02-15) Silva, Paulo A. S. F.; Tsoutsanis, Panagiotis; Antoniadis, Antonis F.
    In the present work, the aerodynamic performance of the full helicopter PSP in hover flight is investigated using a simplified concept of multiple reference frame (MRF) technique in the context of high-order Monotone Upstream Centred Scheme for Conservation Laws (MUSCL) cell-centred finite volume method. The predictions were obtained for two ground distances and several collective pitch angle at tip Mach number of 0.585. The calculations were made for both out-of-ground-effect (OGE) and in-ground-effect (IGE) cases and compared with experimental data in terms of pressure distribution and integrated thrust and torque and vortex system.
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    Simple multiple reference frame for high-order solution of hovering rotors with and without ground effect
    (Elsevier, 2021-01-26) Silva, Paulo A. S. F.; Tsoutsanis, Panagiotis; Antoniadis, Antonis F.
    In the present work, the aerodynamic performance of the Caradonna and Tung and S-76 in hover were investigated using a simplified concept of multiple reference frame (MRF) technique in the context of high-order Monotone Upstream Centred Scheme for Conservation Laws (MUSCL) cell-centred finite volume method. In the present methodology, the frame of reference is defined at the solver level by a simple user input avoiding the use of mesh interface to handle the intersections between frames of reference. The calculations were made for both out-of-ground-effect (OGE) and in-ground-effect (IGE) cases and compared with experimental data in terms of pressure distribution, tip-vortex trajectory, vorticity contours and integrated thrust and torque. The predictions were obtained for several ground distances and collective pitch angle at tip Mach number of 0.6 and 0.892
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    Study of orifice design on oleo-pneumatic shock absorber
    (MDPI, 2024-05-03) Silva, Paulo A. S. F.; Sheikh Al-Shabab, Ahmed A.; Tsoutsanis, Panagiotis; Skote, Martin
    Aircraft oil-strut shock absorbers rely on orifice designs to control fluid flow and optimize damping performance. However, the complex nature of cavitating flows poses significant challenges in predicting the influence of orifice geometry on energy dissipation and system reliability. This study presents a comprehensive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of the effects of circular, rectangular, semicircular, and cutback orifice profiles on the internal flow characteristics and damping behavior of oleo-pneumatic shock absorbers. High-fidelity simulations reveal that the rectangular orifice generates higher damping pressures and velocity magnitude than those generated by others designs, while the semicircular shape reduces cavitation inception and exhibits a more gradual pressure recovery. Furthermore, the study highlights the importance of considering both geometric and thermodynamic factors in the design and analysis of cavitating flow systems, as liquid properties and vapor pressure significantly impact bubble growth and collapse behavior. Increasing the orifice length had a negligible impact on damping but moderately raised orifice velocities. This research provides valuable insights for optimizing shock absorber performance across a range of operating conditions, ultimately enhancing vehicle safety and passenger comfort.
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    UCNS3D: An open-source high-order finite-volume unstructured CFD solver
    (Elsevier, 2022-06-21) Antoniadis, Antonis F.; Drikakis, Dimitris; Farmakis, Pericles S.; Fu, Lin; Kokkinakis, Ioannis; Nogueira, Xesús; Silva, Paulo A. S. F.; Skote, Martin; Titarev, Vladimir; Tsoutsanis, Panagiotis
    UCNS3D is an open-source computational solver for compressible flows on unstructured meshes. State-of-the-art high-order methods and their associated benefits can now be implemented for industrial-scale CFD problems due to the flexibility and highly-automated generation offered by unstructured meshes. We present the governing equations of the physical models employed in UCNS3D, and the numerical framework developed for their solution. The code has been designed so that extended to other systems of equations and numerical models is straightforward. The employed methods are validated towards a series of stringent well-established test problems against experimental or analytical solutions, where the full capabilities of UCNS3D in terms of applications spectrum, robustness, efficiency, and accuracy are demonstrated.
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    Unsteady multiphase simulation of oleo-pneumatic shock absorber flow
    (MDPI, 2024-03-07) Sheikh Al-Shabab, Ahmed A.; Grenko, Bojan; Silva, Paulo A. S. F.; Antoniadis, Antonis F.; Tsoutsanis, Panagiotis; Skote, Martin
    The internal flow in oleo-pneumatic shock absorbers is a complex multiphysics problem combining the interaction between highly unsteady turbulent flow and multiphase mixing, among other effects. The aim is to present a validated simulation methodology that facilitates shock absorber performance prediction by capturing the dominant internal flow physics. This is achieved by simulating a drop test of approximately 1 tonne with an initial contact vertical speed of 2.7 m/s, corresponding to a light jet. The flow field solver is ANSYS Fluent, using an unsteady two-dimensional axisymmetric multiphase setup with a time-varying inlet velocity boundary condition corresponding to the stroke rate of the shock absorber piston. The stroke rate is calculated using a two-equation dynamic system model of the shock absorber under the applied loading. The simulation is validated against experimental measurements of the total force on the shock absorber during the stroke, in addition to standard physical checks. The flow field analysis focuses on multiphase mixing and its influence on the turbulent free shear layer and recirculating flow. A mixing index approach is suggested to facilitate systematically quantifying the mixing process and identifying the distinct stages of the interaction. It is found that gas–oil interaction has a significant impact on the flow development in the shock absorber’s upper chamber, where strong mixing leads to a periodic stream of small gas bubbles being fed into the jet’s shear layer from larger bubbles in recirculation zones, most notably in the corner between the orifice plate and outer shock absorber wall.