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A computational model to study the stability characteristics of an evolving buoyant helium gas jet in ambient air environment is presented. Numerical formulation incorporates a segregated approach to solve for the transport equations of helium mass fraction coupled with the conservation equations of mixture mass and momentum using a staggered grid method. The operating parameters correspond to the Reynolds number varying from 30 to 300 to demarcate the flow dynamics in oscillating and non-oscillating regimes. Computed velocity and concentration fields were used to analyze the flow structure in the evolving jet. For Re=300 case, results showed that an instability mode that sets in during the evolution process in Earth gravity is absent in zero gravity, signifying the importance of buoyancy. Though buoyancy initiates the instability, below a certain jet exit velocity, diffusion dominates the entrainment process to make the jet non-oscillatory as observed for the Re=30 case. Initiation of the instability was found to be dependent on the interaction of buoyancy and momentum forces along the jet shear layer.

The transition from laminar to turbulent flow in helium jets discharged into air was studied using Rainbow Schlieren Deflectometry technique. In particular, the effects of buoyancy on jet oscillations and flow transition length were considered. Experiments to simulate microgravity were conducted in the 2.2s drop tower at NASA Glenn Research Center. The jet Reynolds numbers varied from 800 to1200 and the jet Richardson numbers ranged between 0.01 and 0.004. Schlieren images revealed substantial variations in the flow structure during the drop. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analysis of the data obtained in Earth gravity experiments revealed the existence of a discrete oscillating frequency in the transition region, which matched the frequency in the upstream laminar regime. In microgravity, the transition occurred farther downstream indicating laminarization of the jet in the absence of buoyancy. The amplitude of jet oscillations was reduced by up to an order of magnitude in microgravity. Results suggest that jet oscillations were buoyancy induced and that the brief microgravity period may not be sufficient for the oscillations to completely subside.

Effects of buoyancy on transition from laminar to turbulent flow are presented for momentum-dominated helium jet injected into ambient air. The buoyancy was varied in a 2.2-sec drop tower facility without affecting the remaining operating parameters. The jet flow in Earth gravity and microgravity was visualized using the rainbow schlieren deflectometry apparatus. Results show significant changes in the flow structure and transition behavior in the absence of buoyancy.

Rainbow schlieren deflectometry combined with high-speed digital imaging was used to study buoyancy effects on flow structure of a helium jet discharged vertically into air. The experimental data were taken using the 2.2-sec drop tower facility at the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The test conditions pertained to jet Reynolds number of 490 and jet Richardson number of 0.11, for which buoyancy is often considered unimportant. Experimental results show global oscillations at a frequency of 27 Hz in Earth gravity. In microgravity, the jet oscillations vanished and the jet width increased. Results provide a direct physical evidence of the importance of buoyancy on the flow structure of low-density gas jets at a Richardson number considered too small to account for gravity.

Experiments were conducted in Earth gravity and microgravity to acquire quantitative data on near field flow structure of helium jets injected into air. Microgravity conditions were simulated in the 2.2-second drop tower at NASA Glenn Research Center. The jet flow was observed by quantitative rainbow schlieren deflectometry, a non-intrusive line of sight measurement technique suited for the microgravity environment. The flow structure was characterized by distributions of helium mole fraction obtained from color schlieren images taken at 60 Hz. Results show that the jet in microgravity was up to 70 percent wider than that in Earth gravity. Experiments reveal that the global flow oscillations observed in Earth gravity are absent in microgravity. The report provides quantitative details of flow evolution as the experiment undergoes change in gravity in the drop tower.

Experiments were conducted in earth gravity and micro gravity to acquire quantitative data on near field flow structure of helium jets injected into air. Microgravity conditions were simulated in the 2.2 s drop tower at NASA John H. Glenn Research Center. The jet flow was observed by quantitative rainbow schlieren deflectometry, a non-intrusive line of sight measurement technique suited for the microgravity environment. The flow structure was characterized by distribution of helium mole fraction obtained from color schlieren images taken at 60 Hz. Results show that the jet in microgravity was up to 70% wider than that in Earth gravity. Experiments reveal that the global flow oscillations observed in Earth are absent in microgravity. Quantitative deatails are provided of the evolution as the experiment undergoes changes in gravity in the drop tower.

This study deals with the computational analysis of buoyancy-induced instability in the nearfield of an isothermal helium jet injected into quiescent ambient air environment. Laminar, axisymmetric, unsteady flow conditions were considered for the analysis. The transport equations of helium mass fraction coupled with the conservation equations of mixture mass and momentum were solved using a staggered grid finite volume method. The jet Richardson numbers of 1.5 and 0.018 were considered to encompass both buoyant and inertial jet flow regimes. Buoyancy effects were isolated by initiating computations in Earth gravity and subsequently, reducing gravity to simulate the microgravity conditions. Computed results concur with experimental observations that the periodic flow oscillations observed in Earth gravity subside in microgravity.

Experiments have shown that a low-density jet injected into a high-density surrounding medium undergoes periodic oscillations in the near field. Although the flow oscillations in these jets at Richardson numbers about unity are attributed to the buoyancy, the direct physical evidence has not been acquired in the experiments. If the instability were indeed caused by buoyancy, the near-field flow structure would undergo drastic changes upon removal of gravity in the microgravity environment. The present study was conducted to investigate this effect by simulating microgravity environment in the 2.2-second drop tower at the NASA Glenn Research Center. The non-intrusive, rainbow schlieren deflectometry technique was used for quantitative measurements of helium concentrations in buoyant and non-buoyant jets. Results in a steady jet show that the radial growth of the jet shear layer in Earth gravity is hindered by the buoyant acceleration. The jet in microgravity was 30 to 70 percent wider than that in Earth gravity. The microgravity jet showed typical growth of a constant density jet shear layer. In case of a self-excited helium jet in Earth gravity, the flow oscillations continued as the jet flow adjusted to microgravity conditions in the drop tower. The flow oscillations were however not present at the end of the drop when steady microgravity conditions were reached.

Experiments were conducted in Earth gravity and microgravity to acquire quantitative data on near field flow structure of helium jets injected into air. Microgravity conditions were simulated in the 2.2-second drop tower at NASA Glenn Research Center. The jet flow was observed by quantitative rainbow schlieren deflectometry, a non-intrusive line of site measurement technique for the whole field. The flow structure was characterized by distributions of angular deflection and helium mole percentage obtained from color schlieren images taken at 60 Hz. Results show that the jet flow was significantly influenced by the gravity. The jet in microgravity was up to 70 percent wider than that in Earth gravity. The jet flow oscillations observed in Earth gravity were absent in microgravity, providing direct experimental evidence that the flow instability in the low density jet was buoyancy induced. The paper provides quantitative details of temporal flow evolution as the experiment undergoes a change in gravity in the drop tower.

Experiments were performed in earth-gravity to determine how buoyancy affected transition from laminar to turbulent flow in hydrogen gas jet diffusion flames. The jet exit Froude number characterizing buoyancy in the flame was varied from 1.65 x 10(exp 5) to 1.14 x 10(exp 8) by varying the operating pressure and/or burner inside diameter. Laminar fuel jet was discharged vertically into ambient air flowing through a combustion chamber. Flame characteristics were observed using rainbow schlieren deflectometry, a line-of-site optical diagnostic technique. Results show that the breakpoint length for a given jet exit Reynolds number increased with increasing Froude number. Data suggest that buoyant transitional flames might become laminar in the absence of gravity. The schlieren technique was shown as effective in quantifying the flame characteristics.

Drop tower experiments were performed to identify buoyancy effects in transitional hydrogen gas jet diffusion flames. Quantitative rainbow schlieren deflectometry was utilized to optically visualize the flame and to measure oxygen concentration in the laminar portion of the flame. Test conditions consisted of atmospheric pressure flames burning in quiescent air. Fuel from a 0.3mm inside diameter tube injector was issued at jet exit Reynolds numbers (Re) of 1300 to 1700. Helium mole percentage in the fuel was varied from 0 to 40%. Significant effects of buoyancy were observed in near field of the flame even-though the fuel jets were momentum-dominated. Results show an increase of breakpoint length in microgravity. Data suggest that transitional flames in earth-gravity at Re<1300 might become laminar in microgravity.

We present an Abel-inversion algorithm to reconstruct mean and rms refractive-index profiles from spatially resolved statistical measurements of the beam-deflection angle in time-dependent, axisymmetric flows. An oscillating gas-jet diffusion flame was investigated as a test case for applying the algorithm. Experimental data were obtained across the whole field by a rainbow schlieren apparatus. Results show that simultaneous multipoint measurements are necessary to reconstruct the rms refractive index accurately.

Diffusion flames are extensively encountered in many domestic and industrial processes. Even after many decades of research, a complete understanding of the diffusion flame structure is not available. The structure and properties of the flames are governed by the mixing (laminar or turbulent), chemical kinetics, radiation and soot processes. Another important phenomenon that affects flame structure in normal gravity is buoyancy. The presence of buoyancy has long hindered the rational understanding of many combustion processes. In gas jet diffusion flames, buoyancy affects the structure of the shear layer, the development of fluid instabilities, and formation of the coherent structures in the near nozzle region of the gas jets. The buoyancy driven instabilities generate vorticial structures outside the flame resulting in flame flicker. The vortices also strongly interact with the small-scale structures in the jet shear layer. This affects the transitional and turbulence characteristics of the flame. For a fundamental understanding of diffusion flames it is essential to isolate the effects of buoyancy. This is the primary goal of the experiments conducted in microgravity. Previous investigations, have shown dramatic differences between the jet flames in microgravity and normal gravity. It has been observed that flames in microgravity are taller and more sooty than in normal gravity. The fuels used in these experiments were primarily hydrocarbons. In the absence of buoyancy the soot resides near the flame region, which adversely affects the entrainment of reactants. It is very important to eliminate the interference of soot on flame characteristics in microgravity. The present work, therefore, focuses on the changes in the flame structure due to buoyancy without the added complexities of heterogeneous reactions. Clean burning hydrogen is used as the fuel to avoid soot formation and minimize radiative losses. Because of the low luminosity of hydrogen flames, we use rainbow schlieren deflectometry for visualization. The visualized images are digitized for quantification.The work reported here is divided into three sections; rainbow schlieren deflectometry (RSD), microgravity experiments and sub-atmospheric pressure experiments. The first section demonstrates the application of RSD for quantitative measurements in non-reacting and reacting flow systems. A computational effort to complement the experimental work is also included. In the second section, the experiments conducted at the 2.2s NASA Lewis Drop tower facility are described. The experiments were conducted to study the behavior of laminar, transitional and turbulent hydrogen flames in microgravity. The ability of RSD technique to provide quantitative data is highlighted. The final section deals with the sub-atmospheric pressure tests, which demonstrate that buoyancy in hydrogen diffusion flames can be scaled with pressure at normal gravity.

The primary objective is to understand how buoyancy affects the structure of the shear layer, the development of fluid dynamic instabilities, and formation of the coherent structures in the near-nozzle regions of gas jets. The secondary objectives are to study the role of buoyancy in lifting and reattachment process of diffusion flames, to evaluate the scaling behavior of diffusion flames, and to aid development and/or validation of theoretical models by providing quantitative data in the absence of buoyancy. Fast reacting hydrogen or hydrogen-inert fuels are used to isolate the effects of buoyancy on fluid dynamics without masking the flame behavior by soot and radiative heat transfer. This choice of fuel also permits an evaluation of simulating low gravity in low pressure ground experiments because the similarity constraints are relaxed for the fast reacting, nonsooting diffusion flames. The diagnostics consists primarily of a color schlieren system coupled with computer generated rainbow filters, video recording, and image analysis. The project involves (1) drop tower experiments, (2) ground experiments, and (3) theoretical analysis.

This paper describes the 3D computations of a flow field in the compressor/combustor diffusers of an industrial gas turbine. The geometry considered includes components such as the combustor support strut, the transition piece and the impingement sleeve with discrete cooling air holes on its surface. Because the geometry was complex and 3D, the airflow path was divided into two computational domains sharing an interface region. The body-fitted grid was generated independently in each of the two domains. The governing equations for incompressible Navier-Stokes equations were solved using the finite volume approach. The results show that the flow in the prediffuser is strongly coupled with the flow in the dump diffuser and vice versa. The computations also revealed that the flow in the dump diffuser is highly nonuniform.