PIV Measurement and Proper Orthogonal Decomposition Analysis of Annular Gap Flow of a Hydraulic Machine

Abstract

The fluid stress or flow-induced vibration of annular gap flow always has some influence on the stable working conditions of a hydraulic machine. A time-averaged analysis of flow may not have to explicitly acknowledge these factors. Accordingly, a finite-axial-length annular gap was measured via particle image velocimetry (PIV), with inner boundary motion and a stable outer boundary. As a statistic result regarding the fluid stress, the Reynolds stresses soared in the first region, were sustained in the middle region, but decreased at last. The flow had a higher convective transportation intensity in the radial direction than in other directions. Flow diagnostics were also performed by proper orthogonal decomposition (POD). As a result, the coherent structures were found. Then, the power spectrum density (PSD) functions were also calculated for finding the flow-induced vibration characteristics; the functions had high amplitude in the low-frequency domain and low amplitude in the high-frequency domain, with an order of magnitude between the two amplitudes of 10−1 to 10−2. In addition, the frequency was higher at a smaller gap width in the middle-frequency domain, but the condition was the opposite in the high-frequency domain. In conclusion, the fluid stresses were changeable and uneven along the flow direction, and flow-induced vibration obviously existed. Remarkably, the turbulence characteristics of the annular gap flow were not “laminar approximating,” while the diameter ratio of the gap was 0.6 to 0.8.