Two-Component Phase-Averaged Turbulence Statistics Downstream of a Rotating Spoked-Wheel Wake Generator

Abstract

Measurements of the axial and tangential components of the unsteady turbulent flow downstream of a rotating spoked-wheel wake generator have been obtained. The results of this study have implications for the use of this type of wake generator to produce simulated turbine guide vane wakes. Instantaneous velocity information was phase averaged based on a signal synchronized with the bar-passing frequency. Mean velocity profiles and phase-averaged Reynolds stress results were found to be consistent with measurements obtained behind a stationary cylinder. Reynolds stresses were significantly higher than corresponding measurements obtained in large-scale research turbomachines, however. Phase-averaged triple velocity correlations, also calculated from the digital velocity records, reveal the sign and magnitude of skewness in the velocity probability density distributions for the two components. Large crossflow gradients observed in the triple correlations in the wake indicate the importance of the tangential-component fluctuations in the net turbulent transport of turbulent energy across the wake. Streamwise-component wake velocity spectra for low values of reduced bar-passing frequency include a peak associated with vortex shedding from the cylindrical wake-generating bars at a shedding Strouhal number of 0.2. For higher bar-passing frequencies, the energy associated with vortex shedding is shifted to lower frequencies and becomes broadband from the stationary reference frame viewpoint.