Published 4 issues per year
ISSN Print: 1065-3090
ISSN Online: 1940-4336
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VISUALIZATION OF FLOW THROUGH A CASCADE OF ELLIPTICAL CYLINDERS
ABSTRACT
A coherent tracer method of flow visualization has been used to investigate the complex flow patterns produced by a bank of elliptical cylinders. These visualizations are used to help explain earlier heat transfer measurements on a similar cascade of elliptical cylinders. The cylinder geometry comprised a row of four elliptical elements having major axes aligned at 0, 30, 60, and 90° to the main flow, with varied spacing between the cylinders. The elements themselves were 2.63 to 1 elliptical shapes, with 0.073 m major axes.
The cascade flow was visualized in a small glass-sided water channel at the University of Bristol, using tracer streams composed of a mixture of shear-thickening and high extensional-viscosity components (Hoyt & Sellin [1]). This tracer resists breakup and dispersion in highly turbulent flows, such as those encountered in cascades. The Reynolds number of the individual elements of the cascade (based on the major axis) ranged from 15,200 to 16,500.