Broad agency announcement
Large Cavitation Channel (LCC)
The Superpipe experiment demonstrated the success of high-pressure air as a working fluid to attain very high Reynolds numbers cost-effectively. In 1998, an ONR-DURIP grant (N00014-98-I-0325) was awarded to construct a wind tunnel based on the same principle. This wind tunnel is called the Princeton/ONR High Reynolds Number Testing Facility -- HRTF, and like the Superpipe it uses air at pressures up to 3,500psi as the working fluid. The primary purpose of the new facility is to study the hydrodynamic forces, moments and flow-fields produced by submarine shapes up to length Reynolds numbers of 175 x 106 (approximately 1/5th full-scale). There are two working sections: each is 8ft long with an internal diameter of 18in. See the most recent slide presentation given about the HRTF to the meeting of the APS Fluid Mechanics Division, New Orleans, November 1999.
The facility will be equipped with a Magnetic Suspension Balance (MSB) to allow measurements free of the interference produced by the support systems usually employed in these applications. Construction is now complete, and we are conducting preliminary tests on flow quality (without MSB, February, 2000). The MSB will be designed, constructed and tested under the supervision of Colin Britcher of ODU. We anticipate that the MSB is expected to be ready for full-scale testing in December 2000.
Click here for an overview of key dates in the HRTF construction and a progress update. Outlines of the experiments are shown here
An example of a magnetically suspended model is given below. A shuttle model is magnetically suspended in the transparent hexagonal test section of the MIT / NASA Langley 6 Inch MSBS. Massive power supplies are required to drive electromagnets for model position control. A unique electromagnetic position sensor, similar to a linear variable differential transformer, provides five degrees of freedom for the test model. The low speed (Mach 0.5) wind tunnel was hand crafted from mahogany. Aerodynamic forces on the test model are measured by the proportional electrical current used to hold the model in place. The system was built by MIT in the late sixties and was relocated to Langley in the mid eighties. In a joint effort with Old Dominion University in 1992 the MSBS was used to test the aerodynamics of store separation, simulating a bomb released from an aircraft. The system has been donated to Old Dominion University.
Schematic of the SuperTunnel Facility
Overall view of the facility, as installed at Princeton. The flow is clockwise. The Superpipe experiment can be seen partially revealed in the lower left-hand corner.
Our first model submarine is a 3' version of the U.S.S. Albacore experimental submarine (picture below). Fittingly, she was the first Navy-designed vessel with a true submarine hull form and acted as a test bed for numerous submarine developments as well as the model for many future submarines. For more information on the U.S.S. Albacore, visit the sites below.
U.S.S. Albacore links
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The Office of Naval Research Broad Agency Announcement 98-025 selected both the HRTF and the LCC for use in 'basic research in turbulence at high Reynolds numbersupporting Department of Navy interests in subsurface hydrodynamics'. Visit the LCC webpage.
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Smits, A.J. and Zagarola, M.V. "High Reynolds Number Turbulent Flows," International Symposium on Seawater Drag Reduction, July 22-July 24, 1998
Smits, A.J. "Needs for High Reynolds Number Facilities to Design the Next Generation of Sea and Air Vehicles", ONR-sponsored Workshop, June 18 - 19, 1997 at the Arlington Hilton.
Zagarola, M.V., Smits, A.J., "Scaling of the Mean Velocity Profile for Turbulent Pipe Flow." Physical Review Letters, Vol. 78, No. 1, pp.239-242, 1997.
Zagarola, M.V., A.E. Perry and Smits, A.J., "Log Laws or Power Laws: The Scaling in the Overlap Region." Physics of Fluids, Vol. 9 (7), pp. 2094-2100, 1997.
Zagarola, M.V. and Smits, A.J., "Mean Flow Scaling of Turbulent Pipe Flow." Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 373, pp. 33-79, 1998.
Smits, A.J. and Zagarola, M.V., "The Issue of Roughness in the Princeton Superpipe Experiment." Physics of Fluids, 1998.
Zagarola, M.V. and Smits, A.J., "A New Friction Factor Relationship for Turbulent Pipe Flow." In preparation for Physics of Fluids.
Zagarola, M.V. and Smits, A.J., "Modification of a Water Pump for a Compressed Air Application," Proceedings ASME Eastern Regional Rotating Machinery Conference, Somerset, NJ, November 9-12, 1993.
Zagarola, M.V. and Smits, A.J., "Experiments in High Reynolds Number Turbulent Pipe Flow." Proceedings Lattice Gas Conference, 1994.
Smits, A.J., "Mach and Reynolds Number Effects on Turbulent Boundary Layers." AIAA Paper #95-0578, 33rd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Reno, Nevada, January 9 - 12, 1995.
Zagarola, M.V. and Smits, A.J., "Experiments in High Reynolds Number Turbulent Pipe Flow." AIAA paper #96-0654, 34th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Reno, Nevada, January 15 - 18, 1996.
Zagarola, M.V. and Smits, A.J., "The Mean Velocity Profile in Turbulent Pipe Flow." International Workshop on Ultra-High Reynolds Number Flows, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, June 18 - 20, 1996.
Zagarola, M.V. and Smits, A.J., "Scaling of the Mean Velocity Profile for Turbulent Pipe Flow." AIAA Paper #97-0649, 35th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Reno, Nevada, January 6 - 9, 1997.
Smits, A.J. and Zagarola, M.V. "Design of a High Reynolds Number Testing Facility Using Compressed Air," AIAA paper #97-1917, 4th AIAA Shear Flow Conference, Snowmass, CO, June 29-July 2, 1997.
Zagarola, M.V. and Smits, A.J. "A New Mean Velocity Scaling for Turbulent Boundary Layers," ASME paper FEDSM98-4950, ASME Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting, Washington, DC, June 21-June 25, 1998.
Smits, A.J. and Zagarola, M.V. "High Reynolds Number Turbulent Flows," International Symposium on Seawater Drag Reduction, July 22-July 24, 1998.
Smits, A.J. and Marusic, I. "High Reynolds Number Flows Ð A Challenge for Experiment and Simulation," AIAA Paper #99-3530, 30th AIAA Fluid Dynamics Conference, Norfolk, VA, June 28-July 1, 1999.
McKeon, B., Allen, J. and Smits, A.J. "Experiments in the Princeton/ONR High Reynolds Number Test Facility (HRTF)," European Turbulence Conference, Barcelona, 2000.
Britcher, C.P., Gonzalez, O., Gray, S., Smits, A.J., Gomeiz, O., Barkely, J.E. and Jafri, A. "Design of a Magnetic Suspension and Balance System for the Princeton/ONR High Reynolds Number Test Facility," 5th International Symposium on Magnetic Suspension Technology, 2000.
Jiang, W., Li, J. and Smits, A.J., "Turbulence Measurements in Superpipe," Paper #AA4, 52nd Meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics, New Orleans, LA, November 21-23, 1999.
Li, J., McKeon, B., Jiang, W. and Smits, A.J., "Corrections to Pitot Probe Measurements in Turbulent Pipe Flow," Paper #GP4, 52nd Meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics, New Orleans, LA, November 21-23, 1999.
McKeon, B., Allen, J. and Smits, A.J., "Preliminary Measurements in the Princeton/ONR High Reynolds Number Test Facility," Paper #AA3, 52nd Meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics, New Orleans, LA, November 21-23, 1999.
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