Effect of a small axisymmetric contraction on grid turbulence | NOVA. The University of Newcastle's Digital Repository (original) (raw)

Measurements downstream of a grid followed by a contraction with an area ratio of 1.36 have been made with a one-component vorticity probe. The velocity data indicate that there is indeed an improvement in isotropy of the large scales when such a contraction is used. In particular, the spectrum of u loses a significant amount of low frequency energy and its peak is shifted towards that of v. Although the v spectrum is less affected than the u spectrum, the relative magnitudes of the u and v spectra satisfy isotropy more closely with than without the contraction. In particular, isotropy is most closely approximated when the contraction is used in combination with a grid designed to minimise vortex shedding. The lateral vorticity spectrum is essentially unaffected, irrespective of the grid that is used or the magnitude of the wavenumber.