This paper reports on the efficacy of the Görtler number in scaling the laminar-turbulent boundary-layer transition on rotating cones facing axial inflow. Depending on the half-cone angle and axial flow strength, the competing centrifugal and cross-flow instabilities dominate the transition. Traditionally, the flow is evaluated by using two parameters: the local meridional Reynolds number comparing the inertial versus viscous effects and the local rotational speed ratio accounting for the boundary-layer skew. We focus on the centrifugal effects, and evaluate the flow fields and reported transition points using Görtler number based on the azimuthal momentum thickness of the similarity solution and local cone radius. The results show that Görtler number alone dominates the late stages of transition (maximum amplification and turbulence onset phases) for a wide range of investigated and half-cone angle , although the early stage (critical phase) seems to be not determined by the Görtler number alone on the broader cones (and) where the primary cross-flow instability dominates the flow. Overall, this indicates that the centrifugal effects play an important role in the boundary-layer transition on rotating cones in axial inflow.

Boundary-layer instability on a rotating cone induces coherent spiral vortices that are linked to the onset of laminar–turbulent transition. This type of transition is relevant to several aerospace systems with rotating components, e.g., aeroengine nose cones. Because a variety of options exist for the nose-cone shapes, it is important to know how their shape affects the boundary-layer transition phenomena. This study investigates the effect of varying cone angle on the boundary-layer instability on rotating cones facing axial inflow. It is found that increasing cone angle has a stabilizing effect on the boundary layer over rotating cones in axial inflow. The parameter space of Reynolds number Re _l and local rotational speed ratio S is experimentally explored to find the spiral vortex growth on rotating cones of half angle ψ 22.5°, 45°, and 50°. The previously addressed cases of ψ 15° and 30° are also revisited. Increasing half-cone angle is found to have a stabilizing effect on the boundary layer on the rotating cones with ψ ≲ 45°; i.e., the spiral vortex growth is delayed to higher Re _l and S. This effect diminishes when the half-cone angle increases from ψ 45° to 50°. The spiral vortex angle ϵ decreases with increasing rotational speed ratio S for all the investigated cones, irrespective of the half-cone angle. However, the instability on the broader cones is found to induce shorter azimuthal wavelengths.

Centrifugal instability of the boundary layer is known to induce spiral vortices over a rotating slender cone that is facing an axial inflow. This paper shows how a deviation from the symmetry of such axial inflow affects the boundary layer instability over a rotating slender cone with half-angle. The spiral vortices are experimentally detected using their thermal footprint on the cone surface for both axial and non-axial inflow conditions. In axial inflow, the onset and growth of the spiral vortices are governed by the local rotational speed ratio and Reynolds number in agreement with the literature. During their growth, the spiral vortices significantly affect the mean velocity field as they entrain and bring high-momentum flow closer to the wall. It is found that the centrifugal instability induces these spiral vortices in non-axial inflow as well; however, the asymmetry of the non-axial inflow inhibits the initial growth of the spiral vortices, and they appear at higher local rotational speed ratio and Reynolds number, where the azimuthal variations in the instability characteristics (azimuthal number and vortex angle) are low.

In the pursuit of reducing the fuel burn, future aircraft configurations will feature several types of improved propulsion systems, e.g. embedded engines with boundary layer ingestion, high-bypass ratio engines with short intakes, etc. Depending on the design and phase of flight, the engine fan will encounter inflow distortion of varying strength, and fan performance will be adversely affected. Therefore, investigation of the flow phenomena causing performance losses in fan and distortion interaction is important. This experimental study shows the effect of varying distortion index on four aspects of fan performance: distortion topology, upstream redistribution, performance curve, and flow unsteadiness. A low speed fan is tested under 60^? circumferential distortion of varying strength, generated using distortion screens. The flow field in the upstream redistribution region is measured using PIV (planar and stereo). The fan performance is obtained using total pressure measurements. The noise spectra measured by a microphone are used to quantify the unsteadiness in the flow field. The distortion index (DC₆₀) varies linearly with the grid porosity at constant wall thickness and aspect ratio of the grid cells. However, the distortion topology is significantly different as a stream-wise vortex pair appears in distorted flow at higher DC₆₀. The vortices are stronger at higher DC₆₀, but their order of magnitude is much lower than the circulation corresponding to fan itself. The spinner, distortion index and topology significantly affect the upstream redistribution mechanism. The vortex pair redistributes the flow which results in lower asymmetry in the symmetry plane. With increasing distortion, the performance is reduced and the unsteadiness is increased.

Abstract: Infrared thermography is applied to measure the spiral vortices in the boundary layer over a rotating cone under axial inflow. The data sets are analysed using proper orthogonal decomposition (POD). A criterion based on the signal-to-noise ratio is defined for the selection of relevant POD modes, such that a low-order reconstruction with reduced measurement noise is obtained without affecting the thermal footprint of the spiral vortices. The resulting reconstruction still includes the large-scale modulations in the local vortex strength, relating to low-frequency phenomena like amplification, changing vortex states, disturbances in outer flow, etc. The effect of coherent vortical structures is further separated from such phenomena by selective reconstruction of the POD modes based on the number of observed vortices (n) along the circumference. The counter-rotating nature of these vortices is confirmed by PIV measurements. The number of spiral vortices shows good agreement with previously reported methods in the literature. The spiral vortex angle is in good agreement with the previous methods at low rotation ratio (S) , but deviates towards the direction of the local wall shear for high values of S. Graphic abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].