Effect of Freestream Turbulence on Wall-bounded Tip Vortex Breakdown and Decay Mechanisms

Wall-bounded tip vortices appear in a variety of aerodynamic applications, such as, aircraft engines, inlet S-ducts, turbomachinery tip leakage, and vortex generators used for flow separation control. Studies show that vortex flows with high swirl that are exposed to a sufficient adverse pressure gradient will trigger the onset of vortex instability. However, it is not known whether the addition of freestream turbulence or the presence of a wall will stabilize a vortex due to momentum entrainment or trigger early bursting via amplification of an instability pathway. In this study, a wall-bounded vortex is analyzed in a low-speed wind tunnel to evaluate the effects that adverse pressure gradient and freestream turbulence have on vortex stability boundaries. Experimental techniques such as high-speed stereoscopic particle image velocity is used to capture three-dimensional flow fields of the wall bounded vortex. In addition to the PIV measurements, point measurements are taken using Laser Doppler Velocimetry to obtain turbulent characterization of the freestream and boundary layer flow. The results in this study predict an increase in vortex stability with freestream turbulence. Near a wall, further increases in vortex stability is depicted due to increased diffusion and reduction in rotational momentum. Furthermore, turbulent kinetic energy in a vortex core is decreased in high freestream turbulence when the vortex is near a wall due to a reduction in roll up and entrainment of high turbulence that exists in turbulent boundary layers near the wall.