Seal vibrissa-based three-fourths open-jet wind tunnel nozzle optimization

This study investigated the effects of using bionics in reducing the low-frequency fluctuation phenomenon in three-fourths open-jet automobile wind tunnels. Low-frequency fluctuation in these wind tunnels can cause pulsations of velocity and pressure in the test section, leading to measurement accuracy reduction. The unique shape of the seal vibrissa had been demonstrated to effectively suppress vortex-induced vibrations. Here the wind tunnel nozzle was optimized with seal-vibrissa-shaped protrusions. The effects and corresponding mechanism of seal-vibrissa-shaped nozzle toward jet shear layer vortex structures and low-frequency fluctuation phenomenon were analyzed. A 1:15 scaled three-fourths open-jet wind tunnel was used in the study. The results indicated that after the implementation of the seal-vibrissa-shaped nozzle, the turbulence intensity was decreased at the bottom of the test section and the pressure and velocity fluctuations were effectively suppressed. The three-dimensional vortex structures separating from the surface of vibrissa destroyed the original two-dimensional vortex structures produced by the original nozzle. Many small vortex structures with dispersed frequencies and energies were formed, which decreased the low-frequency fluctuations. The study showed that the seal-vibrissa-shaped nozzle had the potential of inhibiting the large-scale vortex separation in the jet shear layer, which could effectively reduce the low-frequency fluctuations.