The operating regimes of an orifice-type helium-filled soap bubbles (HFSB) generator are investigated for several combinations of air, helium and soap flow rates to establish the properties of the production process and the resulting tracers. The geometrical properties of the bubbles, the production regimes and the production rates are studied with high-speed shadowgraphy. The results show that the bubble volume is directly proportional to the ratio of helium and air volume flow rates, and that the bubble production rate varies approximately linearly with the air flow rate. The bubble slip velocity is measured along the stagnation streamline ahead of a cylinder via particle image velocimetry (PIV), yielding the particle time response from which the neutral buoyancy condition for HFSB is inferred. The HFSB tracing capability approaches that of an ideal tracer (i.e., minimum slip and shortest response time) when the volume flow rate of helium is approximately one thousandfold the soap flow rate. This study provides guidelines for operating HFSB generation systems, intended for PIV experiments.

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The use of helium-filled soap bubbles (HFSB) as flow tracers for particle image velocimetry (PIV) and particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) to measure the properties of turbulent boundary layers is investigated in the velocity range from 30 to 50 m/s. The experiments correspond to momentum thickness-based Reynolds numbers of 3300 and 5100. A single bubble generator delivers nearly neutrally buoyant HFSB to seed the air flow developing over the flat plate. The HFSB motion analysis is performed by PTV using single-frame multi-exposure recordings. The measurements yield the local velocity and turbulence statistics. Planar two-component-PIV measurements with micron-sized droplets (DEHS) conducted under the same conditions provide reference data for the quantities of interest. In addition, the behavior of air-filled soap bubbles is studied where the effect of non-neutral buoyancy is more pronounced. The mean velocity profiles as well as the turbulent stresses obtained with HFSB are in good agreement with the flow statistics obtained with DEHS particles. The study illustrates that HFSB tracers can be used to determine the mean velocity and the turbulent fluctuations of turbulent boundary layers above a distance of approximately two bubble diameters from the wall. This work broadens the current range of application of HFSB from external aerodynamics of large-scale-PIV experiments towards wall-bounded turbulence.

To clarify tonal noise generation, an experimental study on airfoil tonal noise was undertaken using a conventional wind tunnel, which allows acoustic reflection on test section walls. A two-dimensional wing model with the NACA0015 cross-section was used at 5 degrees angle of attack. Most previous experiments conducted in anechoic environments commonly show that the tonal noise frequency is selected in an overall trend of U 1:5 (U is uniform velocity) locally consisting of a step-like structure, and Tollmien-Schlichting disturbances are rapidly amplified in the backflow region near the trailing edge of the pressure surface. The present experiments in an acoustically resonant environment show that the tonal noise emanates in accordance with the aforementioned features. However, the ladder-like structure has a different local slope from that observed in anechoic flow. These characteristics suggest that acoustic resonance does not play a fundamental role in tonal noise generation. Observation by hot-wire and smoke visualization techniques shows that unsteady disturbances rather than Tollmien-Schlichting waves are rapidly magnified by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in the backflow region. The frequency selection mechanism at tonal noise generation still remains unsolved.

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