Controlled Multi-Scale Turbulence through the Use of Laser Sintered Sierpinski Pyramids
Abstract
The research presented here is the result of a new collaboration between the Centre for
Advanced Additive Manufacturing (AdAM) and the Thermofluids group at The University of
Sheffield, regarding the use of fractal geometries for the control and influence of fluid flow. It is
believed that the use of multiscale objects can be used to introduce many different orders of
turbulence into a flow. However, whilst substantial simulations have been carried out in this area,
the complexity of the physical geometries means that to date these have not been validated via
physical testing.
In this work, varying orders of Sierpinski pyramids were produced using Laser Sintered
PA2200 and analysed in a wind tunnel with regards to their effects on air flow through the
structures. As predicted by theoretical analyses, the coarsest pyramids induced large vortices into
the air-stream, whereas the more complex orders induced vortices at a number of different scales,
rapidly developing into a standard turbulent flow. Further investigations are planned to isolate
the effects of the smaller-scale turbulence in this situation.