A study of the three-dimensional spectral energy distribution in a zero pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer

Time-resolved particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements performed in wall parallel planes at three wall normal locations, y ⁺ = 34, 108, and 278, in a zero pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer at Re _τ = 470 are used to illuminate the distribution of streamwise velocity fluctuations in a three-dimensional energy spectrum (2D in space and 1D in time) over streamwise, spanwise, and temporal wavelengths. Two high-speed cameras placed side by side in the streamwise direction give a 10δ × 5δ streamwise by spanwise field of view with a vector spacing of _boxclose = z^+ 37\Updelta x^+ = \Updelta z^+ \approx 37 and a time step of \Updelta t⁺=0.5\Updelta t^+=0.5. Although 3D wavenumber--frequency spectra have been calculated in acoustics studies, to the authors’ knowledge this is the first time they has been calculated and presented for a turbulent boundary layer. The calculation and normalization of this spectrum, its relation to 2D and 1D spectra, and the effects of the PIV algorithm on its shape are carefully analyzed and outlined.     

Transitionally rough zero pressure gradient turbulent boundary layers

Near-wall measurements are performed to study the effects of surface roughness and viscous shear stresses on the transitionally rough regime (5 < k ⁺ < 70) of a zero pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer. The x-dependence is known from the eleven consecutive measurements in the streamwise direction, which allows for the computation of the streamwise gradients in the boundary layer equations. Thus, the skin friction is computed from the integrated boundary layer equation with errors of 3 and 5% for smooth and rough, respectively. It is found that roughness destroys the viscous layer near the wall, thus, reducing the contribution of the viscous stress in the wall region. As a result, the contribution in the wall shear stress due to form drag increases, while the viscous stress decreases. This yields Reynolds number invariance in the skin friction as k ⁺ increases into the fully rough regime. Furthermore, the roughness at the wall reduces the high peak of the streamwise component of the Reynolds stress in the near-wall region. However, for the Reynolds wall-normal and shear stress components, its contribution is not significantly altered for sand grain roughness.     

Wake layer in a thermal turbulent boundary layer with pressure gradient

The open equations of thermal turbulent boundary layer subjected to pressure gradient have been analysed by method of matched asymptotic expansions at large Reynolds number. The flow is divided into outer wake layer and inner wall layer. The asymptotic expansions are matched by Millikan-Kolmogorov hypothesis. The temperature profile in overlap region yields composite law which reduce to log. law for moderate pressure gradient and inverse half power law for strong adverse pressure gradient. In case of a shallow thermal wake, the matching result of outer wake layer reduces to composite temperature defect law, which is more general than the classical log. law. The comparison of data for thermal boundary layer with strong adverse pressure gradient is also considered. Received on 26 May 1998     

Friction measurement in zero and adverse pressure gradient boundary layer using oil droplet interferometric method

The oil droplet interferometric technique has been used to investigate the skin friction distribution along a zero and adverse pressure gradient boundary layer developing in the Laboratoire de Mécanique de Lille wind tunnel. This experimental task was a part of the WALLTURB project, funded by the European Community, in order to bring significant progress in the understanding of near wall turbulence in boundary layers. Skin friction values close to 0.01 Pa have been measured with this optical method. A comparison with the results obtained with hot-wire anemometry and macro-PIV demonstrates the great potential of the oil droplet technique.     

A light sheet technique for the visualization of instabilities in the boundary layer on a flat plate with zero pressure gradient

Conclusion Boundary layer instabilities of low amplitudes have been successfully visualized on a flat plate in air very close to the wall. The high-performance seeding-system produces a homogeneous distribution of identifiable tracer particles. That provides the possibility for the future to apply non-intrusive optical velocity measurement methods like Particle Image Velocimetry to a boundary layer in air.     

Discontinuous solutions of boundary layer equations with a positive pressure gradient

Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 5, pp. 53–62, September–October, 1991.     

Response of a skewed turbulent boundary layer to favourable pressure gradient

Experimental results are reported for the response to a favourable pressure gradient of an initially turbulent boundary layer (Re _θ?≈?1600) developing on a flat plate with its leading edge skewed at 60° to the approach flow. The pressure gradient orthogonal to the leading edge is nominally the same as that which was shown by Escudier et?al. [(1998) Exp Fluids 25: 491–502] to cause extreme thinning of a two-dimensional (2D) (i.e. unskewed) turbulent boundary layer and the intermittency in the immediate vicinity of the surface to fall to zero, i.e. an apparent laminarisation of the boundary layer. In the case of the skewed boundary layer, the responses of the turbulence and mean-flow structures are qualitatively similar to those for the 2D situation. However, the streamwise pressure gradient is much weaker than for the 2D experiment and the extent of the changes it produces is much reduced. Even so, the changes are considerably greater than would be expected from the magnitude of the streamwise pressure gradient.     

Development of three-dimensional disturbances in a boundary layer with pressure gradient

The results of an experimental investigation of the three-dimensional stability of a boundary layer with a pressure gradient are presented. A low-turbulence subsonic wind tunnel was employed. The development of a three-dimensional wave packet of oscillations harmonic in time in the boundary layer on a model wing is studied. The amplitudephase distributions of the pulsations in the wave packet are subjected to a Fourier analysis. Spectral (with respect to the wave numbers) decomposition of the oscillations enables the flow stability with respect to plane waves with different directions of propagation to be examined. The results are compared with the corresponding data obtained in flat plate experiments. The effect of the pressure gradient on the development of the three-dimensional spectral components of the disturbances and the dispersion properties of the flow is analyzed.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 3, pp. 85–91, May–June, 1988.     

Mechanism of compressor airfoil boundary layer flow control using nanosecond plasma actuation

The flow control effects of nanosecond plasma actuation on the boundary layer flow of a typical compressor controlled diffusion airfoil are investigated using large eddy simulation method. Three types of plasma actuation are designed to control the boundary layer flow, and two mechanisms of compressor airfoil boundary layer flow control using nanosecond plasma actuation have been found. The plasma actuations located within the laminar boundary layer flow can induce a small vortex structure through influencing on the density and pressure of the flow field. As the small vortex structure moves downstream along the blade surface with the main flow, it can suppress the turbulent flow mixing and reduce the total pressure loss. The flow control effect of the small vortex structure is summarized as wall jet effect. Differently, the plasma actuation located within the turbulent boundary layer flow can act on the shear layer flow and induce a large vortex structure. While moving downstream, this large vortex structure can suppress the turbulent flow mixing too.     

Surface friction in a turbulent boundary layer with a positive pressure gradient

A dependence of the relative friction coefficient on the form parameter of the aerodynamic curvature is proposed on the basis of measurements of the tangential stress on the wall during the flow of a liquid in a diffusor using the electrodiffusion method. The intensity of fluctuations of the tangential stress at the wall and the instant of appearance of reverse flows are investigated. The results of measurement of the friction coefficient by the electrodiffusion method and Clauser method are compared.     

Calculation of the stability characteristics of a boundary layer with blowing in the presence of a negative pressure gradient

A study is made of the viscous and inviscid stability of self-similar Falkner-Skan flow on a permeable surface in a wide range of blowing intensities.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 2, pp. 60–64, March–April, 1984.     

Magnetoaerodynamic boundary layer flow with pressure gradient and separation

This study considers the large interaction parameter magnetoaerodynamic boundary layer associated with the free stream flow of a conducting fluid over an infinitely long circular insulator cylinder with the applied magnetic field normal to the distant free stream flow. The investigation is conducted in two parts; a theoretical solution of the associated boundary layer equations and a qualitative experimental investigation to allow visualization of flow separation caused by the magnetic field. The general integral formulation of Galerkin-Kantorovich-Dorodnitsyn is used to determine the boundary layer thickness, momentum thickness, displacement thickness, approximate separation point, and velocity profiles.     

Stability of a gas boundary layer on a heated surface with a weak negative pressure gradient

Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, No. 2, pp. 72–76, March–April, 1992.     

Turbulent boundary layer with positive pressure gradient on a permeable surface under nonisothermal conditions

It is known that the longitudinal pressure gradient can exert a strong influence on the friction law and the characteristics of a dynamic turbulent boundary layer. The thermal and diffusion boundary layers are more conservative to the effect of the pressure gradient, and, hence, methods of analyzing them are based, in the majority of cases, on the hypothesis of conservativity of the heat- and mass-transfer laws to the longitudinal pressure gradient [1]. This hypothesis is verified by experimental results [2, 3] on heat transfer on an impermeable surface in a turbulent stream with positive pressure gradient under almost isothermal conditions. However, such investigations under nonisothermal conditions are practically nonexistent. An approximate theoretical analysis of the heat transfer in a turbulent boundary layer of a nonisothermal stream with a positive pressure gradient is given in this paper. Experimental results are presented. The experimental investigation was conducted in a burned-out graphite diffuser both with and without injection of an inert gas through the wall.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 43–49, July–August, 1976.     

Laminarisation and re-transition of a turbulent boundary layer subjected to favourable pressure gradient

 Experimental results are reported for the response of an initially turbulent boundary layer (Re _θ≈1700) to a favourable pressure gradient with a peak value of K≡(−υ/ρU ³ _E ) dp/dx equal to 4.4×10^-6. In the near-wall region of the boundary layer (y/δ<0.1) the turbulence intensity u′ scales roughly with the free-stream velocity U _E until close to the location where K is a maximum whereas in the outer region u′ remains essentially frozen. Once the pressure gradient is relaxed, the turbulence level increases throughout the boundary layer until K falls to zero when the near wall u′ levels show a significant decrease. The intermittency γ is the clearest indicator of a fundamental change in the turbulence structure: once K exceeds 3×10^-6, the value of γ in the immediate vicinity of the wall γ _s falls rapidly from unity, reaches zero at the location where K again falls below 3×10^-6 and then rises back to unity. Although γ is practically zero throughout the boundary layer in the vicinity of γ _s =0, the turbulence level remains high. The explanation for what appears to be a contradiction is that the turbulent frequencies are too low to induce turbulent mixing. The mean velocity profile changes shape abruptly where K exceeds 3×10^-6. Values for the skin friction coefficient, based upon hot-film measurements, peak at the same location as K and fall to a minimum close to the location where K drops back to zero. Received: 28 January 1998/Accepted: 8 April 1998     

The structure of a three-dimensional boundary layer subjected to streamwise-varying spanwise-homogeneous pressure gradient

A spatially-evolving three-dimensional boundary layer, subjected to a streamwise-varying spanwise-homogeneous pressure gradient, equivalent to a body force, is investigated by way of direct numerical simulation. The pressure gradient, prescribed to change its sign half-way along the boundary layer, provokes strong skewing of the velocity vector, with a layer of nearly collateral flow forming close to the wall up to the position of maximum spanwise velocity. A wide range of flow-physical properties have been studied, with particular emphasis on the near-wall layer, including second-moments, major budget contributions and wall-normal two-point correlations of velocity fluctuations and their angles, relative to wall-shear fluctuations. The results illustrate the complexity caused by skewing, including a damping in turbulent mixing and a significant lag between strains and stresses. The study has been undertaken in the context of efforts to develop and test novel hybrid LES–RANS schemes for non-equilibrium near-wall flows, with an emphasis on three-dimensional near-wall straining. Fundamental flow-physical issues aside, the data derived should be of particular relevance to a priori studies of second-moment RANS closure and the development and validation of RANS-type near-wall approximations implemented in LES schemes for high-Reynolds-number complex flows.     

Effect of pressure gradient of friction and heat transfer in a dusty boundary layer

Approximate analytic expressions for the local friction and heat transfer coefficients in a dusty laminar boundary layer are obtained and tested in the case of an incompressible carrier phase, power-law variation of the external gas flow velocity and small velocity and temperature phase disequilibrium. These expressions supplement the numerical analysis of the dusty boundary layer on a blunt body [1, 2] and the asymptotic calculation of the friction and heat transfer in a quasiequilibrium dusty gas boundary layer on a plate [3]. The combined effect of dustiness and pressure gradient on the friction and heat transfer coefficients is discussed. The results obtained can be used for the practical calculation of the friction and heat transfer in a quasiequilibrium dusty laminar boundary layer and for interpreting the corresponding experimental data. Tomsk. Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 5, pp. 105–108, September–October, 1988.     

Approximate method for calculating turbulent boundary layer with positive pressure gradient

A single-parameter integral method is proposed for calculating the turbulent boundary layer with positive pressure gradient which makes it possible to calculate the friction, thermal flux, and layer thickness both ahead of the separation point and in some region behind the separation point.Notation u velocity - density - ^* displacement thickness - ^** momentum thickness - energy thickness - M Mach number - r radius - dynamic viscosity - c_p specific heat at constant pressure - Reynolds number based on initial boundary layer thickness - P Prandtl number - p₁ static pressure at point of initial interaction - p₂ static pressure at pressureplateau - p₀ stagnation pressure - T₀ stagnation temperature - I enthalpy - T_e recovery temperature - T_w ⁰ temperature factor - H form parameter - r₁ recovery coefficient Indices 0 denotes initial section of boundary layer - 1 parameters taken at edge of boundary layer - w parameters taken at the wall temperature - * parameters referred to flow on a flat plate with =0