An experimental contribution to near-wall measurements by means of a special laser Doppler anemometry technique

 A new experimental technique for the investigation of near-wall turbulence using laser Doppler anemometry is presented, which allows an accurate measurement of the flow field very close to the wall, with good resolution and a high data rate. Such a technique is tested in a fully developed turbulent flow (with Reynolds numbers between 4,300 and 67,000) by carrying out a careful statistical analysis of the streamwise and wall-normal velocity components within the near-wall region, at distances from the wall ranging from approximately y ⁺ = 1 to y ⁺ = 100. The velocity profiles, Reynolds stresses and higher-order moments of the two-dimensional boundary layer are presented. The results, which are in agreement with the most recent data in the literature, testify the validity of the proposed experimental solution. Moreover, the accuracy of the results allows the friction velocity to be calculated as the intercept at the wall of the best linear fit of the total stress profile; in this way, an unambiguous examination of the normalized statistics is possible. Received: 17 April 2001 / Accepted: 15 August 2001     

The accuracy of turbulent velocity component measurements by multi-sensor hot-wire probes: a new approach to an old problem

The measurement accuracy of different hot-wire probes possessing between two and 12 sensors is analyzed. Experimental data were sampled in a round free jet and in a zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layer by a 12-sensor hot-wire probe. Testing of the various hot-wire configurations is enabled by selectively considering different combinations of the 12 available anemometer output voltages. The influence on the measurement accuracy of neglecting the velocity gradients as well as neglecting one velocity component is analyzed. Two approaches were applied. One is based on expressions that relate the instantaneous velocity components and velocity gradients, and the other is based on a simple least-squares regression method. It is found that neglecting the instantaneous fluctuations of the velocity gradients for the measurement of the cross-stream velocity component, V, has a crucial influence and results in large errors. It is also shown that this influence is less significant or even negligible for the measurement accuracy of the other two velocity components, U and W.     

Oblique stagnation-point flow and heat transfer towards a shrinking sheet with thermal radiation

An analysis is made of steady two-dimensional oblique stagnation-point flow and radiative heat transfer of an incompressible viscous fluid towards a shrinking sheet which is shrunk in its own plane with a velocity proportional to the distance from a fixed point. Here the axis of the stagnation flow and that of the shrinking sheet are not aligned. A similarity transformation reduces the Navier-Stokes equations to a set of non-linear ordinary differential equations and are solved numerically using a shooting technique. The analysis of the results obtained shows that multiple solutions exist for a certain range of the ratio of the shrinking velocity to the free stream velocity. The effect of non-alignment for the wall shear stress and the horizontal velocity components are discussed. Streamline patterns are also shown for shrinking at the sheet with aligned and non-aligned cases. It is found that the temperature at a point in the fluid decreases with increase in effective Prandtl number (Pr _eff ). The results pertaining to the present study indicate that as Pr _eff increases, the rate of heat transfer also increases. The reported results are in good agreement with the available published work in the literature.     

Three-dimensional green water velocity on a model structure

Flow kinematics of green water due to plunging breaking waves impinging on a simplified, 3D model structure was investigated in the laboratory. Two breaking wave conditions were tested: one with waves impinging on the vertical wall of the model at still water level, and the other with waves impinging on the horizontal deck surface. The bubble image velocimetry (BIV) technique was used to measure flow velocities. Measurements were taken on both vertical and horizontal planes. Evolution of green water flow kinematics in time and space was revealed and was found to be quite different between the two wave conditions, even though the incoming waves are essentially identical. The time history of maximum velocity is demonstrated and compared. In both cases, the maximum velocity occurs near the green water front and beneath the free surface. The maximum horizontal velocity for the deck impinging case is 1.44C with C being the wave phase speed, which is greater than 1.24C for the wall impingement case. The overall turbulence level is about 0.3 of the corresponding maximum velocity in each wave condition. The results were also compared with 2D experimental results to examine the 3D effect. It was found that the magnitude of the maximum vertical velocity during the runup process is 1.7C in the 3D model study and 2.9C in the 2D model study, whereas the maximum horizontal velocity on the deck is similar, 1.2C in both 3D and 2D model studies.     

N-space collision model for rotation-translation energy exchange in DSMC collisions

A new discrete simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) collision model for molecules possessing an integer number of classical degrees of freedom for molecular structure energy is proposed. The total molecular energy (translation plus molecular structure) is represented by a velocity in five-dimensional space. Each collision is an elastic N-sphere collision in N-space, where N= 3, 4, or 5. For N=5, there is a maximum chance of exchange of energy between the two components of velocity, which represent the rotation energy and the three components that represent the translational velocity. For N=3, there is no change in the rotation energy of each molecule, and for N=4, there is an intermediate chance that rotation and translation energy will be exchanged. The exchange probability ϕ can be set to give the desired rotational relaxation rate. To achieve any realistic viscosity μ(T), the N-space model must be coupled with a modified collision procedure known as ν-DSMC. The new model is shown to match the results of molecular dynamics calculations for the internal structure of a Mach 7 shock, with a saving of about 20% in CPU time compared to standard DSMC using the standard Borgnakke-Larsen exchange model.     

Measurements and scaling of wall shear stress fluctuations

Measurements of velocity and wall shear stress fluctuations were made in an external turbulent boundary layer developed over a towed surface-piercing flat plate. An array of eight flush-mounted wall shear stress sensors was used to compute the space-time correlation function. A methodology for in situ calibration of the sensors for ship hydrodynamic applications is presented. The intensity of the wall shear stress fluctuations, τ _rms/τ _avg was measured as 0.25 and 0.36 for R _θ =3,150 and 2,160 respectively. The probability density is shown to exhibit positive skewness, and lack of flow reversals at the wall. Correlations between velocity and wall shear stress fluctuations are shown to collapse with outer boundary layer length and velocity scales, verifying the existence of large-scale coherent structures which convect and decay along the wall at an angle of inclination varying from 10 to 13° over the range of Reynolds numbers investigated. The wall shear stress convection velocity determined from narrow band correlation measurements is shown to scale with outer variables. The space-time correlation of the wall shear is shown to exhibit a well-defined convective ridge, and to decay 80% over approximately 3δ for R _θ =3,150. Published online: 7 November 2002     

A cross-correlation technique for velocity field extraction from particulate visualization

A rapid time series of photographs of the horizontal cross-sections of several y ⁺ locations were taken of a turbulent open-channel water flow with Re _d = 3,900. A pair of photographic images were obtained with a time difference of 1.3 v/u ² at each y ⁺ locations. The pictures were digitized into 8 bit data with a spatial resolution of 2.5 viscous scales. Instead of identifying discrete particles, a variable interval spatial correlation technique was used to extract the velocity components. With this technique, two-dimensional spatial cross-correlations of the illumination intensities were taken between a pair of picture images. The correlations were taken over small areas and the peak of the correlation coefficients were used to obtain the convection velocity yielding the u and w components of velocity. Some statistical properties were calculated and are shown to be comparable with previous data. Spatial correlations of the velocity components revealed some unique characteristics related to the structure of turbulence.     

On the accuracy of simultaneously measuring velocity component statistics in turbulent wall flows with arrays of three or four hot-wire sensors

A highly resolved turbulent channel flow direct numerical simulation (DNS) with Re _τ = 200 has been used to investigate the ability of probes made up of arrays of three or four hot-wire sensors to simultaneously and accurately measure statistics of all three velocity components in turbulent wall flows. Various virtual sensor arrangements have been tested in order to study the effects of position, number of sensors and spatial resolution on the measurements. First, the effective cooling velocity was determined for each sensor of an idealized probe, where the influence of the velocity component tangential to the sensors and flow blockage by the presence of the probe are neglected. Then, simulating the response of the virtual probes to obtain the effective velocities cooling the sensors, velocity component statistics have been calculated neglecting the velocity gradients over the probe sensing area. A strong influence of both mean and fluctuation velocity gradients on measurement accuracy was found. A new three-sensor array configuration designed to minimize the influence of the velocity gradients is proposed, and its accuracy is compared to two-sensor X- and V-array configurations.     

The stresses of an upper convected Maxwell fluid in a Newtonian velocity field near a re-entrant corner

We investigate the stresses of an upper convected Maxwell fluid in the neighborhood of a re-entrant 270° corner. It is assumed (incorrectly, of course) that the velocity field is Newtonian. Both asymptotic analysis and numerical solutions are presented. It is found that, for a fixed angle, the stresses behave approximately as r^−0.74, which contrasts with a behavior as r^−0.91 at the walls (the latter is simply the square of the Newtonian shear rate at the wall, where the flow is viscometric). The analysis shows that there are boundary layers near the walls, in which there is a transition from the viscometric behavior at the wall to a core region which the behavior is dominated by the convected derivative in the constitutive equation. Moreover, our computations show large spurious stresses downstream resulting from numerical errors.     

Statistical Structure at the Wall of the High Reynolds Number Turbulent Boundary Layer

The one and two-point statistical structure of very high Reynolds number turbulence in the surface layer near a rigid `wall' is analysed. The essential mechanisms for turbulent eddies impinging on the wall are studied using linearised rapid distortion theory, which show how the mean shear and blocking actions of the surface act first independently and then, over the life time of the eddy, interactively. Previous analytical results are reinterpreted and some new results are derived to show how the integral length scales, cross correlations and spectra of the different components of the turbulence are distorted depending on the form of the spectra of eddies above the surface layer and how they are related to motions of characteristic eddy structures near the surface. These results are applied to derive some quantitative and qualitative predictions in the surface layers (SL), where the eddies are affected by local shear dynamics, and in the `eddy surface layer' (ESL) where quasi independents loping elongated eddies interact directly with the wall, and where there is a large range of wave number within which the spectra of the horizontal velocity components are proportional to k ⁻¹. The longest eddies in the boundary layer occur near the wall. Field experiments agree with the theoretical model predictions for the quite different forms for the spectra, cospectra and cross correlations for the vertical and horizontal components of the velocity field. By showing that in SL the energy exchange between the large and small scale eddies is local(`staircase') energy cascade, whereas in ESL there is a direct nonlocal (`elevator-like')energy transfer to the small scales, it is shown why the thickness of the ESL increases over rougher surfaces and as the Reynolds number decreases. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Multilayer nano-particle image velocimetry

Nano-particle image velocimetry (nPIV), based on evanescent-wave illumination of fluorescent colloidal tracers, measures the two velocity components parallel to the wall averaged over the first few hundred nanometers next to the wall. The intensity of the evanescent wave decays exponentially with z, or the distance normal to the wall. Illuminated tracers closer to the wall therefore have images that are brighter than those farther from the wall. This nonuniform illumination presents the possibility to extend the technique to “multilayer nPIV,” where the two velocity components parallel to the wall can be estimated at different z-locations within the illuminated region. In this paper, the variation of tracer image intensity with distance from the wall was predicted using diffraction optics-based approaches. The predictions, which were validated by calibration experiments, show that particle image intensity decays exponentially with distance normal to the wall. The feasibility of multilayer nPIV was evaluated using artificial images of plane Couette flow that incorporate evanescent-wave illumination, hindered Brownian diffusion and image noise. Each image was divided into three sub-images based on tracer image intensity, and standard techniques were then used to extract temporally and spatially averaged velocities at three different z-locations. In these simulations, velocity data were obtained within 80 nm of the wall, a threefold improvement over previous measurements. The results demonstrate that multilayer nPIV is feasible if appropriate classification techniques are developed and used to separate tracer images into different layers.

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Synchronized analysis of an unsteady laminar flow downstream of a circular cylinder centred between two parallel walls using PIV and mass transfer probes

Experiments are carried out in the wake of a cylinder of d _c  = 10 mm diameter placed symmetrically between two parallel walls with a blockage ratio r = 1/3 and a Reynolds number varying between 75 ≤ Re ≤ 277. Particle image velocimetry is exerted to obtain the instantaneous velocity components in the cylinder wake. A snapshot proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) is also applied to these PIV results in order to extract the dominant modes through the implementation of an inhomogeneous filtering of these different snapshots, apart from an interpolation to estimate the wall shear rate at the lower wall downstream the cylinder. Mass transfer circular probes are placed at the lower wall downstream this obstacle so as to further determine the time evolution of the wall shear rate, by bringing the inverse method to bear on the convective-diffusion equation. Comparisons between the two synchronized techniques demonstrate that electrochemical method can give more accurate information about the coherent structures present in the flow and about the interaction of the von Kármán vortices with the walls of the tunnel as well. The comparison between the two measurement techniques in the flow regions concerns the spatiotemporal evolutions of the wall shear rate obtained from PIV measurements and the wall shear rate using mass transfer probes. Discrepancy between the PIV measurements and the electrochemical ones near the wall, where the secondary vortices P ₁′ are generated at wall, are caused by a PIV bias and a limitations of the singular mass transfer probes.     

Advection of axisymmetric interfaces by the volume-of-fluid method

A criterion is proposed for the advection of axisymmetric interfaces. The location of an interface is followed by a volume-tracking technique wherein a volume fraction parameter is assigned to each of the cells in a Eulerian grid system. The interface is discretized into a set of line segments fitted at the boundary of every pair of neighbouring computational cells. The orientation of a line segment is obtained by inspecting the volume fractions of two neighbouring cells. The volume fractions are then advected using the velocity components at the boundary of the two cells. The following advection criterion is proposed: for advection in the axial direction the axial velocity u is assumed constant in the vicinity of each cell face; for advection in the radial direction the radial velocity v times the radial distance r is assumed constant in the vicinity of each cell face, i.e. r^βv = const., where β = 0 for Cartesian and β = 1 for axisymmetric systems. The above criterion is used to develop an algorithm for the advection of axisymmetric interfaces which is referred to as the ‘axisymmetric flux line segment model for advection and interface reconstruction’ or A-FLAIR.     

Perpendicular ultrasound velocity measurement by 2D cross correlation of RF data. Part A: validation in a straight tube

An ultrasound velocity assessment technique was validated, which allows the estimation of velocity components perpendicular to the ultrasound beam, using a commercially available ultrasound scanner equipped with a linear array probe. This enables the simultaneous measurement of axial blood velocity and vessel wall position, rendering a viable and accurate flow assessment. The validation was performed by comparing axial velocity profiles as measured in an experimental setup to analytical and computational fluid dynamics calculations. Physiologically relevant pulsating flows were considered, employing a blood analog fluid, which mimics both the acoustic and rheological properties of blood. In the core region (|r|/a < 0.9), an accuracy of 3 cm s⁻¹ was reached. For an accurate estimation of flow, no averaging in time was required, making a beat to beat analysis of pulsating flows possible.     

Effect of Strong External Turbulence on a Wall Jet Boundary Layer

The initial stage of the development of a wall jet under the influence of strong external turbulence has been studied in a novel shear-flow mixing-box experiment. A fully developed channel flow of depth h (40 mm) enters along the top wall of a cuboidal box of height 11 h in which a combination of oscillatory and turbulent velocity fluctuations are generated by a vertical oscillating grid at the midplane 5 h below the wall. When the ratio of the rms grid-generated velocity fluctuations, , to the local mean velocity inside the wall jet layer, u, is greater than about 0.1, significant changes are observed in the mean shear profile and in the eddy structure of the wall jet. The wall jet thickness increases by approximately 25% but the maximum velocity decreases by less than 10% compared to the case without the external turbulence. Fluctuations of the streamwise velocity component increase as expected in the outer part of the wall jet, but the most significant result is the increase by 70% of the fluctuations in the boundary layer close to the wall. CFD simulations using the k-ɛ RNG of the FLUENT CFD Code do not properly model the effect of the large scale external turbulence in this experiment. However, an artificial method, which introduces a series of small inlet/outlet jets to represent external turbulence, approximately simulates the overall effects of the oscillating grid on the wall jet, but does not simulate the amplification of the near wall turbulence. F. T. M. Nieuwstadt: Rest in peace (1946–2005).     

Surface‐sampled simulations of turbulent flow at high Reynolds number

A new approach to turbulence simulation, based on a combination of large eddy simulation (LES) for the whole flow and an array of non–space‐filling quasi‐direct numerical simulations (QDNS), which sample the response of near‐wall turbulence to large‐scale forcing, is proposed and evaluated. The technique overcomes some of the cost limitations of turbulence simulation, since the main flow is treated with a coarse‐grid LES, with the equivalent of wall functions supplied by the near‐wall sampled QDNS. Two cases are tested, at friction Reynolds number Re_τ=4200 and 20000. The total grid point count for the first case is less than half a million and less than 2 million for the second case, with the calculations only requiring a desktop computer. A good agreement with published direct numerical simulation (DNS) is found at Re_τ=4200, both in the mean velocity profile and the streamwise velocity fluctuation statistics, which correctly show a substantial increase in near‐wall turbulence levels due to a modulation of near‐wall streaks by large‐scale structures. The trend continues at Re_τ=20000, in agreement with experiment, which represents one of the major achievements of the new approach. A number of detailed aspects of the model, including numerical resolution, LES‐QDNS coupling strategy and subgrid model are explored. A low level of grid sensitivity is demonstrated for both the QDNS and LES aspects. Since the method does not assume a law of the wall, it can in principle be applied to flows that are out of equilibrium.     

Numerical simulation of two‐dimensional laminar incompressible offset jet flows

Two‐dimensional transient laminar incompressible offset jet is simulated numerically to gain insight into convective recirculation and flow processes induced by an offset jet. The behaviour of the jet with respect to offset ratio (OR) and Reynolds number (Re) are described in detail. The transient development of the velocity is simulated for various regions: recirculation, impingement and wall jet development. It is found that the reattachment length is dependent on both Re and OR for the range considered. Simulations are made to show the effect of entrainment on recirculation eddy. A detailed study of u velocity decay is reported. The decay rate of horizontal velocity component (u) is linear in impingement region. It is found that at high OR, velocity decay depends on Re only. Velocity profile in the wall jet region shows good agreement with experimental as well as similarity solutions. It is found that the effect of Re and OR are significant to bottom wall vorticity up to impingement region. Far downstream bottom wall vorticity is independent of OR. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Note on the equations of motion of a fluid with suspended particles or gas bubbles

Summary Linear equations have been derived which approximately describe the motion of a mixture consisting of N components. In each point of the domain of flow N velocity vectors, one for each component, have been assumed. It is shown that these velocity fields can be described by N potential functions. An application is given by considering a sound wave passing through a water-air bubble mixture.     

Influence of wavy surfaces on coherent structures in a turbulent flow

We describe how outer flow turbulence phenomena depend on the interaction with the wall. We investigate coherent structures in turbulent flows over different wavy surfaces and specify the influence of the different surface geometries on the coherent structures. The most important contribution to the turbulent momentum transport is attributed to these structures, therefore this flow configuration is of large engineering interest. In order to achieve a homogeneous and inhomogeneous reference flow situation two different types of surface geometries are considered: (1) three sinusoidal bottom wall profiles with different amplitude-to-wavelength ratios of α = 2a/Λ = 0.2 (Λ = 30 mm), α = 0.2 (Λ = 15 mm), and α = 0.1 (Λ = 30 mm); and (2) a profile consisting of two superimposed sinusoidal waves with α = 0.1 (Λ = 30 mm). Measurements are carried out in a wide water channel facility (aspect ratio 12:1). Digital particle image velocimetry (PIV) is performed to examine the spatial variation of the streamwise, spanwise and wall-normal velocity components in three measurement planes. Measurements are performed at a Reynolds number of 11,200, defined with the half channel height h and the bulk velocity U _B. We apply the method of snapshots and perform a proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) of the streamwise, spanwise, and wall-normal velocity components to extract the most dominant flow structures. The structure of the most dominant eigenmode is related to counter-rotating, streamwise-oriented vortices. A qualitative comparison of the eigenfunctions for different sinusoidal wall profiles shows similar structures and comparable characteristic spanwise scales Λ _z = 1.5 H in the spanwise direction for each mode. The scale is observed to be slightly smaller for α = 0.2 (Λ = 15 mm) and slightly larger for α = 0.2 (Λ = 30 mm). This scaling for the flow over the basic wave geometries indicates that the size of the largest structures is neither directly linked to the solid wave amplitude, nor to the wavelength. The characteristic spanwise scale of the dominant eigenmode for the developed flow over the surface consisting of two superimposed waves reduces to 0.85 H. However, a scale in the order of 1.3 H is identified for the second mode. The eigenvalue spectra for the superimposed waves is much broader, more modes contribute to the energy-containing range. The turbulent flow with increased complexity of the bottom surface is characterized by an increased number of dominant large-scale structures with different spanwise scales.