Unsteady separated and reattaching turbulent flow over a two-dimensional square rib

The spatio-temporal characteristics of the separated and reattaching turbulent flow over a two-dimensional square rib were studied experimentally. Synchronized measurements of wall-pressure fluctuations and velocity fluctuations were made using a microphone array and a split-fiber film, respectively. Profiles of time-averaged streamwise velocity and wall-pressure fluctuations showed that the shear layer separated from the leading edge of the rib sweeps past the rib and directly reattaches on the bottom wall (x/H=9.75) downstream of the rib. A thin region of reverse flow was formed above the rib. The shedding large-scale vortical structures (fH/U₀=0.03) and the flapping separation bubble (fH/U₀=0.0075) could be discerned in the wall-pressure spectra. A multi-resolution analysis based on the maximum overlap discrete wavelet transform (MODWT) was performed to extract the intermittent events associated with the shedding large-scale vortical structures and the flapping separation bubble. The convective dynamics of the large-scale vortical structures were analyzed in terms of the autocorrelation of the continuous wavelet-transformed wall pressure, cross-correlation of the wall-pressure fluctuations, and the cross-correlation between the wall pressure at the time-averaged reattachment point and the streamwise velocity field. The convection speeds of the large-scale vortical structures before and after the reattachment point were U_c=0.35U₀ and 0.45U₀, respectively. The flapping motion of the separation bubble was analyzed in terms of the conditionally averaged reverse-flow intermittency near the wall region. The instantaneous reattachment point in response to the flapping motion was obtained; these findings established that the reattachment zone was a 1.2H-long region centered at x/H=9.75. The reverse-flow intermittency in one period of the flapping motion demonstrated that the thin reverse flow above the rib is influenced by the flapping motion of the separation bubble behind the rib.     

The nature of near-wall convection velocity in turbulent channel flow

A novel notion of turbulent structure the local cascade structure-is introduced to study the convection phenomenon in a turbulent channel flow. A space-time cross-correlation method is used to calculate the convection velocity. It is found that there are two characteristic convection speeds near the wall, one associated with small-scale streaks of a lower speed and another with streamwise vortices and hairpin vortices of a higher speed. The new concept of turbulent structure is powerful to illustrate the dominant role of coherent structures in the near-wall convection, and to reveal also the nature of the convection-the propagation of patterns of velocity fluctuations-which is scale-dependent.     

Time-resolved PIV measurements of the interaction of polystyrene beads with near-wall-coherent structures in a turbulent channel flow

Time-resolved PIV measurements were performed in a dilute particle-laden flow tracking near-neutrally buoyant polystyrene beads and the velocity field of a near wall turbulent boundary layer. Data were taken in a vertical light sheet aligned in the streamwise direction at the center of a horizontal, closed loop, transparent square water channel facility. In addition, low speed measurements were performed characterizing the effects of the dispersed phase on mean and turbulence flow quantities. Reynolds shear stress slightly differed from clear water conditions whereas fluid mean and rms values were not affected. A case study for several beads revealed a clear relation between their movement and near-wall coherent structures. Several structures having 2D vorticity signatures of near-wall hairpin vortices and hairpin packets, directly affected bead movement. A statistical analysis showed that the mean streamwise velocity of ascending beads lagged behind the mean fluid velocity and bead rms values were higher than fluid ones. Particle Reynolds numbers based on the magnitude of the instantaneous relative velocity vector peaked near the wall; values not exceeding 100, too low for vortex shedding to occur. Quadrant analysis showed a clear preference for ascending beads to reside in ejections while for descending beads the preference for sweeps was less.     

Spatial characterization of the numerically simulated vorticity fields of a flow in a flume

The topology of large scale structures in a turbulent boundary layer is investigated numerically. Spatial characteristics of the large scale structure are presented through an original method, proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) of the three-dimensional vorticity fields. The DNS results, obtained by Tiselj et al. [23] for a fully developed turbulent flow in a flume, are used in the present work to analyze coherent structures with the proposed methodology. In contrast to the reconstruction methods that use instantaneous flow quantities, this approach utilizes the whole dataset of the numerical simulation. The analysis uses one thousand 3D vorticity fields from 50000 time steps of the simulation for the Reynolds number of 2600 (the turbulent Reynolds number Re^*=171). The computational domain is 2146×171×537 wall units and the grid resolution is 128×65×72 points (in streamwise, wall-normal and spanwise directions, respectively). Experimental results obtained by using particle image velocimetry (PIV) in a fully developed turbulent boundary layer in a flume, which were analyzed with the same statistical characterization method, are in agreement with the DNS analysis: the dominant vortical structure appears to have a longitudinal streamwise orientation, an inclination angle of about 8°, streamwise length of several hundred wall units, and a distance between the neighboring structures of about 100 wall units in the spanwise direction. PACS 47.27.Nz, 47.54+r     

A vorticity stretching diagnostic for turbulent and transitional flows

Vorticity stretching in wall-bounded turbulent and transitional flows has been investigated by means of a new diagnostic measure, denoted by Γ, designed to pick up regions with large amounts of vorticity stretching. It is based on the maximum vorticity stretching component in every spatial point, thus yielding a three-dimensional scalar field. The measure was applied in four different flows with increasing complexity: (a) the near-wall cycle in an asymptotic suction boundary layer (ASBL), (b) K-type transition in a plane channel flow, (c) fully turbulent channel flow at Re _τ = 180 and (d) a complex turbulent three-dimensional separated flow. Instantaneous data show that the coherent structures associated with intense vorticity stretching in all four cases have the shape of flat ‘pancake’ structures in the vicinity of high-speed streaks, here denoted ‘h-type’ events. The other event found is of ‘l-type’, present on top of an unstable low-speed streak. These events (l-type) are further thought to be associated with the exponential growth of streamwise vorticity in the turbulent near-wall cycle. It was found that the largest occurrence of vorticity stretching in the fully turbulent wall-bounded flows is present at a wall-normal distance of y ⁺?=?6.5, i.e. in the transition between the viscous sublayer and buffer layer. The associated structures have a streamwise length of ~200–300 wall units. In K-type transition, the Γ-measure accurately locates the regions of interest, in particular the formation of high-speed streaks near the wall (h-type) and the appearance of the hairpin vortex (l-type). In the turbulent separated flow, the structures containing large amounts of vorticity stretching increase in size and magnitude in the shear layer upstream of the separation bubble but vanish in the backflow region itself. Overall, the measure proved to be useful in showing growing instabilities before they develop into structures, highlighting the mechanisms creating high shear region on a wall and showing turbulence creation associated with instantaneous separations.     

Temporal Evolution of Vortical Structures in the Wall Region of Turbulent Channel Flow

Hairpin-like vortical structures that form in the wall region of turbulent channel flow are investigated. The analysis is performed by following a procedure in which the Navier-Stokes equations are first integrated by means of a computational code based on a mixed spectral-finite difference technique in the case of the flow in a plane channel. A DNS turbulent-flow database, representing the turbulent statistically steady state of the velocity field through 10 viscous time units, is computed and the vortex-detection method of the imaginary part of the complex eigenvalue pair of the velocity-gradient tensor is applied to the velocity field. As a result, hairpin-like vortical structures are educed. Flow visualizations are provided of the processes of evolution that characterize hairpin vortices in the wall region of turbulent channel flow. The relationship is investigated between vortex dynamics and 2nd- and 4th- quadrant events, showing that ejections and sweeps play a fundamental role in the way the morphological evolution of a hairpin vortex develops with time.     

Influence of local ultrasonic forcing on a turbulent boundary layer

An experimental study was carried out to investigate the effect of local ultrasonic forcing on a turbulent boundary layer. The ultrasonic forcing system was constructed by adhering six ultrasonic transducers to a flat plate over which water was flowed. In this system, the ultrasonic waves projected into the water by the transducers caused cavitation, giving rise to an enormous number of tiny water-vapor bubbles. Stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (SPIV) was used to probe the flow characteristics. The SPIV results showed that imposition of the ultrasonic forcing caused a substantial increase in the mean wall-normal velocity but a decrease in the mean streamwise velocity. The ultrasonic forcing reduced the skin friction coefficient by up to 60% immediately downstream of the transducers; this effect gradually dissipated with moving downstream. The streamwise turbulence intensity was reduced near the wall but increased away from the wall, whereas the wall-normal turbulence intensity was not much affected near the wall but increased away from the wall. The Reynolds shear stress and the production of turbulent kinetic energy were reduced near the wall. Imposition of the ultrasonic forcing shifted the streamwise vortical structures away from the wall, leading to a reduction in skin friction.     

Tomographic PIV investigation of coherent structures in a turbulent boundary layer flow

Tomographic particle image velocimetry was used to quantitatively visualize the three-dimensional coherent structures in the logarithmic region of the turbulent boundary layer in a water tunnel.The Reynolds number based on momentum thickness is Reθ = 2 460.The instantaneous velocity fields give evidence of hairpin vortices aligned in the streamwise direction forming very long zones of low speed fluid,which is flanked on either side by highspeed ones.Statistical support for the existence of hairpins is given by conditional averaged eddy within an increasing spanwise width as the distance from the wall increases,and the main vortex characteristic in different wall-normal regions can be reflected by comparing the proportion of ejection and its contribution to Reynolds stress with that of sweep event.The pre-multiplied power spectra and two-point correlations indicate the presence of large-scale motions in the boundary layer,which are consistent with what have been termed very large scale motions(VLSMs).The three dimen-sional spatial correlations of three components of velocity further indicate that the elongated low-speed and highspeed regions will be accompanied by a counter-rotating roll modes,as the statistical imprint of hairpin packet structures,all of which together make up the characteristic of coherent structures in the logarithmic region of the turbulent boundary layer(TBL).     

Turbulence structure in non-equilibrium boundary layers with favorable and adverse pressure gradients

An experimental study was conducted to document the turbulence in boundary layers on smooth walls subject to a favorable pressure gradient followed by a zero pressure gradient recovery and an adverse pressure gradient. Two component velocity profiles were acquired along the spanwise centerline of the test section, and velocity fields were obtained at the same locations in streamwise wall-normal and streamwise–spanwise planes using PIV. The FPG was shown to reduce the turbulence in the outer part of the boundary layer, reducing the transport of this turbulence and the effect of sweeps toward the wall. This reduced the inclination angle of the large structures and increased their length scale, particularly in the streamwise and spanwise directions. Recovery from the FPG to a ZPG was rapid. The APG reduced the near wall shear, resulting in a reduced effect of ejections relative to sweeps. The APG had an opposite but smaller effect on the shape and size of structures compared to the FPG.     

Simultaneous velocity and concentration field measurements of passive-scalar mixing in a confined rectangular jet

Simultaneous velocity and concentration fields in a confined liquid-phase rectangular jet with a Reynolds number based on the hydraulic diameter of 50,000 (or 10,000 based on the velocity difference between streams and the jet exit dimension) and a Schmidt number of 1,250 were obtained by means of a combined particle image velocimetry (PIV) and planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) system. Data were collected at the jet exit and six further downstream locations. The velocity and concentration field data were analyzed for flow statistics such as turbulent fluxes, turbulent viscosity and diffusivity, and turbulent Schmidt number (Sc _T ). The streamwise turbulent flux was found to be larger than the transverse turbulent flux, and the mean concentration gradient was not aligned with the turbulent flux vector. The average Sc _T was found to vary both in streamwise and in cross stream directions and had a mean value around 0.8, a value consistent with the literature. Spatial correlation fields of turbulent fluxes and concentration were then determined. The R _u′ϕ′ correlation was elliptical in shape with a major axis tilted downward with respect to the streamwise axis, whereas the R _v′ϕ′ correlation was an ellipse with a major axis aligned with the cross-stream direction. Negative regions of R _u′ϕ′ were observed in the outer streams, and these negatively correlated regions decayed with downstream distance and finally disappeared altogether. The R _ϕ′ϕ′ correlation field was found to be an ellipse with the major axis inclined at about 45° with respect to the streamwise direction. Linear stochastic estimation was used to interpret spatial correlation data and to determine conditional flow structures. It is believed that a vortex street formed near the splitter plate is responsible for the negatively correlated region observed in the R _u′ϕ′ spatial correlations of turbulent fluxes. A positive concentration fluctuation event was observed to correspond to a finger of nearly uniform concentration fluid reaching out into the outer stream, whereas a negative event corresponds to a pocket of nearly uniform fluid being entrained from the outer stream into the center jet region. Large-scale vortical structures were observed in the conditional velocity fields with an elliptical shape and a streamwise major axis. The growth of the structure size increased linearly initially but then grew more slowly as the flow transitioned toward channel flow. Support of this work was provided by the National Science Foundation through grants CTS-9985678 and CTS-0336435 and by the Dow Chemical Company. The author greatly acknowledge Charles Lipp at Dow Chemical and Ken Junk at Emerson Fisher for their valuable assistance in the design and construction of the flow system.     

Wavelet spatial scaling for educing dynamic structures in turbulent open cavity flows

In this work a methodology was developed for the selection of wavelet spatial scales to educe dynamic structures in turbulent cavity flows. The wavelet transform was applied to both the temporal signal and spatial fields to extract structures from the oscillating shear layer. The dominant frequencies were identified from the temporal transform of the shear layer oscillations, and then the corresponding wavelength was obtained using the relation U_cT=λ at each frequency. The wavelet spatial scaling was examined and a one-to-one relationship was established with respect to the wavelength. At each spatial scale, the transformed images of vorticity, velocity, and pressure fluctuations captured the vortical structures. Using this methodology, the dynamic vortical structures were extracted from the turbulent open cavity flows. Energy analysis was performed to examine the contributions of each structure.     

Turbulent boundary layer flow with a step change from smooth to rough surface

A direct numerical simulation (DNS) dataset of a turbulent boundary layer (TBL) with a step change from a smooth to a rough surface is analyzed to examine the characteristics of a spatially developing flow. The roughness elements are periodically arranged two-dimensional (2-D) spanwise rods, with the first rod placed 80θ_in downstream from the inlet, where θ_in denotes the inlet momentum thickness. Based on an accurate estimation of relevant parameters, clear evidence for mean flow universality is provided when scaled properly, even for the present roughness configuration, which is believed to have one of the strongest impacts on the flow. Compared to previous studies, it is shown that overshooting behavior is present in the first- and second-order statistics and is locally created either within the cavity or at the leading edge of the roughness depending on the type of statistics and the wall-normal measurement location. Inspection of spatial two-point correlations of the streamwise velocity fluctuations shows a continuous increase of spanwise length scales of structures over the rough wall after the step change at a greater growth rate than that over smooth wall TBL flow. This is expected because spanwise energy spectrum shows presence of much energetic wider structures over the rough wall. Full images of the DNS data are presented to describe not only predominance of hairpin vortices but also a possible spanwise scale growth mechanism via merging over the rough wall.     

Wakes of thin flat plates: Intermittency,cessation of vortex shedding and the emergence of an intermediate-wake instability

The near and intermediate wake regions of thin flat plates with both sharp and circular trailing edges (TEs) are investigated with direct numerical simulations (DNSs). The TE is circular in two of the cases (IN & NS) and sharp in one of them (ST). The separating boundary layers are turbulent in all cases. The main objective here is to explore the effect of significantly reducing the Reynolds number (Re_D, based on circular TE diameter, D) on the flow in the TE region, in particular the vortex shedding process (Cases IN and NS). Intermittent shedding is observed in Case IN. Case NS, with half the TE diameter of Case IN, is an essentially non-shedding case. The second objective is to understand the reasons underlying the findings of an earlier experimental wake investigation (sharp TE) where a broadband peak was observed in centerline cross-stream velocity (v) spectra. Case ST from the present study showed a wake instability resulting in spanwise vortices. The instability is intermittent and contributes to a broadband peak in the centerline v spectrum. Cases IN & NS also exhibit a similar wake instability in the intermediate wake and a corresponding spectral (v) broadband peak. The third objective is to study the distributions of the time-averaged velocity statistics in thin plate wakes. The turbulent stresses and, the budget terms for the streamwise intensity, obtained in Case IN, are included and discussed here. All the budget terms contribute appreciably to the overall budget in the transport equation for streamwise normal intensity.     

Statistical scale of hairpin packets in the later stage of bypass transition induced by cylinder wake

The hairpin packet's structure and its statistical scale in the later stage of bypass transition induced by a cylinder wake are investigated by time-resolved particle image velocimetry from the side and top view, respectively. Linear stochastic estimation is used to achieve the conditionally averaged velocity fields. For the side view case, the conditionally averaged structure consists of a series of swirling motions located along a line inclining at a large angle (18°) from the wall and a low-speed region occupied by the cylinder wake appearing right above them. In the (x, z)-plane at the wall-normal height y/???=?0.2, the dominant structures are shown to be the large-scale regions of low momentum elongated almost over 3?? along the streamwise. The low-speed regions are consistently bordered by small-scale counter-rotating vortice pairs organized in the streamwise with a statistical spanwise width of 0.55??. The results suggest that in the later part of the transitional zone, the upward induction of the cylinder wake enhances both the wall-normal and spanwise extent of the hairpin packets.     

Low- and high-speed structures in the outer region of an adverse-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layer

Large- and very large-scale structures in the form of elongated regions of low and high streamwise momentum have been studied in the outer region of a turbulent boundary layer subjected to a strong adverse pressure gradient. Large sets of streamwise–spanwise instantaneous velocity fields are acquired by particle image velocimetry at three wall-normal positions (0.2δ, 0.5δ, 0.8δ) at three different streamwise locations and at 0.1δ at the last streamwise location which allows us to study the wall-normal and streamwise variations of the structures. Subsequently, a pattern-recognition method and a classification scheme are employed in order to detect, classify and characterize the structures in an efficient and rigorous manner. Like in the case of zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layers, long meandering streaky regions of low and high momentum are observed in the outer region of the present flow but they appear less frequently; especially in the lower part (at 0.1δ and 0.2δ) of the large-velocity-defect zone, i.e. near detachment. The dimensions of these large structures scale on boundary-layer thickness (δ) and are generally comparable to those previously reported for such structures in the overlap region of zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layers. Interestingly, the adverse pressure gradient does not significantly affect the dimensions and arrangement of the large-scale structures in the upper part (at 0.5δ and 0.8δ) a segment of the outer region where the scaled Reynolds stresses also remain fairly self-similar.     

Dispersion of particles in wall-bounded particle-laden turbulent flows with high wall permeability

A series of numerical simulations were performed to investigate the distribution and deposition properties of particles in turbulent flows bounded by permeable walls using the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) with a Lagrangian trajectory approach. The wall permeation speeds were taken from 10⁻⁴ to 10⁻² of the bulk velocity. The directions of the permeation speed were the same at both walls, and they were inward on one wall but outward on the other wall to reserve the fluid mass. Particles with Stokes number (respecting viscous time scale) around 0.1, 1 and 10 were released in the fully developed turbulent channel flow. The particle–particle interaction and the retroaction from particles to the fluid were neglected. The fluid-phase turbulence statistical properties and particle's transport characteristics by vortexes were then analyzed in details. If the wall permeation exists, the turbulence intensities will be depressed close to the outward permeable wall but increased near the inward permeable wall. Not influenced by the wall permeation, the suspended particles with St⁺ ∼O(1) tend to accumulate in the less vortical zones away from the wall, while those particles in the flow regions near the outward permeable wall will distribute disregarding of the vorticity. The turbulence structures near the outward permeable wall are found to exert promotional effects on the particle deposition rate, but such effects are different for particles with various Stokes number. A distribution tendency of streamwise streaks for the deposited particles is also found on the wall imposed by the high outward permeation speed and the clustering deposition pattern is more obvious with increasing particle Stokes number.     

TRPIV investigation of space-time correlation in turbulent flows over flat and wavy walls

The present experimental work is devoted to in- vestigate a new space-time correlation model for the turbulent boundary layer over a flat and a wavy walls. A turbulent boundary layer flow at Reo = 2460 is measured by tomographic time-resolved particle image velocimetry （Tomo-TRPIV）. The space-time correlations of instantaneous streamwise fluctuation velocity are calculated at 3 different wall-normal locations in logarithmic layer. It is found that the scales of coherent structure increase with moving far away from the wall. The growth of scales is a manifestation of the growth of prevalent coherent structures in the turbulent boundary layer like hairpin vortex or hairpin packets when they lift up. The resulting contours of the space-time correlation exhibit elliptic-like shapes rather than straight lines. It is suggested that, instead of Taylor hypothesis, the elliptic model of the space-time correlation is valid for the wallbounded turbulent flow over either a flat wall or a wavy wall. The elliptic iso-correlation curves have a uniform preferred orientation whose slope is determined by the convection velocity. The convection velocity derived from the space-time correlation represents the velocity at which the large-scale eddies carry small-scale eddies. The sweep velocity rep- resents the distortions of the small-scale eddies and is intimately associated with the fluctuation velocity in the logarithmic layer of turbulent boundary layers. The nondimensionalized correlation curves confirm that the elliptic model is more proper for approximating the space-time correlation than Taylor hypothesis, because the latter can not embody the small-scale motions which have non-negligible distortions. A second flow over a wavy wall is also recorded using TRPIV. Due to the combined effect of shear layers and the adverse pressure gradient, the space-time correlation does not show an elliptic-like shape at some specific heights over the wavy wall, but in the outer region of the wavy wallbounded flow, the elliptic model remai     

Turbulence modulation in a particle-laden flow over a hemisphere-roughened wall

Turbulence modulation by the inertia particles in a spatially developing turbulent boundary layer flow over a hemisphere-roughened wall was investigated using the direct numerical simulation method. The Eulerian and Lagrangian approaches were used for the gas- and particle-phases, respectively. An immersed boundary method was employed to resolve the hemispherical roughness element. The hemispheres were staggered in the downstream direction and arranged periodically in the streamwise and spanwise directions with spacing of p_x/d= 4 and p_z/d= 2 (where p_x and p_z are the streamwise and spanwise spacing of the hemispheres, and d is the diameter). The effects of particles on the turbulent coherent structures, turbulent statistics and quadrant events were analyzed. The results show that the addition of particles significantly damps the vortices structures and increases the length scales of streak structures. Compared with the particle-laden flow over the smooth wall, the existence of the wall roughness decreases the mean streamwise velocity in the near wall region, and makes the peaks of Reynolds stresses profiles shift up. In addition, the existence of particles also increases the percentage contributions to Reynolds shear stress from the Q4 events, however, decreases the percentage contributions from other quadrant events.     

A comparative study of flame-wall interaction and flame-cooling air interaction

This paper presents a three-dimensional (3D) direct numerical simulation (DNS) study of flame-wall interaction (FWI) and flame-cooling air interaction (FCAI). A preheated, methane/air mixture enters a channel with constant temperature walls, where the top wall is effusion cooled. An imposed vertical hot sheet near the inlet creates two flame branches interacting with the top and bottom walls. The flame is observed to be leaner in the region where it interacts with the effusion cooling jets. In this region, the flame is longer and features reduced CO mass fraction. The fluctuations in the heat release rate (HRR) and CO mass fraction are also relatively small near the top wall. Near the bottom wall, finger-like flame structures are formed due to the interaction of turbulent vortices with the flame surface. These flame structures initially move away from the wall as they propagate further downstream before eventually collapsing at the wall. This leads to the creation of regions of high wall heat flux and CO. While analysis of the CO thermochemical state shows a complex picture near the bottom wall, two-dimensional (2D) manifolds can be identified near the top wall. Therefore, a framework to estimate CO mass fraction due to FCAI based on 1D freely-propagating flame solutions is proposed showing a good agreement with the DNS results.     

The effect of mixed convection on the structure of channel flow at low Reynolds numbers

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the effect of bottom wall heating on the flow structure inside a horizontal square channel at low Reynolds numbers (Re) and high Grashof numbers (Gr). The flow field was found to be complex and three-dimensional due to the interactions of buoyancy-induced rising plumes of warm fluid, falling parcels of cold fluid and the shear flow. The mean streamwise velocity profiles were altered by bottom wall heating; and back flow was induced in the upper half of the channel when Gr/Re² > 55. The bottom wall temperatures were found to have more significant influence on the turbulent velocity magnitudes than the flow rate. The Reynolds stress became negative in the channel core region indicating the momentum transfer from the turbulent velocity field to the buoyancy field. The POD analysis revealed the presence of convective cells primarily in the lower half of the channel.