Scattering of Tollmien-Schlichting waves as they pass over forward-/backward-facing steps

Forward-/backward-facing steps in boundary-layer flows are often seen in engineering applications, and they have potential impacts on laminar-turbulent transition through scattering of the oncoming instability modes(e.g., Tollmien-Schlichting(T-S) waves). This issue is studied in the present paper by applying a local scattering framework, which is a rather generic mathematical framework on describing the mode scattering process. In this framework, a high-Reynolds-number triple-deck formalism is employed, and a transmission coefficient, defined as the ratio of the asymptotic amplitude of the instability mode downstream of the step to that upstream, is introduced. Through the systematical study, it has been found that both the forward-and backward-facing steps have a destabilizing effect on the oncoming T-S waves in subsonic boundary layers, this effect increases with the height of the step and/or the frequency of the T-S wave, and a backward-facing step(BFS) always has a greater impact than a forward-facing step(FFS). These facts agree with most of the previous investigations.However, one numerical study(WORNER, A., RIST, U., and WAGNER, S. Humps/steps influence on stability characteristics of two-dimensional laminar boundary layer. AIAA Journal, 41, 192–197(2003)), which was based on an ad-hoc configuration, showed an opposite impact of an FFS. Through the investigation on the specific configuration, it is revealed that the wrong conclusion was drawn by misinterpreting the numerical results.     

An experimental research on the instability of natural convection boundary layer around a vertical heated flat plate

Experimental results on the instability of the isothermal naturalconvection boundary layer around a vertical heated flat plate are presented. It is demonstrated that the characteristics of the instability wave in the outer layer is consistent with the calculation of Brewster & Gebhart. After an initial growth of its low frequency components at the downstream side of the turning point of the neutral curve (Gr≈120) its comparatively higher frequency components develop and become turbulent subsequently with a buoyancy subrange in its power spectra. Simultaneously, in the measurement at the inner layer near the wall a viscous instability signal the same as the Tollmien-Schlichting waves in ordinary boundary layer and its subharmonics in a much higher frequency domain is discovered and an inertial subrange can be observed in the spectra atGr≈378.6. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (19572004)     

Study of effect of a smooth hump on hypersonic boundary layer instability

Effect of a two-dimensional smooth hump on linear instability of hypersonic boundary layer is studied by using parabolized stability equations. Linear evolution of mode S over a hump is analyzed for Mach 4.5 and 5.92 flat plate and Mach 7.1 sharp cone boundary layers. Mean flow for stability analysis is obtained by solving the parabolized Navier–Stokes equations. Hump with height smaller than local boundary layer thickness is considered. The case of flat plate and sharp cone without the hump are also studied to provide comparable data. For flat plate boundary layers, destabilization and stabilization effect is confirmed for hump located at upstream and downstream of synchronization point, respectively. Results of parametric studies to examine the effect of hump height, location, etc., are also given. For sharp cone boundary layer, stabilization influence of hump is also identified for a specific range of frequency. Stabilization influence of hump on convective instability of mode S is found to be a possible cause of previous experimental observations of delaying transition in hypersonic boundary layers.     

Development of a turbulent boundary layer after a step from smooth to rough surface

The flow developing downstream of a step change from smooth to rough surface condition is studied in the light of Townsend’s wall similarity hypothesis. Previous studies seem to support the hypothesis for channel and pipe flows, but there are considerable controversies about its application to boundary layers and in particular to surface roughness formed by spanwise bars. It has been suggested that this controversy arises from insufficient separation of scales between the boundary layer thickness and the roughness length scale. An experimental investigation has therefore been undertaken where the flow evolves from a fully developed smooth wall boundary layer at high Reynolds numbers over a step in surface roughness (Re _θ = 13,400 at the step). The flow is mapped through the development of the internal layer until the flow is fully developed over the rough wall. The internal layer is found to grow as δ ∼ X ^0.73, and after about 15 boundary layer thicknesses at the step, the internal layer has reached the outer edge of the incoming layer. At the last rough wall measurement station, the Reynolds number has grown to Re _θ ≈ 32,600 and the ratio of boundary layer to roughness length scales is δ/k ≈ 140. The outer layer differences between the smooth and the rough wall data were found to be sufficiently small to conclude that for this setup the Townsend’s wall similarity hypothesis appears to hold.     

Acoustic receptivity of Mach 4.5 boundary layer with leading-edge bluntness

Boundary layer receptivity to two-dimensional slow and fast acoustic waves is investigated by solving Navier–Stokes equations for Mach 4.5 flow over a flat plate with a finite-thickness leading edge. Higher order spatial and temporal schemes are employed to obtain the solution whereby the flat-plate leading edge region is resolved by providing a sufficiently refined grid. The results show that the instability waves are generated in the leading edge region and that the boundary-layer is much more receptive to slow acoustic waves (by almost a factor of 20) as compared to the fast waves. Hence, this leading-edge receptivity mechanism is expected to be more relevant in the transition process for high Mach number flows where second mode instability is dominant. Computations are performed to investigate the effect of leading-edge thickness and it is found that bluntness tends to stabilize the boundary layer. Furthermore, the relative significance of fast acoustic waves is enhanced in the presence of bluntness. The effect of acoustic wave incidence angle is also studied and it is found that the receptivity of the boundary layer on the ‘windward’ side (with respect to the acoustic forcing) decreases by more than a factor of four when the incidence angle is increased from 0° to 45°. However, the receptivity coefficient for the ‘leeward’ side is found to vary relatively weakly with the incidence angle.      

Distributed Roughness Effects on Transitional and Turbulent Boundary Layers

A numerical investigation is carried out to study the transition of a subsonic boundary layer on a flat plate with roughness elements distributed over the entire surface. Post-transition, the effect of surface roughness on a spatially developing turbulent boundary layer (TBL) is explored. In the transitional regime, the onset of flow transition predicted by the current simulations is in agreement with the experimentally based correlations proposed in the literature. Transition mechanisms are shown to change significantly with the increasing roughness height. Roughness elements that are inside the boundary layer create an elevated shear layer and alternating high and low speed streaks near the wall. Secondary sinuous instabilities on the streaks destabilize the shear layer promoting transition to turbulence. For the roughness topology considered, it is observed that the instability wavelengths are governed by the streamwise and spanwise spacing between the roughness elements. In contrast, the roughness elements that are higher than the boundary layer create turbulent wakes in their lee. The scale of instability is much shorter and transition occurs due to the shedding from the obstacles. Post-transition, in the spatially developing TBL, the velocity defect profiles for both the smooth and rough walls collapsed when non dimensionalized in the outer units. However, when compared to the smooth wall, deviation in the Reynolds stresses are observable in the outer layer; the deviation being higher for the larger roughness elements.     

An Experimental Investigation of the Separated-Flow Transition Under High-Lift Turbine Blade Pressure Gradients

Laminar boundary layer separation, shear layer transition and reattachment have been experimentally investigated on a flat plate installed within a double contoured test section designed to produce an adverse pressure gradient typical of Ultra-High-Lift turbine profiles. Measurements have been performed for the Reynolds number range 70,000 < Re < 200,000, typical of real engine operation. Profile aerodynamic loadings as well as boundary layer velocity profiles have been measured to survey the separation and transition processes. Particle Image Velocimetry measurements allowed the visualization of vortical structures induced by the shear layer instability. Spectral analysis of hot-wire velocity data has been adopted to identify the characteristic frequencies of the phenomena. Distinct energy peaks, associated with the Kelvin–Helmholtz waves generated in the shear layer over the separation bubble, appear in the spectra. In particular the evolution along the shear layer of the energy contents at the characteristic frequencies of the phenomenon has been analyzed. Two frequency ranges have been identified in which the instability waves are amplified within the shear layer over the stagnation area. The inviscid Kelvin–Helmholtz instability is the main mechanism that drives transition, but it starts to be relevant only after that lower frequency oscillations are amplified and reach the saturation.     

Three-dimensional instability analysis of boundary layers perturbed by streamwise vortices

A parametric study is presented for the incompressible, zero-pressure-gradient flat-plate boundary layer perturbed by streamwise vortices. The vortices are placed near the leading edge and model the vortices induced by miniature vortex generators (MVGs), which consist in a spanwise-periodic array of small winglet pairs. The introduction of MVGs has been experimentally proved to be a successful passive flow control strategy for delaying laminar-turbulent transition caused by Tollmien–Schlichting (TS) waves. The counter-rotating vortex pairs induce non-modal, transient growth that leads to a streaky boundary layer flow. The initial intensity of the vortices and their wall-normal distances to the plate wall are varied with the aim of finding the most effective location for streak generation and the effect on the instability characteristics of the perturbed flow. The study includes the solution of the three-dimensional, stationary, streaky boundary layer flows by using the boundary region equations, and the three-dimensional instability analysis of the resulting basic flows by using the plane-marching parabolized stability equations. Depending on the initial circulation and positioning of the vortices, planar TS waves are stabilized by the presence of the streaks, resulting in a reduction in the region of instability and shrink of the neutral stability curve. For a fixed maximum streak amplitude below the threshold for secondary instability (SI), the most effective wall-normal distance for the formation of the streaks is found to also offer the most stabilization of TS waves. By setting a maximum streak amplitude above the threshold for SI, sinuous shear layer modes become unstable, as well as another instability mode that is amplified in a narrow region near the vortex inlet position.     

Numerical Simulation of Riblet Controlled Spatial Transition in a Zero-Pressure-Gradient Boundary Layer

To analyze the fundamental physical mechanism which determines the damping effect of a riblet surface on three-dimensional transition several numerical simulations of spatial transition in a flat plate zero-pressure-gradient boundary layer above a riblet wall are performed in this study. Two types of forced transition scenarios are investigated. The first type of transition is defined by K-type transition induced by a dominant two-dimensional Tollmien–Schlichting (TS) wave and a weak spanwise disturbance. The second type of transition is purely excited by two oblique waves. By a qualitative analysis of the occurring maximum wall-normal and spanwise velocity components and the Fourier modes of the disturbances the two-dimensional TS waves are found to be amplified by riblets, whereas three-dimensional structures, i.e., Λ-, hairpin, and streamwisely aligned vortices, are damped. At oblique transition the breakdown to turbulence is delayed by the riblets compared to transition on a clean surface. The investigation of the near wall flow structure reveals secondary flows induced by the riblets and reduced wall normal ejections as well as a reduced downwash.     

Viscous Effects Can Destabilize Linear and Nonlinear Water Waves

Long waves on a running stream in shallow water are shown theoretically to be susceptible, in some circumstances, to a viscous instability, which can lead to rapid linear and nonlinear growth. The theory is based on high Reynolds numbers and involves viscous-inviscid interplay, leading in effect to a viscosity-modified version of the classical nonlinear K dV equation. This is with a pre-existing mean flow present. The modification is due to a Stokes wall layer and it can cause severe linear and nonlinear instability. A model profile for the original mean flow is studied first, followed by a smooth realistic profile, the latter provoking a nonlinear critical layer in addition. The theory is linked with interactive-boundary-layer analysis and linear and nonlinear Tollmien-Schlichting waves and there is some analogy with the recent findings (in work by the authors) of nonlinear break-ups occurring in any unsteady interactive boundary layer, including the external boundary layer and internal channel or pipe flows.     

Numerical simulation of receptivity of a hypersonic boundary layer to acoustic disturbances

Direct numerical simulations of the evolution of disturbances in a viscous shock layer on a flat plate are performed for a free-stream Mach number M _∞ = 21 and Reynolds number Re _L = 1.44 · 10⁵. Unsteady Navier-Stokes equations are solved by a high-order shock-capturing scheme. Processes of receptivity and instability development in a shock layer excited by external acoustic waves are considered. Direct numerical simulations are demonstrated to agree well with results obtained by the locally parallel linear stability theory (with allowance for the shock-wave effect) and with experimental measurements in a hypersonic wind tunnel. Mechanisms of conversion of external disturbances to instability waves in a hypersonic shock layer are discussed. __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 48, No. 3, pp. 84–91, May–June, 2007.     

Stability analysis and transition prediction of hypersonic boundary layer over a blunt cone with small nose bluntness at zero angle of attack

Stability and transition prediction of hypersonic boundary layer on a blunt cone with small nose bluntness at zero angle of attack was investigated. The nose radius of the cone is 0.5 mm; the cone half-angle is 5°, and the Mach number of the oncoming flow is 6. The base flow of the blunt cone was obtained by direct numerical simulation. The linear stability theory was applied for the analysis of the first mode and the second mode unstable waves under both isothermal and adiabatic wall condition, and eN method was used for the prediction of transition location. The N factor was tentatively taken as 10, as no experimentally confirmed value was available. It is found that the wall temperature condition has a great effect on the transition location. For adiabatic wall, transition would take place more rearward than those for isothermal wall. And despite that for high Mach number flows, the maximum amplification rate of the second mode wave is far bigger than the maximum amplification rate of the first mode wave, the transition location of the boundary layer with adiabatic wall is controlled by the growth of first mode unstable waves. The methods employed in this paper are expected to be also applicable to the transition prediction for the three dimensional boundary layers on cones with angle of attack.     

Boundary layer laminarization on a thermally insulated surface with energy supply to the flow

A subsonic stream of gas flowing over a thermally insulated plate and having an elevated temperature in a thin layer adjacent to the surface is considered. This temperature distribution in the flow can be obtained by providing a volume energy supply near the leading edge of the plate. The results of calculating the position of the line of laminar-turbulent transition on the basis of linear stability theory and the e^N method are presented. It is shown that the presence of a heated layer of gas near the surface of the plate leads to an increase in the stability of the laminar flow and an extension of the laminar interval of the boundary layer. A nonmonotonic dependence of the length of the laminar interval on the thickness of the heated layer of gas is detected. Moscow. Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 5, pp. 58–61, September–October, 1988.     

Turbulent flow over a rough backward-facing step

This work characterizes the impacts of the realistic roughness due to deposition of foreign materials on the turbulent flows at surface transition from elevated rough-wall to smooth-wall. High resolution PIV measurements were performed in the streamwise-wall-normal (x–y) planes at two different spanwise positions in both smooth and rough backward-facing step flows. The experiment conditions were set at a Reynolds number of 3450 based on the free stream velocity U_∞ and the mean step height h, expansion ratio of 1.01, and the ratio of incoming boundary layer thickness to the step height, δ/h, of 8. The mean flow structures are observed to be modified by the roughness and they illustrate three-dimensional features in rough backward-facing step flows. The mean reattachment length X_r is significantly reduced by the roughness at one PIV measurement position while is slightly increased by the different roughness topography at the other measurement position. The mean velocity profiles at the reattachment point indicate that the studied roughness weakens the perturbation of the step to the incoming turbulent flow. Comparisons of Reynolds normal and shear stresses, productions of normal stresses, quadrant analysis of the instantaneous shear-stress contributing events, and mean spanwise vorticity reveal that the turbulence in the separated shear layer is reduced by the studied roughness. The results also indicate an earlier separation of the turbulent boundary layer over the current rough step, probably due to the adverse pressure gradient produced by the roughness topography even before the step.     

Prediction of hypersonic boundary layer transition on sharp wedge flow considering variable specific heat

When the air temperature reaches 600 K or higher, vibration is excited. The specific heat is not a constant but a function of temperature. Under this condition, the transition position of hypersonic sharp wedge boundary layer is predicted by using the improved eN method considering variable specific heat. The transition positions with different Mach numbers of oncoming flow, half wedge angles, and wall conditions are computed condition, the nearer to the Mach number The results show that for the same oncoming flow condition and wall transition positions of hypersonic sharp wedge boundary layer move much leading edge than those of the flat plate. The greater the oncoming flow the closer the transition position to the leading edge.     

Effects of riblets upon flow stability

The onset of transition in the boundary layer over a grooved surface is studied by introducing the presence of grooves into the standarde ⁹ model with the aid of a previously obtained equivalent boundary condition. Under conditions of self-similarity and smallness of the grooves, Tollmien-Schlichting waves are found to be excited at a slightly smaller Reynolds number and Görtler vortices at a slightly larger one than on a smooth surface.     

Experimental study of the instability of convective boundary layers under the action of vibration

The wave instability of convective boundary layers in a horizontal cylindrical layer of ethanol under the action of vertical hamonic high-frequency vibration is studied. A strong destabilizing effect of the vibration on the stability of the convective boundary layers is detected. In the plane of the gravity and vibration Rayleigh numbers (Ra and R _V ), the excitation limit of the wave instability is determined. The periods of the temperature oscillations caused by the waves in the boundary layers near the inner and outer cavity boundaries are studied as functions of the Rayleigh numbers. Perm’. Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 3, pp. 32–40, May–June, 1998.     

Nonlinear Instability in the Region of Laminar-Turbulent Transition in Supersonic Three-Dimensional Flow over a Flat Plate

Direct numerical simulation is applied to obtain laminar-turbulent transition in supersonic flow over a flat plate. It is shown that, due to the nonlinear instability, Tollmien–Schlichting waves generated in the boundary layer lead to the formation of oblique disturbances in the flow. These represent a combination of compression and expansion waves, whose intensities can be two orders higher than that of external harmonic disturbances. The patterns of the three-dimensional flow over the plate are presented and the structures of the turbulent flat-plate boundary layers are described for the freestream Mach numbers M = 2 and 4.     

An intermittency model for predicting roughness induced transition

An intermittency transport equation for RANS modeling, formulated in local variables, is extended for roughness-induced transition. To predict roughness effects in the fully turbulent boundary layer, published boundary conditions for k and ω are used. They depend on the equivalent sand-grain roughness height, and account for the effective displacement of wall distance origin. Similarly in our approach, wall distance in the transition model for smooth surfaces is modified by an effective origin, which depends on equivalent sand-grain roughness. Flat plate test cases are computed to show that the proposed model is able to predict transition onset in agreement with a data correlation of transition location versus roughness height, Reynolds number, and inlet turbulence intensity. Experimental data for turbine cascades are compared to the predicted results to validate the proposed model.     

Mach Wave Effect on Laminar-Turbulent Transition in Supersonic Flow over a Flat Plate

The effect of a Mach wave (N wave) on laminar-turbulent transition induced by the first instability mode (Tollmien–Schlichting wave) in the flat-plate boundary layer is investigated on the basis of the numerical solution of Navier–Stokes equations at the freestream Mach number of 2.5. In accordance with the experiment, the N wave is generated by a two-dimensional roughness at the computation domain boundary corresponding to the side wall of the test section of a wind tunnel. It is shown that the disturbance induced by the backward front of the N wave in the boundary layer has no effect on the beginning of transition but displaces downstream the nonlinear stage of the first mode development. The disturbance induced by the forward front of the N wave displaces the beginning of transition upstream.