Görtler vortices promoted by wall roughness

Numerical experiments are conducted to investigate spatially developing Görtler vortices and the way in which wall roughness promotes their formation and growth. Several different types of walls are examined and their relative merits as vortex promoters assessed. The only disturbances of the flow are due to the rough wall; hence, at each downstream station the local field feels (1) the upstream flow distribution (produced by the upstream wall conditions) and (2) the local forcing at the wall. Rapid vortex formation and growth, like in the case of ribleted walls, can be qualitatively explained by the positive combination of these two effects; when the two influences on the local flow field compete, e.g. for randomly distributed wall roughness, the equations with the boundary conditions filter the disturbances over some streamwise length, function of the roughness amplitude, to create coherent patches of vorticity out of the random noise. These patches can then be amplified by the instability mechanism. If a thin rough strip is aligned along the span of an otherwise smooth wall to trip the boundary layer, the filtering region is shorter and growth of the vortices starts earlier. Also for the case of an isolated three-dimensional hump a rapid disturbance amplification is produced, but in this case the vortices remain confined and a very slow spanwise spreading of the perturbation occurs. In all naturally developing cases, where no specific wavelengths are explicity favored, the average spanwise wavelengths computed are very close to those of largest growth from the linear stability theory.     

Iterative control of Görtler vortices via local wall deformations

Görtler vortices develop along concave walls as a result of the imbalance between the centrifugal force and radial pressure gradient. In this study, we introduce a simple control strategy aimed at reducing the growth rate of Görtler vortices by locally modifying the surface geometry in spanwise and streamwise directions. Such wall deformations are accounted in the boundary region equations by using a Prandtl transform of dependent and independent variables. The vortex energy is then controlled via a classical proportional control algorithm for which either the wall-normal velocity or the wall shear stress serves as the control variable. Our numerical results indicate that the control algorithm is quite effective in minimizing the wall shear stress.     

Steady and unsteady Görtler boundary-layer instability on concave wall

The subject of the present combined experimental and theoretical investigation is the steady and unsteady linear Görtler instability. The majority of previous experiments were devoted to the steady Görtler vortices, despite the unsteady ones are also observed in real transitional flows. Moreover, even for the steady Görtler vortices no quantitative agreement between the experimental and theoretical linear-stability characteristics was obtained, especially for disturbance amplification rates. The experimental difficulties were connected, in particular, with a rather poor accuracy of measurements at zero disturbance frequency, a possible influence of nonlinearity, and an admixture of non-modal (transient) growth mechanism. All these difficulties have been overcome in the experimental part of the present study by means of: (i) tuning-out of the exact zero frequency of Görtler vortices and working, instead, with quasi-steady perturbations of very low frequencies, (ii) performing measurements at low disturbance amplitudes, and (iii) minimization and careful estimation of the disturbance-source near-field by means of utilizing a special controlled disturbance source and performing special numerical computations for exact experimental conditions. A detailed study of all linear-stability characteristics for essentially unsteady Görtler vortices was performed in this paper as well. The results are obtained in a range of Görtler numbers 13 ? Gö ? 17.3, frequency parameters F = 0.56–22.70, and spanwise wavelength parameters Λ = 149–775 (close to the most amplified Görtler modes).Appropriate calculations based on locally-parallel and non-local non-parallel linear-stability theories were performed and compared quantitatively with experimentally obtained linear-stability characteristics. For the first time all stability characteristics measured for steady Görtler vortices (in quasi-steady regimes) are found to agree very well with those calculated for the most amplified first discrete-spectrum mode of the linear Görtler-instability problem. Similar good agreement is obtained for essentially unsteady Görtler vortices. The roles of effects of the base-flow non-parallelism and the disturbance-source near-field are examined.     

Receptivity mechanisms for Görtler vortex modes

The receptivity problem for Görtler vortices induced by wall roughness or freestream disturbances is reviewed. To date, receptivity studies for this problem have been exclusively linear in character and here we show how the roughness and freestream disturbance mechanisms can each play dominant or inconsequential roles as possible routes to transition. The importance of each process is dependent on the exact situation at hand. For example, distributed wall-roughness elements tend to be more important in the generation of O(1) wave-number vortices than are isolated roughness patches whilst variations in the freestream velocity can easily provoke high wave-number disturbances on which roughness distributions typically have negligible effect.It has only been in recent times that the influence a spanwise component of the underlying basic boundary-layer flow may have on the Görtler mechanism has come to be appreciated. In some new computations we show that the imposition of such a spanwise component can lead to an increase in the coupling coefficient (a measure of the efficiency of a generating process) for modes provoked by wall roughness. However, such crossflow tends to reduce the global amplification rate of the most unstable mode so has the overall effect of restricting vortex growth downstream of any roughness element. We also demonstrate how the nonparallelism of Görtler vortices implies that conclusions concerning vortex receptivity properties can only be drawn after taking full account of upstream conditions and the precise form of the generating mechanism but it appears that for a large class of flows distributed wall forcing is more important in the provocation of modes than are either isolated roughness or freestream disturbances.This work was completed whilst APB was on study leave at the School of Mathematics, University of New South Wales, Sydney. He is indebted to the Royal Society of London and the Australian Research Council without whose grants (the latter to Dr. Peter Blennerhassett) his visit would not have been possible. In addition he is grateful to the staff and students of New College, UNSW for their provision of a Visiting Fellowship and to the School of Mathematics for their hospitality.     

The effect of wall cooling on compressible Görtler vortices

It is known that in adiabatic boundary layer flow over a curved surface the detailed structure of the spanwise periodic Görtler vortex instability varies markedly over the range of spanwise wavelength. At short wavelengths the modes tend to be concentrated in a well-defined thin zone located within the boundary layer. As the vortex wavenumber diminishes so the region of vortex activity is first driven to the bounding wall but subsequently expands to cover the entire boundary layer at which stage the modes take on a principally inviscid form. At yet longer wavelengths the vortices are given by the solution of an interactive multi-deck structure which has some similarities with that for Tollmien–Schlichting waves.In this work we investigate how the application of wall cooling affects the above scenario. It is shown how cooling both restricts the range of mode types and gives rise to two new structures. The first, for moderate cooling and which relates to longer wavelengths, is interactive in nature. Here the viscous–inviscid interaction between an essentially inviscid Görtler problem, albeit for an effective basic flow which in its general form has a non-standard near-wall structure, and a viscous sublayer is provided by novel boundary conditions. Shorter wavelength vortices are largely unaffected by wall cooling unless this is quite severe. However when this degree of cooling is applied, the vortices take on a fully viscous form and are confined to a thin region next to the bounding wall wherein the basic flow assumes an analytic form. Numerical solutions are obtained and we provide evidence as to how the two new structures are related both to each other and to the previously known uncooled results.     

Görtler Vortices with System Rotation

The steady primary instability of Görtler vortices developing along a curved Blasius boundary layer subject to spanwise system rotation is analysed through linear and nonlinear approaches, to clarify issues of vortex growth and wavelength selection, and to pave the way to further secondary instability studies.A linear marching stability analysis is carried out for a range of rotation numbers, to yield the (predictable) result that positive rotation, that is rotation in the sense of the basic flow, enhances the vortex development, while negative rotation dampens the vortices. Comparisons are also made with local, nonparallel linear stability results (Zebib and Bottaro, 1993) to demonstrate how the local theory overestimates vortex growth. The linear marching code is then used as a tool to predict wavelength selection of vortices, based on a criterion of maximum linear amplification.Nonlinear finite volume numerical simulations are performed for a series of spanwise wave numbers and rotation numbers. It is shown that energy growths of linear marching solutions coincide with those of nonlinear spatially developing flows up to fairly large disturbance amplitudes. The perturbation energy saturates at some downstream position at a level which seems to be independent of rotation, but that increases with the spanwise wavelength. Nonlinear simulations performed in a long (along the span) cross section, under conditions of random inflow disturbances, demonstrate that: (i) vortices are randomly spaced and at different stages of growth in each cross section; (ii) upright vortices are the exception in a universe of irregular structures; (iii) the average nonlinear wavelengths for different inlet random noises are close to those of maximum growth from the linear theory; (iv) perturbation energies decrease initially in a linear filtering phase (which does not depend on rotation, but is a function of the inlet noise distribution) until coherent patches of vorticity near the wall emerge and can be amplified by the instability mechanism; (v) the linear filter represents the receptivity of the flow: any random noise, no matter how strong, organizes itself linearly before subsequent growth can take place; (vi) the Görtler number, by itself, is not sufficient to define the state of development of a vortical flow, but should be coupled to a receptivity parameter; (vii) randomly excited Görtler vortices resemble and scale like coherent structures of turbulent boundary layers.A.Z. has been supported, during his stay at EPFL, by an ERCOFTAC Visitor Grant. A.B. acknowledges the Swiss National Fund, Grant No. 21-36035.92, for travel support associated with this research. This work was also supported by the Swedish Board of Technical Development (NUTEK), the Swedish Technical-Scientific Council (TFR), and an ERCOFTAC Visitor Grant, through which the stay of B.G.B.K. at the EPFL was made possible. Cray-2 computing time for this research was generously provided by the Service Informatique Centrale of EPFL.     

On the formation of Taylor–G?rtler vortices in RMF-driven spin-up flows

This paper is concerned with a liquid metal flow driven by a rotating magnetic field inside a stationary cylinder. We consider especially the secondary meridional flow during the time when the fluid spins up from rest. The developing flow is investigated experimentally and by direct numerical simulations. The vertical profiles of the axial velocity are measured by means of the ultrasound Doppler velocimetry. Evolving instabilities in the form of Taylor–G?rtler vortices have been observed just above the instability threshold (Ta ≥ 1.5· Ta ^cr). The rotational symmetry may survive over a distinct time even if a first Taylor–G?rtler vortex pair has been formed as closed rings along the cylinder perimeter. The transition to a three-dimensional flow in the side layers results from the advection or a precession and splitting of the Taylor–G?rtler vortex rings. The predictable behaviour of the Taylor–G?rtler vortices disappears with increasing magnetic field strength. The numerical simulations agree very well with the flow measurements.     

The inviscid compressible Görtler problem in three-dimensional boundary layers

In this paper we investigate numerical solutions for the growth rates of Görtler vortices in a compressible three-dimensional flow in the inviscid limit of a large Görtler number. We look at a range of Mach numbers and find that there are three different types of behaviour for the mode growth-rate, corresponding to whether the flow is incompressible, has a Mach number small enough so that temperature-adjustment-layer modes do not appear in the two-dimensional case, or has a Mach number large enough so that they do. We find that it takes a considerably greater crossflow to destroy the Görtler vortices for moderate Mach numbers than it did in the incompressible case looked at by Bassom and Hall (1991). From this we believe that Görtler vortices may well still be a cause of transition for many practical compressible inviscid three-dimensional flows.Support for the author from SERC is acknowledged.     

Investigation of the spectrum of short-wave Görtler vortices in a gas

The linear stage of short-wave Görtler vortices in the boundary layer near a concave surface is studied for the regime of weak hypersonic viscid-inviscid interaction at high Reynolds and Görtler numbers. It is assumed that the gas is perfect and the viscosity is a linear function of the enthalpy. It is found that neutral vortices are located near the surface if it has zero temperature. When the surface is heated, the vortices move away from it, whereas all newly incipient vortices are located near the surface. It is shown that the growth rate of the vortices has a maximum and the heating of the surface has a stabilizing effect on the vortices.     

Nonlinear evolution of Görtler vortices in the near-wall part of a boundary layer

The evolution of Görtler vortices with wavelength smaller than the thickness of the boundary layer on a concave surface is modelled asymptotically at high Reynolds and Görtler numbers. It is known that in the initial linear stage of their evolution such vortices have the largest increment of amplitude growth. Numerical results demonstrate that taking the nonlinear interaction of the flow parameters into account considerably reduces the growth rate and leads to the forming of a perturbed vortex region core; profiles of the flow characteristics in the different stages of vortex evolution are presented.     

The effect of G?rtler instability on hypersonic boundary layer transition

The evolution of G?rtler vortices and its interaction with other instabilities are investigated in this paper.Both the Mack mode and the G?rtler mode exist in hypersonic boundary-layer flows over concave surfaces, and their interactions are crucially important in boundary layer transition. We carry out a direct numerical simulation to explore the interaction between the G?rtler and the oblique Mack mode.The results indicate that the interaction between the forced G?rtler mode and the oblique Mack mode promotes the onset of the transition. The forced oblique Mack mode is susceptible to nonlinear interaction.Because of the development of the G?rtler mode, the forced Mack mode and other harmonic modes are excited.     

Effect of compressibility on the development of taylor-görtler vortices at high reynolds numbers

The development of disturbances in viscous compressible flows caused by centrifugal forces is investigated. On the basis of an asymptotic analysis of the Navier-Stokes equations at high Reynolds and Görtler numbers, mathematical models describing the development of three-dimensional unstable vortex structures are constructed. Various linear boundary-value problems are analytically solved. One type of boundary layer instability is that generated by a centrifugal force field. This kind of instability can manifest itself in the flow past concave surfaces or, in general, in flows with streamlines of positive curvature [1, 2]. Instability-driven Görtler vortices have been the subject of much research which was reviewed, for example, in [2–4].     

The onset of Görtler vortices in laminar boundary layer flow over a slightly concave wall

The onset of convective instability in the laminar boundary layer over the slightly curved wall is analyzed theoretically and compared with the existing experimental data. A new set of stability equations are derived by the propagation theory considering the relative instability under the linear stability theory. In this analysis the disturbances are assumed to have the form of longitudinal vortices and also to grow themselves in streamwise direction. The critical position to mark the onset of Görtler instability is obtained as a function of the Görtler number, where disturbances at the critical state are mainly confined to the hydrodynamic boundary layer. Comparing the theoretical predictions with available experimental and other theoretical results, the present predictions follow experimental trends fairly well with slightly higher critical Görtler numbers than those from the local stability theory. The propagation theory commanding the local eigenvalue analysis is successful to obtain stability conditions reasonably in Görtler vortex problems, relaxing the limitations by the conventional analyses.     

Görtler vortices: Are they amenable to local eigenvalue analysis?

It is often quoted that Görtler vortices cannot be described by a local eigenvalue analysis. In this work, by using the inverse of the Görtler number as a small expansion parameter, we derive an asymptotic sequence continuable to all orders which is similar, in principle, to the one that justifies the application of the Orr-Sommerfeld equation to two-dimensional boundary-layer instabilities. Existing local theories from the literature can be framed within the leading term of this expansion; however, none of the heuristically proposed non-parallel corrections fully captures the next higher term. We show that, when this term is included, locally computed growth rates' quickly collapse onto those obtained from numerical simulations of the parabolic linear stability equations, with initial conditions applied at the leading edge. The Görtler number (or, equivalently, the downstream distance) beyond which this non-parallel local theory is found out to be accurate encloses the commonly recognized experimental range. The small Görtler number (short distance) effect of initial conditions is described in a companion paper.     

3-D measurements of separated flow over rigid plates with spanwise periodic cambering at low Reynolds number

Measurements of the flow field around a flat plate and rigid plates with spanwise periodic cambering were performed using volumetric three-component velocimetry (V3V) at a Reynolds numbers of 28,000 at α=12° where the flow is fully separated. The Reynolds normal and shear stresses, and the streamwise, spanwise and normal components of the vorticity vector are investigated for three-dimensionality. Flow features are discussed in context of the periodic cambering and corresponding aerodynamic force measurements. The periodic cambering results in spanwise variation in the reversed-flow region, Reynolds stresses and spanwise vorticity. These spanwise variations are induced by streamwise and normal vortices of opposite directions of rotation. Moreover, measurements were carried out for the cambered plates at α=8°, where a long separation bubble exists, to further understand the behavior of the streamwise and normal vortices. These vortices become more organized and increase in strength and size at the lower angle of attack. It is also speculated that these vortices contribute to the increase in lift at and beyond the onset of stall angle of attack.     

PIV measurements of the near-wake behind a sinusoidal cylinder

The three-dimensional near-wake structures behind a sinusoidal cylinder have been investigated using a particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurement technique at Re=3,000. The mean velocity fields and spatial distributions of ensemble-averaged turbulence statistics for flows around the sinusoidal and corresponding smooth cylinders were compared. The near-wake behind the sinusoidal cylinder exhibited pronounced spanwise periodic variations in the flow structure. Well-organized streamwise vortices with alternating positive and negative vorticity were observed along the span of the sinusoidal cylinder. They suppress the formation of the large-scale spanwise vortices and decrease the overall turbulent kinetic energy in the near-wake of the sinusoidal cylinder. The sinusoidal surface geometry significantly modifies the near-wake structure and strongly controls the three-dimensional vortices formed in the near-wake.     

Flow in a simple swirl chamber with and without controlled inlet forcing

Results are presented from a swirl chamber with and without controlled inlet forcing. The controlled inlet forcing is induced using arrays of vortex generators placed along one wall of the swirl chamber inlet duct. Flow visualization results are given, along with surveys of circumferential mean velocity, static pressure, and total pressure, at Reynolds numbers (based on inlet duct characteristics) as high as 8000. The controlled inlet forcing provides means to alter and control: (i) the spacing and number of Görtler vortices across the span of the swirl chamber, (ii) the amount of vortex development at a particular Reynolds number and circumferential location, (iii) the circumferential location and Reynolds number of initial Görtler vortex development, and (iv) the circumferential location and Reynolds number of Görtler vortex breakup into more chaotic flow.     

Effect of Small Bluntness on Formation of Görtler Vortices in a Supersonic Compression Corner Flow

The influence of small cylindrical bluntness of the leading edge of a flat plate on formation of spatial structures in a nominally two-dimensional supersonic compression corner flow at the Mach number M∞ ≈ 8 and a laminar state of the undisturbed boundary layer is studied by the method of temperature-sensitive paints. Streamwise vortices are found in the region of reattachment of the separated flow in a wide range of Reynolds numbers (0.15 · 10⁶–2.55 · 10⁶) for various angles of flow deflection and plate lengths. It is demonstrated that the existence of these vortices induces spanwise oscillations of the heat transfer coefficient; the amplitude of these oscillations may reach 30%. The maximum deviations of the Stanton number reaching 80% are observed in the case with significant roughness of the leading edge of the flat plate. Both the maximum Stanton numbers in the reattachment region and the amplitude of spanwise oscillations of the Stanton number induced by streamwise vortices are found to decrease significantly in the case of small bluntness of the leading edge. Solutions of three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations are obtained for some test conditions. The computed results are in good agreement with experimental data, which points to a significant stabilizing effect of small bluntness on the intensity of streamwise vortices.     

Effect of perforation on flow past a conic cylinder at <Emphasis Type="Italic">Re</Emphasis> = 100: vortex-shedding pattern and force history

The flow past a circular-section cylinder with a conic shroud perforated with four holes at the peak was simulated numerically at \(Re=100\), considering two factors, viz. the angle of attack and the diameter of the holes. The effects of the perforated conic shroud on the vortex shedding pattern in the near wake was mainly investigated, as well as the time history of the drag and lift forces. In the investigated parameter space, three flow regimes were generally identified, corresponding to weak, moderate, and strong disturbance effects. In regime I, the wake can mainly be described by alternately shedding Kármán or Kármán-like vortices. In regime II, the spanwise vortices are obviously disturbed along the span due to the appearance of additional vorticity components and their interactions with the spanwise vortices, but still shed in synchronization along the spanwise direction. In regime III, the typical Kármán vortices partially or totally disappear, and some new vortex shedding patterns appear, such as \(\Omega \)-type, obliquely shedding, and crossed spanwise vortices with opposite sign. Corresponding to these complex vortex shedding patterns in the near wake, the fluid forces no longer oscillate regularly at a single vortex shedding frequency, but rather with a lower modulation frequency and multiple amplitudes. An overview of these flow regimes is presented.