Streamwise pseudo-vortical structures and associated vorticity in the near-wall region of a wall-bounded turbulent shear flow

Streamwise pseudo-vortical motions near the wall in a fully-developed two-dimensional turbulent channel flow are clearly visualized in the plane perpendicular to the flow direction by a sophisticated hydrogen-bubble technique. This technique utilizes partially insulated fine wires, which generate hydrogen-bubble clusters at several distances from the wall. These flow visualizations also supply quantitative data on two instantaneous velocity components, and w, as well as the streamwise vorticity, _x . The vorticity field thus obtained shows quasi-periodicity in the spanwise direction and also a double-layer structure near the wall, both of which are qualitatively in good agreement with a pseudo-vortical motion model of the viscous wall-region.List of symbols C _i ,c _i ,d _i constants in Eqs. (2), (3) and (4) - H channel width (m) - Re _H Reynolds number (= U _c H/) - Re Reynolds number (= U _c /) - T period (s) - t time (s) - U mean streamwise velocity (m/s) - U _c center-line velocity (m/s) - u friction velocity (m/s) - u, , w velocity fluctuations (m/s) - x, y, z coordinates (m) - ^* displacement thickness (m) - momentum thickness (m) - mean low-speed streak spacing (m) - kinematic viscosity (m²/s) - phase difference - _x streamwise vorticity fluctuation (1/s) - ( )⁺ normalized by u and - (^–) root mean square value - (^–) statistical average This paper was presented at the Ninth Symposium on Turbulence, University of Missouri-Rolla, October 1–3, 1984