Turbulent boundary layers at moderate Reynolds numbers: inflow length and tripping effects

2012 ◽  
Vol 710 ◽  
pp. 5-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Schlatter ◽  
Ramis Örlü
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Shear Stress ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layer ◽  
Boundary Layers ◽  
Reynolds Shear Stress ◽  
Reynolds Numbers ◽  
Normal Velocity ◽  
Low Reynolds ◽  
Inflow Conditions

AbstractA recent assessment of available direct numerical simulation (DNS) data from turbulent boundary layer flows (Schlatter & Örlü,J. Fluid Mech., vol. 659, 2010, pp. 116–126) showed surprisingly large differences not only in the skin friction coefficient or shape factor, but also in their predictions of mean and fluctuation profiles far into the sublayer. While such differences are expected at very low Reynolds numbers and/or the immediate vicinity of the inflow or tripping region, it remains unclear whether inflow and tripping effects explain the differences observed even at moderate Reynolds numbers. This question is systematically addressed by re-simulating the DNS of a zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layer flow by Schlatteret al. (Phys. Fluids, vol. 21, 2009, art. 051702). The previous DNS serves as the baseline simulation, and the new DNS with a range of physically different inflow conditions and tripping effects are carefully compared. The downstream evolution of integral quantities as well as mean and fluctuation profiles is analysed, and the results show that different inflow conditions and tripping effects do indeed explain most of the differences observed when comparing available DNS at low Reynolds number. It is further found that, if transition is initiated inside the boundary layer at a low enough Reynolds number (based on the momentum-loss thickness)${\mathit{Re}}_{\theta } \lt 300$, all quantities agree well for both inner and outer layer for${\mathit{Re}}_{\theta } \gt 2000$. This result gives a lower limit for meaningful comparisons between numerical and/or wind tunnel experiments, assuming that the flow was not severely over- or understimulated. It is further shown that even profiles of the wall-normal velocity fluctuations and Reynolds shear stress collapse for higher${\mathit{Re}}_{\theta } $irrespective of the upstream conditions. In addition, the overshoot in the total shear stress within the sublayer observed in the DNS of Wu & Moin (Phys. Fluids, vol. 22, 2010, art. 085105) has been identified as a feature of transitional boundary layers.

High-order moments of Reynolds shear stress fluctuations in a turbulent boundary layer

1973 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 581-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Antonia ◽  
J. D. Atkinson
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Shear Stress ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layer ◽  
Fourth Order ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Reynolds Shear Stress ◽  
Digital Data ◽  
Normal Velocity ◽  
The Third ◽  
Digital Data Acquisition System

The cumulant-discard approach is used to predict the third- and fourth-order moments and the probability density of turbulent Reynolds shear stress fluctuations uv, the streamwise and normal velocity fluctuations being represented by u and v respectively. Measurements of these quantities in a turbulent boundary layer are presented, with the required statistics of uv obtained by the use of a high-speed digital data-acquisition system. Including correlations between u and u up to the fourth order, the cumulant-discard predictions are in close agreement with the measurements in the inner region of the layer but only qualitatively follow the experimental results in the outer intermittent region. In this latter region, predictions for the third- and fourth-order moments of uv are also obtained by assuming that the properties of both turbulent and irrotational fluctuations are Gaussian and by using some of the available conditional averages of u, v and uv.

Evolution of zero-pressure-gradient boundary layers from different tripping conditions

2015 ◽  
Vol 783 ◽  
pp. 379-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Marusic ◽  
K. A. Chauhan ◽  
V. Kulandaivelu ◽  
N. Hutchins
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Boundary Layers ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Reynolds Numbers ◽  
Streamwise Velocity ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Flow Parameters ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Inflow Conditions

In this paper we study the spatial evolution of zero-pressure-gradient (ZPG) turbulent boundary layers from their origin to a canonical high-Reynolds-number state. A prime motivation is to better understand under what conditions reliable scaling behaviour comparisons can be made between different experimental studies at matched local Reynolds numbers. This is achieved here through detailed streamwise velocity measurements using hot wires in the large University of Melbourne wind tunnel. By keeping the unit Reynolds number constant, the flow conditioning, contraction and trip can be considered unaltered for a given boundary layer’s development and hence its evolution can be studied in isolation from the influence of inflow conditions by moving to different streamwise locations. Careful attention was given to the experimental design in order to make comparisons between flows with three different trips while keeping all other parameters nominally constant, including keeping the measurement sensor size nominally fixed in viscous wall units. The three trips consist of a standard trip and two deliberately ‘over-tripped’ cases, where the initial boundary layers are over-stimulated with additional large-scale energy. Comparisons of the mean flow, normal Reynolds stress, spectra and higher-order turbulence statistics reveal that the effects of the trip are seen to be significant, with the remnants of the ‘over-tripped’ conditions persisting at least until streamwise stations corresponding to $Re_{x}=1.7\times 10^{7}$ and $x=O(2000)$ trip heights are reached (which is specific to the trips used here), at which position the non-canonical boundary layers exhibit a weak memory of their initial conditions at the largest scales $O(10{\it\delta})$, where ${\it\delta}$ is the boundary layer thickness. At closer streamwise stations, no one-to-one correspondence is observed between the local Reynolds numbers ($Re_{{\it\tau}}$, $Re_{{\it\theta}}$ or $Re_{x}$ etc.), and these differences are likely to be the cause of disparities between previous studies where a given Reynolds number is matched but without account of the trip conditions and the actual evolution of the boundary layer. In previous literature such variations have commonly been referred to as low-Reynolds-number effects, while here we show that it is more likely that these differences are due to an evolution effect resulting from the initial conditions set up by the trip and/or the initial inflow conditions. Generally, the mean velocity profiles were found to approach a constant wake parameter ${\it\Pi}$ as the three boundary layers developed along the test section, and agreement of the mean flow parameters was found to coincide with the location where other statistics also converged, including higher-order moments up to tenth order. This result therefore implies that it may be sufficient to document the mean flow parameters alone in order to ascertain whether the ZPG flow, as described by the streamwise velocity statistics, has reached a canonical state, and a computational approach is outlined to do this. The computational scheme is shown to agree well with available experimental data.

The effects of a favourable pressure gradient and of the Reynolds number on an incompressible axisymmetric turbulent boundary layer. Part 1. The turbulent boundary layer

1998 ◽  
Vol 359 ◽  
pp. 329-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. H. FERNHOLZ ◽  
D. WARNACK
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Shear Stress ◽  
Wall Shear Stress ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layer ◽  
Pressure Gradient ◽  
Skin Friction ◽  
Boundary Layers ◽  
Reynolds Stresses ◽  
The Mean

The effects of a favourable pressure gradient (K[les ]4×10−6) and of the Reynolds number (862[les ]Reδ2[les ]5800) on the mean and fluctuating quantities of four turbulent boundary layers were studied experimentally and are presented in this paper and a companion paper (Part 2). The measurements consist of extensive hot-wire and skin-friction data. The former comprise mean and fluctuating velocities, their correlations and spectra, the latter wall-shear stress measurements obtained by four different techniques which allow testing of calibrations in both laminar-like and turbulent flows for the first time. The measurements provide complete data sets, obtained in an axisymmetric test section, which can serve as test cases as specified by the 1981 Stanford conference.Two different types of accelerated boundary layers were investigated and are described: in this paper (Part 1) the fully turbulent, accelerated boundary layer (sometimes denoted laminarescent) with approximately local equilibrium between the production and dissipation of the turbulent energy and with relaxation to a zero pressure gradient flow (cases 1 and 3); and in Part 2 the strongly accelerated boundary layer with ‘inactive’ turbulence, laminar-like mean flow behaviour (relaminarized), and reversion to the turbulent state (cases 2 and 4). In all four cases the standard logarithmic law fails but there is no single parametric criterion which denotes the beginning or the end of this breakdown. However, it can be demonstrated that the departure of the mean-velocity profile is accompanied by characteristic changes of turbulent quantities, such as the maxima of the Reynolds stresses or the fluctuating value of the skin friction.The boundary layers described here are maintained in the laminarescent state just up to the beginning of relaminarization and then relaxed to the turbulent state in a zero pressure gradient. The relaxation of the turbulence structure occurs much faster than in an adverse pressure gradient. In the accelerating boundary layer absolute values of the Reynolds stresses remain more or less constant in the outer region of the boundary layer in accordance with the results of Blackwelder & Kovasznay (1972), and rise both in the vincinity of the wall in conjunction with the rising wall shear stress and in the centre region of the boundary layer with the increase of production.

Pressure statistics and their scaling in high-Reynolds-number turbulent boundary layers

2007 ◽  
Vol 585 ◽  
pp. 1-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. TSUJI ◽  
J. H. M. FRANSSON ◽  
P. H. ALFREDSSON ◽  
A. V. JOHANSSON
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layer ◽  
Boundary Layers ◽  
Pressure Fluctuations ◽  
Reynolds Numbers ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layers ◽  
Local Pressure ◽  
Fluctuating Pressure ◽  
High Reynolds

Pressure fluctuations are an important ingredient in turbulence, e.g. in the pressure strain terms which redistribute turbulence among the different fluctuating velocity components. The variation of the pressure fluctuations inside a turbulent boundary layer has hitherto been out of reach of experimental determination. The mechanisms of non-local pressure-related coupling between the different regions of the boundary layer have therefore remained poorly understood. One reason for this is the difficulty inherent in measuring the fluctuating pressure. We have developed a new technique to measure pressure fluctuations. In the present study, both mean and fluctuating pressure, wall pressure, and streamwise velocity have been measured simultaneously in turbulent boundary layers up to Reynolds numbers based on the momentum thickness Rθ ≃ 20000. Results on mean and fluctuation distributions, spectra, Reynolds number dependence, and correlation functions are reported. Also, an attempt is made to test, for the first time, the existence of Kolmogorov's -7/3 power-law scaling of the pressure spectrum in the limit of high Reynolds numbers in a turbulent boundary layer.

Statistical structure of turbulent-boundary-layer velocity–vorticity products at high and low Reynolds numbers

2007 ◽  
Vol 570 ◽  
pp. 307-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. A. PRIYADARSHANA ◽  
J. C. KLEWICKI ◽  
S. TREAT ◽  
J. F. FOSS
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Shear Stress ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layer ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Reynolds Shear Stress ◽  
Rough Wall ◽  
Reynolds Stresses ◽  
Wall Boundary Layer ◽  
Layer Flow

The mean wall-normal gradients of the Reynolds shear stress and the turbulent kinetic energy have direct connections to the transport mechanisms of turbulent-boundary-layer flow. According to the Stokes–Helmholtz decomposition, these gradients can be expressed in terms of velocity–vorticity products. Physical experiments were conducted to explore the statistical properties of some of the relevant velocity–vorticity products. The high-Reynolds-number data (Rθ≃O(106), where θ is the momentum thickness) were acquired in the near neutrally stable atmospheric-surface-layer flow over a salt playa under both smooth- and rough-wall conditions. The low-Rθdata were from a database acquired in a large-scale laboratory facility at 1000 >Rθ> 5000. Corresponding to a companion study of the Reynolds stresses (Priyadarshana & Klewicki,Phys. Fluids, vol. 16, 2004, p. 4586), comparisons of low- and high-Rθas well as smooth- and rough-wall boundary-layer results were made at the approximate wall-normal locationsyp/2 and 2yp, whereypis the wall-normal location of the peak of the Reynolds shear stress, at each Reynolds number. In this paper, the properties of thevωz,wωyanduωzproducts are analysed through their statistics and cospectra over a three-decade variation in Reynolds number. Hereu,vandware the fluctuating streamwise, wall-normal and spanwise velocity components and ωyand ωzare the fluctuating wall-normal and spanwise vorticity components. It is observed thatv–ωzstatistics and spectral behaviours exhibit considerable sensitivity to Reynolds number as well as to wall roughness. More broadly, the correlations between thevand ω fields are seen to arise from a ‘scale selection’ near the peak in the associated vorticity spectra and, in some cases, near the peak in the associated velocity spectra as well.

Direct numerical simulation of the incompressible temporally developing turbulent boundary layer

2016 ◽  
Vol 796 ◽  
pp. 437-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kozul ◽  
D. Chung ◽  
J. P. Monty
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulation ◽  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layer ◽  
Boundary Layers ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Reynolds Numbers ◽  
Momentum Thickness ◽  
Temporal Boundary ◽  
Set Up

We perform a direct numerical simulation (DNS) investigation of the incompressible temporally developing turbulent boundary layer. The approach is inspired by temporal simulations of flows which are generally thought of as developing in space, such as wakes and mixing layers. Compressible boundary layers have previously been studied in this manner yet the temporal approach appears to be under-exploited in the literature concerning incompressible boundary layers. The flow is the turbulent counterpart to the laminar Rayleigh problem or Stokes’ first problem, in which a fluid at rest is set into motion by a wall moving at constant velocity. An initial profile that models the effect of a wall-mounted trip wire is implemented and allows the characterisation of initial conditions by a trip Reynolds number. For the current set-up, a trip Reynolds number of 500 based on the trip-wire diameter successfully triggers transition yet only mildly perturbs the flow so it assumes a natural development at the lowest possible Reynolds number based on momentum thickness. A systematic trip study reveals that as the ratio of momentum thickness to trip-wire diameter approaches unity, our flow approaches a state free from the effects of its starting trip Reynolds number. The transport of a passive scalar by this flow is also simulated. The role played by domain size is investigated with two boxes, sized to accommodate two chosen final Reynolds numbers. Comparisons of the skin friction coefficient, velocity and scalar statistics demonstrate that the temporally developing boundary layer is a good model for the spatially developing boundary layer once initial conditions can be neglected. Analysis of similarity solutions suggests such a rapprochement of the spatial and temporal boundary layers may be expected at high Reynolds numbers given that the only terms that asymptotically persist are those common to both cases. If one seeks statistics for the turbulent boundary layer, the temporal boundary layer is therefore a viable method if modest convergence is sufficient. We suggest that such a temporal set-up could prove useful in the study of turbulence dynamics.

The Effects of Adverse Pressure Gradients on Momentum and Thermal Structures in Transitional Boundary Layers: Part 2—Fluctuation Quantities

1996 ◽  
Vol 118 (4) ◽  
pp. 728-736 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. P. Mislevy ◽  
T. Wang
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Shear Stress ◽  
Transition Region ◽  
Boundary Layers ◽  
Reynolds Shear Stress ◽  
Turbulent Shear ◽  
Wall Region ◽  
Pressure Gradients ◽  
Baseline Case ◽  
Near Wall

The effects of adverse pressure gradients on the thermal and momentum characteristics of a heated transitional boundary layer were investigated with free-stream turbulence ranging from 0.3 to 0.6 percent. Boundary layer measurements were conducted for two constant-K cases, K1 = −0.51 × 10−6 and K2 = −1.05 × 10−6. The fluctuation quantities, u′, ν′, t′, the Reynolds shear stress (uν), and the Reynolds heat fluxes (νt and ut) were measured. In general, u′/U∞, ν′/U∞, and νt have higher values across the boundary layer for the adverse pressure-gradient cases than they do for the baseline case (K = 0). The development of ν′ for the adverse pressure gradients was more actively involved than that of the baseline. In the early transition region, the Reynolds shear stress distribution for the K2 case showed a near-wall region of high-turbulent shear generated at Y+ = 7. At stations farther downstream, this near-wall shear reduced in magnitude, while a second region of high-turbulent shear developed at Y+ = 70. For the baseline case, however, the maximum turbulent shear in the transition region was generated at Y+ = 70, and no near-wall high-shear region was seen. Stronger adverse pressure gradients appear to produce more uniform and higher t′ in the near-wall region (Y+ < 20) in both transitional and turbulent boundary layers. The instantaneous velocity signals did not show any clear turbulent/nonturbulent demarcations in the transition region. Increasingly stronger adverse pressure gradients seemed to produce large non turbulent unsteadiness (or instability waves) at a similar magnitude as the turbulent fluctuations such that the production of turbulent spots was obscured. The turbulent spots could not be identified visually or through conventional conditional-sampling schemes. In addition, the streamwise evolution of eddy viscosity, turbulent thermal diffusivity, and Prt, are also presented.

Essential Ingredients for the Computation of Steady and Unsteady Blade Boundary Layers

1991 ◽  
Vol 113 (4) ◽  
pp. 608-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. M. Jang ◽  
J. A. Ekaterinaris ◽  
M. F. Platzer ◽  
T. Cebeci
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Boundary Layers ◽  
Stokes Equations ◽  
Inviscid Flow ◽  
Reynolds Numbers ◽  
Navier Stokes ◽  
Transitional Region ◽  
Low Reynolds Numbers ◽  
Flow Equations ◽  
Low Reynolds

Two methods are described for calculating pressure distributions and boundary layers on blades subjected to low Reynolds numbers and ramp-type motion. The first is based on an interactive scheme in which the inviscid flow is computed by a panel method and the boundary layer flow by an inverse method that makes use of the Hilbert integral to couple the solutions of the inviscid and viscous flow equations. The second method is based on the solution of the compressible Navier–Stokes equations with an embedded grid technique that permits accurate calculation of boundary layer flows. Studies for the Eppler-387 and NACA-0012 airfoils indicate that both methods can be used to calculate the behavior of unsteady blade boundary layers at low Reynolds numbers provided that the location of transition is computed with the en method and the transitional region is modeled properly.

The accelerated fully rough turbulent boundary layer

1977 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 507-528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh W. Coleman ◽  
Robert J. Moffat ◽  
William M. Kays
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Shear Stress ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layer ◽  
Pressure Gradient ◽  
Stress Tensor ◽  
Skin Friction ◽  
Shape Factor ◽  
Reynolds Shear Stress ◽  
Smooth Wall ◽  
Mean Velocity

The behaviour of a fully rough turbulent boundary layer subjected to favourable pressure gradients both with and without blowing was investigated experimentally using a porous test surface composed of densely packed spheres of uniform size. Measurements of profiles of mean velocity and the components of the Reynolds-stress tensor are reported for both unblown and blown layers. Skin-friction coefficients were determined from measurements of the Reynolds shear stress and mean velocity.An appropriate acceleration parameterKrfor fully rough layers is defined which is dependent on a characteristic roughness dimension but independent of molecular viscosity. For a constant blowing fractionFgreater than or equal to zero, the fully rough turbulent boundary layer reaches an equilibrium state whenKris held constant. Profiles of the mean velocity and the components of the Reynolds-stress tensor are then similar in the flow direction and the skin-friction coefficient, momentum thickness, boundary-layer shape factor and the Clauser shape factor and pressure-gradient parameter all become constant.Acceleration of a fully rough layer decreases the normalized turbulent kinetic energy and makes the turbulence field much less isotropic in the inner region (forFequal to zero) compared with zero-pressure-gradient fully rough layers. The values of the Reynolds-shear-stress correlation coefficients, however, are unaffected by acceleration or blowing and are identical with values previously reported for smooth-wall and zero-pressure-gradient rough-wall flows. Increasing values of the roughness Reynolds number with acceleration indicate that the fully rough layer does not tend towards the transitionally rough or smooth-wall state when accelerated.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document