scholarly journals Properties of the turbulent/non-turbulent interface in boundary layers

2016 ◽  
Vol 801 ◽  
pp. 554-596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillem Borrell ◽  
Javier Jiménez

The turbulent/non-turbulent interface is analysed in a direct numerical simulation of a boundary layer in the Reynolds number range$Re_{{\it\theta}}=2800{-}6600$, with emphasis on the behaviour of the relatively large-scale fractal intermittent region. This requires the introduction of a new definition of the distance between a point and a general surface, which is compared with the more usual vertical distance to the top of the layer. Interfaces are obtained by thresholding the enstrophy field and the magnitude of the rate-of-strain tensor, and it is concluded that, while the former are physically relevant features, the latter are not. By varying the threshold, a topological transition is identified as the interface moves from the free stream into the turbulent core. A vorticity scale is defined which collapses that transition for different Reynolds numbers, roughly equivalent to the root-mean-squared vorticity at the edge of the boundary layer. Conditionally averaged flow variables are analysed as functions of the new distance, both within and outside the interface. It is found that the interface contains a non-equilibrium layer whose thickness scales well with the Taylor microscale, enveloping a self-similar layer spanning a fixed fraction of the boundary-layer thickness. Interestingly, the straining structure of the flow is similar in both regions. Irrotational pockets within the turbulent core are also studied. They form a self-similar set whose size decreases with increasing depth, presumably due to breakup by the turbulence, but the rate of viscous diffusion is independent of the pocket size. The raw data used in the analysis are freely available from our web page (http://torroja.dmt.upm.es).

Author(s):  
Heinz-Adolf Schreiber ◽  
Wolfgang Steinert ◽  
Bernhard Küsters

An experimental and analytical study has been performed on the effect of Reynolds number and free-stream turbulence on boundary layer transition location on the suction surface of a controlled diffusion airfoil (CDA). The experiments were conducted in a rectilinear cascade facility at Reynolds numbers between 0.7 and 3.0×106 and turbulence intensities from about 0.7 to 4%. An oil streak technique and liquid crystal coatings were used to visualize the boundary layer state. For small turbulence levels and all Reynolds numbers tested the accelerated front portion of the blade is laminar and transition occurs within a laminar separation bubble shortly after the maximum velocity near 35–40% of chord. For high turbulence levels (Tu > 3%) and high Reynolds numbers transition propagates upstream into the accelerated front portion of the CDA blade. For those conditions, the sensitivity to surface roughness increases considerably and at Tu = 4% bypass transition is observed near 7–10% of chord. Experimental results are compared to theoretical predictions using the transition model which is implemented in the MISES code of Youngren and Drela. Overall the results indicate that early bypass transition at high turbulence levels must alter the profile velocity distribution for compressor blades that are designed and optimized for high Reynolds numbers.


2017 ◽  
Vol 827 ◽  
pp. 250-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas W. Carter ◽  
Filippo Coletti

We experimentally investigate scale-to-scale anisotropy from the integral to the dissipative scales in homogeneous turbulence. We employ an apparatus in which two facing arrays of randomly actuated air jets generate turbulence with negligible mean flow and shear, over a volume several times larger than the energy-containing eddy size. The Reynolds number based on the Taylor microscale is varied in the range$Re_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}}\approx 300{-}500$, while the axial-to-radial ratio of the root mean square velocity fluctuations ranges between 1.38 and 1.72. Two velocity components are measured by particle image velocimetry at varying resolutions, capturing from the integral to the Kolmogorov scales and yielding statistics up to sixth order. Over the inertial range, the scaling exponents of the velocity structure functions are found to differ not only between the longitudinal and transverse components, but also between the axial and radial directions of separation. At the dissipative scales, the moments of the velocity gradients indicate that departure from isotropy is, at the present Reynolds numbers, significant and more pronounced for stronger large-scale anisotropy. The generalized flatness factors of the longitudinal velocity differences tend towards isotropy as the separation is reduced from the inertial to the near-dissipative scales (down to about$10\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}$,$\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}$being the Kolmogorov length), but become more anisotropic for even smaller scales which are characterized by high intermittency. At the large scales, the direction of turbulence forcing is associated with a larger integral length, defined as the distance over which the velocity component in a given direction is spatially correlated. Because of anisotropy, the definition of the integral length is not trivial and may lead to dissimilar conclusions on the qualitative behaviour of the large scales and on the quantitative values of the normalized dissipation. Alternative definitions of these quantities are proposed to account for the anisotropy. Overall, these results highlight the importance of evaluating both the different velocity components and the different spatial directions across all scales of the flow.


In streamlined flow past a flat plate aligned with a uniform stream, it is shown that ( a ) the Goldstein near-wake and ( b ) the Blasius boundary layer are non-unique solutions locally for the classical boundary layer equations, whereas ( c ) the Rott-Hakkinen very-near-wake appears to be unique. In each of ( a ) and ( b ) an alternative solution exists, which has reversed flow and which apparently cannot be discounted on immediate grounds. So, depending mainly on how the alternatives for ( a ), ( b ) develop downstream, the symmetric flow at high Reynolds numbers could have two, four or more steady forms. Concerning non-streamlined flow, for example past a bluff obstacle, new similarity forms are described for the pressure-free viscous symmetric closure of a predominantly slender long wake beyond a large-scale separation. Features arising include non-uniqueness, singularities and algebraic behaviour, consistent with non-entraining shear layers with algebraic decay. Non-uniqueness also seems possible in reattachment onto a solid surface and for non-symmetric or pressure-controlled flows including the wake of a symmetric cascade.


2019 ◽  
Vol 875 ◽  
pp. 44-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Blackman ◽  
Laurent Perret ◽  
Romain Mathis

Urban-type rough-wall boundary layers developing over staggered cube arrays with plan area packing density, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}_{p}$, of 6.25 %, 25 % or 44.4 % have been studied at two Reynolds numbers within a wind tunnel using hot-wire anemometry (HWA). A fixed HWA probe is used to capture the outer-layer flow while a second moving probe is used to capture the inner-layer flow at 13 wall-normal positions between $1.25h$ and $4h$ where $h$ is the height of the roughness elements. The synchronized two-point HWA measurements are used to extract the near-canopy large-scale signal using spectral linear stochastic estimation and a predictive model is calibrated in each of the six measurement configurations. Analysis of the predictive model coefficients demonstrates that the canopy geometry has a significant influence on both the superposition and amplitude modulation. The universal signal, the signal that exists in the absence of any large-scale influence, is also modified as a result of local canopy geometry suggesting that although the nonlinear interactions within urban-type rough-wall boundary layers can be modelled using the predictive model as proposed by Mathis et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 681, 2011, pp. 537–566), the model must be however calibrated for each type of canopy flow regime. The Reynolds number does not significantly affect any of the model coefficients, at least over the limited range of Reynolds numbers studied here. Finally, the predictive model is validated using a prediction of the near-canopy signal at a higher Reynolds number and a prediction using reference signals measured in different canopy geometries to run the model. Statistics up to the fourth order and spectra are accurately reproduced demonstrating the capability of the predictive model in an urban-type rough-wall boundary layer.


1977 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 583-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Kolansky ◽  
Sheldon Weinbaum ◽  
Robert Pfeffer

In Weinbaum et al. (1976) a simple new pressure hypothesis is derived which enables one to take account of the displacement interaction, the geometrical change in streamline radius of curvature and centrifugal effects in the thick viscous layers surrounding two-dimensional bluff bodies in the intermediate Reynolds number range O(1) < Re < O(102) using conventional Prandtl boundary-layer equations. The new pressure hypothesis states that the streamwise pressure gradient as a function of distance from the forward stagnation point on the displacement body is equal to the wall pressure gradient as a function of distance along the original body. This hypothesis is shown to be equivalent to stretching the streamwise body co-ordinate in conventional first-order boundary-layer theory. The present investigation shows that the same pressure hypothesis applies for the intermediate Reynolds number flow past axisymmetric bluff bodies except that the viscous term in the conventional axisymmetric boundary-layer equation must also be modified for transverse curvature effects O(δ) in the divergence of the stress tensor. The approximate solutions presented for the location of separation and the detailed surface pressure and vorticity distribution for the flow past spheres, spheroids and paraboloids of revolution at various Reynolds numbers in the range O(1) < Re < O(102) are in good agreement with available numerical Navier–Stokes solutions.


2016 ◽  
Vol 808 ◽  
pp. 511-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo de Giovanetti ◽  
Yongyun Hwang ◽  
Haecheon Choi

Despite a growing body of recent evidence on the hierarchical organization of the self-similar energy-containing motions in the form of Townsend’s attached eddies in wall-bounded turbulent flows, their role in turbulent skin-friction generation is currently not well understood. In this paper, the contribution of each of these self-similar energy-containing motions to turbulent skin friction is explored up to $Re_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}\simeq 4000$. Three different approaches are employed to quantify the skin-friction generation by the motions, the spanwise length scale of which is smaller than a given cutoff wavelength: (i) FIK (Fukagata, Iwamoto, Kasagi) identity in combination with the spanwise wavenumber spectra of the Reynolds shear stress; (ii) confinement of the spanwise computational domain; (iii) artificial damping of the motions to be examined. The near-wall motions are found to continuously reduce their role in skin-friction generation on increasing the Reynolds number, consistent with the previous finding at low Reynolds numbers. The largest structures given in the form of very-large-scale and large-scale motions are also found to be of limited importance: due to a non-trivial scale interaction process, their complete removal yields only a 5–8 % skin-friction reduction at all of the Reynolds numbers considered, although they are found to be responsible for 20–30 % of total skin friction at $Re_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}\simeq 2000$. Application of all the three approaches consistently reveals that the largest amount of skin friction is generated by the self-similar motions populating the logarithmic region. It is further shown that the contribution of these motions to turbulent skin friction gradually increases with the Reynolds number, and that these coherent structures are eventually responsible for most of turbulent skin-friction generation at sufficiently high Reynolds numbers.


2002 ◽  
Vol 465 ◽  
pp. 99-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. V. OBABKO ◽  
K. W. CASSEL

Numerical solutions of the unsteady Navier–Stokes equations are considered for the flow induced by a thick-core vortex convecting along a surface in a two-dimensional incompressible flow. The presence of the vortex induces an adverse streamwise pressure gradient along the surface that leads to the formation of a secondary recirculation region followed by a narrow eruption of near-wall fluid in solutions of the unsteady boundary-layer equations. The locally thickening boundary layer in the vicinity of the eruption provokes an interaction between the viscous boundary layer and the outer inviscid flow. Numerical solutions of the Navier–Stokes equations show that the interaction occurs on two distinct streamwise length scales depending upon which of three Reynolds-number regimes is being considered. At high Reynolds numbers, the spike leads to a small-scale interaction; at moderate Reynolds numbers, the flow experiences a large-scale interaction followed by the small-scale interaction due to the spike; at low Reynolds numbers, large-scale interaction occurs, but there is no spike or subsequent small-scale interaction. The large-scale interaction is found to play an essential role in determining the overall evolution of unsteady separation in the moderate-Reynolds-number regime; it accelerates the spike formation process and leads to formation of secondary recirculation regions, splitting of the primary recirculation region into multiple corotating eddies and ejections of near-wall vorticity. These eddies later merge prior to being lifted away from the surface and causing detachment of the thick-core vortex.


1997 ◽  
Vol 119 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. E. Ames ◽  
M. W. Plesniak

An experimental research program was undertaken to examine the influence of large-scale high-intensity turbulence on vane exit losses, wake growth, and exit turbulence characteristics. The experiment was conducted in a four-vane linear cascade at an exit Reynolds number of 800,000 based on chord length and an exit Mach number of 0.27. Exit measurements were made for four inlet turbulence conditions including a low-turbulence case (Tu ≈ 1 percent), a grid-generated turbulence case (Tu ≈ 7.5. percent) and two levels of large-scale turbulence generated with a mock combustor (Tu ≈ 12 and 8 percent). Exit total pressure surveys were taken at two locations to quantify total pressure losses. The suction surface boundary layer was also traversed to determine losses due to boundary layer growth. Losses occurred in the core of the flow for the elevated turbulence cases. The elevated free-stream turbulence was found to have a significant effect on wake growth. Generally, the wakes subjected to elevated free-stream turbulence were broader and had smaller peak velocity deficits. Reynolds stress profiles exhibited asymmetry in peak amplitudes about the wake centerline, which are attributable to differences in the evolution of the boundary layers on the pressure and suction surfaces of the vanes. The overall level of turbulence and dissipation inside the wakes and in the free stream was determined to document the rotor inlet boundary conditions. This is useful information for assessing rotor heat transfer and aerodynamics. Eddy diffusivities and mixing lengths were estimated using X-wire measurements of turbulent shear stress. The free-stream turbulence was found to strongly affect eddy diffusivities, and thus wake mixing. At the last measuring position, the average eddy diffusivity in the wake of the high-turbulence close combustor configuration (Tu ≈ 12) was three times that of the low turbulence wake.


2003 ◽  
Vol 125 (4) ◽  
pp. 716-723 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanley J. Kleis ◽  
Ivan Rivera-Solorio

The problem of unsteady mass transfer from a sphere that impulsively moves from rest to a finite velocity in a non-uniform concentration distribution is studied. A range of low Reynolds numbers (Re<1) and moderate Peclet numbers (Pe ranges from 5.6 to 300) is investigated (typical of the parameters encountered in anchorage dependent cell cultures in micro gravity). Using time scales, the effects of flow field development, concentration boundary layer development and free stream concentration variation are investigated. For the range of parameters considered, the development of the flow field has a negligible effect on the time variation of the Sherwood number (Sh). The Sh time dependence is dominated by concentration boundary layer development for early times and free stream concentration variations at later times.


1988 ◽  
Vol 92 (916) ◽  
pp. 224-229
Author(s):  
P. E. Roach

Summary The procedures employed for the design of a closed-circuit, boundary layer wind tunnel are described. The tunnel was designed for the generation of relatively large-scale, two-dimensional boundary layers with Reynolds numbers, pressure gradients and free-stream turbulence levels typical of the turbomachinery environment. The results of a series of tests to evaluate the tunnel performance are also described. The flow in the test section is shown to be highly uniform and steady, with very low (natural) free-stream turbulence intensities. Measured boundary layer mean and fluctuating velocity profiles were found to be in good agreement with classical correlations. Test-section free-stream turbulence intensities are presented for grid-generated turbulence: agreement with expectation is again found to be good. Immediate applications to the tunnel include friction drag reduction and boundary layer transition studies, with future possibilities including flow separation and other complex flows typical of those found in gas turbines.


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