Turbulent boundary layers absent mean shear

2017 ◽  
Vol 835 ◽  
pp. 217-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blair A. Johnson ◽  
Edwin A. Cowen
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layer ◽  
Turbulent Kinetic Energy ◽  
Temporal Frequency ◽  
Synthetic Jet ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Frequency Spectra ◽  
Empirical Constant ◽  
The Mean

We perform an experimental study to investigate the turbulent boundary layer above a stationary solid glass bed in the absence of mean shear. High Reynolds number $(Re_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}}\sim 300)$ horizontally homogeneous isotropic turbulence is generated via randomly actuated synthetic jet arrays (RASJA – Variano & Cowen J. Fluid Mech. vol. 604, 2008, pp. 1–32). Each of the arrays is controlled by a spatio-temporally varying algorithm, which in turn minimizes the formation of secondary mean flows. One array consists of an $8\times 8$ grid of jets, while the other is a $16\times 16$ array. Particle image velocimetry measurements are used to study the isotropic turbulent region and the boundary layer formed beneath as the turbulence encounters a stationary wall. The flow is characterized with statistical metrics including the mean flow and turbulent velocities, turbulent kinetic energy, integral scales and the turbulent kinetic energy transport equation, which includes the energy dissipation rate, production and turbulent transport. The empirical constant in the Tennekes (J. Fluid Mech. vol. 67, 1975, pp. 561–567) model of Eulerian frequency spectra is calculated based on the dissipation results and temporal frequency spectra from acoustic Doppler velocimetry measurements. We compare our results to prior literature that addresses mean shear free turbulent boundary layer characterizations via grid-stirred tank experiments, moving-bed experiments, rapid-distortion theory and direct numerical simulations in a forced turbulent box. By varying the operational parameters of the randomly actuated synthetic jet array, we also find that we are able to control the turbulence levels, including integral length scales and dissipation rates, by changing the mean on-times in the jet algorithm.

Near-wall measurements in a three-dimensional turbulent boundary layer

1997 ◽  
Vol 350 ◽  
pp. 189-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
DEBORA A. COMPTON ◽  
JOHN K. EATON
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Shear Stress ◽  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layer ◽  
Pressure Gradient ◽  
Turbulent Kinetic Energy ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Near Wall

An experiment was performed to measure near-wall velocity and Reynolds stress profiles in a pressure-driven three-dimensional turbulent boundary layer. An initially two-dimensional boundary layer (Reθ≈4000) was exposed to a strong spanwise pressure gradient. At the furthest downstream measurement locations there was also a fairly strong favourable streamwise pressure gradient.Measurements were made using a specially designed near-wall laser-Doppler anemometer (LDA), in addition to conventional methods. The LDA used short focal length optics, a mirror probe suspended in the flow, and side-scatter collection to achieve a measuring volume 35 μm in diameter and approximately 65 μm long.The data presented include mean velocity measurements and Reynolds stresses, all extending well below y+=10, at several profile locations. Terms of the turbulent kinetic energy transport equation are presented at two profile locations. The mean flow is nearly collateral (i.e. W is proportional to U) at the wall. Turbulent kinetic energy is mildly suppressed in the near-wall region and the shear stress components are strongly affected by three-dimensionality. As a result, the ratio of shear stress to turbulent kinetic energy is suppressed throughout most of the boundary layer. The angles of stress and strain are misaligned, except very near the wall (around y+=10) where the angles nearly coincide with the mean flow angle. Three-dimensionality appears to mildly reduce the production of turbulent kinetic energy.

Large-eddy simulation of a three-dimensional shear-driven turbulent boundary layer

2000 ◽  
Vol 423 ◽  
pp. 175-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHANDRASEKHAR KANNEPALLI ◽  
UGO PIOMELLI
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layer ◽  
Turbulent Kinetic Energy ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Quasi Equilibrium ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Curvature Effects ◽  
Large Eddy

A three-dimensional shear-driven turbulent boundary layer over a flat plate generated by moving a section of the wall in the transverse direction is studied using large-eddy simulations. The configuration is analogous to shear-driven boundary layer experiments on spinning cylinders, except for the absence of curvature effects. The data presented include the time-averaged mean flow, the Reynolds stresses and their budgets, and instantaneous flow visualizations. The near-wall behaviour of the flow, which was not accessible to previous experimental studies, is investigated in detail. The transverse mean velocity profile develops like a Stokes layer, only weakly coupled to the streamwise flow, and is self-similar when scaled with the transverse wall velocity, Ws. The axial skin friction and the turbulent kinetic energy, K, are significantly reduced after the imposition of the transverse shear, due to the disruption of the streaky structures and of the outer-layer vortical structures. The turbulent kinetic energy budget reveals that the decrease in production is responsible for the reduction of K. The flow then adjusts to the perturbation, reaching a quasi-equilibrium three-dimensional collateral state. Following the cessation of the transverse motion, similar phenomena take place again. The flow eventually relaxes back to a two-dimensional equilibrium boundary layer.

Experimental investigation of coherent structures of a three-dimensional separated turbulent boundary layer

2018 ◽  
Vol 859 ◽  
pp. 1-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Elyasi ◽  
Sina Ghaemi
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layer ◽  
Saddle Point ◽  
Turbulent Kinetic Energy ◽  
Coherent Structures ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Spanwise Direction ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Elliptical Cross

Coherent structures of a three-dimensional (3D) separation due to an adverse pressure gradient are investigated experimentally. The flow set-up consists of a flat plate to develop a turbulent boundary layer upstream of an asymmetric two-dimensional diffuser with one diverging surface. The diffuser surface has an initial mild curvature followed by a flat section where flow separation occurs. The top and the two sidewalls of the diffuser are not equipped with any flow control mechanism to form a 3D separation. Planar particle image velocimetry (PIV) using four side-by-side cameras is applied to characterize the flow with high spatial resolution over a large streamwise-wall-normal field of view (FOV). Tomographic PIV (tomo-PIV) is also applied for volumetric measurement in a domain flush with the flat surface of the diffuser. The mean flow obtained from averaging instantaneous velocity fields of this intermittent unsteady flow appears as a vortex with an elliptical cross-section. The major axis of the ellipse is tilted with respect to the streamwise direction. As a result, the average velocity in the mid-span of the diffuser has an upstream forward flow and a downstream backward flow, separated by a point of zero wall shear stress. Sweep motions mainly carry out transport of turbulent kinetic energy upstream of this point, while ejections dominate at the downstream region. In the instantaneous flow fields, forward and backward flows have equivalent strength, and the separation front is extended in the spanwise direction. The conditional average of the separation instants forms a saddle-point structure with streamlines converging in the spanwise direction. Proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) of the tomo-PIV data demonstrates that about 42 % of the turbulent kinetic energy is present in the first pair of modes, with a strong spanwise component. The spatial modes of POD also show focus, node and saddle-point structures. The average of the coefficients of the dominant POD modes during the separation events is used to develop a reduced-order model (ROM). Based on the ROM, the instantaneous 3D separation over the diffuser is a saddle-point structure interacting with focus-type structures.

Investigation of the influence of miniature vortex generators on the large-scale motions of a turbulent boundary layer

2021 ◽  
Vol 932 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.I. Chan ◽  
R.C. Chin
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layer ◽  
Velocity Fluctuation ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Vortex Generators ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Low Speed ◽  
The Mean

Well resolved large-eddy simulation data are used to study the physical modulation effects of miniature vortex generators (MVGs) in a moderate Reynolds number zero pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer. Large-scale counter-rotating primary vortex pairs (PVPs) imposed by the MVG contribute to the formation of streamwise streaks by transporting high momentum fluids from the outer regions of the boundary layer towards the wall, giving rise to high-speed regions centred at the PVP. Consequently, low-speed regions are formed along the outer flank of the PVP, resulting in a pronounced alternating high- and low-speed flow pattern. The PVP also relates to regions with skin friction modification, where a local skin friction reduction of up to 15 % is obtained at the low-speed region, but the opposite situation is observed over the high-speed region. The MVG-induced flow feature is further investigated by spectral analysis of the triple decomposition velocity fluctuation. Pre-multiplied energy spectra of the streamwise MVG-induced velocity fluctuation reveal that the large-scale induced modes scale with the spanwise wavelength and the length of the MVG, but the energy peak is eventually repositioned to the size of the near-wall streaks in the streamwise direction. Analysis of the triple decomposition of the kinetic energy transport equations revealed the significance of the mean flow gradient in generating kinetic energy which sustains the secondary motion. There is also an energy transfer between the turbulent and MVG-induced kinetic energy independent of the mean flow.

Turbulent Wall-Pressure Fluctuations: A New Model for Off-Axis Cross-Spectral Density

1997 ◽  
Vol 119 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. A. Singer
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layer ◽  
Spectral Density ◽  
Flow Direction ◽  
Wall Pressure ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Cross Spectral Density ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Cross

Models for the distribution of the wall-pressure under a turbulent boundary layer often estimate the coherence of the cross-spectral density in terms of a product of two coherence functions. One such function describes the coherence as a function of separation distance in the mean-flow direction, the other function describes the coherence in the cross-stream direction. Analysis of data from a large-eddy simulation of a turbulent boundary layer reveals that this approximation dramatically underpredicts the coherence for separation directions that are neither aligned with nor perpendicular to the mean-flow direction. These models fail even when the coherence functions in the directions parallel and perpendicular to the mean flow are known exactly. A new approach for combining the parallel and perpendicular coherence functions is presented. The new approach results in vastly improved approximations for the coherence.

Interaction between a spatially growing turbulent boundary layer and embedded streamwise vortices

1996 ◽  
Vol 326 ◽  
pp. 151-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junhui Liu ◽  
Ugo Piomelli ◽  
Philippe R. Spalart
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layer ◽  
Turbulent Kinetic Energy ◽  
Vortex Core ◽  
Eddy Viscosity ◽  
Shear Stresses ◽  
Streamwise Vortices ◽  
Mean Velocity ◽  
Production Term

The interaction between a zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layer and a pair of strong, common-flow-down, streamwise vortices with a sizeable velocity deficit is studied by large-eddy simulation. The subgrid-scale stresses are modelled by a localized dynamic eddy-viscosity model. The results agree well with experimental data. The vortices drastically distort the boundary layer, and produce large spanwise variations of the skin friction. The Reynolds stresses are highly three-dimensional. High levels of kinetic energy are found both in the upwash region and in the vortex core. The two secondary shear stresses are significant in the vortex region, with magnitudes comparable to the primary one. Turbulent transport from the immediate upwash region is partly responsible for the high levels of turbulent kinetic energy in the vortex core; its effect on the primary stress 〈u′v′〉 is less significant. The mean velocity gradients play an important role in the generation of 〈u′v′〉 in all regions, while they are negligible in the generation of turbulent kinetic energy in the vortex core. The pressure-strain correlations are generally of opposite sign to the production terms except in the vortex core, where they have the same sign as the production term in the budget of 〈u′v′〉. The results highlight the limitations of the eddy-viscosity assumption (in a Reynolds-averaged context) for flows of this type, as well as the excessive diffusion predicted by typical turbulence models.

Generation mechanism of a hierarchy of vortices in a turbulent boundary layer

2019 ◽  
Vol 865 ◽  
pp. 1085-1109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yutaro Motoori ◽  
Susumu Goto
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Energy Spectrum ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layer ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Generation Mechanism ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Generation Process ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
The Mean

To understand the generation mechanism of a hierarchy of multiscale vortices in a high-Reynolds-number turbulent boundary layer, we conduct direct numerical simulations and educe the hierarchy of vortices by applying a coarse-graining method to the simulated turbulent velocity field. When the Reynolds number is high enough for the premultiplied energy spectrum of the streamwise velocity component to show the second peak and for the energy spectrum to obey the$-5/3$power law, small-scale vortices, that is, vortices sufficiently smaller than the height from the wall, in the log layer are generated predominantly by the stretching in strain-rate fields at larger scales rather than by the mean-flow stretching. In such a case, the twice-larger scale contributes most to the stretching of smaller-scale vortices. This generation mechanism of small-scale vortices is similar to the one observed in fully developed turbulence in a periodic cube and consistent with the picture of the energy cascade. On the other hand, large-scale vortices, that is, vortices as large as the height, are stretched and amplified directly by the mean flow. We show quantitative evidence of these scale-dependent generation mechanisms of vortices on the basis of numerical analyses of the scale-dependent enstrophy production rate. We also demonstrate concrete examples of the generation process of the hierarchy of multiscale vortices.

On the structure of shear stress and turbulent kinetic energy flux across the roughness layer of a gravel-bed channel flow

2009 ◽  
Vol 638 ◽  
pp. 423-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
EMMANUEL MIGNOT ◽  
D. HURTHER ◽  
E. BARTHELEMY
Keyword(s):  
Shear Stress ◽  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Turbulent Kinetic Energy ◽  
Channel Flow ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Local Flow ◽  
Gravel Bed ◽  
Wall Flows ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Conditional Statistics

This study examines the structure of shear stress and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) flux across the roughness layer of a uniform, fully rough gravel-bed channel flow (ks+ ≫ 100, δ/k = 20) using high-resolution acoustic Doppler velocity profiler measurements. The studied gravel-bed roughness layer exhibits a complex random multi-scale roughness structure in strong contrast with conceptualized k- or d-type roughness in standard rough-wall flows. Within the roughness layer, strong spatial variability of all time-averaged flow quantities are observed affecting up to 40% of the boundary layer height. This variability is attributed to the presence of bed zones with emanating bed protuberances (or gravel clusters) acting as local flow obstacles and bed zones of more homogenous roughness of densely packed gravel elements. Considering the strong spatial mean flow variability across the roughness layer, a spatio-temporal averaging procedure, called double averaging (DA), has been applied to the analysed flow quantities. Three aspects have been addressed: (a) the DA shear stress and DA TKE flux in specific bed zones associated with three classes of velocity profiles as previously proposed in Mignot, Barthélemy & Hurther (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 618, 2009, p. 279), (b) the global and per class DA conditional statistics of shear stress and associated TKE flux and (c) the contribution of large-scale coherent shear stress structures (LC3S) to the TKE flux across the roughness layer. The mean Reynolds and dispersive shear structure show good agreement between the protuberance bed zones associated with the S-shape/accelerated classes and recent results obtained in standard k-type rough-wall flows (Djenidi et al., Exp. Fluids, vol. 44, 2008, p. 37; Pokrajac, McEwan & Nikora, Exp. Fluids, vol. 45, 2008, p. 73). These gravel-bed protuberances act as local flow obstacles inducing a strong turbulent activity in their wake regions. The conditional statistics show that the Reynolds stress contribution is fairly well distributed between sweep and ejection events, with threshold values ranging from H = 0 to H = 8. However, the TKE flux across the roughness layer primarily results from the residual shear stress between ejection and sweep of very high magnitude (H = 10–20) and of small turbulent scale. Although LC3S are seen to penetrated the interfacial roughness layer, their TKE flux contribution is found to be negligible compared to the very energetic small-scale sweep events. These sweeps are dominantly produced in the bed zones of local gravel protuberances where the velocity profiles are inflexional of S-shape type and the mean flow properties are of mixing-layer flow type as previously shown in Mignot et al. (2009).

The Interaction of Rolling Vortices With a Turbulent Boundary Layer

1995 ◽  
Vol 117 (4) ◽  
pp. 564-570
Author(s):  
M. J. Donnelly ◽  
O. K. Rediniotis ◽  
S. A. Ragab ◽  
D. P. Telionis
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layer ◽  
Life Span ◽  
Turbulent Kinetic Energy ◽  
Laser Doppler Velocimetry ◽  
Doppler Velocimetry ◽  
Turbulence Level ◽  
Periodic Field ◽  
Entire Boundary

Laser-Doppler velocimetry is employed to measure the periodic field created by releasing spanwise vortices in a turbulent boundary layer. Phase-averaged vorticity and turbulence level contours are estimated and presented. It is found that vortices with diameter of the order of the boundary layer quickly diffuse and disappear while their turbulent kinetic energy spreads uniformly across the entire boundary layer. Larger vortices have a considerably longer life span and in turn feed more vorticity into the boundary layer.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document