On the asymptotic similarity of the zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layer

2008 ◽  
Vol 616 ◽  
pp. 195-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. B. JONES ◽  
T. B. NICKELS ◽  
IVAN MARUSIC

We investigate similarity solutions for the outer part of a zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layer in the limit of infinite Reynolds number. Previous work by George (Phil. Trans. R. Soc. vol. 365, 2007 p. 789) has suggested that the only appropriate velocity scale for the outer region is U1, the free-stream velocity. This is based on the fact that scaling with U1 leads to a mathematically valid similarity solution of the momentum equation for the outer region in the asymptotic limit of infinite Reynolds number. Here we show that the classical scaling using the friction velocity also leads to a valid similarity solution for the outer flow in this limit. Therefore on this basis it is not possible to dismiss the friction velocity as a possible scaling as has been suggested by George (2007) and others. We show that both the free-stream velocity and the friction velocity are potentially valid scalings according to this theoretical criterion.

2009 ◽  
Vol 641 ◽  
pp. 129-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
RAÚL BAYOÁN CAL ◽  
BRIAN BRZEK ◽  
T. GUNNAR JOHANSSON ◽  
LUCIANO CASTILLO

Laser Doppler anemometry measurements of the mean velocity and Reynolds stresses are carried out for a rough-surface favourable pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer. The experimental data is compared with smooth favourable pressure gradient and rough zero-pressure gradient data. The velocity and Reynolds stress profiles are normalized using various scalings such as the friction velocity and free stream velocity. In the velocity profiles, the effects of roughness are removed when using the friction velocity. The effects of pressure gradient are not absorbed. When using the free stream velocity, the scaling is more effective absorbing the pressure gradient effects. However, the effects of roughness are almost removed, while the effects of pressure gradient are still observed on the outer flow, when the mean deficit velocity profiles are normalized by the U∞ δ∗/δ scaling. Furthermore, when scaled with U2∞, the 〈u2〉 component of the Reynolds stress augments due to the rough surface despite the imposed favourable pressure gradient; when using the friction velocity scaling u∗2, it is dampened. It becomes ‘flatter’ in the inner region mainly due to the rough surface, which destroys the coherent structures of the flow and promotes isotropy. Similarly, the pressure gradient imposed on the flow decreases the magnitude of the Reynolds stress profiles especially on the 〈v2〉 and -〈uv〉 components for the u∗2 or U∞2 scaling. These effects are reflected in the boundary layer parameter δ∗/δ, which increase due to roughness, but decrease due to the favourable pressure gradient. Additionally, the pressure parameter Λ found not to be in equilibrium, describes the development of the turbulent boundary layer, with no influence of the roughness linked to this parameter. These measurements are the first with an extensive number of downstream locations (11). This makes it possible to compute the required x-dependence for the production term and the wall shear stress from the full integrated boundary layer equation. The finding indicates that the skin friction coefficient depends on the favourable pressure gradient condition and surface roughness.


2002 ◽  
Vol 124 (3) ◽  
pp. 664-670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald J. Bergstrom ◽  
Nathan A. Kotey ◽  
Mark F. Tachie

Experimental measurements of the mean velocity profile in a canonical turbulent boundary layer are obtained for four different surface roughness conditions, as well as a smooth wall, at moderate Reynolds numbers in a wind tunnel. The mean streamwise velocity component is fitted to a correlation which allows both the strength of the wake, Π, and friction velocity, Uτ, to vary. The results show that the type of surface roughness affects the mean defect profile in the outer region of the turbulent boundary layer, as well as determining the value of the skin friction. The defect profiles normalized by the friction velocity were approximately independent of Reynolds number, while those normalized using the free stream velocity were not. The fact that the outer flow is significantly affected by the specific roughness characteristics at the wall implies that rough wall boundary layers are more complex than the wall similarity hypothesis would allow.


1996 ◽  
Vol 118 (1) ◽  
pp. 162-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. V. Finnis ◽  
A. Brown

Measurements are presented of the streamwise velocity variation within a laminar boundary layer on a concave surface of 4 m radius of curvature for which the free-stream velocity gradient factor (ν/U02)dU0/dx was approximately 1 × 10−6. The stream velocity variation was consistent with the presence of counterrotating vortices resulting from the Go¨rtler instability. The vortices exhibited exponential growth over the streamwise extent of the measurements to a disturbance amplitude of approximately 13 percent of the local free-stream velocity. The vortex growth rates were found to be less than those for a zero velocity gradient factor, indicating that a favorable pressure gradient stabilizes the flow with respect to the Go¨rtler instability. Boundary layer profiles at local upwash and downwash positions are compared with the linear theory for which the mean flow was modeled using the Pohlhausen approximation to the solution of the boundary layer equations. The agreement between the measured and predicted profiles indicates that the linear stability theory can provide a fair approximation to the small amplitude growth of the Go¨rtler instability.


1974 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 641-655 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. H. Horlock ◽  
A. K. Lewkowicz ◽  
J. Wordsworth

Two attempts were made to develop a three-dimensional laminar boundary layer in the flow over a flat plate in a curved duct, establishing a negligible streamwise pressure gradient and, at the same time, an appreciable crosswise pressure gradient.A first series of measurements was undertaken keeping the free-stream velocity at about 30 ft/s; the boundary layer was expected to be laminar, but appears to have been transitional. As was to be expected, the cross-flow in the boundary layer decreased gradually as the flow became progressively more turbulent.In a second experiment, at a lower free-stream velocity of approximately 10 ft/s, the boundary layer was laminar. Its streamwise profile resembled closely the Blasius form, but the cross-flow near the edge of the boundary layer appears to have exceeded that predicted theoretically. However, there was a substantial experimental scatter in the measurements of the yaw angle, which in laminar boundary layers is difficult to obtain accurately.


1962 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Seban ◽  
L. H. Back

The effectiveness and the heat transfer have been measured in a system involving the tangential injection of air from a single spanwise slot into the turbulent boundary layer of an external air stream, with the velocity of the external stream increasing in a way that concentrated the acceleration in a region downstream of the initial mixing zone. The effectiveness was changed but little from the value that would have existed had the free-stream velocity remained at its initial value and both temperature profiles and analytical considerations show that this invariability of the effectiveness is associated with thermal boundary-layer thicknesses that are much larger than the hydrodynamic thicknesses. Heat-transfer coefficients are shown to be predictable from existing information provided that the momentum thickness Reynolds number is large enough.


1993 ◽  
Vol 250 ◽  
pp. 43-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. T. Degani ◽  
F. T. Smith ◽  
J. D. A. Walker

The three-dimensional turbulent boundary layer is shown to have a self-consistent two-layer asymptotic structure in the limit of large Reynolds number. In a streamline coordinate system, the streamwise velocity distribution is similar to that in two-dimensional flows, having a defect-function form in the outer layer which is adjusted to zero at the wall through an inner wall layer. An asymptotic expansion accurate to two orders is required for the cross-stream velocity which is shown to exhibit a logarithmic form in the overlap region. The inner wall-layer flow is collateral to leading order but the influence of the pressure gradient, at large but finite Reynolds numbers, is not negligible and can cause substantial skewing of the velocity profile near the wall. Conditions under which the boundary layer achieves self-similarity and the governing set of ordinary differential equations for the outer layer are derived. The calculated solution of these equations is matched asymptotically to an inner wall-layer solution and the composite profiles so formed describe the flow throughout the entire boundary layer. The effects of Reynolds number and cross-stream pressure gradient on the cross-stream velocity profile are discussed and it is shown that the location of the maximum cross-stream velocity is within the overlap region.


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