The Preston tube as a means of measuring skin friction

1962 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. R. Head ◽  
I. Rechenberg

Preston's method of measuring skin friction, which makes use of a Pitot tube resting on the surface, depends upon the assumption of a region of flow similarity, adjacent to the wall, common to fully developed turbulent pipe flow and the turbulent boundary layer. Experiments performed elsewhere have cast considerable doubt on the validity of this assumption, and the present investigation was undertaken to establish whether or not it is justified.Experiments were carried out in a short length of large-diameter pipe which could either form part of a very much longer pipe, giving fully developed turbulent pipe flow, or could be preceded by a conventional contraction and screens, giving a developing turbulent boundary layer.Final results showed that for a given skin friction the Pitot tube reading was the same for both boundary layer and pipe flows, thus vindicating Preston's method and confirming the existence of a universal region of wall similarity. Initial experimental difficulties were found to be due to unexpectedly large circumferential variations in skin friction in the growing boundary layer.

Author(s):  
J. C. Gibbings ◽  
S. M. Al-Shukri

This paper reports experimental measurements of two-dimensional turbulent boundary layers over sandpaper surfaces under turbulent streams to complement the Nikuradse experiments on pipe flow. The study included the recovery region downstream of the end of transition. Correlations are given for the thickness, the shape factor, the skin friction and the parameters of the velocity profile of the layer. Six further basic differences from the pipe flow are described to add to the five previously reported.


1977 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 507-528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh W. Coleman ◽  
Robert J. Moffat ◽  
William M. Kays

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.


1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
João Henrique D. Guimarães ◽  
Sergio J. F. dos Santos ◽  
Jian Su ◽  
Atila P. Silva Freire

Abstract In present work, the dynamic and thermal behaviour of flows that develop over surfaces that simultaneously present a sudden change in surface roughness and temperature are discussed. In particular, the work is concerned with the physical validation of a newly proposed formulation for the near wall temperature profile. The theory uses the concept of the displacement in origin, together with some asymptotic arguments, to propose a new expression for the logarithmic region of the turbulent boundary layer. The new expressions are, therefore, of universal applicability, being independent of the type of rough surface considered. The present formulation may be used to give wall boundary conditions for two-equation differential models. The theoretical results are validated with experimental data obtained for flows that develop over flat surfaces with sudden changes in surface roughness and in temperature conditions. Measurements of mean velocity and of mean temperature are presented. A reduction of the data provides an estimate of the skin-friction coefficient, the Stanton number, the displacement in origin for both the velocity and the temperature profiles, and the thickness of the internal layers for the velocity and temperature profiles. The skin-friction co-efficient was calculated based on the chart method of Perry and Joubert (J.F.M., 17, 193–211, 1963) and on a balance of the integral momentum equation. The same chart method was used for the evaluation of the Stanton number and the displacement in origin.


Fluids ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Paul Dintilhac ◽  
Robert Breidenthal

The effects of Mach number on the skin friction and velocity fluctuations of the turbulent boundary layer are considered through a sonic eddy model. Originally proposed for free shear flows, the model assumes that the eddies responsible for momentum transfer have a rotation Mach number of unity, with the entrainment rate limited by acoustic signaling. Under this assumption, the model predicts that the skin friction coefficient should go as the inverse Mach number in a regime where the Mach number is larger than unity but smaller than the square root of the Reynolds number. The velocity fluctuations normalized by the friction velocity should be the inverse square root of the Mach number in the same regime. Turbulent transport is controlled by acoustic signaling. The density field adjusts itself such that the Reynolds stresses correspond to the momentum transport. In contrast, the conventional van Driest–Morkovin view is that the Mach number effects are due to density variations directly. A new experiment or simulation is proposed to test this model using different gases in an incompressible boundary layer, following the example of Brown and Roshko in the free shear layer.


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