An experimental study of the turbulence structure in smooth- and rough-wall boundary layers

1987 ◽  
Vol 177 ◽  
pp. 437-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. E. Perry ◽  
K. L. Lim ◽  
S. M. Henbest

The turbulence structure in zero-pressure-gradient boundary layers above smooth, rough and wavy surfaces was investigated. The mean flow, turbulence intensity and spectral data for both smooth and rough surfaces show support for the attached eddy hypothesis of Townsend (1976), the model for wall turbulence proposed by Perry & Chong (1982) and the extended version developed by Perry, Henbest & Chong (1986). Anomalies in hot-wire behaviour when measuring in the turbulent wall region of the flow were discovered and some of these have been resolved.

1975 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. E. Perry ◽  
C. J. Abell

Using hot-wire-anemometer dynamic-calibration methods, fully developed pipe-flow turbulence measurements have been taken in the Reynolds-number range 80 × 103 to 260 × 103. Comparisons are made with the results of previous workers, obtained using static-calibration methods. From the dynamic-calibration results, a consistent and systematic correlation for the distribution of turbulence quantities becomes evident, the resulting correlation scheme being similar to that which has previously been established for the mean flow. The correlations reported have been partly conjectured in the past by many workers but convincing experimental evidence has always been masked by the scatter in the results, no doubt caused by the difficulties associated with static-calibration methods, particularly the earlier ones. As for the mean flow, the turbulence intensity measurements appear to collapse to an inner and outer law with a region of overlap, from which deductions can be made using dimensional arguments. The long-suspected similarity of the turbulence structure and its consistency with the established mean-flow similarity appears to be confirmed by the measurements reported here.


1991 ◽  
Vol 230 ◽  
pp. 1-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lincoln P. Erm ◽  
Peter N. Joubert

An investigation was undertaken to improve our understanding of low-Reynolds-number turbulent boundary layers flowing over a smooth flat surface in nominally zero pressure gradients. In practice, such flows generally occur in close proximity to a tripping device and, though it was known that the flows are affected by the actual low value of the Reynolds number, it was realized that they may also be affected by the type of tripping device used and variations in free-stream velocity for a given device. Consequently, the experimental programme was devised to investigate systematically the effects of each of these three factors independently. Three different types of device were chosen: a wire, distributed grit and cylindrical pins. Mean-flow, broadband-turbulence and spectral measurements were taken, mostly for values of Rθ varying between about 715 and about 2810. It was found that the mean-flow and broadband-turbulence data showed variations with Rθ, as expected. Spectra were plotted using scaling given by Perry, Henbest & Chong (1986) and were compared with their models which were developed for high-Reynolds-number flows. For the turbulent wall region, spectra showed reasonably good agreement with their model. For the fully turbulent region, spectra did show some appreciable deviations from their model, owing to low-Reynolds-number effects. Mean-flow profiles, broadband-turbulence profiles and spectra were found to be affected very little by the type of device used for Rθ ≈ 1020 and above, indicating an absence of dependence on flow history for this Rθ range. These types of measurements were also compared at both Rθ ≈ 1020 and Rθ ≈ 2175 to see if they were dependent on how Rθ was formed (i.e. the combination of velocity and momentum thickness used to determine Rθ). There were noticeable differences for Rθ ≈ 1020, but these differences were only convincing for the pins, and there was a general overall improvement in agreement for Rθ ≈ 2175.


Author(s):  
Caleb Morrill-Winter ◽  
Jimmy Philip ◽  
Joseph Klewicki

The turbulence contribution to the mean flow is reflected by the motions producing the Reynolds shear stress (〈− uv 〉) and its gradient. Recent analyses of the mean dynamical equation, along with data, evidence that these motions asymptotically exhibit self-similar geometric properties. This study discerns additional properties associated with the uv signal, with an emphasis on the magnitudes and length scales of its negative contributions. The signals analysed derive from high-resolution multi-wire hot-wire sensor data acquired in flat-plate turbulent boundary layers. Space-filling properties of the present signals are shown to reinforce previous observations, while the skewness of uv suggests a connection between the size and magnitude of the negative excursions on the inertial domain. Here, the size and length scales of the negative uv motions are shown to increase with distance from the wall, whereas their occurrences decrease. A joint analysis of the signal magnitudes and their corresponding lengths reveals that the length scales that contribute most to 〈− uv 〉 are distinctly larger than the average geometric size of the negative uv motions. Co-spectra of the streamwise and wall-normal velocities, however, are shown to exhibit invariance across the inertial region when their wavelengths are normalized by the width distribution, W ( y ), of the scaling layer hierarchy, which renders the mean momentum equation invariant on the inertial domain. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Toward the development of high-fidelity models of wall turbulence at large Reynolds number’.


1999 ◽  
Vol 121 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Hanjalic´ ◽  
I. Hadzˇic´ ◽  
S. Jakirlic´

Mean pressure gradient affects the turbulence mainly through the modulation of the mean rate of strain. Modification of the turbulence structure feeds, in turn, back into the mean flow. Particularly affected is the near wall region (including the viscous sublayer) where the pressure gradient invalidates the conventional boundary-layer “equilibrium” assumptions and inner-wall scaling. Accurate predictions of such flows require application of advanced turbulence closures, preferably at the differential second-moment level with integration up to the wall. This paper aims at demonstrating the potential usefulness of such a model to engineers by revisiting some of the recent experimental and DNS results and by presenting a series of computations relevant to low-speed external aerodynamics. Several attached and separated flows, subjected to strong adverse and favorable pressure gradient, as well as to periodic alternation of the pressure gradient sign, all computed with a low-Re-number second-moment closure, display good agreement with experimental and DNS data. It is argued that models of this kind (in full or a truncated form) may serve both for steady or transient Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS, TRANS) computations of a variety of industrial and aeronautical flows, particularly if transition phenomena, wall friction, and heat transfer are in focus.


Author(s):  
Cristian Marchioli ◽  
Fabio Sbrizzai ◽  
Alfredo Soldati

Particle transfer in the wall region of turbulent boundary layers is dominated by the coherent structures which control the turbulence regeneration cycle. Coherent structures bring particles toward the wall and away from the wall and favour particle segregation in the viscous region giving rise to nonuniform particle distribution profiles which peak close to the wall. In this work, we focus on the transfer mechanism of different size particles and on the influence of gravity on particles deposition. By tracking O(105) particles in Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) of a turbulent channel flow at Reτ = 150, we find that particles may reach the wall directly or may accumulate in the wall region, under the low-speed streaks. Even though low-speed streaks are ejection-like environments, particles are not re-entrained into the outer region. Particles segregated very near the wall by the trapping mechanisms we investigated in a previous work [1] are slowly driven to the wall. We find that gravity plays a role on particle distribution but, for small particles (τp+ < 3), the controlling transfer mechanism is related to near-wall turbulence structure.


2018 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 05039
Author(s):  
Priscilla Williams ◽  
Vesselina Roussinova ◽  
Ram Balachandar

This paper focuses on the turbulence structure in a non-uniform, gradually varied, sub-critical open channel flow (OCF) on a rough bed. The flow field is analysed under accelerating, near-uniform and decelerating conditions. Information for the flow and turbulence parameters was obtained at multiple sections and planes using two different techniques: two-component laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) and particle image velocimetry (PIV). Different outer region velocity scaling methods were explored for evaluation of the local friction velocity. Analysis of the mean velocity profiles showed that the overlap layer exists for all flow cases. The outer layer of the decelerated velocity profile was strongly affected by the pressure gradient, where a large wake was noted. Due to the prevailing nature of the experimental setup it was found that the time-averaged flow quantities do not attained equilibrium conditions and the flow is spatially heterogeneous. The roughness generally increases the friction velocity and its effect was stronger than the effect of the pressure gradient. It was found that for the decelerated flow section over a rough bed, the mean flow and turbulence intensities were affected throughout the flow depth. The flow features presented in this study can be used to develop a model for simulating flow over a block ramp. The effect of the non-uniformity and roughness on turbulence intensities and Reynolds shear stresses was further investigated.


2002 ◽  
Vol 461 ◽  
pp. 61-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. E. PERRY ◽  
IVAN MARUSIC ◽  
M. B. JONES

A new approach to the classic closure problem for turbulent boundary layers is presented. This involves, first, using the well-known mean-flow scaling laws such as the log law of the wall and the law of the wake of Coles (1956) together with the mean continuity and the mean momentum differential and integral equations. The important parameters governing the flow in the general non-equilibrium case are identified and are used for establishing a framework for closure. Initially closure is achieved here empirically and the potential for achieving closure in the future using the wall-wake attached eddy model of Perry & Marusic (1995) is outlined. Comparisons are made with experiments covering adverse-pressure-gradient flows in relaxing and developing states and flows approaching equilibrium sink flow. Mean velocity profiles, total shear stress and Reynolds stress profiles can be computed for different streamwise stations, given an initial upstream mean velocity profile and the streamwise variation of free-stream velocity. The attached eddy model of Perry & Marusic (1995) can then be utilized, with some refinement, to compute the remaining unknown quantities such as Reynolds normal stresses and associated spectra and cross-power spectra in the fully turbulent part of the flow.


2001 ◽  
Vol 446 ◽  
pp. 271-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. KALTER ◽  
H. H. FERNHOLZ

This paper is an extension of an experimental investigation by Alving & Fernholz (1996). In the present experiments the effects of free-stream turbulence were investigated on a boundary layer with an adverse pressure gradient and a closed reverse-flow region. By adding free-stream turbulence the mean reverse-flow region was shortened or completely eliminated and this was used to control the size of the separation bubble. The turbulence intensity was varied between 0.2% and 6% using upstream grids while the turbulence length scale was on the order of the boundary layer thickness. Mean and fluctuating velocities as well as spectra were measured by means of hot-wire and laser-Doppler anemometry and wall shear stress by wall pulsed-wire and wall hot-wire probes.Free-stream turbulence had a small effect on the boundary layer in the mild adverse-pressure-gradient region but in the vicinity of separation and along the reverse-flow region mean velocity profiles, skin friction and turbulence structure were strongly affected. Downstream of the mean or instantaneous reverse-flow regions highly disturbed boundary layers developed in a nominally zero pressure gradient and converged to a similar turbulence structure in all three cases at the end of the test section. This state was, however, still very different from that in a canonical boundary layer.


2015 ◽  
Vol 782 ◽  
pp. 333-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maarten van Reeuwijk ◽  
John Craske

We discuss energetic restrictions on the entrainment coefficient${\it\alpha}$for axisymmetric jets and plumes. The resulting entrainment relation includes contributions from the mean flow, turbulence and pressure, fundamentally linking${\it\alpha}$to the production of turbulence kinetic energy, the plume Richardson number$\mathit{Ri}$and the profile coefficients associated with the shape of the buoyancy and velocity profiles. This entrainment relation generalises the work by Kaminskiet al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 526, 2005, pp. 361–376) and Fox (J. Geophys. Res., vol. 75, 1970, pp. 6818–6835). The energetic viewpoint provides a unified framework with which to analyse the classical entrainment models implied by the plume theories of Mortonet al.(Proc. R. Soc. Lond.A, vol. 234, 1955, pp. 1–23) and Priestley & Ball (Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., vol. 81, 1954, pp. 144–157). Data for pure jets and plumes in unstratified environments indicate that to first order the physics is captured by the Priestley and Ball entrainment model, implying that (1) the profile coefficient associated with the production of turbulence kinetic energy has approximately the same value for pure plumes and jets, (2) the value of${\it\alpha}$for a pure plume is roughly a factor of$5/3$larger than for a jet and (3) the enhanced entrainment coefficient in plumes is primarily associated with the behaviour of the mean flow and not with buoyancy-enhanced turbulence. Theoretical suggestions are made on how entrainment can be systematically studied by creating constant-$\mathit{Ri}$flows in a numerical simulation or laboratory experiment.


1976 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 473-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. J. S. Bradbury

This paper describes an investigation into the response of both the pulsed-wire anemometer and the hot-wire anemometer in a highly turbulent flow. The first part of the paper is concerned with a theoretical study of some aspects of the response of these instruments in a highly turbulent flow. It is shown that, under normal operating conditions, the pulsed-wire anemometer should give mean velocity and longitudinal turbulent intensity estimates to an accuracy of better than 10% without any restriction on turbulence level. However, to attain this accuracy in measurements of turbulent intensities normal to the mean flow direction, there is a lower limit on the turbulent intensity of about 50%. An analysis is then carried out of the behaviour of the hot-wire anemometer in a highly turbulent flow. It is found that the large errors that are known to develop are very sensitive to the precise structure of the turbulence, so that even qualitative use of hot-wire data in such flows is not feasible. Some brief comments on the possibility of improving the accuracy of the hot-wire anemometer are then given.The second half of the paper describes some comparative measurements in the highly turbulent flow immediately downstream of a normal flat plate. It is shown that, although it is not possible to interpret the hot-wire results on their own, it is possible to calculate the hot-wire response with a surprising degree of accuracy using the results from the pulsed-wire anemometer. This provides a rather indirect but none the less welcome check on the accuracy of the pulsed-wire results, which, in this very highly turbulent flow, have a certain interest in their own right.


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