scholarly journals Bluff bodies in deep turbulent boundary layers: Reynolds-number issues

2007 ◽  
Vol 571 ◽  
pp. 97-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
HEE CHANG LIM ◽  
IAN P. CASTRO ◽  
ROGER P. HOXEY
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Boundary Layers ◽  
Delta Wing ◽  
Body Height ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layers ◽  
The Body ◽  
Bluff Bodies ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
The Mean

It is generally assumed that flows around wall-mounted sharp-edged bluff bodies submerged in thick turbulent boundary layers are essentially independent of the Reynolds number Re, provided that this exceeds some (2–3) × 104. (Re is based on the body height and upstream velocity at that height.) This is a particularization of the general principle of Reynolds-number similarity and it has important implications, most notably that it allows model scale testing in wind tunnels of, for example, atmospheric flows around buildings. A significant part of the literature on wind engineering thus describes work which implicitly rests on the validity of this assumption. This paper presents new wind-tunnel data obtained in the ‘classical’ case of thick fully turbulent boundary-layer flow over a surface-mounted cube, covering an Re range of well over an order of magnitude (that is, a factor of 22). The results are also compared with new field data, providing a further order of magnitude increase in Re. It is demonstrated that if on the one hand the flow around the obstacle does not contain strong concentrated-vortex motions (like the delta-wing-type motions present for a cube oriented at 45° to the oncoming flow), Re effects only appear on fluctuating quantities such as the r.m.s. fluctuating surface pressures. If, on the other hand, the flow is characterized by the presence of such vortex motions, Re effects are significant even on mean-flow quantities such as the mean surface pressures or the mean velocities near the surfaces. It is thus concluded that although, in certain circumstances and for some quantities, the Reynolds-number-independency assumption is valid, there are other important quantities and circumstances for which it is not.

scholarly journals On the streamwise evolution of turbulent boundary layers in arbitrary pressure gradients

2002 ◽  
Vol 461 ◽  
pp. 61-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. E. PERRY ◽  
IVAN MARUSIC ◽  
M. B. JONES
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layers ◽  
Scaling Laws ◽  
Power Spectra ◽  
Adverse Pressure Gradient ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layers ◽  
Stream Velocity ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Mean Velocity ◽  
Law Of The Wall ◽  
The Mean

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.

Evolution of zero-pressure-gradient boundary layers from different tripping conditions

2015 ◽  
Vol 783 ◽  
pp. 379-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Marusic ◽  
K. A. Chauhan ◽  
V. Kulandaivelu ◽  
N. Hutchins
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Boundary Layers ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Reynolds Numbers ◽  
Streamwise Velocity ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Flow Parameters ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Inflow Conditions

In this paper we study the spatial evolution of zero-pressure-gradient (ZPG) turbulent boundary layers from their origin to a canonical high-Reynolds-number state. A prime motivation is to better understand under what conditions reliable scaling behaviour comparisons can be made between different experimental studies at matched local Reynolds numbers. This is achieved here through detailed streamwise velocity measurements using hot wires in the large University of Melbourne wind tunnel. By keeping the unit Reynolds number constant, the flow conditioning, contraction and trip can be considered unaltered for a given boundary layer’s development and hence its evolution can be studied in isolation from the influence of inflow conditions by moving to different streamwise locations. Careful attention was given to the experimental design in order to make comparisons between flows with three different trips while keeping all other parameters nominally constant, including keeping the measurement sensor size nominally fixed in viscous wall units. The three trips consist of a standard trip and two deliberately ‘over-tripped’ cases, where the initial boundary layers are over-stimulated with additional large-scale energy. Comparisons of the mean flow, normal Reynolds stress, spectra and higher-order turbulence statistics reveal that the effects of the trip are seen to be significant, with the remnants of the ‘over-tripped’ conditions persisting at least until streamwise stations corresponding to $Re_{x}=1.7\times 10^{7}$ and $x=O(2000)$ trip heights are reached (which is specific to the trips used here), at which position the non-canonical boundary layers exhibit a weak memory of their initial conditions at the largest scales $O(10{\it\delta})$, where ${\it\delta}$ is the boundary layer thickness. At closer streamwise stations, no one-to-one correspondence is observed between the local Reynolds numbers ($Re_{{\it\tau}}$, $Re_{{\it\theta}}$ or $Re_{x}$ etc.), and these differences are likely to be the cause of disparities between previous studies where a given Reynolds number is matched but without account of the trip conditions and the actual evolution of the boundary layer. In previous literature such variations have commonly been referred to as low-Reynolds-number effects, while here we show that it is more likely that these differences are due to an evolution effect resulting from the initial conditions set up by the trip and/or the initial inflow conditions. Generally, the mean velocity profiles were found to approach a constant wake parameter ${\it\Pi}$ as the three boundary layers developed along the test section, and agreement of the mean flow parameters was found to coincide with the location where other statistics also converged, including higher-order moments up to tenth order. This result therefore implies that it may be sufficient to document the mean flow parameters alone in order to ascertain whether the ZPG flow, as described by the streamwise velocity statistics, has reached a canonical state, and a computational approach is outlined to do this. The computational scheme is shown to agree well with available experimental data.

scholarly journals Low-Reynolds-number turbulent boundary layers

1991 ◽  
Vol 230 ◽  
pp. 1-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lincoln P. Erm ◽  
Peter N. Joubert
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Boundary Layers ◽  
Low Reynolds Number ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layers ◽  
Stream Velocity ◽  
Wall Region ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Low Reynolds ◽  
High Reynolds ◽  
Turbulent Wall

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.

Uniform momentum zones in turbulent boundary layers

2015 ◽  
Vol 786 ◽  
pp. 309-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charitha M. de Silva ◽  
Nicholas Hutchins ◽  
Ivan Marusic
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Boundary Layers ◽  
Reynolds Numbers ◽  
Streamwise Velocity ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layers ◽  
Linear Increase ◽  
Length Scale ◽  
Image Velocimetry ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
Log Linear

Structural properties of regions of uniform streamwise momentum in turbulent boundary layers are examined using experimental databases obtained from particle image velocimetry. This investigation employs a large range of Reynolds numbers, spanning more than an order of magnitude ($Re_{{\it\tau}}=10^{3}{-}10^{4}$), enabling us to provide a detailed description of uniform momentum zones as a function of Reynolds number. Our analysis starts by examining the identification criterion used by Adrian et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 422, 2000, pp. 1–54) to report the presence of uniform momentum zones in turbulent boundary layers. This criterion is then applied to show that a zonal-like structural arrangement is prevalent in all datasets examined, emphasising its importance in the structural organisation. Streamwise velocity fluctuations within the zones are observed to be small but they are bounded by distinct step changes in streamwise momentum which indicate that shear layers of intense vorticity separate each zone. A log-linear increase in the number of these zones with increasing Reynolds number is revealed, together with an increase in the thicknesses of zones with increasing distance from the wall. These results support a hierarchical length-scale distribution of coherent structures, which generate zonal-like organisation within turbulent boundary layers. Interpretation of these findings is aided by employing synthetic velocity fields generated using a model based on the attached eddy hypothesis, which is described in the work of Perry and co-workers. Comparisons between the model and experimental results show that a hierarchy of self-similar structures leads to population densities and length-scale distributions of uniform momentum zones that closely adhere to those observed experimentally in this study.

scholarly journals Evolution and structure of sink-flow turbulent boundary layers

2001 ◽  
Vol 428 ◽  
pp. 1-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. B. JONES ◽  
IVAN MARUSIC ◽  
A. E. PERRY
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layers ◽  
Velocity Profiles ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layers ◽  
Reynolds Stresses ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Mean Velocity ◽  
Flow Measurements ◽  
Law Of The Wall ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Logarithmic Law

An experimental and theoretical investigation of turbulent boundary layers developing in a sink-flow pressure gradient was undertaken. Three flow cases were studied, corresponding to different acceleration strengths. Mean-flow measurements were taken for all three cases, while Reynolds stresses and spectra measurements were made for two of the flow cases. In this study attention was focused on the evolution of the layers to an equilibrium turbulent state. All the layers were found to attain a state very close to precise equilibrium. This gave equilibrium sink flow data at higher Reynolds numbers than in previous experiments. The mean velocity profiles were found to collapse onto the conventional logarithmic law of the wall. However, for profiles measured with the Pitot tube, a slight ‘kick-up’ from the logarithmic law was observed near the buffer region, whereas the mean velocity profiles measured with a normal hot wire did not exhibit this deviation from the logarithmic law. As the layers approached equilibrium, the mean velocity profiles were found to approach the pure wall profile and for the highest level of acceleration Π was very close to zero, where Π is the Coles wake factor. This supports the proposition of Coles (1957), that the equilibrium sink flow corresponds to pure wall flow. Particular interest was also given to the evolutionary stages of the boundary layers, in order to test and further develop the closure hypothesis of Perry, Marusic & Li (1994). Improved quantitative agreement with the experimental results was found after slight modification of their original closure equation.

Transpired Turbulent Boundary Layers Subject to Forced Convection and External Pressure Gradients

2005 ◽  
Vol 127 (2) ◽  
pp. 194-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rau´l Bayoa´n Cal, ◽  
Xia Wang, ◽  
Luciano Castillo
Keyword(s):  
Pressure Gradient ◽  
Forced Convection ◽  
Boundary Layers ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layers ◽  
External Pressure ◽  
Turbulent Pipe Flow ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Outer Flow ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Blowing Parameter

The problem of forced convection transpired turbulent boundary layers with external pressure gradient has been studied by using different scalings proposed by various researchers. Three major results were obtained: First, for adverse pressure gradient boundary layers with suction, the mean deficit profiles collapse with the free stream velocity, U∞, but into different curves depending on the strength of the blowing parameter and the upstream conditions. Second, the dependencies on the blowing parameter, the Reynolds number, and the strength of pressure gradient are removed from the outer flow when the mean deficit profiles are normalized by the Zagarola/Smits [Zagarola, M. V., and Smits, A. J., 1998, “Mean-Flow Scaling of Turbulent Pipe Flow,” J. Fluid Mech., 373, 33–79] scaling, U∞δ*/δ. Third, the temperature profiles collapse into a single curve using the new inner and outer scalings proposed by Wang and Castillo [Wang, X., and Castillo, L., 2003, “Asymptotic Solutions in Forced Convection Turbulent Boundary Layers,” J. Turbulence, 4(006)], which produce the true asymptotic profiles even at finite Pe´clet number.

Mean force structure and its scaling in rough-wall turbulent boundary layers

2013 ◽  
Vol 731 ◽  
pp. 682-712 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faraz Mehdi ◽  
J. C. Klewicki ◽  
C. M. White
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Boundary Layers ◽  
Characteristic Length ◽  
Turbulent Boundary Layers ◽  
Rough Wall ◽  
Viscous Force ◽  
Leading Order ◽  
Smooth Wall ◽  
Wall Flows ◽  
The Mean

AbstractThe combined roughness/Reynolds number problem is explored. Existing and newly acquired data from zero pressure gradient rough-wall turbulent boundary layers are used to clarify the leading order balances of terms in the mean dynamical equation. For the variety of roughnesses examined, it is revealed that the mean viscous force retains dominant order above (and often well above) the roughness crests. Mean force balance data are shown to be usefully organized relative to the characteristic length scale, which is equal or proportional to the width of the region from the wall to where the leading order mean dynamics become described by a balance between the mean and turbulent inertia. This is equivalently the width of the region from the wall to where the mean viscous force loses leading order. For both smooth-wall and rough-wall flows, the wall-normal extent of this region consistently ends just beyond the zero-crossing of the turbulent inertia term. In smooth-wall flow this characteristic length is a known function of Reynolds number. The present analyses indicate that for rough-wall flows the wall-normal position where the mean dynamics become inertial is an irreducible function of roughness and Reynolds number, as it is an inherent function of the relative scale separations between the inner, roughness, and outer lengths. These findings indicate that, for any given roughness, new dynamical regimes will typically emerge as the Reynolds number increases. For the present range of parameters, there appear to be three identifiable regimes. These correspond to the ratio of the equivalent sand grain roughness to the characteristic length being less than, equal to, or greater than$O(1)$. The relative influences of the inner, outer, and roughness length scales on the characteristic length are explored empirically. A prediction for the decay rate of the mean vorticity is developed via extension of the smooth-wall theory. Existing data are shown to exhibit good agreement with this extension. Overall, the present results appear to expose unifying connections between the structure of smooth- and rough-wall flows. Among other findings, the present analyses show promise toward providing a self-consistent and dynamically meaningful way of identifying the domain where the wall similarity hypothesis, if operative, should hold.

scholarly journals The Effects of Aerodynamic Interference on the Aerodynamic Characteristics of a Twin-Box Girder

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (20) ◽  
pp. 9517
Author(s):  
Buchen Wu ◽  
Geng Xue ◽  
Jie Feng ◽  
Shujin Laima
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Turbulence Intensity ◽  
Body Height ◽  
Flow Characteristics ◽  
Aerodynamic Characteristics ◽  
The Body ◽  
Incoming Flow ◽  
Aerodynamic Forces ◽  
Box Girder ◽  
The Mean

To investigate the aerodynamic characteristics of a twin-box girder in turbulent incoming flow, we carried out wind tunnel tests, including two aerodynamic interferences: leading body-height grid, and leading circular cylinder. In this study, the pressure distribution and the mean and fluctuating aerodynamic forces with the two interferences are compared with bare deck in detail to investigate the relationship between aerodynamic characteristics and the incoming flow characteristics (including Reynolds number and turbulence intensity). The experimental results reveal that, owing to the body-height flow characteristics around the deck interfered with by the body-height grid, the disturbed aerodynamic characteristics of the twin-box girder differ considerably from those of the bare twin-box girder. At the upstream girder, due to the vortex emerging from the body-height grid breaking the separation bubble, pressure plateaus in the upper and lower surface are eliminated. In addition, the turbulence generated by the body-height grid reduces the Reynolds number sensitivity of the twin-box girder. At a relatively high Reynolds number, the fluctuating forces are mainly dominated by turbulence intensity, and the time-averaged forces show almost no change under high turbulence intensity. At a low Reynolds number, the time-averaged forces change significantly with the turbulence intensity. Moreover, at a low Reynolds number, the wake of the leading cylinder effectively forces the boundary layer to transition to turbulence, which reduces the Reynolds number sensitivity of the mean aerodynamic forces and breaks the separation bubbles. Additionally, the fluctuating drag force and the fluctuating lift force are insensitive to the diameter and the spacing ratio.

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