Hostname: page-component-55f67697df-4ks9w Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-09T11:07:16.269Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Bypass transition in boundary layers subject to strong pressure gradient and curvature effects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2020

Yaomin Zhao Open the ORCID record for Yaomin Zhao [Opens in a new window]  and
Richard D. Sandberg
Yaomin Zhao*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Melbourne, VIC3010, Australia
Richard D. Sandberg
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Melbourne, VIC3010, Australia
*
†Email address for correspondence: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper aims at characterizing the bypass transition in boundary layers subject to strong pressure gradient and curvature effects. A series of highly resolved large-eddy simulations of a high-pressure turbine vane are performed, and the primary focus is on the effects of free-stream turbulence (FST) states on transition mechanisms. The turbulent fluctuations that have convected from the inlet first interact with the blunt blade leading edge, forming vortical structures wrapping around the blade. For cases with relatively low-level FST, streamwise streaks are observed in the suction-side boundary layer, and the instabilities of the streaks cause the breakdown to turbulence. Moreover, the varicose mode of streak instability is predominant in the adverse pressure gradient region, while the sinuous mode is more common in the (weak) favourable pressure gradient region. On the other hand, for cases with higher levels of FST, the leading-edge structures are more irregularly distributed and no obvious streak instability is observed. Accordingly, the transition onset occurs much earlier, through the breakdown caused by interactions between vortical structures. Comparing between different cases, it is the competing effect between the FST intensity and the stabilizing pressure gradient that decides the path to transition and also the transition onset, whereas the integral length scale of FST affects the scales of the streamwise streaks in the boundary layer. Furthermore, while the streaks in the low-level FST cases are mainly induced by leading-edge vortical structures, the corresponding fluctuations show a stage of algebraic growth despite the weak favourable pressure gradient and curvature.

JFM classification

Instability: Transition to turbulence Boundary Layers: Boundary layer structure Compressible Flows: Compressible boundary layers
Type
JFM Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 888 , 10 April 2020 , A4
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Abu-Ghannam, B. J. & Shaw, R. 1980 Natural transition of boundary layers—the effects of turbulence, pressure gradient, and flow history. J. Mech. Engng Sci. 22 (5), 213–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alam, M. & Sandham, N. D. 2000 Direct numerical simulation of short laminar separation bubbles with turbulent reattachment. J. Fluid Mech. 410, 1–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andersson, P., Berggren, M. & Henningson, D. S. 1999 Optimal disturbances and bypass transition in boundary layers. Phys. Fluids 11 (1), 134–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andersson, P., Brandt, L., Bottaro, A. & Henningson, D. S. 2001 On the breakdown of boundary layer streaks. J. Fluid Mech. 428, 29–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Araya, G., Castillo, L. & Hussain, F. 2015 The log behaviour of the Reynolds shear stress in accelerating turbulent boundary layers. J. Fluid Mech. 775, 189–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arts, T., Lambertderouvroit, M. & Rutherford, A. W.1990 Aero-thermal investigation of a highly loaded transonic linear turbine guide vane cascade. A test case for inviscid and viscous flow computations. NASA STI/Recon Tech. Rep. N 91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asai, M., Konishi, Y., Oizumi, Y. & Nishioka, M. 2007 Growth and breakdown of low-speed streaks leading to wall turbulence. J. Fluid Mech. 586, 371–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asai, M., Minagawa, M. & Nishioka, M. 2002 The instability and breakdown of a near-wall low-speed streak. J. Fluid Mech. 455, 289–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bhaskaran, R. & Lele, S. K. 2010 Large eddy simulation of free-stream turbulence effects on heat transfer to a high-pressure turbine cascade. J. Turbul. 11 (6), 1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brandt, L. 2014 The lift-up effect: the linear mechanism behind transition and turbulence in shear flows. Eur. J. Mech. (B/Fluids) 47, 80–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brandt, L., Schlatter, P. & Henningson, D. S. 2004 Transition in boundary layers subject to free-stream turbulence. J. Fluid Mech. 517, 167–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brinkerhoff, J. R. & Yaras, M. I. 2015 Numerical investigation of transition in a boundary layer subjected to favourable and adverse streamwise pressure gradients and elevated free stream turbulence. J. Fluid Mech. 781, 52–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Durbin, P. A. & Wu, X. 2007 Transition beneath vortical disturbances. Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 39, 107–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fransson, J. H. M.2017 Free-stream turbulence and its influence on boundary-layer transition. In 10th International Symposium on Turbulence and Shear Flow Phenomena, pp. 6D–5. Begell House.Google Scholar
Goldstein, M. E. & Wundrow, D. W. 1998 On the environmental realizability of algebraically growing disturbances and their relation to Klebanoff modes. Theor. Comput. Fluid Dyn. 10 (1–4), 171–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gostelow, J. P., Blunden, A. R. & Walker, G. J. 1992 Effects of free-stream turbulence and adverse pressure gradients on boundary layer transition. Trans. ASME J. Turbomach. 116, 392–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herbert, T.1984 Analysis of the subharmonic route to transition in boundary-layers. AIAA Paper 84-0009.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herbert, T. 1988 Secondary instability of boundary layers. Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 20, 487–526.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, J. C. R., Wray, A. A. & Moin, P. 1988 Eddies, streams, and convergence zones in turbulent flows. In Studying Turbulence Using Numerical Simulation Databases, 2, vol. 1, pp. 193–208. Center for Turbulence Research Report CTR-S88.Google Scholar
Jacobs, R. G. & Durbin, P. A. 1998 Shear sheltering and the continuous spectrum of the Orr–Sommerfeld equation. Phys. Fluids 10 (8), 2006–2011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, R. G. & Durbin, P. A. 2001 Simulations of bypass transition. J. Fluid Mech. 428, 185–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jiménez, J. 2018 Coherent structures in wall-bounded turbulence. J. Fluid Mech. 842, P1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, L. E., Sandberg, R. D. & Sandham, N. D. 2008 Direct numerical simulations of forced and unforced separation bubbles on an airfoil at incidence. J. Fluid Mech. 602, 175–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katz, Y., Seifert, A. & Wygnanski, I. 1990 On the evolution of the turbulent spot in a laminar boundary layer with a favourable pressure gradient. J. Fluid Mech. 221, 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendall, J.1985 Experimental study of disturbances produced in a pre-transitional laminar boundary layer by weak freestream turbulence. AIAA Paper 85–1695.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendall, J. M. 1991 Studies on laminar boundary-layer receptivity to freestream turbulence near a leading edge. In Boundary Layer Stability and Transition to Turbulence (ed. Reda, D. C., Reed, H. L. & Kobayashi, R.), pp. 23–30. ASME.Google Scholar
Kennedy, C. A., Carpenter, M. H. & Lewis, R. M. 2000 Low-storage, explicit Runge–Kutta schemes for the compressible Navier–Stokes equations. Appl. Numer. Maths 35 (3), 177–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khapko, T., Kreilos, T., Schlatter, P., Duguet, Y., Eckhardt, B. & Henningson, D. S. 2016 Edge states as mediators of bypass transition in boundary-layer flows. J. Fluid Mech. 801, R2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, J. W. & Lee, D. J. 2003 Characteristic interface conditions for multiblock high-order computation on singular structured grid. AIAA J. 41 (12), 2341–2348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, J. W. & Sandberg, R. D. 2012 Efficient parallel computing with a compact finite difference scheme. Comput. Fluids 58, 70–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klebanoff, P. S., Tidstrom, K. D. & Sargent, L. M. 1962 The three-dimensional nature of boundary-layer instability. J. Fluid Mech. 12, 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, M., Sadiki, A. & Janicka, J. 2003 A digital filter based generation of inflow data for spatially developing direct numerical or large eddy simulations. J. Comput. Phys. 186 (2), 652–665.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kreilos, T., Khapko, T., Schlatter, P., Duguet, Y., Henningson, D. S. & Eckhardt, B. 2016 Bypass transition and spot nucleation in boundary layers. Phys. Rev. Fluids 1 (4), 043602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luchini, P. 2000 Reynolds-number-independent instability of the boundary layer over a flat surface: optimal perturbations. J. Fluid Mech. 404, 289–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lundell, F. & Alfredsson, P. H. 2004 Streamwise scaling of streaks in laminar boundary layers subjected to free-stream turbulence. Phys. Fluids 16 (5), 1814–1817.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mandal, A. C., Venkatakrishnan, L. & Dey, J. 2010 A study on boundary-layer transition induced by free-stream turbulence. J. Fluid Mech. 660, 114–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marxen, O. & Zaki, T. A. 2019 Turbulence in intermittent transitional boundary layers and in turbulence spots. J. Fluid Mech. 860, 350–383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matsubara, M. & Alfredsson, P. H. 2001 Disturbance growth in boundary layers subjected to free-stream turbulence. J. Fluid Mech. 430, 149–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michelassi, V., Wissink, J. & Rodi, W. 2002 Analysis of DNS and LES of flow in a low pressure turbine cascade with incoming wakes and comparison with experiments. Flow Turbul. Combust. 69 (3–4), 295–329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morkovin, M. V. 1969 On the many faces of transition. In Viscous Drag Reduction (ed. Wells, C. S.), pp. 1–31. Springer.Google Scholar
Muck, K. C., Hoffmann, P. H. & Bradshaw, P. 1985 The effect of convex surface curvature on turbulent boundary layers. J. Fluid Mech. 161, 347–369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mukund, R., Viswanath, P. R., Narasimha, R., Prabhu, A. & Crouch, J. D. 2006 Relaminarization in highly favourable pressure gradients on a convex surface. J. Fluid Mech. 566, 97–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagarajan, S., Lele, S. K. & Ferziger, J. H. 2007 Leading-edge effects in bypass transition. J. Fluid Mech. 572, 471–504.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicoud, F. & Ducros, F. 1999 Subgrid-scale stress modelling based on the square of the velocity gradient tensor. Flow Turbul. Combust. 62 (3), 183–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nix, A. C.2004 Effects of high intensity, large-scale freestream combustor turbulence on heat transfer in transonic turbine blades. PhD thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, US.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ovchinnikov, V., Choudhari, M. M. & Piomelli, U. 2008 Numerical simulations of boundary-layer bypass transition due to high-amplitude free-stream turbulence. J. Fluid Mech. 613, 135–169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patel, V. C. 1965 Calibration of the preston tube and limitations on its use in pressure gradients. J. Fluid Mech. 23 (1), 185–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pichler, R., Sandberg, R. D., Laskowski, G. & Michelassi, V. 2017 High-fidelity simulations of a linear HPT vane cascade subject to varying inlet turbulence. In ASME Turbo Expo 2017: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition, p. V02AT40A001. ASME.Google Scholar
Sandberg, R. D. & Michelassi, V. 2019 The current state of high-fidelity simulations for main gas path turbomachinery components and their industrial impact. Flow Turbul. Combust. 102 (4), 797–848.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandberg, R. D., Michelassi, V., Pichler, R., Chen, L. & Johnstone, R. 2015 Compressible direct numerical simulation of low-pressure turbines—Part I: Methodology. Trans. ASME J. Turbomach. 137 (5), 051011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandberg, R. D. & Sandham, N. D. 2006 Nonreflecting zonal characteristic boundary condition for direct numerical simulation of aerodynamic sound. AIAA J. 44 (2), 402–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlatter, P., Brandt, L., De Lange, H. C. & Henningson, D. S. 2008 On streak breakdown in bypass transition. Phys. Fluids 20 (10), 101505.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skote, M., Haritonidis, J. H. & Henningson, D. S. 2002 Varicose instabilities in turbulent boundary layers. Phys. Fluids 14 (7), 2309–2323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, C. R. & Metzler, S. P. 1983 The characteristics of low-speed streaks in the near-wall region of a turbulent boundary layer. J. Fluid Mech. 129, 27–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spalart, P. R. & Strelets, M. KH. 2000 Mechanisms of transition and heat transfer in a separation bubble. J. Fluid Mech. 403, 329–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Westin, K. J. A., Boiko, A. V., Klingmann, B. G. B., Kozlov, V. V. & Alfredsson, P. H. 1994 Experiments in a boundary layer subjected to free stream turbulence. Part 1. Boundary layer structure and receptivity. J. Fluid Mech. 281, 193–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheeler, A. P. S., Sandberg, R. D., Sandham, N. D., Pichler, R. & Michelassi, V. 2016 Direct numerical simulations of a high-pressure turbine vane. Trans. ASME J. Turbomach. 138 (7), 071003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, F. M. 1991 Viscous Fluid Flow. McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Wu, X. & Durbin, P. A. 2001 Evidence of longitudinal vortices evolved from distorted wakes in a turbine passage. J. Fluid Mech. 446, 199–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wundrow, D. W. & Goldstein, M. E. 2001 Effect on a laminar boundary layer of small-amplitude streamwise vorticity in the upstream flow. J. Fluid Mech. 426, 229–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zaki, T. A. 2013 From streaks to spots and on to turbulence: exploring the dynamics of boundary layer transition. Flow Turbul. Combust. 91 (3), 451–473.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zaki, T. A., Wissink, J. G., Rodi, W. & Durbin, P. A. 2010 Direct numerical simulations of transition in a compressor cascade: the influence of free-stream turbulence. J. Fluid Mech. 665, 57–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhao, Y., Xiong, S., Yang, Y. & Chen, S. 2018 Sinuous distortion of vortex surfaces in the lateral growth of turbulent spots. Phys. Rev. Fluids 7 (3), 1–16.Google Scholar
Zhao, Y., Yang, Y. & Chen, S. 2016a Evolution of material surfaces in the temporal transition in channel flow. J. Fluid Mech. 793, 840–876.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhao, Y., Yang, Y. & Chen, S. 2016b Vortex reconnection in the late transition in channel flow. J. Fluid Mech. 802, R4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar