Hostname: page-component-f554764f5-fnl2l Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-09T00:19:00.678Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

New aspects of turbulent boundary-layer structure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2006

M. R. Head  and
P. Bandyopadhyay
M. R. Head
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
P. Bandyopadhyay
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Flow visualization studies of the zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layer over the Reynolds-number range 500 < Reθ < 17500 have shown large Reynolds-number effects on boundary-layer structure.

At high Reynolds numbers (Reθ > 2000, say) the layer appears to consist very largely of elongated hairpin vortices or vortex pairs, originating in the wall region and extending through a large part of the boundary-layer thickness or beyond it; they are for the most part inclined to the wall at a characteristic angle in the region of 40–50°. Large-scale features, which exhibit a slow overturning motion, appear to consist mainly of random arrays of such hairpin vortices, although there is some evidence of more systematic structures.

At low Reynolds numbers (Reθ < 800, say) the hairpin vortices are very much less elongated and are better described as horseshoe vortices or vortex loops; large-scale features now consist simply of isolated vortex loops (at the very lowest Reynolds numbers), or of several such loops interacting strongly, and show a relatively brisk rate of rotation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 107 , June 1981 , pp. 297 - 338
Copyright
© 1981 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

Antonia, R. A. 1972 Conditionally sampled measurements near the outer edge of a turbulent boundary layer. J. Fluid Mech. 56, 1.Google Scholar
Bakewell, H. P. & Lumley, J. L. 1967 Viscous sublayer and adjacent wall region in turbulent pipe flow. Phys. Fluids 10, 1880.Google Scholar
Bandyopadhyay, P. 1977 Combined flow visualisation and hot-wire anemometry in turbulent boundary layers. In Structures and Mechanisms of Turbulence I (ed. H. Fiedler), Lecture Notes in Physics vol. 75, p. 205. Springer.
Batchelor, G. K. 1967 An Introduction to Fluid Dynamics. Cambridge University Press.
Bergh, H. 1957 A method for visualizing periodic boundary layer phenomena. IUTAM Symp. on Boundary Layer Research. Springer.
Bevilaqua, P. M. & Lykoudis, P. S. 1977 Some observations on the mechanism of entrainment. A.I.A.A. J. 15, 1194.Google Scholar
Black, T. J. 1966 Some practical applications of a new theory of wall turbulence. Proc. 1966 Heat Transfer and Fluid Mech. Inst. Stanford University Press.
Black, T. J. 1968 An analytical study of the measured wall pressure field under supersonic turbulent boundary layers. N.A.S.A. CR-888.
Blackwelder, R. F. 1978 The bursting process in turbulent boundary layer. Workshop on Coherent Structure of Turbulent Boundary Layers, p. 211. Lehigh University.
Brown, F. N. M. (undated) Stages of boundary layer instability and transition. Film loop FM-92, Encyclopaedia Britannica Educational Corporation.
Brown, G. L. & Thomas, A. S. W. 1977 Large structure in a turbulent boundary layer. Phys. Fluids Suppl. 20, 243.Google Scholar
Brodkey, R. S. 1978 Flow visualisation and simultaneous anemometry studies of turbulent shear flows. Workshop on Coherent Structure of Turbulent Boundary Layers, p. 28. Lehigh University.
Cantwell, B., Coles, D. & Dimotakis, P. 1978 Structure and entrainment in the plane of symmetry of a turbulent spot. J. Fluid Mech. 87, 641.Google Scholar
Chen, C. H. P. 1975 The large scale motion in a turbulent boundary layer: a study using temperature contamination. Ph.D. thesis, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
Chen, C. H. P. & Blackwelder, R. F. 1978 Large-scale motion in a turbulent boundary layer: a study using temperature contamination. J. Fluid. Mech. 89, 1.Google Scholar
Coles, D. 1978 A model for flow in the viscous sublayer. Workshop on Coherent Structure of Turbulent Boundary Layers, p. 462. Lehigh University.
Corrsin, S. 1957 Symposium on Naval Hydrodynamics. Publ. 515, NAS-NRC, p. 373.
Deckker, B. E. L. 1980 An investigation of some unsteady boundary layers by the schlieren method. Int. Symp. on Flow Visualisation, Ruhr-Universtität. Bochum.
Deckker, B. E. L. & Weekes, M. E. 1976 The unsteady boundary layer in a shock tube. Proc. I. Mech. Eng. 190 (11), 287.Google Scholar
Dinkelacker, A. 1979 Play tornado-like vortices a role in the generation of flow noise? IUTAM Symp. on the Mech. of Sound Generation in Flows, p. 217. Springer.
Falco, R. E. 1974 Some comments on turbulent boundary layer structure inferred from the movements of a passive contaminant. A.I.A.A. Paper 74–99.Google Scholar
Falco, R. E. 1977 Coherent motions in the outer region of turbulent boundary layers. Phys. Fluids Suppl. 20, 124.Google Scholar
Falco, R. E. 1978 Combined simultaneous flow visualisation/hot-wire anemometry for the study of turbulent flows. Non-Steady Fluid Dynamics, p. 73. A.S.M.E.
Falco, R. E. & Newman, G. R. 1974 Coherent repetitive Reynolds stress producing motions in a turbulent boundary layer. Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 19, 1152.Google Scholar
Favre, A., Gaviglio, J. & Dumas, R. 1957 Space-time double correlations and spectra in a turbulent boundary layer. J. Fluid Mech. 2, 313.Google Scholar
Fiedler, H. & Head, M. R. 1966 Intermittency measurements in a turbulent boundary layer. J. Fluid Mech. 25, 719.Google Scholar
Frenkiel, F. N. & Klebanoff, P. S. 1973 Probability distributions and correlations in a turbulent boundary layer. Phys. Fluids 16, 725.Google Scholar
Hama, F. R., Long, J. D. & Hegarty, J. C. 1957 On transition from laminar to turbulent flow. J. App. Phys. 28, 388.Google Scholar
Head, M. R. & Bandyopadhyay, P. 1978 Combined flow visualisation and hot-wire measurements in turbulent boundary layers. Workshop on Coherent Structure of Turbulent Boundary Layers, p. 98. Lehigh University.
Head, M. R. & Bandyopadhyay, P. 1979 Flow visualisation of turbulent boundary layer structure. AGARD Conf. Proc. no. 271, p. 25–1.Google Scholar
Head, M. R. & Bradshaw, P. 1971 Zero and negative entrainment in turbulent shear flow. J. Fluid Mech. 46, 385.Google Scholar
Head, M. R. & Vasanta Ram, V. 1971 Simplified presentation of Preston tube calibration. Aero. Quart. 12, 295.Google Scholar
Holder, D. W. & North, R. J. 1963 Schlieren Methods. NPL Notes on Applied Science no. 31. HMSO.
Kim, H. T., Kline, S. J. & Reynolds, W. C. 1971 The production of turbulence near a smooth wall in a turbulent boundary layer. J. Fluid Mech. 50, 133.Google Scholar
Kline, S. J. 1978 The role of visualisation in the study of the structure of the turbulent boundary layer. Workshop on Coherent Structure of Turbulent Boundary Layers, p. 1. Lehigh University.
Kline, S. J., Reynolds, W. C., Schraub, F. A. & Runstadler, P. W. 1967 The structure of turbulent boundary layers. J. Fluid Mech. 30, 741.Google Scholar
Kreplin, H.-P. & Eckelmann, H. 1979 Propagation of perturbations in the viscous sublayer and adjacent wall region. J. Fluid Mech. 95, 305.Google Scholar
Offen, G. R. & Kline, S. J. 1973 Experiments on the velocity characteristics of ‘bursts’ and on the interactions between the inner and outer regions of the turbulent boundary layer. Stanford Univ. Eng. Dept. Rep. MD-31.Google Scholar
Praturi, A. K. & Brodkey, R. S. 1979 A stereoscopic visual study of coherent structures in turbulent shear flow. J. Fluid Mech. 89, 251.Google Scholar
Saffman, P. G. 1977 Problems and progress in the theory of turbulence. In Structure and Mechanisms of Turbulence II (ed. H. Fiedler), Lecture Notes in Physics, vol. 76, p. 273. Springer.
Smith, C. R. 1978 Visualisation of turbulent boundary layer structure using a moving hydrogen bubble wire probe. Workshop on Coherent Structure of Turbulent Boundary Layers, p. 48. Lehigh University.
Theodorsen, T. 1952 Mechanism of turbulence. Proc. 2nd Midwestern Conf. on Fluid Mech. Ohio State University.
Thompson, B. G. J. 1967 A new two-parameter family of mean velocity profiles for incompressible turbulent boundary layers on smooth walls. Aero. Res. Counc. R. & M. 3463.
Thwaites, B. 1960 Incompressible Aerodynamics. Oxford University Press.
Van Maanen, H. R. E. 1979 Experimental study of coherent structures in the turbulent boundary layer of pipe flow using laser-doppler anemometry. AGARD Conf. Proc. no. 271, p. 3–1.Google Scholar
Weske, J. R. & Plantholt, A. H. 1953 Discrete vortex systems in the transition range in fully developed flow in a pipe. J. Aero. Sci. 20, 717.Google Scholar
Willmarth, W. W. 1975 Structure of turbulence in boundary layers. Adv. Appl. Mech. 15, 159.Google Scholar
Willmarth, W. W. 1978 Survey of multiple sensor measurements and correlations in boundary layers. Workshop on Coherent Structure of Turbulent Boundary Layers, p. 130. Lehigh University.