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The use of a contraction to improve the isotropy of grid-generated turbulence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2006

Geneviéve Comte-Bellot
Affiliation:
Mechanics Department, The Johns Hopkins University
Stanley Corrsin
Affiliation:
Mechanics Department, The Johns Hopkins University

Abstract

It is found that when the average kinetic energies of normal velocity components in decaying, grid-generated turbulence are equilibrated by a symmetric contraction of the wind tunnel, this equality can persist downstream. A second result is further confirmation of the fact that the best power-law fit to the inverse turbulent energy during the early part of decay is near (x–x1)1·25, for both rod grids and disk grids. The Kolmogorov decay law $\sim (t - t_1)^{\frac{10}{7}}$ is re-derived by a spectral method which is essentially equivalent to the original. Finally, a crude theoretical estimate of component energies in the straight duct after a weak contraction seems to support the experiments.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1966 Cambridge University Press

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