The free-stream turbulence (FST) induced transition in perfect and non-ideal gas zero-pressure-gradient flat-plate boundary layers is investigated by means of large-eddy simulations. The study focuses on the influence of large incoming disturbances over the laminar-to-turbulent transition, by comparing two different integral length scales $L_f$, which differ by a factor of seven, at different FST intensities $T_u$. High-subsonic dense-gas boundary layers of the organic vapour Novec649, representative of organic Rankine cycle applications, are compared with air flows at Mach numbers 0.1 and 0.9. Compressibility and non-ideal gas effects are shown to be of minor importance in comparison to the influence of the FST integral length scale $L_f$. An increase of the inlet turbulent intensity always promotes transition, whereas an increase of $L_f$ has a double effect on the transition onset. At $T_u=2.5\,\%$, increasing $L_f$ promotes the transition, while it tends to delay transition for an FST intensity of 4 %. Larger FST integral scales tend to increase the spanwise distance between laminar streaks generated in the boundary layer. Two competing transition scenarios are observed. When the incoming turbulence intensity and length scale are moderate, the classical bypass route consists in the linear non-modal growth of streaks, which then experience secondary instabilities (sinuous or varicose) and lead to the generation of turbulent spots. The second scenario is characterized by the appearance of $\Lambda$-shaped structures near the inlet, which are further stretched to hairpin vortices before breaking down to turbulence. Spot inceptions can therefore occur at earlier locations than the streak growth. We are then faced with a competition between the classical bypass transition and nonlinear response mechanisms that ‘bypass’ this route. The present case at high $L_f$ and low $T_u$ is an example of a competing scenario, but even for the higher $T_u$ and $L_f$ conditions, only approximately one-third of turbulent spots are due to the $\Lambda$-shaped events. The nonlinear alternative route has strong similarities with scenarios described previously in the literature in the presence of leading edge effects or due to passing wakes. Such a path is governed by the turbulence intensity, but also by the integral length scale, with both parameters playing a critical role in the generation of the $\Lambda$-shaped structures near the inlet. This alternative mechanism is found to be robust under varying flow and thermodynamic conditions.

This paper investigates the linear and nonlinear evolution of radiating modes in supersonic boundary layers under the influence of impinging sound waves. It is found that the ensuing boundary-layer response is extraordinarily large for a subset of the sound frequency and incident angle, and the resonant over-reflection, corresponding to the reflection coefficient becoming infinite, occurs at a particular pairing of frequency and incident angle. At this point, the reflected wave coincides with a locally neutral radiating mode, which emits spontaneously sound in the form of Mach waves. A fundamental resonance takes place between the incident wave and the radiating mode. Viewed in a developing boundary layer, the response is rendered finite by introducing non-parallelism and nonlinear effects near the neutral location of the radiating mode, where the sound wave directly excites the radiating mode and/or acts on the pre-existing radiating mode. Inhomogeneous amplitude equations are derived to describe the excitation as well as the nonlinear development of the radiating mode in the two regimes where non-equilibrium and non-parallelism play a leading-order role, respectively. A composite amplitude equation is then constructed to take into account both non-parallelism and non-equilibrium effects. This amplitude equation is, with an appropriate initial condition, solved to quantify the impact of the impinging sound wave on the linear and nonlinear instability characteristics of the radiating mode. The far-field analysis shows that the Mach wave field of the radiating mode is changed significantly due to the incident sound.

This paper investigates the linear and nonlinear evolution of radiating modes under the influence of the spontaneously emitted Mach waves in a simple set-up of the supersonic boundary layers that develop in the entry region of a channel formed by two parallel semi-infinite flat plates. Two scenarios are considered. The first occurs in the boundary layers having identical wall conditions, where the Mach wave emitted by a radiating mode in one boundary layer influences the instability in the other. The second scenario takes place when the wall temperatures are different, in which case the spontaneously radiated Mach wave is reflected by the other boundary layer back to act on the radiating mode. Appropriate amplitude equations with the acoustic feedback effect being accounted for are derived. In each case, the effect of the spontaneously emitted sound contributes a linear term of delay type to the respective amplitude equation. For the first scenario, analytical and numerical studies of the amplitude equations show that due to the back action of the spontaneously radiated Mach wave, the amplitude exhibits rapid oscillations, and in the case of enhanced feedback effects, its envelope experiences near extinction followed by resurrection. The study of the coupled equations shows that the two modes with different initial amplitudes either undergo oscillations before attenuating, or terminate a finite-distance singularity at different locations. For the second scenario, the acoustic feedback produces similar effects in a broad range of wall temperature. The effects become pronounced, and the dependence on the wall temperature becomes more sensitive when the latter approaches the value corresponding to the resonance. Estimates suggest that such acoustic feedback is likely to be present in typical wind tunnel experiments and models for scramjet combustors.

Large-eddy simulations of a flat-plate boundary layer, without a leading edge, subject to multiple levels of incoming free-stream turbulence are considered in the present work. Within an input–output model, where nonlinear terms of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations are treated as an external forcing, we manage to separate inputs related to perturbations coming through the intake of the numerical domain, whose evolution represents a linear mechanism, and the volumetric nonlinear forcing due to triadic interactions. With these, we perform the full reconstruction of the statistics of the flow, as measured in the simulations, to quantify pairs of wavenumbers and frequencies more affected by either linear or nonlinear receptivity mechanisms. Inside the boundary layer, different wavenumbers at near-zero frequency reveal streaky structures. Those that are amplified predominantly via linear interactions with the incoming vorticity occur upstream and display transient growth, while those generated by the nonlinear forcing are the most energetic and appear in more downstream positions. The latter feature vortices growing proportionally to the laminar boundary layer thickness, along with a velocity profile that agrees with the optimal amplification obtained by linear transient growth theory. The numerical approach presented is general and could potentially be extended to any simulation for which receptivity to incoming perturbations needs to be assessed.

The receptivity of a laminar boundary-layer flow to small-amplitude wall roughness is investigated on an ONERA-D swept aerofoil by introducing a dedicated transfer function from small-amplitude wall displacements to full-state velocity perturbations. The singular value decomposition of this operator for a given spanwise wavenumber provides optimal wall roughness and flow responses that maximise an input–output gain. At the most receptive spanwise wavenumber, the optimal response is a cross-flow mode associated with an optimal roughness located close to the attachment line and presenting a wavy shape with a wavevector nearly orthogonal to the external streamlines. The method therefore allows direct identification of the location and structure (chordwise and spanwise wavenumbers) of the most receptive roughness. For various given wall roughness shapes and locations (periodic or compact in the chordwise and/or spanwise directions), an approximation of the response based on the dominant optimal response is shown to accurately match the total response downstream of the roughness. The method therefore allows a straightforward computation of the response of the flow to any given small-amplitude roughness.

We present theoretical results related to the experimental findings of Matsubara & Alfredsson (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 430, 2001, pp. 149–168) on the scaling of the energy spectra of the Klebanoff modes, i.e. streamwise-elongated vortical disturbances generated by free-stream turbulence in a flat-plate transitional boundary layer. The scaling is explained by a model that describes the streamwise evolution of the streamwise and spanwise energy spectra. The theoretical framework is based on the quasi-steady asymptotic solution of the boundary-region equations, on an axial-symmetric model of the free-stream spectrum, and on the spectral response of the boundary layer to the external perturbations.

The disturbance flow field in a hypersonic boundary layer excited by particle impingement was investigated with a focus on the first stage of the laminar-to-turbulent transition process, namely the receptivity process. A previously validated direct numerical simulation approach adopting disturbance flow tracking is used to simulate the particle-induced transition process. Particle impingement generates a highly complex disturbance flow field that can be characterised by a wide range of frequencies and wavenumbers. After providing some insight about the spectral characteristics of the disturbance flow field in the frequency and wavenumber domains, biorthogonal decomposition is employed to reveal the composition of the disturbance flow field consisting of different continuous and discrete eigenmodes that are triggered through particle impingement. The disturbance flow characteristics for different frequency and wavenumber pairs are discussed where large contributions in the disturbance flow spectrum are observed in the vicinity of the impingement location. A significant amount of the disturbance energy is diverted into the free stream leading to large coefficients of projection for the slow and fast acoustic branches while contributions to the entropy and vorticity branches are negligible. In addition to the continuous acoustic spectra, the first-, second- and other higher-order Mack modes are activated and provide large contributions to the disturbance flow field inside the boundary layer. Finally, it is demonstrated that the disturbance flow field in the vicinity of the impingement location can be reconstructed with a maximum relative error of $2.3\,\%$ by employing a theoretical biorthogonal eigenfunction system expansion and by considering contributions from fast and slow acoustic waves and at most four discrete modes only.

In this paper, we study the local receptivity of the inviscid Mack modes in hypersonic boundary layers induced by the interaction between a surface heating or cooling source (HCS) and a freestream acoustic wave. The asymptotic analysis reveals that among the three distinguished layers, i.e. the main, wall and Stokes layers, the leading-order receptivity is attributed to the interaction of the HCS-induced mean-flow distortion and the acoustic signature in the wall layer; the second-order contribution appears in the Stokes layer; the third-order contribution appears in both the main and wall layers. Interestingly, at a moderate Reynolds number, the third-order contribution to the receptivity efficiency may be quantitatively greater than the second-order one, but this does not lead to breakdown of this asymptotic theory. Assuming the HCS intensity to be sufficiently weak, the asymptotic predictions are made for four representative cases involving different Mach numbers and wall temperatures, which are compared with the results obtained by the finite-Reynolds-number theory based on either the extended compressible Orr–Sommerfeld equations or the harmonic linearised Navier–Stokes (HLNS) calculations. Taking into account the first three orders of the receptivity efficiency, the asymptotic predictions are confirmed to be sufficiently accurate even when the Reynolds number is a few thousands, and the agreement with the finite-Reynolds-number calculations is better when the wall temperature of the base flow approaches the adiabatic wall temperature. The HLNS calculations are also conducted for moderate HCS intensities. It is found that the nonlinearity does not affect the receptivity coefficient much even when the temperature distortion of the HCS reaches $80\,\%$ of the temperature at the wall.

A linear stability analysis is employed to investigate thermal effects in shear flows. The cases analysed consist of unstably stratified horizontal boundary layers under a mixed convection regime, where forced and free convection mechanisms compete. Governing equations are given by the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations with the Oberbeck–Boussinesq approximation, where the base flow comes from their boundary layer approximation. Modal and non-modal analyses are used to investigate the behaviour of small-amplitude disturbances superposed to this base flow. An evaluation of the inertial, shearing and buoyancy mechanisms in the mixed convection boundary layer stability is performed through variations in the Reynolds, Prandtl and Richardson numbers. On the one hand, the spectra lead to the parametric conditions for the time-asymptotic onset of instability, which is still caused by Tollmien–Schlichting (TS) waves as in the traditional Blasius case. However, thermal effects have a destabilizing effect on them, more so for liquids than gases. On the other hand, the pseudospectra obtained from a resolvent analysis indicate the existence of transient growth at this same onset. However, contrary to the traditional Blasius case, thermal effects cause it to be dominated by the continuous frequency spectrum instead of the discrete TS modes. In order to elucidate this qualitative change, a componentwise input–output analysis is employed to quantify the receptivity to specific external disturbances. It shows that thermal effects directly impact the conversion of thermal to kinetic linear disturbance energy, causing a strong amplification of the flow response due to the non-normality of the linear operator. Results reveal that heating from below causes the forcing and response modes of the input–output analysis to have a free-stream spatial support due to non-modal excitation of the continuous spectrum. Such a behaviour suggests that the unstably stratified boundary layer is susceptible to free-stream thermal disturbances, which can potentially impact bypass transition.

This work presents the first experimental characterization of the flow field in the vicinity of periodically spaced discrete roughness elements (DRE) in a swept wing boundary layer. The time-averaged velocity fields are acquired in a volumetric domain by high-resolution dual-pulse tomographic particle tracking velocimetry. Investigation of the stationary flow topology indicates that the near-element flow region is dominated by high- and low-speed streaks. The boundary layer spectral content is inferred by spatial fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis of the spanwise velocity signal, characterizing the chordwise behaviour of individual disturbance modes. The two signature features of transient growth, namely algebraic growth and exponential decay, are identified in the chordwise evolution of the disturbance energy associated with higher harmonics of the primary stationary mode. A transient decay process is instead identified in the near-wake region just aft of each DRE, similar to the wake relaxation effect previously observed in two-dimensional boundary layer flows. The transient decay regime is found to condition the onset and initial amplitude of modal crossflow instabilities. Within the critical DRE amplitude range (i.e. affecting boundary layer transition without causing flow tripping) the transient disturbances are strongly receptive to the spanwise spacing and diameter of the elements, which drive the modal energy distribution within the spatial spectra. In the super-critical amplitude forcing (i.e. causing flow tripping) the near-element stationary flow topology is dominated by the development of a high-speed and strongly fluctuating region closely aligned with the DRE wake. Therefore, elevated shears and unsteady disturbances affect the near-element flow development. Combined with the harmonic modes transient growth these instabilities initiate a laminar streak structure breakdown and a bypass transition process.

In the context of transition analysis, linear input–output analysis determines the worst-case disturbances to a laminar base flow based on a generic right-hand-side volumetric/boundary forcing term. The worst-case forcing is not physically realizable, and, to our knowledge, a generic framework for posing physically realizable worst-case disturbance problems is lacking. In natural receptivity analysis, disturbances are forced by matching (typically local) solutions within the boundary layer to outer solutions consisting of free-stream vortical, entropic and acoustic disturbances. We pose a scattering formalism to restrict the input forcing to a set of realizable disturbances associated with plane-wave solutions of the outer problem. The formulation is validated by comparing with direct numerical simulations of a Mach 4.5 flat-plate boundary layer. We show that the method provides insight into transition mechanisms by identifying those linear combinations of plane-wave disturbances that maximize energy amplification over a range of frequencies. We also discuss how the framework can be extended to accommodate scattering from shocks and in shock layers for supersonic flow.

To date, very few careful and direct comparisons between experiments and direct numerical simulations (DNS) have been published on free-stream turbulence (FST) induced boundary layer transition, whilst there exist numerous published works on the comparison of canonical turbulent boundary layers. The primary reason is that the former comparison is vastly more difficult to carry out simply because all known transition scenarios have large energy gradients and are extremely sensitive to surrounding conditions. This paper presents a detailed comparison between new experiments and available DNS data of the complex FST transition scenario in a flat plate boundary layer at turbulence intensity level about $Tu = 3\,\%$ and FST Reynolds number about $Re_{{fst}} = 67$. The leading edge (LE) pressure gradient distribution and the full energy spectrum at the LE are identified as the two most important parameters for a satisfying comparison. Matching the LE characteristic FST parameters is not enough as previously thought, which is illustrated by setting up two experimental FST cases with about the same FST integral parameters at the LE but with different energy spectra. Finally, an FST boundary layer penetration depth (PD) measure is defined using DNS, which suggests that the PD grows with the downstream distance and stays around 20 % of the boundary layer thickness down to transition onset. With this result, one cannot rule out the significance of the continuous FST forcing along the boundary layer edge in this transition scenario, as indicated in previous studies.

We utilize resolvent and weakly nonlinear analyses in combination with direct numerical simulations (DNS) to identify mechanisms for oblique transition in a Mach $5$ hypersonic flow over an adiabatic slender double wedge. Even though the laminar separated flow is globally stable, resolvent analysis demonstrates significant amplification of unsteady external disturbances to the linearized flow equations. These disturbances are introduced upstream of the separation zone and they lead to the appearance of oblique waves further downstream. We demonstrate that the large amplification of oblique waves arises from the growth of fluctuation shear stress due to streamline curvature of the laminar base flow in the separated shear layer. This is in contrast to the attached boundary layers, where no such mechanism exists. We also use a weakly nonlinear analysis to show that the resolvent operator associated with linearization around the laminar base flow governs the evolution of steady reattachment streaks that arise from quadratic interactions of unsteady oblique waves. These quadratic interactions generate vortical excitations in the reattaching shear layer which lead to the formation of streaks in the recirculation zone and their subsequent amplification, breakdown and transition to turbulence downstream. Our analysis of the energy budget shows that deceleration of the base flow near reattachment is primarily responsible for amplification of steady streaks. Finally, we employ DNS to examine latter stages of transition to turbulence and demonstrate the predictive power of a weakly nonlinear input–output framework in uncovering triggering mechanisms for oblique transition in separated high-speed boundary layer flows.

The stability of an incompressible boundary layer flow over a wing in the presence of free stream turbulence (FST) has been investigated by means of direct numerical simulations and compared with the linearised boundary layer equations. Four different FST conditions have been considered, which are characterised by their turbulence intensity levels and length scales. In all cases the perturbed flow develops into elongated disturbances of high and low streamwise velocity inside the boundary layer, where their spacing has been found to be strongly dependent on the scales of the incoming free stream vorticity. The breakdown of these streaks into turbulent spots from local secondary instabilities is also observed, presenting the same development as the ones reported in flat plate experiments. The disturbance growth, characterised by its root mean squares value, is found to depend not only on the turbulence level, but also on the FST length scales. Particularly, higher disturbance growth is observed for our cases with larger length scales. This behaviour is attributed to the preferred wavenumbers that can exhibit maximum transient growth. We study this boundary layer preference by projection of the flow fields at the leading edge onto optimal disturbances. Our results demonstrate that optimal disturbance growth is the main cause of growth of disturbances on the wing boundary layer.

This work is concerned with the laminar–turbulent transition in the boundary layer on an aircraft wing covered by a water film. We consider the initial stage of the transition process known as the receptivity of the boundary layer, namely, we study the generation of the interfacial instability waves by the unsteady free-stream acoustic noise interacting with a small roughness on the wing surface. For effective receptivity, the ‘forcing’ should obey the so-called ‘double-resonance’ principle. According to this principle, both the frequency and the wavenumber of the external perturbations should be in tune with the natural instability modes of the flow. Correspondingly, we choose the frequency of the acoustic wave to coincide with that of the interfacial instability wave. However, this makes the wavelength of the acoustic wave significantly larger than wavelength of the instability wave. Thus, the second resonance condition is not satisfied, which means that the acoustic wave alone cannot produce the instability waves in the boundary layer. Instead, the Stokes layer is created in the boundary layer just above the liquid film. As far as the film is concerned, it also experiences wave-like motion caused by the varying shear stress on the interface. The generation of the interfacial instability waves takes place when the Stokes layer encounters a wall roughness that is short enough for an appropriate scale conversion to take place. To describe the flow in the vicinity of the roughness, a suitably modified triple-deck theory is used.

Resolvent analysis is used to study the low-frequency behaviour of the laminar oblique shock wave/boundary layer interaction (SWBLI). It is shown that the computed optimal gain, which can be seen as a transfer function of the system, follows a first-order low-pass filter equation, recovering the results of Touber & Sandham (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 671, 2011, pp. 417–465). This behaviour is understood as proceeding from the excitation of a single stable, steady global mode whose damping rate sets the time scale of the filter. Different Mach and Reynolds numbers are studied, covering different recirculation lengths $L$. This damping rate is found to scale as $1/L$, leading to a constant Strouhal number $St_{L}$ as observed in the literature. It is associated with a breathing motion of the recirculation bubble. This analysis furthermore supports the idea that the low-frequency dynamics of the SWBLI is a forced dynamics, in which background perturbations continuously excite the flow. The investigation is then carried out for three-dimensional perturbations for which two regimes are identified. At low wavenumbers of the order of $L$, a modal mechanism similar to that of two-dimensional perturbations is found and exhibits larger values of the optimal gain. At larger wavenumbers, of the order of the boundary layer thickness, the growth of streaks, which results from a non-modal mechanism, is detected. No interaction with the recirculation region is observed. Based on these results, the potential prevalence of three-dimensional effects in the low-frequency dynamics of the SWBLI is discussed.

The effect of discrete roughness elements on the development and breakdown of stationary crossflow instability on a swept wing is explored. Receptivity to various element heights and chordwise locations is explored using a combination of experimental and theoretical tools. Forcing configurations, determined based on linear stability predictions, are manufactured and applied on the wing in a low turbulence facility. Measurements are performed using infrared thermography, quantifying the transition front location, and planar particle image velocimetry, providing a reconstruction of stationary crossflow instabilities and their associated growth. Measurements are corroborated with simulations based on nonlinear parabolised stability equations. Results confirm the efficacy of discrete roughness elements in introducing and conditioning stationary crossflow instabilities. Primary instability amplitudes and resulting laminar-turbulent transition location are found to strongly depend on both roughness amplitude and chordwise location. The Reynolds number based on element height is found to satisfactorily approximate the initial forcing amplitude, revealing the importance of local velocity effects in non-zero-pressure gradient flows. Direct estimation of initial perturbation amplitudes from nonlinear simulations suggests the existence of pertinent flow mechanisms in the element vicinity, active in conditioning the onset of modal instabilities. Dedicated velocimetry planes, elucidate the development of a momentum deficit wake which rapidly decays downstream of the element followed by mild growth, representing the first experimental evidence of transient behaviour in swept wing boundary layers. The outcome of this work identifies a strong scalability of the transition dynamics to roughness amplitude and location, warranting the upscaling of roughness elements to more accessible, measurable and spatially resolved configurations in future experiments.

In the present work, the laminar–turbulent transition of the flow evolving around a low-pressure turbine blade has been investigated. Direct numerical simulations have been carried out for two different free stream turbulence intensity (FSTI) levels to investigate the role of free stream oscillations on the evolution of the blade boundary layer. Emphasis is placed on identifying the mechanisms driving the formation and breakup of coherent structures in the high FSTI case and how these processes are affected by the leading-edge receptivity and/or by the continuous forcing in the blade passage. Proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) has been adopted to provide a clear statistical representation of the shape of the structures. Extended POD projections provided temporal and spanwise correlations that allowed us to identify dominant temporal structures and spanwise wavelengths in the transition process. The extended POD analysis shows that the structures on the pressure side are not related to what happens at the leading edge. The results on the suction side show that the modes defining the leading edge and the passage bases correlate with coherent structures responsible for the transition. The most energetic mode of the passage basis is strongly related to the most amplified wavelength in the boundary layer and breakup events leading to transition. Modes with a smaller spanwise wavelength belong to the band predicted by optimal disturbance theory, they amplify with a smaller gain in the rear suction side, and they show the highest degree of correlation between the passage region and the rear suction side.

Free-stream turbulence (FST) induced boundary layer transition is an intricate physical process that starts already at the leading edge (LE) with the LE receptivity process dictating how the broad spectrum of FST scales is received by the boundary layer. The importance of the FST integral length scale, apart from the turbulence intensity, has recently been recognized in transition prediction but a systematic variational study of the LE pressure gradient has still not been undertaken. Here, the LE pressure gradient is systematically varied in order to quantify its effect on the transition location. To this purpose, we present a measurement technique for accurate determination of flat-plate boundary layer transition location. The technique is based on electret condenser microphones which are distributed in the streamwise direction with high spatial resolution. All time signals are acquired simultaneously and post-processed giving the full intermittency distribution of the flow over the plate in a few minutes. The technique is validated against a similar procedure using hot-wire anemometry measurements. Our data clearly shows that the LE pressure gradient plays a decisive role in the receptivity process for small integral length scales, at moderate turbulence intensities, leading to variations in the transitional Reynolds number close to 40 %. To our knowledge, this high sensitivity of LE pressure gradient to transition has so far not been reported and our experiments were therefore partly repeated using another LE to ensure set-up independence and result repeatability.