Direct numerical simulations of roughness-induced transition in supersonic boundary layers

2012 ◽  
Vol 693 ◽  
pp. 28-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suman Muppidi ◽  
Krishnan Mahesh

AbstractDirect numerical simulations are used to study the laminar to turbulent transition of a Mach 2.9 supersonic flat plate boundary layer flow due to distributed surface roughness. Roughness causes the near-wall fluid to slow down and generates a strong shear layer over the roughness elements. Examination of the mean wall pressure indicates that the roughness surface exerts an upward impulse on the fluid, generating counter-rotating pairs of streamwise vortices underneath the shear layer. These vortices transport near-wall low-momentum fluid away from the wall. Along the roughness region, the vortices grow stronger, longer and closer to each other, and result in periodic shedding. The vortices rise towards the shear layer as they advect downstream, and the resulting interaction causes the shear layer to break up, followed quickly by a transition to turbulence. The mean flow in the turbulent region shows a good agreement with available data for fully developed turbulent boundary layers. Simulations under varying conditions show that, where the shear is not as strong and the streamwise vortices are not as coherent, the flow remains laminar.

2019 ◽  
Vol 875 ◽  
pp. 124-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Gómez-de-Segura ◽  
R. García-Mayoral

We explore the ability of anisotropic permeable substrates to reduce turbulent skin friction, studying the influence that these substrates have on the overlying turbulence. For this, we perform direct numerical simulations of channel flows bounded by permeable substrates. The results confirm theoretical predictions, and the resulting drag curves are similar to those of riblets. For small permeabilities, the drag reduction is proportional to the difference between the streamwise and spanwise permeabilities. This linear regime breaks down for a critical value of the wall-normal permeability, beyond which the performance begins to degrade. We observe that the degradation is associated with the appearance of spanwise-coherent structures, attributed to a Kelvin–Helmholtz-like instability of the mean flow. This feature is common to a variety of obstructed flows, and linear stability analysis can be used to predict it. For large permeabilities, these structures become prevalent in the flow, outweighing the drag-reducing effect of slip and eventually leading to an increase of drag. For the substrate configurations considered, the largest drag reduction observed is ${\approx}$20–25 % at a friction Reynolds number $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}^{+}=180$.


2011 ◽  
Vol 674 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
MUJEEB R. MALIK

Direct numerical simulations have been performed by Mayer, Von Terzi & Fasel (J. Fluid Mech., this issue, vol. 674, 2011, pp. 5–42) to demonstrate that oblique-mode breakdown leads to fully turbulent flow for a Mach 3 flat-plate boundary layer. Since very low level of initial disturbances is required for this transition scenario, oblique-mode breakdown is the most potent mechanism for transition in two-dimensional supersonic boundary layers in low-disturbance environments relevant to flight.


2016 ◽  
Vol 793 ◽  
pp. 777-797 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Mantič-Lugo ◽  
F. Gallaire

Certain flows denominated as amplifiers are characterized by their global linear stability while showing large linear amplifications to sustained perturbations. As the forcing amplitude increases, a strong saturation of the response appears when compared to the linear prediction. However, a predictive model that describes the saturation of the response to higher amplitudes of forcing in stable laminar flows is still missing. While an asymptotic analysis based on the weakly nonlinear theory shows qualitative agreement only for very small forcing amplitudes, the linear response to harmonic forcing around the mean flow computed by direct numerical simulations presents a good prediction of the saturation also at higher forcing amplitudes. These results suggest that the saturation process is governed by the Reynolds stress and thus motivate the introduction of a simple self-consistent model. The model consists of a decomposition of the full nonlinear Navier–Stokes equations in a mean flow equation together with a linear perturbation equation around the mean flow, which are coupled through the Reynolds stress. The full fluctuating response and the resulting Reynolds stress are approximated by the first harmonic calculated from the linear response to the forcing around the aforementioned mean flow. This closed set of coupled equations is solved in an iterative manner as partial nonlinearity is still preserved in the mean flow equation despite the assumed simplifications. The results show an accurate prediction of the response energy when compared to direct numerical simulations. The approximated coupling is strong enough to retain the main nonlinear effects of the saturation process. Hence, a simple physical picture is formalized, wherein the response modifies the mean flow through the Reynolds stress in such a way that the correct response energy is attained.


2019 ◽  
Vol 881 ◽  
pp. 1073-1096 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas D. Demou ◽  
Dimokratis G. E. Grigoriadis

Rayleigh–Bénard convection in water is studied by means of direct numerical simulations, taking into account the variation of properties. The simulations considered a three-dimensional (3-D) cavity with a square cross-section and its two-dimensional (2-D) equivalent, covering a Rayleigh number range of $10^{6}\leqslant Ra\leqslant 10^{9}$ and using temperature differences up to 60 K. The main objectives of this study are (i) to investigate and report differences obtained by 2-D and 3-D simulations and (ii) to provide a first appreciation of the non-Oberbeck–Boussinesq (NOB) effects on the near-wall time-averaged and root-mean-squared (r.m.s.) temperature fields. The Nusselt number and the thermal boundary layer thickness exhibit the most pronounced differences when calculated in two dimensions and three dimensions, even though the $Ra$ scaling exponents are similar. These differences are closely related to the modification of the large-scale circulation pattern and become less pronounced when the NOB values are normalised with the respective Oberbeck–Boussinesq (OB) values. It is also demonstrated that NOB effects modify the near-wall temperature statistics, promoting the breaking of the top–bottom symmetry which characterises the OB approximation. The most prominent NOB effect in the near-wall region is the modification of the maximum r.m.s. values of temperature, which are found to increase at the top and decrease at the bottom of the cavity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 929 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Agastya Balantrapu ◽  
Christopher Hickling ◽  
W. Nathan Alexander ◽  
William Devenport

Experiments were performed over a body of revolution at a length-based Reynolds number of 1.9 million. While the lateral curvature parameters are moderate ( $\delta /r_s < 2, r_s^+>500$ , where $\delta$ is the boundary layer thickness and r s is the radius of curvature), the pressure gradient is increasingly adverse ( $\beta _{C} \in [5 \text {--} 18]$ where $\beta_{C}$ is Clauser’s pressure gradient parameter), representative of vehicle-relevant conditions. The mean flow in the outer regions of this fully attached boundary layer displays some properties of a free-shear layer, with the mean-velocity and turbulence intensity profiles attaining self-similarity with the ‘embedded shear layer’ scaling (Schatzman & Thomas, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 815, 2017, pp. 592–642). Spectral analysis of the streamwise turbulence revealed that, as the mean flow decelerates, the large-scale motions energize across the boundary layer, growing proportionally with the boundary layer thickness. When scaled with the shear layer parameters, the distribution of the energy in the low-frequency region is approximately self-similar, emphasizing the role of the embedded shear layer in the large-scale motions. The correlation structure of the boundary layer is discussed at length to supply information towards the development of turbulence and aeroacoustic models. One major finding is that the estimation of integral turbulence length scales from single-point measurements, via Taylor's hypothesis, requires significant corrections to the convection velocity in the inner 50 % of the boundary layer. The apparent convection velocity (estimated from the ratio of integral length scale to the time scale), is approximately 40 % greater than the local mean velocity, suggesting the turbulence is convected much faster than previously thought. Closer to the wall even higher corrections are required.


2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanchao Li ◽  
Huang Chen ◽  
Joseph Katz

Modeling of turbulent flows in axial turbomachines is challenging due to the high spatial and temporal variability in the distribution of the strain rate components, especially in the tip region of rotor blades. High-resolution stereo-particle image velocimetry (SPIV) measurements performed in a refractive index-matched facility in a series of closely spaced planes provide a comprehensive database for determining all the terms in the Reynolds stress and strain rate tensors. Results are also used for calculating the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) production rate and transport terms by mean flow and turbulence. They elucidate some but not all of the observed phenomena, such as the high anisotropy, high turbulence levels in the vicinity of the tip leakage vortex (TLV) center, and in the shear layer connecting it to the blade suction side (SS) tip corner. The applicability of popular Reynolds stress models based on eddy viscosity is also evaluated by calculating it from the ratio between stress and strain rate components. Results vary substantially, depending on which components are involved, ranging from very large positive to negative values. In some areas, e.g., in the tip gap and around the TLV, the local stresses and strain rates do not appear to be correlated at all. In terms of effect on the mean flow, for most of the tip region, the mean advection terms are much higher than the Reynolds stress spatial gradients, i.e., the flow dynamics is dominated by pressure-driven transport. However, they are of similar magnitude in the shear layer, where modeling would be particularly challenging.


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