Mechanisms of flow tripping by discrete roughness elements in a swept-wing boundary layer

2016 ◽  
Vol 796 ◽  
pp. 158-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger B. E. Kurz ◽  
Markus J. Kloker

The effects of a spanwise row of finite-size cylindrical roughness elements in a laminar, compressible, three-dimensional boundary layer on a wing profile are investigated by direct numerical simulations (DNS). Large elements are capable of immediately tripping turbulent flow by either a strong, purely convective or an absolute/global instability in the near wake. First we focus on an understanding of the steady near-field past a finite-size roughness element in the swept-wing flow, comparing it to a respective case in unswept flow. Then, the mechanisms leading to immediate turbulence tripping are elaborated by gradually increasing the roughness height and varying the disturbance background level. The quasi-critical roughness Reynolds number above which turbulence sets in rapidly is found to be $Re_{kk,qcrit}\approx 560$ and global instability is found only for values well above 600 using nonlinear DNS; therefore the values do not differ significantly from two-dimensional boundary layers if the full velocity vector at the roughness height is taken to build $Re_{kk}$. A detailed simulation study of elements in the critical range indicates a changeover from a purely convective to a global instability near the critical height. Finally, we perform a three-dimensional global stability analysis of the flow field to gain insight into the early stages of the temporal disturbance growth in the quasi-critical and over-critical cases, starting from a steady state enforced by damping of unsteady disturbances.

Author(s):  
Stepan Tolkachev ◽  
Victor Kozlov ◽  
Valeriya Kaprilevskaya

In this article, the results of research about stationary and secondary disturbances development behind the localized and two-dimensional roughness elements are presented. It is shown that the two-dimensional roughness element has a destabilizing effect on the disturbances induced by the three-dimensional roughness element lying upstream. In this case, the two-dimensional roughness element causes the appearance of stationary structures, and then secondary perturbations, whose frequency range lies lower than in the case of the stationary vortices excited by a three-dimensional roughness element.


2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 34-38
Author(s):  
Sergey A. Gaponov ◽  
Yuri G. Yermolaev ◽  
Aleksandr D. Kosinov ◽  
Nikolay V. Semionov ◽  
Boris V. Smorodsky

Theoretical and an experimental research results of the disturbances development in a swept wing boundary layer are presented at Mach number М = 2. In experiments development of natural and small amplitude controllable disturbances downstream was studied. Experiments were carried out on a swept wing model with a lenticular profile at a zero attack angle. The swept angle of a leading edge was 40°. Wave parameters of moving disturbances were determined. In frames of the linear theory and an approach of the local self-similar mean flow the stability of a compressible three-dimensional boundary layer is studied. Good agreement of the theory with experimental results for transversal scales of unstable vertices of the secondary flow was obtained. However the calculated amplification rates differ from measured values considerably. This disagreement is explained by the nonlinear processes observed in experiment


1999 ◽  
Vol 399 ◽  
pp. 85-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
MUJEEB R. MALIK ◽  
FEI LI ◽  
MEELAN M. CHOUDHARI ◽  
CHAU-LYAN CHANG

Crossflow instability of a three-dimensional boundary layer is a common cause of transition in swept-wing flows. The boundary-layer flow modified by the presence of finite-amplitude crossflow modes is susceptible to high-frequency secondary instabilities, which are believed to harbinger the onset of transition. The role of secondary instability in transition prediction is theoretically examined for the recent swept-wing experimental data by Reibert et al. (1996). Exploiting the experimental observation that the underlying three-dimensional boundary layer is convectively unstable, non-linear parabolized stability equations are used to compute a new basic state for the secondary instability analysis based on a two-dimensional eigenvalue approach. The predicted evolution of stationary crossflow vortices is in close agreement with the experimental data. The suppression of naturally dominant crossflow modes by artificial roughness distribution at a subcritical spacing is also confirmed. The analysis reveals a number of secondary instability modes belonging to two basic families which, in some sense, are akin to the ‘horseshoe’ and ‘sinuous’ modes of the Görtler vortex problem. The frequency range of the secondary instability is consistent with that measured in earlier experiments by Kohama et al. (1991), as is the overall growth of the secondary instability mode prior to the onset of transition (e.g. Kohama et al. 1996). Results indicate that the N-factor correlation based on secondary instability growth rates may yield a more robust criterion for transition onset prediction in comparison with an absolute amplitude criterion that is based on primary instability alone.


1994 ◽  
Vol 268 ◽  
pp. 1-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. R. Malik ◽  
F. Li ◽  
C.-L. Chang

Nonlinear stability of a model swept-wing boundary layer, subject to crossflow instability, is investigated by numerically solving the governing partial differential equations. The three-dimensional boundary layer is unstable to both stationary and travelling crossflow disturbances. Nonlinear calculations have been carried out for stationary vortices and the computed wall vorticity pattern results in streamwise streaks which resemble quite well the surface oil-flow visualizations in swept-wing experiments. Other features of the stationary vortex development (half-mushroom structure, inflected velocity profiles, vortex doubling, etc.) are also captured in these calculations. Nonlinear interaction of the stationary and travelling waves is also studied. When initial amplitude of the stationary vortex is larger than the travelling mode, the stationary vortex dominates most of the downstream development. When the two modes have the same initial amplitude, the travelling mode dominates the downstream development owing to its higher growth rate. It is also found that, prior to laminar/turbulent transition, the three-dimensional boundary layer is subject to a high-frequency secondary instability, which is in agreement with the experiments of Poll (1985) and Kohama, Saric & Hoos (1991). The frequency of this secondary instability, which resides on top of the stationary crossflow vortex, is an order of magnitude higher than the frequency of the most-amplified travelling crossflow mode.


2013 ◽  
Vol 724 ◽  
pp. 642-670 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Cherubini ◽  
M. D. De Tullio ◽  
P. De Palma ◽  
G. Pascazio

AbstractThis work provides a global optimization analysis, looking for perturbations inducing the largest energy growth at a finite time in a boundary-layer flow in the presence of smooth three-dimensional roughness elements. Amplification mechanisms are described which can bypass the asymptotical growth of Tollmien–Schlichting waves. Smooth axisymmetric roughness elements of different height have been studied, at different Reynolds numbers. The results show that even very small roughness elements, inducing only a weak deformation of the base flow, can localize the optimal disturbance characterizing the Blasius boundary-layer flow. Moreover, for large enough bump heights and Reynolds numbers, a strong amplification mechanism has been recovered, inducing an increase of several orders of magnitude of the energy gain with respect to the Blasius case. In particular, the highest value of the energy gain is obtained for an initial varicose perturbation, differently to what found for a streaky parallel flow. Optimal varicose perturbations grow very rapidly by transporting the strong wall-normal shear of the base flow, which is localized in the wake of the bump. Such optimal disturbances are found to lead to transition for initial energies and amplitudes considerably smaller than sinuous optimal ones, inducing hairpin vortices downstream of the roughness element.


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