scholarly journals Low-frequency selectivity in flat-plate boundary layer with elliptic leading edge

2019 ◽  
Vol 866 ◽  
pp. 239-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bofu Wang ◽  
Xuerui Mao ◽  
Tamer A. Zaki

Linear perturbation analyses of zero-pressure-gradient boundary layers at subcritical Reynolds numbers predict that transient disturbance amplification can take place due to the lift-up mechanism. Upstream, streamwise-elongated vortices yield the largest response per unit of inflow disturbance energy, which takes the form of streamwise-elongated streaks. In this work, we compute the linear and also nonlinear inflow disturbances that generate the largest response inside the boundary layer, for flow over a thin flat plate with a slender leading edge. In order to compare our results with earlier linear analyses, we constrain the inlet disturbance to be monochromatic in time, or a single frequency. The boundary layer effectively filters high frequencies, and only low-frequency perturbations induce a strong response downstream. The low-frequency optimal inflow disturbance has a spanwise wavenumber that scales with $\sqrt{Re}$, and it consists of streamwise and normal vorticity components: the latter is tilted around the leading edge into the streamwise direction and, further downstream, generates streaks. While none of the computed monochromatic disturbances alone can lead to breakdown to turbulence, secondary instability analyses demonstrate that the streaky base state is unstable. Nonlinear simulations where the inflow disturbance is supplemented with additional white noise undergo secondary instability and breakdown to turbulence.

Author(s):  
Seyed Mohammad Hasheminejad ◽  
Hatsari Mitsudharmadi ◽  
S. H. Winoto ◽  
Kim Boon Lua ◽  
Hong Tong Low

The evolution of streamwise counter-rotating vortices induced by different leading edge patterns is investigated quantitatively using hot-wire anemometer. A notched and triangular leading edge with the same wavelength and amplitude were designed to induce streamwise vortices over a flat plate at Reynolds number (based on the wavelength of the leading edge patterns) of 3080 corresponding to free-stream velocity of 3 m/s. The streamwise velocity at different streamwise locations collected and analyzed using a single wire probe hot-wire anemometer showed reveal different characteristics of boundary layer flow due to the presence of these two leading edge patterns. The major difference is the appearance of an additional streamwise vortex between the troughs of the notched pattern. Such vortices increase the mixing effect in the boundary layer as well as the velocity profile.


2016 ◽  
Vol 792 ◽  
pp. 682-711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael O. John ◽  
Dominik Obrist ◽  
Leonhard Kleiser

The leading-edge boundary layer (LEBL) in the front part of swept airplane wings is prone to three-dimensional subcritical instability, which may lead to bypass transition. The resulting increase of airplane drag and fuel consumption implies a negative environmental impact. In the present paper, we present a temporal biglobal secondary stability analysis (SSA) and direct numerical simulations (DNS) of this flow to investigate a subcritical transition mechanism. The LEBL is modelled by the swept Hiemenz boundary layer (SHBL), with and without wall suction. We introduce a pair of steady, counter-rotating, streamwise vortices next to the attachment line as a generic primary disturbance. This generates a high-speed streak, which evolves slowly in the streamwise direction. The SSA predicts that this flow is unstable to secondary, time-dependent perturbations. We report the upper branch of the secondary neutral curve and describe numerous eigenmodes located inside the shear layers surrounding the primary high-speed streak and the vortices. We find secondary flow instability at Reynolds numbers as low as$Re\approx 175$, i.e. far below the linear critical Reynolds number$Re_{crit}\approx 583$of the SHBL. This secondary modal instability is confirmed by our three-dimensional DNS. Furthermore, these simulations show that the modes may grow until nonlinear processes lead to breakdown to turbulent flow for Reynolds numbers above$Re_{tr}\approx 250$. The three-dimensional mode shapes, growth rates, and the frequency dependence of the secondary eigenmodes found by SSA and the DNS results are in close agreement with each other. The transition Reynolds number$Re_{tr}\approx 250$at zero suction and its increase with wall suction closely coincide with experimental and numerical results from the literature. We conclude that the secondary instability and the transition scenario presented in this paper may serve as a possible explanation for the well-known subcritical transition observed in the leading-edge boundary layer.


1960 ◽  
Vol 64 (599) ◽  
pp. 668-672 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. W. F. Moore

Summary:The results of experiments on the reattachment of a laminar boundary layer, separating from a rearward facing step in a flat plate aerofoil, are correlated with the properties of the short leading edge bubble which forms on thin aerofoils near the stall.The experiments, comprising pressure measurements, Pitot explorations, liquid film and smoke studies, indicate that for all Reynolds numbers above the value given by the Owen-KIanfer criterion the reattachment is turbulent behind a stationary air reverse flow vortex bubble. It is also found that the reattachment is laminar for Reynolds numbers below the critical, which further supports Crabtree's interpretation of the Owen-KIanfer criterion in terms of the condition for the growth of turbulent bursts.


2010 ◽  
Vol 653 ◽  
pp. 245-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.-U. SCHRADER ◽  
L. BRANDT ◽  
C. MAVRIPLIS ◽  
D. S. HENNINGSON

Receptivity of the two-dimensional boundary layer on a flat plate with elliptic leading edge is studied by numerical simulation. Vortical perturbations in the oncoming free stream are considered, impinging on two leading edges with different aspect ratio to identify the effect of bluntness. The relevance of the three vorticity components of natural free-stream turbulence is illuminated by considering axial, vertical and spanwise vorticity separately at different angular frequencies. The boundary layer is most receptive to zero-frequency axial vorticity, triggering a streaky pattern of alternating positive and negative streamwise disturbance velocity. This is in line with earlier numerical studies on non-modal growth of elongated structures in the Blasius boundary layer. We find that the effect of leading-edge bluntness is insignificant for axial free-stream vortices alone. On the other hand, vertical free-stream vorticity is also able to excite non-modal instability in particular at zero and low frequencies. This mechanism relies on the generation of streamwise vorticity through stretching and tilting of the vertical vortex columns at the leading edge and is significantly stronger when the leading edge is blunt. It can thus be concluded that the non-modal boundary-layer response to a free-stream turbulence field with three-dimensional vorticity is enhanced in the presence of a blunt leading edge. At high frequencies of the disturbances the boundary layer becomes receptive to spanwise free-stream vorticity, triggering Tollmien–Schlichting (T-S) modes and receptivity increases with leading-edge bluntness. The receptivity coefficients to free-stream vortices are found to be about 15% of those to sound waves reported in the literature. For the boundary layers and free-stream perturbations considered, the amplitude of the T-S waves remains small compared with the low-frequency streak amplitudes.


2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Hasheminejad ◽  
H. Mitsudharmadi ◽  
S. H. Winoto ◽  
K. B. Lua ◽  
H. T. Low

Author(s):  
Byung-Young Min ◽  
Jongwook Joo ◽  
Jomar Mendoza ◽  
Jin Lee ◽  
Guoping Xia ◽  
...  

In this paper, wall-resolved LES computations for a compressor cascade from Ecole Centrale de Lyon [1] are presented. A computational grid containing about 600 million computational cells was used in these simulations. This grid resolves the details of tripping strips used in the experiments, located near the leading edge of the blade on both suction and pressure sides. Endwall turbulent boundary layer at cascade inlet was measured to be at a momentum thickness based Reynolds number of about 7000 to 8000, with quite a bit of variation in the pitchwise direction. In order to avoid the cost of simulating the entire duct upstream of the cascade, and any auxiliary flat plate boundary layer simulations, the inlet fluctuations for LES computations were generated using digital filtering method for synthetic turbulence generation [27]. Turbulence statistics from a database of high fidelity eddy simulations of flat plate boundary layers (at similar Reynolds numbers) from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm [28] were used to fully define the properties of the cascade inlet boundary layer. In this paper, time-averaged results from three LES computations for this configuration are presented — one with no inlet fluctuations at the cascade endwall at the domain inlet, and then two computations with inlet fluctuations and boundary layers at Reθ of 7000 and 8183. These provide a sensitivity of LES predictions of corner separation in the cascade to the boundary layer thickness at cascade inlet. A comparison of these simulations with prior DDES (and RANS) simulations from UTRC [26], as well as existing LES results from Ecole Centrale de Lyon [12], allows to further the understanding of critical elements of the endwall flow physics. More specifically, it provides more insight into which phenomena need to be sufficiently resolved (e.g. horseshoe vortex) in order to capture both the average behavior of the corner separation, as well as its unsteady dynamics. In addition, it provides new information which will help define best practice guidelines for the use of eddy simulations to resolve endwall features in compressors at off-design conditions.


1999 ◽  
Vol 121 (2) ◽  
pp. 333-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Funazaki ◽  
E. Koyabu

This paper deals with the investigation of wake-disturbed boundary layer on a flat-plate model with an elliptic leading edge. The wakes are generated by the transversely moving bars in front of the test model. The main focus of this paper is how the wake passage affects the transitional behavior of the boundary layer under the influence of favorable and adverse pressure gradients over the test surface. Detailed measurements of the boundary layer are conducted by the use of hot-wire anemometry. An ensemble-averaging technique is also employed in order to extract the periodic events associated with the wake passage from the acquired data. The previously observed dependence of wake-induced transition on the movement of the wake generating bar is confirmed. It is also found that the wake passage induces a significant change in the flow structure downstream of the flow acceleration region.


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