Similarity Analysis for Nonequilibrium Turbulent Boundary Layers*

2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (5) ◽  
pp. 827-834 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luciano Castillo ◽  
Xia Wang

In his now classical paper on pressure gradient turbulent boundary layers, Clauser concluded that equilibrium flows were very special flows difficult to achieve experimentally and that few flows were actually in equilibrium [1]. However, using similarity analysis of the Navier–Stokes equations, Castillo and George [2] defined an equilibrium flow as one where the pressure parameter, Λ=[δ/ρU∞2dδ/dx]dP∞/dx, was a constant. They further showed that most flows were in equilibrium and the exceptions were nonequilibrium flows where Λ≠constant. Using the equations of motion and similarity analysis, it will be shown that even nonequilibrium flows, as those over airfoils or with sudden changes on the external pressure gradient, are in equilibrium state, but only locally. Moreover, in the case of airfoils where the external pressure gradient changes from favorable to zero then to adverse, three distinctive regions are identified. Each region is given by a constant value of Λθ, and each region remains in equilibrium with Λθ=constant, respectively.

Author(s):  
Xia Wang ◽  
Luciano Castillo

Similarity analysis of the equations of motion is used in order to study forced convection turbulent boundary layers with and without pressure gradient. New scalings are found for both the inner and the outer temperature profiles, respectively. It is shown that by normalizing the temperature profiles using the new scalings, the effects from the Pe´clet number and pressure gradient can be removed completely from the profiles. Therefore, the asymptotic solutions can be obtained even at the finite Pe´clet number. Moreover, using the Near-Asymptotic principle, a power law solution is derived for the temperature profile in the overlap region. This power law solution is a consequence of the fact that the boundary layer depends on two different temperature scalings.


1988 ◽  
Vol 190 ◽  
pp. 375-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. R. Hunt

This paper is an account of a summer programme for the study of the ideas and models of turbulent flows, using the results of direct numerical stimulations of the Navier-Stokes equations. These results had been obtained on the computers and stored as accessible databases at the Center for Turbulence Research (CTR) of NASA Ames Research Center and Stanford University. At this first summer programme, some 32 visiting researchers joined those at the CTR to test hypotheses and models in five aspects of turbulence research: turbulence decomposition, bifurcation and chaos; two-point closure (or k-space) modelling; structure of turbulent boundary layers; Reynolds-stress modelling; scalar transport and reacting flows.A number of new results emerged including: computation of space and space-time correlations in isotropic turbulence can be related to each other and modelled in terms of the advection of small scales by large-scale motion; the wall layer in turbulent boundary layers is dominated by shear layers which protrude into the outer layers, and have long lifetimes; some aspects of the ejection mechanism for these layers can be described in terms of the two-dimensional finite-amplitude Navier-Stokes solutions; a self-similar form of the two-point, cross-correlation data of the turbulence in boundary layers (when normalized by the r.m.s. value at the furthest point from the wall) shows how both the blocking of eddies by the wall and straining by the mean shear control the lengthscales; the intercomponent transfer (pressure-strain) is highly localized in space, usually in regions of concentrated vorticity; conditioned pressure gradients are linear in the conditioning of velocity and independent of vorticity in homogeneous shear flow; some features of coherent structures in the boundary layer are similar to experimental measurements of structures in mixing-layers, jets and wakes.The availability of comprehensive velocity and pressure data certainly helps the investigation of concepts and models. But a striking feature of the summer programme was the diversity of interpretation of the same computed velocity fields. There are few signs of any convergence in turbulence research! But with new computational facilities the divergent approaches can at least be related to each other.


2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xia Wang ◽  
Luciano Castillo ◽  
Guillermo Araya

Based on the theory of similarity analysis and the analogy between momentum and energy transport equations, the temperature scalings have been derived for forced convection turbulent boundary layers. These scalings are shown to be able to remove the effects of Reynolds number and the pressure gradient on the temperature profile. Furthermore, using the near-asymptotic method and the scalings from the similarity analysis, a power law solution is obtained for the temperature profile in the overlap region. Subsequently, a composite temperature profile is found by further introducing the functions in the wake region and in the near-the-wall region. The proposed composite temperature profile can describe the entire boundary layer from the wall all the way to the outer edge of the turbulent boundary layer at finite Re number. The experimental data and direct numerical simulation (DNS) data with zero pressure gradient and adverse pressure gradient are used to confirm the accuracy of the scalings and the proposed composite temperature profiles. Comparison with the theoretical profiles by Kader (1981, “Temperature and Concentration Profiles in Fully Turbulent Boundary Layers,” Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, 24, pp. 1541–1544; 1991, “Heat and Mass Transfer in Pressure-Gradient Boundary Layers,” Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, 34, pp. 2837–2857) shows that the current theory yields a higher accuracy. The error in the mean temperature profile is within 5% when the present theory is compared to the experimental data. Meanwhile, the Stanton number is calculated using the energy and momentum integral equations and the newly proposed composite temperature profile. The calculated Stanton number is consistent with previous experimental results and the DNS data, and the error of the present prediction is less than 5%. In addition, the growth of the thermal boundary layer is obtained from the theory and the average error is less than 5% for the range of Reynolds numbers between 5×105 and 5×106 when compared with the empirical correlation for the experimental data of isothermal boundary layer conditions.


2005 ◽  
Vol 127 (2) ◽  
pp. 194-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rau´l Bayoa´n Cal, ◽  
Xia Wang, ◽  
Luciano Castillo

The problem of forced convection transpired turbulent boundary layers with external pressure gradient has been studied by using different scalings proposed by various researchers. Three major results were obtained: First, for adverse pressure gradient boundary layers with suction, the mean deficit profiles collapse with the free stream velocity, U∞, but into different curves depending on the strength of the blowing parameter and the upstream conditions. Second, the dependencies on the blowing parameter, the Reynolds number, and the strength of pressure gradient are removed from the outer flow when the mean deficit profiles are normalized by the Zagarola/Smits [Zagarola, M. V., and Smits, A. J., 1998, “Mean-Flow Scaling of Turbulent Pipe Flow,” J. Fluid Mech., 373, 33–79] scaling, U∞δ*/δ. Third, the temperature profiles collapse into a single curve using the new inner and outer scalings proposed by Wang and Castillo [Wang, X., and Castillo, L., 2003, “Asymptotic Solutions in Forced Convection Turbulent Boundary Layers,” J. Turbulence, 4(006)], which produce the true asymptotic profiles even at finite Pe´clet number.


2018 ◽  
Vol 838 ◽  
pp. 715-758 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elie Cohen ◽  
Xavier Gloerfelt

This study investigates the effects of a pressure gradient on the wall pressure beneath equilibrium turbulent boundary layers. Excitation of the walls of a vehicle by turbulent boundary layers indeed constitutes a major source of interior noise and it is necessary to take into account the presence of a pressure gradient to represent the effect of the curvature of the walls. With this aim, large-eddy simulations of turbulent boundary layers in the presence of both mild adverse and mild favourable pressure gradients are carried out by solving the compressible Navier–Stokes equations. This method provides both the aeroacoustic contribution and the hydrodynamic wall-pressure fluctuations. A critical comparison with existing databases, including recent measurements, is conducted to assess the influence of a free stream pressure gradient. The analyses of wall-pressure spectral densities show an increase in the low-frequency content from adverse to favourable conditions, yielding higher integrated levels of pressure fluctuations scaled by the wall shear stress. This is accompanied by a steeper decay rate in the medium-frequency portion for adverse pressure gradients. No significant difference is found for the mean convection velocity. Frequency–wavenumber spectra including the subconvective region are presented for the first time in the presence of a pressure gradient. A scaling law for the convective ridge is proposed, and the acoustic domain is captured by the simulations. Direct acoustic emissions have similar features in all gradient cases, even if slightly higher levels are noted for boundary layers subjected to an adverse gradient.


2019 ◽  
Vol 880 ◽  
pp. 284-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Gibis ◽  
Christoph Wenzel ◽  
Markus Kloker ◽  
Ulrich Rist

A thorough self-similarity analysis is presented to investigate the properties of self-similarity for the outer layer of compressible turbulent boundary layers. The results are validated using the compressible and quasi-incompressible direct numerical simulation (DNS) data shown and discussed in the first part of this study; see Wenzel et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 880, 2019, pp. 239–283). The analysis is carried out for a general set of characteristic scales, and conditions are derived which have to be fulfilled by these sets in case of self-similarity. To evaluate the main findings derived, four sets of characteristic scales are proposed and tested. These represent compressible extensions of the incompressible edge scaling, friction scaling, Zagarola–Smits scaling and a newly defined Rotta–Clauser scaling. Their scaling success is assessed by checking the collapse of flow-field profiles extracted at various streamwise positions, being normalized by the respective scales. For a good set of scales, most conditions derived in the analysis are fulfilled. As suggested by the data investigated, approximate self-similarity can be achieved for the mean-flow distributions of the velocity, mass flux and total enthalpy and the turbulent terms. Self-similarity thus can be stated to be achievable to a very high degree in the compressible regime. Revealed by the analysis and confirmed by the DNS data, this state is predicted by the compressible pressure-gradient boundary-layer growth parameter $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6EC}_{c}$, which is similar to the incompressible one found by related incompressible studies. Using appropriate adaption, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6EC}_{c}$ values become comparable for compressible and incompressible pressure-gradient cases with similar wall-normal shear-stress distributions. The Rotta–Clauser parameter in its traditional form $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}_{K}=(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}_{K}^{\ast }/\bar{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}_{w})(\text{d}p_{e}/\text{d}x)$ with the kinematic (incompressible) displacement thickness $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}_{K}^{\ast }$ is shown to be a valid parameter of the form $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6EC}_{c}$ and hence still is a good indicator for equilibrium flow in the compressible regime at the finite Reynolds numbers considered. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that the often neglected derivative of the length scale, $\text{d}L_{0}/\text{d}x$, can be incorporated, which was found to have an important influence on the scaling success of common ‘low-Reynolds-number’ DNS data; this holds for both incompressible and compressible flow. Especially for the scaling of the $\bar{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}}\widetilde{u^{\prime \prime }v^{\prime \prime }}$ stress and thus also the wall shear stress $\bar{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}_{w}$, the inclusion of $\text{d}L_{0}/\text{d}x$ leads to palpable improvements.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document