Instabilities of the von Kármán Boundary Layer

2015 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. Lingwood ◽  
P. Henrik Alfredsson

Research on the von Kármán boundary layer extends back almost 100 years but remains a topic of active study, which continues to reveal new results; it is only now that fully nonlinear direct numerical simulations (DNS) have been conducted of the flow to compare with theoretical and experimental results. The von Kármán boundary layer, or rotating-disk boundary layer, provides, in some senses, a simple three-dimensional boundary-layer model with which to compare other more complex flow configurations but we will show that in fact the rotating-disk boundary layer itself exhibits a wealth of complex instability behaviors that are not yet fully understood.

Conversaziones were held on 19 May and 28 June 1955. At the first there were thirty-six exhibits, covering a wide range of research activities. An acoustical demonstration of the instability of the laminar boundary layer on a rotating disk was given by Mr N. Gregory, Mr J. T. Stuart and Mr W. S. Walker, of the Aerodynamics Division, National Physical Laboratory. The rotating disk illustrates a phenomenon which also occurs in the flow over the swept wings of modern aircraft, the instability in the latter case being due to the growth of self-amplifying vortices in the three-dimensional boundary layer over the nose of the wing. By using a stethoscope the vibrations produced by the vortices and by the random turbulent fluctuations at the edge of the disk can clearly be heard.


2010 ◽  
Vol 658 ◽  
pp. 117-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
RALF MESSING ◽  
MARKUS J. KLOKER

Direct numerical simulations are employed to investigate the effects of discrete suction orifices at the wall on the disturbance evolution in laminar three-dimensional boundary-layer flows with favourable pressure gradient. Suction panels with many suction orifices can excite unstable crossflow (CF) modes even if the orifice spacing is smaller than the chordwise/spanwise wavelengths of unstable modes, caused by imperfections in the orifice order or suction strength. It has been found that the most unstable steady vortex mode leads to strong CF vortices that invoke turbulence by secondary instability even on the active suction panel. The deliberate excitation and support of stabilizing vortices that have less than two-thirds of the spanwise wavelength of the most amplified ones – known from the upstream flow deformation or micrometre-sized roughness elements technique – by the orifice order on the panel can secure the desired stabilizing effect of suction and lower the necessary suction amount significantly.


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