Jens H. M. Fransson

Turbulent boundary layers up to Reθ=2500 studied through simulation and experiment

Direct numerical simulations (DNSs) and experiments of a spatially developing zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layer are presented up to Reynolds number Re-theta=2500, based on momentum th ...

Experimental and theoretical investigation of the nonmodal growth of steady streaks in a flat plate boundary layer

An experimental and theoretical investigation aimed at describing the nonmodal growth of steady and spanwise periodic streamwise streaks in a flat plate boundary layer is presented. Stable laminar streaks are experimentally generated by means of a spanwise periodic array of small cylindrical roughness elements fixed on the plate. The streamwise evolution of the streaks is measured and it is proved that, except in a small region near the roughness elements, they obey the boundary layer scalings. The maximum achievable amplitude is mainly determined by the relative height of the roughness elements. Results are compared with numerical simulations of optimal and suboptimal boundary layer streaks. The theory is able to elucidate some of the discrepancies recently noticed between experimentally realizable nonmodal growth and optimal perturbation theory. The key factor is found to be the wall normal location and the extension of the laminar standing streamwise vortices inducing the streaks. The differences among previous experimental works can be explained by different dominating streak generation mechanisms which can be linked to the geometry and to the ratio between the roughness height and the boundary layer scale.

Transition induced by free-stream turbulence

Free-stream turbulence (FST) is perhaps the most important source inducing by-pass transition in boundary layer flows. The present study describes the initial energy growth of streamwise-oriented d ...

Experimental study of the stabilization of Tollmien–Schlichting waves by finite amplitude streaks

It has recently been found by using temporal and spatial numerical simulations that steady optimal streaks of moderate amplitude, i.e., sufficiently large but not exceeding the critical amplitude for the inflectional instability, are able to reduce the growth of Tollmien-Schlichting (TS) waves up to their complete suppression. This investigation aims at experimentally verifying this stabilizing effect by generating stable and symmetric, close to sinusoidal, streaks of moderate amplitudes (similar to 12% of the free-stream velocity) by means of a spanwise array of cylindrical roughness elements. The three-dimensional (3D) streaky base flow is then subjected to a secondary instability generated through a spanwise slot in the plate by means of regulated blowing and suction. In this study the stabilizing role of the streaks on TS waves is unambiguously confirmed and by increasing the height of the roughness elements, thus inducing larger amplitude streaks, we are also able to show that the stabilizing action on the TS waves increases with the streak amplitude. These results are the first to confirm the numerical predictions reported in earlier works. The full cross-stream plane has been measured at different downstream positions allowing a complete evaluation and comparison of the different amplitude measures used in previous experimental works. Furthermore, theoretical impulse response analysis and stability calculations are applied to the present experimental streaky base flow enabling a qualitative comparison of the 3D modulated TS wave distribution.

Pressure statistics and their scaling in high-Reynolds-number turbulent boundary layers

Pressure fluctuations are an important ingredient in turbulence, e.g. in the pressure strain terms which redistribute turbulence among the different fluctuating velocity components. The variation o ...

On the disturbance growth in an asymptotic suction boundary layer

Both experimental and theoretical studies have beenconsidered on flat plate boundary layers as well as on wakesbehind porous cylinders. The main thread in this work iscontrol, which is applied passively and actively on boundarylayers in order to inhibit or postpone transition toturbulence; and actively through the cylinder surface in orderto effect the wakecharacteristics. An experimental set-up for the generation of the asymptoticsuction boundary layer (ASBL) has been constructed. This studyis the first, ever, that report a boundary layer flow ofconstant boundary layer thickness over a distance of 2 metres.Experimental measurements in the evolution region, from theBlasius boundary layer (BBL) to the ASBL, as well as in theASBL are in excellent agreement with boundary layer analysis.The stability of the ASBL has experimentally been tested, bothto Tollmien-Schlichting waves as well as to free streamturbulence (FST), for relatively low Reynolds numbers (Re). For the former disturbances good agreement is foundfor the streamwise amplitude profiles and the phase velocitywhen compared with linear spatial stability theory. However,the energy decay factor predicted by theory is slightlyoverestimated compared to the experimental findings. The latterdisturbances are known to engender streamwise elongated regionsof high and low speeds of fluid, denoted streaks, in a BBL.This type of spanwise structures have been shown to appear inthe ASBL as well, with the same spanwise wavelength as in theBBL, despite the fact that the boundary layer thickness issubstantially reduced in the ASBL case. The spanwise wavenumberof the optimal perturbation in the ASBL has been calculated andis β = 0.53, when normalized with the displacementthickness. The spanwise scale of the streaks decreases withincreasing turbulence intensity (Tu) and approaches the scale given by optimalperturbation theory. This has been shown for the BBL case aswell. The initial energy growth of FST induced disturbances hasexperimentally been found to grow linearly as Tu2Rexin the BBL, the transitional Reynolds numberto vary as Tu-2, and the intermittency function to have a relativelywell-defined distribution, valid for all Tu. The wake behind a porous cylinder subject to continuoussuction or blowing has been studied, where amongst other thingsthe Strouhal number (St) has been shown to increase strongly with suction,namely, up to 50% for a suction rate of 2.5% of the free streamvelocity. In contrast, blowing shows a decrease ofStof around 25% for a blowing rate of 5% of the freestream velocity in the considered Reynolds number range. Keywords:Laminar-turbulent transition, asymptoticsuction boundary layer, free stream turbulence,Tollmien-Schlichting wave, stability, flow control, cylinderwake.

Grid-generated turbulence revisited

In this study we characterize the turbulence, by means of energy spectra, characteristic turbulence length scales, energy dissipation, kinetic energy decay rate etc., behind a set of grids with the feature of having roughly the same solidity but different mesh and bar widths. This is one way of being able to vary the turbulence characteristic length scales while keeping the same turbulence intensity, which is usually a difficult task for experimentalists. Measurements are performed by using, on the one hand, traditional hot-wire x-probes oriented in both directions giving information about all three directional velocity components and, on the other hand, small single-wire probes for faster frequency response. Independent procedures to calculate some quantities are summarized and performed in the present paper and compared with correlation functions based on homogeneous isotropic turbulence as well as semi-empirical relations. For grid-generated turbulence, which often erroneously is described as isotropic (actually a rare condition), relations derived based on isotropic turbulence are frequently used. Here, we show that dissipation rates and length scales may be inaccurate by as much as 50% or more when compared with valid anisotropic relations. The paper ends with a comparison of the turbulence characteristics between the zero pressure gradient case and a favorable pressure gradient case with a small degree of cross flow. With the pressure gradient, a reduction of the integral and Taylor length scales of about 20% and 30%, respectively, is reported for a large mesh width, whereas no change is observed for a small one.

Streamwise evolution of longitudinal vortices in a turbulent boundary layer

In this experimental study both smoke visualisation and three component hotwire measurements have been performed in order to characterize the streamwise evolution of longitudinal counter-rotating ...

CICLoPE—a response to the need for high Reynolds number experiments

The invention is directed to a process for the preparation of a catalyst component for the polymerization of an olefin by:a) contacting metallic magnesium with an organic halide RX, where R is an organic group containing up to 20 carbon atoms and X is a halide, whereupon the dissolved reaction product I is separated from the solid residual products and whereafter,b) an alkoxy group or aryloxy group containing silane compound is added to the obtained reaction product I, whereupon the precipitate formed is purified to obtain reaction product II,c) which reaction product II is subsequently contacted with TiCl4 and the resulting product is purified to obtain the catalyst component.The invention is characterized in that in step b) the silane compound and reaction product I are introduced simultaneously to a mixing device.

Free stream turbulence induced disturbances in boundary layers with wall suction

An experimental investigation of free stream turbulence (FST) induced disturbances in asymptotic suction boundary layers (ASBL) has been performed. In the present study four different suction rates ...