Renzo Trip

Boundary layer modification by means of wall suction and the effect on the wake behind a rectangular forebody

The wake characteristics of a two-dimensional rectangular forebody with a smooth leading edge and a blunt trailing edge are investigated. Wall suction is applied along the forebody in order to modify the developing boundary layer. An initially laminar boundary layer subject to suction yields an asymptotic suction boundary layer at the trailing edge of the body, whereas a high enough suction coefficient relaminarizes an initially turbulent boundary layer. The critical suction velocity required to achieve this significant modification of the boundary layer properties is typically in the order of 1% of the free-stream velocity, where the critical suction coefficient depends on the Reynolds number. We show that a thinner boundary layer induces a higher vortex shedding frequency and a lower base pressure. Furthermore, the boundary layer state, laminar or turbulent, has a significant influence on the wake. For example, the Strouhal number based on the effective body thickness is being reduced by 25% from laminar to turbulent inlet conditions.

Bluff body boundary-layer modification and its effect on the near-wake topology

Boundary-layer modification over a bullet-shaped body has been accomplished using wall suction and its effect on the near-wake topology is reported. Two-dimensional velocity fields in the Reynolds number range 6.7×103−5.5×104 are acquired by means of particle image velocimetry and the mean, periodic, and random velocity components are analyzed. Wall suction reduces the boundary-layer thickness and increases the wall-normal velocity gradient. When the boundary layer is laminar up to the point of separation, the modification of the boundary layer leads to a vortex formation region that is up to 19% shorter compared with the case without wall suction. The modification of the boundary layer is accompanied by an increase of the Reynolds normal and shear stresses, which corresponds to larger forces acting on a fictive control area enclosing the mean recirculation region. The increase in Reynolds normal and shear stresses is due to an increase of the random fluctuation component, while the contribution of the pe...

An Experimental Study on the Relation Between the Wake Inlet Conditions and the Near Wake Topology

A study on the relation between the wake inlet conditions and the wake characteristics of a bluff body by means of Particle Image Velocimetry is presented. The wake inlet condition, being a laminar boundary layer at the trailing edge of the body, are varied by means of wall-suction. Measurements are carried out at \(Re_{h} = 6.7\times 10^{3}\) based on the body thickness h. The induced radius of curvature of the streamlines is shown to be a promising parameter in explaining the increase in base drag and decrease in vortex shedding frequency associated with a thinner boundary layer.

1042 AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON THE WAKE OF A RECTANGULAR FOREBODY WITH SUCTION APPLIED OVER THE SURFACES

The wake behind a rectangular forebody with variable inlet conditions is investigated. The perforated surface of the two-dimensional rectangular forebody, with a smooth leading edge and a blunt trailing edge, allows for boundary layer modification by means of wall suction. The test section, of which the rectangular forebody is the main part, is experimentally evaluated with a series of hot-wire and Prandtl tube measurements in the boundary layer and the wake.For a suction coefficient of Γ>9, corresponding to 0.9% suction of the free stream velocity, the asymptotic suction boundary layer (ASBL) is obtained at the trailing edge of the forebody for laminar boundary layers (Rex=1.6×105−3.8×105). The key feature of the ASBL, a spatially invariant boundary thickness which can be modified independent of the Reynolds number, is used to perform a unique parametrical study.Turbulent boundary layers (Rex=4.5×105−3.0×106) subject to wall suction are also investigated. For a critical suction coefficient Γcrit, which depends on Rex, the boundary layer relaminarizes. Strong evidence is found to support the hypothesis that turbulent boundary layers will ultimately attain the ASBL as well, provided that the wall suction is strong enough.The effect of the modulated laminar and turbulent boundary layers on the wake characteristics is studied. The shape of the mean wake velocity profile, scaled with the velocity deficit U0and the wake half width ∆y1/2, is found tobe independent of x/h, for x/h> 6 and Reh >6.7×103. The wake width is shown to scale with the effective thickness of the body h+2δ1, where the ratio is expected to vary with the downstream location.A decrease of the displacement thickness leads to a decrease of the base pressure, with Cp,b = −0.36 in the ASBL limit. The Strouhal number based on the effective thickness becomes Sth+2δ1 ≈ 0.29 in the ASBL limit and independent of the plate thickness (h) Reynolds number, in the range Reh = 2.9×103 − 6.7×103. For the turbulent boundary Sth+2δ1 is found to be 25% lower, which shows that the wake characteristics depend on the state of the boundary layer at the trailing edge.The total drag is found to be reduced by as much as 30% for Reh = 2.7×104 when a wall normal velocity of only 3.5% of the free stream velocity is applied. Wall suction successively reduces the total drag with increasing wall suction, at least in the Reynolds number rangeReh = 8.0×103−5.5×104.