On the effects of surface morphology on the structure of wall-turbulence

Experiments were conducted in the fully-rough regime on surfaces with large relative roughness (h/δ ≈ 0.1) generated by regularly distributed LEGO™ bricks of uniform height, arranged in different configurations. Measurements were made with high resolution PIV on six different frontal solidities, λF, at fixed plan solidity, λP. Results indicate that the spatial underlying structure of the turbulence across the different surface morphologies is universal in both its shape and orientation in relation to the flow velocity. Harpin packets inclination with respect of the wall is also found to be consistent not only across the different wall surfaces but also when compared to previous studies on smooth walls. Slices of two-point correlations for both streamwise and wall-normal velocity fluctuations and Reynolds shear stresses present a good collapse across the entire y/δ range for all wall morphologies

Predicting entropy generation rates in transitional boundary layers based on intermittency

Prediction of thermodynamic loss in transitional boundary layers is typically based on time-averaged data only. This approach effectively ignores the intermittent nature of the transition region. In this work laminar and turbulent conditionally sampled boundary layer data for zero pressure gradient and accelerating transitional boundary layers have been analyzed to calculate the entropy generation rate in the transition region. By weighting the nondimensional dissipation coefficient for the laminar conditioned data and turbulent conditioned data with the intermittency factor, the entropy generation rate in the transition region can be determined and compared to the time-averaged data and correlations for laminar and turbulent flow. It is demonstrated that this method provides an accurate and detailed picture of the entropy generation rate during transition in contrast with simple time averaging. The data used in this paper have been taken from conditionally sampled boundary layer measurements available in the literature for favorable pressure gradient flows. Based on these measurements, a semi-empirical technique is developed to predict the entropy generation rate in a transitional boundary layer with promising result. Copyright © 2007 by ASME

Conditionally-sampled turbulent and nonturbulent measurements of entropy generation rate in the transition region of boundary layers

Conditionally-sampled boundary layer data for an accelerating transitional boundary layer have been analyzed to calculate the entropy generation rate in the transition region. By weighing the nondimensional dissipation coefficient for the laminar-conditioned-data and turbulent-conditioned-data with the intermittency factor γ the average entropy generation rate in the transition region can be determined and hence be compared to the time averaged data and correlations for steady laminar and turbulent flows. It is demonstrated that this method provides, for the first time, an accurate and detailed picture of the entropy generation rate during transition. The data used in this paper have been taken from detailed boundary layer measurements available in the literature. This paper provides, using an intermittency weighted approach, a methodology for predicting entropy generation in a transitional boundary layer. Copyright © 2007 by ASME

Turbulent Flow Over Large Roughness Elements: Effect of Frontal and Plan Solidity on Turbulence Statistics and Structure

Wind-tunnel experiments were carried out on fully-rough boundary layers with large roughness (δ/h≈10 δ/h≈10, where h is the height of the roughness elements and δ δ is the boundary-layer thickness). Twelve different surface conditions were created by using LEGO™ bricks of uniform height. Six cases are tested for a fixed plan solidity (λ P λP) with variations in frontal density (λ F λF), while the other six cases have varying λ P λP for fixed λ F λF. Particle image velocimetry and floating-element drag-balance measurements were performed. The current results complement those contained in Placidi and Ganapathisubramani (J Fluid Mech 782:541–566, 2015), extending the previous analysis to the turbulence statistics and spatial structure. Results indicate that mean velocity profiles in defect form agree with Townsend’s similarity hypothesis with varying λ F λF, however, the agreement is worse for cases with varying λ P λP. The streamwise and wall-normal turbulent stresses, as well as the Reynolds shear stresses, show a lack of similarity across most examined cases. This suggests that the critical height of the roughness for which outer-layer similarity holds depends not only on the height of the roughness, but also on the local wall morphology. A new criterion based on shelter solidity, defined as the sheltered plan area per unit wall-parallel area, which is similar to the ‘effective shelter area’ in Raupach and Shaw (Boundary-Layer Meteorol 22:79–90, 1982), is found to capture the departure of the turbulence statistics from outer-layer similarity. Despite this lack of similarity reported in the turbulence statistics, proper orthogonal decomposition analysis, as well as two-point spatial correlations, show that some form of universal flow structure is present, as all cases exhibit virtually identical proper orthogonal decomposition mode shapes and correlation fields. Finally, reduced models based on proper orthogonal decomposition reveal that the small scales of the turbulence play a significant role in assessing outer-layer similarity