The problem of pressure fluctuations at a rigid wall under a turbulent boundary
layer has attracted much attention in the past decade. At low Mach numbers the theory
is well established from the work of Kraichnan and Lilley, and reasonable agreement
is obtained with the experiments of Willmarth, Hodgson and others. At high Mach
numbers, measurements exist due to the work of Kistler and Chen but so far no
theory is available, apart from that due to Phillips, which is however related to
the noise radiated from supersonic turbulent shear flows.
The present paper reviews the theory of wall pressure fluctuations in incompressible
flow, and shows how the character of the pressure fluctuations changes in passing
from the flow to the wall. Attention is drawn to the more important interactions
giving rise to the pressure fluctuations, as well as to the region of the boundary layer
mainly responsible for the wall pressure fluctuations … [cont.]
