Transition and Breakdown to Turbulence in Incompressible Boundary Layers

Abstract

We have developed a code where the nonlinear terms are treated implicitly. The equations are discretized using the two-point fourth order compact scheme in the y-direction and the backward Euler method in the x-direction. We investigated the transition process in a Blasius boundary layer due to fundamental type breakdown. With 8 modes in the w and 3 planes, we could compute the evolution of disturbances up to Re(x)=910, which is well into the strongly nonlinear region. The transition onset point is located around Re(x)=850. The comparison with the measurements and with the DNS computations are very good up to Re(x)=880