Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-hgkh8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T22:07:23.826Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Coherent structures in direct numerical simulation of turbulent boundary layers at Mach 3

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 December 2007

MATTHEW J. RINGUETTE
Affiliation:
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, Princeton University, Engineering Quad, Olden St, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
MINWEI WU
Affiliation:
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, Princeton University, Engineering Quad, Olden St, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
M. PINO MARTÍN
Affiliation:
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, Princeton University, Engineering Quad, Olden St, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA

Abstract

We demonstrate that data from direct numerical simulation of turbulent boundary layers at Mach 3 exhibit the same large-scale coherent structures that are found in supersonic and subsonic experiments, namely elongated, low-speed features in the logarithmic region and hairpin vortex packets. Contour plots of the streamwise mass flux show very long low-momentum structures in the logarithmic layer. These low-momentum features carry about one-third of the turbulent kinetic energy. Using Taylor's hypothesis, we find that these structures prevail and meander for very long streamwise distances. Structure lengths on the order of 100 boundary layer thicknesses are observed. Length scales obtained from correlations of the streamwise mass flux severely underpredict the extent of these structures, most likely because of their significant meandering in the spanwise direction. A hairpin-packet-finding algorithm is employed to determine the average packet properties, and we find that the Mach 3 packets are similar to those observed at subsonic conditions. A connection between the wall shear stress and hairpin packets is observed. Visualization of the instantaneous turbulence structure shows that groups of hairpin packets are frequently located above the long low-momentum structures. This finding is consistent with the very large-scale motion model of Kim & Adrian (1999).

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Adrian, R., Meinhart, C. & Tomkins, C. 2000 Vortex organization in the outer region of the turbulent boundary layer. J. Fluid Mech. 422, 154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
delÁlamo, J. C. Álamo, J. C. & Jiménez, J. 2003 Spectra of the very large anisotropic scales in turbulent channels. Phys. Fluids 15 (6), L41L44.Google Scholar
delÁlamo, J. C. Álamo, J. C., Jiménez, J., Zandonade, P. & Moser, R. D. 2004 Scaling of the energy spectra of turbulent channels. J. Fluid Mech. 500, 135144.Google Scholar
delÁlamo, J. C. Álamo, J. C., Jiménez, J., Zandonade, P. & Moser, R. D. 2006 Self-similar vortex clusters in the turbulent logarithmic region. J. Fluid Mech. 561, 329358.Google Scholar
Balakumar, B. J. & Adrian, R. J. 2007 Large- and very-large-scale motions in channel and boundary-layer flows. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 365, 665681.Google ScholarPubMed
Brown, G. L. & Thomas, A. S. W. 1977 Large structure in a turbulent boundary layer. Phys. Fluids 10, 243251.Google Scholar
Delo, C. J., Kelso, R. M. & Smits, A. J. 2004 Three-dimensional structure of a low-Reynolds-number turbulent boundary layer. J. Fluid Mech. 512, 4783.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ganapathisubramani, B., Clemens, N. & Dolling, D. 2006 Large-scale motions in a supersonic turbulent boundary layer. J. Fluid Mech. 556, 111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ganapathisubramani, B., Longmire, E. K. & Marusic, I. 2003 Characteristics of vortex packets in turbulent boundary layers. J. Fluid Mech. 478, 3546.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guala, M., Hommema, S. E. & Adrian, R. J. 2006 Large-scale and very-large-scale motions in turbulent pipe flow. J. Fluid Mech. 554, 521542.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hambleton, W. T., Hutchins, N. & Marusic, I. 2006 Simultaneous orthogonal-plane particle image velocimetry measurements in a turbulent boundary layer. J. Fluid Mech. 560, 5364.Google Scholar
Head, M. & Bandyopadhyay, P. 1981 New aspects of turbulent boundary-layer structure. J. Fluid Mech. 107, 297338.Google Scholar
Hutchins, N. & Marusic, I. 2007 a Evidence of very long meandering features in the logarithmic region of turbulent boundary layers. J. Fluid Mech. 579, 128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutchins, N. & Marusic, I. 2007 b Large-scale influences in near-wall turbulence. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 365, 647664.Google ScholarPubMed
Jiménez, J. 1998 The largest scales of turbulent wall flows. In Center for Turbulence Research, Annual Research Briefs, pp. 137154. Stanford University.Google Scholar
Kim, K. C. & Adrian, R. J. 1999 Very large-scale motion in the outer layer. Phys. Fluids 11, 417422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martín, M. P. 2007 Direct numerical simulation of hypersonic turbulent boundary layers. Part 1: initialization and comparison with experiments. J. Fluid Mech. 570, 347364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smits, A. J. & Dussauge, J.-P. 2006 Turbulent Shear Layers in Supersonic Flow, 2nd edn. Springer.Google Scholar
Theodorsen, T. 1952 Mechanism of turbulence. In Proc. 2nd Midwestern Conf. on Fluid Mech., pp. 119. Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA.Google Scholar
Tomkins, C. & Adrian, R. 2003 Spanwise structure and scale growth in turbulent boundary layers. J. Fluid Mech. 490, 3774.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhou, J., Adrian, R., Balachandar, S. & Kendall, T. 1999 Mechanisms for generating coherent packets of hairpin vortices in channel flow. J. Fluid Mech. 387, 353396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar