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    Spatial averaging effects on the streamwise and wall-normal velocity measurements in a wall-bounded turbulence using a cross-wire probe
    Baidya, R ; Philip, J ; Hutchins, N ; Monty, JP ; Marusic, I (IOP Publishing, 2019-08-01)
    The spatial averaging effects due to a cross-wire probe on the measured turbulence statistics in a wall-bounded flow are investigated using a combined approach of direct numerical simulation data, theoretical methods and experiments. In particular, the wire length (l), spacing ( ) and angle ( ) of a cross-wire probe configured to measure the streamwise and wall-normal velocities are systematically varied to isolate effects of each parameter. The measured streamwise velocity from a cross-wire probe is found to be an average of the filtered velocities sensed by the two wires. Thus, in general, an increase in the sensor dimensions when normalised by viscous units leads to an attenuated variance for the streamwise velocity ( ), resulting from a larger contribution to the spatial averaging process from poorly correlated velocities. In contrast, the variance for the wall-normal velocity ( ) can be amplified, and this is shown to be the result of an additional contributing term (compared to ) due to differences in the filtered wire-normal velocity between the two wires. This additional term leads to a spurious wall-normal velocity signal, resulting in an amplified variance recorded by the cross-wire probe. Compared to the streamwise and wall-normal velocity variances, the Reynolds shear stress ( ) perhaps surprisingly shows less variation when l, and are varied. The robustness of Reynolds shear stress to the finite sensor size is due to two effects: (i) Reynolds shear stress is devoid of energetic contributions from the near-isotropic fine scales unlike the and statistics, hence cross-wire probe dimensions are typically sufficiently small in terms of viscous unit to adequately capture the statistics for a range of l and investigated; (ii) the dependency arises due to cross terms between the filtered velocities from two wires, however, it turns out that these terms cancel one another in the case of Reynolds shear stress, but not for the and statistics. We note that this does not, however, suggest that is easier to measure accurately than the normal stresses; on the contrary, in a companion paper (Baidya et al 2019 Meas. Sci. Technol. 30 085301) we show that measurements are more prone to errors due to uncertainty in probe geometry and calibration procedure.
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    Sensitivity of turbulent stresses in boundary layers to cross-wire probe uncertainties in the geometry and calibration procedure
    Baidya, R ; Philip, J ; Hutchins, N ; Monty, JP ; Marusic, I (IOP Publishing, 2019-08-01)
    The sensitivity of measured turbulent stresses to uncertainties in the probe geometry and calibration procedure is investigated for a cross-wire probe in a turbulent boundary layer using direct numerical simulation data. The errors investigated are guided by experiments, and to replicate the full experimental procedure, the cross-wire calibration procedure is simulated to generate a voltage-to-velocity mapping function, which is then utilised to calculate the measured velocity from simulated cross-wire voltages. We show that wire misalignment can lead to an incorrect mean wall-normal velocity and Reynolds shear stress in the near-wall region due to the presence of shear. Furthermore, we find that misalignment in the wire orientation cannot be fully accounted for through the calibration procedure, presumably due to increased sensitivity to an out-of-plane velocity component. This has strong implications if using a generic commercial cross-wire probe, since inclining these probes to gain access to the near-wall region can lead to a large error (up to 10%) in turbulent stresses and these errors can manifest in the log region and beyond to half the boundary layer thickness. For uncertainties introduced during the calibration procedure, the Reynolds shear stress is observed to exhibit an elevated sensitivity compared with other turbulent stresses. This is consistent with empirical observations where the repeatability in the Reynolds shear stress is found to be the poorest.
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    Interfaces of uniform momentum zones in turbulent boundary layers
    de Silva, CM ; Philip, J ; Hutchins, N ; Marusic, I (CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS, 2017-06-10)
    In this paper we examine the characteristics of the interfaces that demarcate regions of relatively uniform streamwise momentum in turbulent boundary layers. The analysis utilises particle image velocimetry databases that span more than an order of magnitude of friction Reynolds number ($Re_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}=10^{3}$–$10^{4}$), enabling us to provide a detailed description of the interfacial layers as a function of Reynolds number. As reported by Adrianet al.(J. Fluid Mech., vol. 422, 2000, pp. 1–54), these interfaces appear as persistent regions of strong shear with distinct patches of vorticity consistent with a packet-like structure. Here, however, we treat these interfaces as continuous lines, thus averaging the properties of the vortical patches, and find that their geometry is highly contorted and exhibits self-similarity across a wide range of scales. Specifically, the lengths of the edges of uniform momentum zones exhibit a power-law behaviour with a fractal scaling that has a constant exponent across the boundary layer, while the topmost edge or the turbulent/non-turbulent interface shows a sudden increase in the exponent. The accompanying sharp changes in velocity that occur at these edges are found to change in magnitude as a function of wall-normal height, being larger closer to the wall. Further, a Reynolds number invariance is exhibited when the magnitude of the step-like changes in velocity is scaled by the skin-friction velocity, meanwhile, the width across which it occurs is shown to be of the order of the Taylor microscale. Based on these quantitative measures, the Reynolds number scaling observed and the persistent presence of sharp changes in momentum in turbulent boundary layers, a simple model is used to reconstruct the mean velocity profile. Insight gained from the model enhances our understanding of how instantaneous phenomena (such as a zonal-like structural arrangement) manifests in the averaged flow statistics and confirms that the instantaneous momentum in a turbulent boundary layer appears to mainly consist of a step-like profile as a function of wall-normal distance.
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    Spatial averaging of velocity measurements in wall-bounded turbulence: single hot-wires
    Philip, J ; Hutchins, N ; Monty, JP ; Marusic, I (IOP Publishing Ltd, 2013-11)
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    Spatial averaging of streamwise and spanwise velocity measurements in wall-bounded turbulence using ν- and x-probes
    Philip, J ; Baidya, R ; Hutchins, N ; Monty, JP ; Marusic, I (IOP PUBLISHING LTD, 2013-11)
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    Distance-from-the-wall scaling of turbulent motions in wall-bounded flows
    Baidya, R ; Philip, J ; Hutchins, N ; Monty, JP ; Marusic, I (AIP Publishing, 2017-02)
    An assessment of self-similarity in the inertial sublayer is presented by considering the wall-normal velocity, in addition to the streamwise velocity component. The novelty of the current work lies in the inclusion of the second velocity component, made possible by carefully conducted subminiature ×-probe experiments to minimise the errors in measuring the wall-normal velocity. We show that not all turbulent stress quantities approach the self-similar asymptotic state at an equal rate as the Reynolds number is increased, with the Reynolds shear stress approaching faster than the streamwise normal stress. These trends are explained by the contributions from attached eddies. Furthermore, the Reynolds shear stress cospectra, through its scaling with the distance from the wall, are used to assess the wall-normal limits where self-similarity applies within the wall-bounded flow. The results are found to be consistent with the recent prediction from the work of Wei et al. [“Properties of the mean momentum balance in turbulent boundary layer, pipe and channel flows,” J. Fluid Mech. 522, 303–327 (2005)], Klewicki [“Reynolds number dependence, scaling, and dynamics of turbulent boundary layers,” J. Fluids Eng. 132, 094001 (2010)], and others that the self-similar region starts and ends at z+∼O(δ+) and O(δ+), respectively. Below the self-similar region, empirical evidence suggests that eddies responsible for turbulent stresses begin to exhibit distance-from-the-wall scaling at a fixed z+ location; however, they are distorted by viscous forces, which remain a leading order contribution in the mean momentum balance in the region z+≲O(δ+), and thus result in a departure from self-similarity.
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    The turbulent/non-turbulent interface and entrainment in a boundary layer
    Chauhan, K ; Philip, J ; de Silva, CM ; Hutchins, N ; Marusic, I (CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS, 2014-03)
    Abstract The turbulent/non-turbulent interface in a zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layer at high Reynolds number ($\mathit{Re}_\tau =14\, 500$) is examined using particle image velocimetry. An experimental set-up is utilized that employs multiple high-resolution cameras to capture a large field of view that extends $2\delta \times 1.1\delta $ in the streamwise/wall-normal plane with an unprecedented dynamic range. The interface is detected using a criteria of local turbulent kinetic energy and proves to be an effective method for boundary layers. The presence of a turbulent/non-turbulent superlayer is corroborated by the presence of a jump for the conditionally averaged streamwise velocity across the interface. The steep change in velocity is accompanied by a discontinuity in vorticity and a sharp rise in the Reynolds shear stress. The conditional statistics at the interface are in quantitative agreement with the superlayer equations outlined by Reynolds (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 54, 1972, pp. 481–488). Further analysis introduces the mass flux as a physically relevant parameter that provides a direct quantitative insight into the entrainment. Consistency of this approach is first established via the equality of mean entrainment calculations obtained using three different methods, namely, conditional, instantaneous and mean equations of motion. By means of ‘mass-flux spectra’ it is shown that the boundary-layer entrainment is characterized by two distinctive length scales which appear to be associated with a two-stage entrainment process and have a substantial scale separation.