Regeneration mechanisms of near-wall turbulence structures (original) (raw)
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Regeneration mechanism of streaks in near-wall quasi-2D turbulence
European Journal of Mechanics B-fluids, 2004
A direct numerical simulation of quasi-2D (that is with flow variables independent of streamwise direction) decaying and forced turbulent flow in a channel was performed in order to seek out the sustenance mechanism of near-wall turbulence by uncovering the mechanism of streak formation. We found the existence of streaks in quasi-2D turbulent flows, thereby demonstrating that feedback from longitudinal flow is not necessary for streak formation. Passive scalars having different mean profiles were introduced in forced quasi-2D turbulent flows in order to compare the streak spacing of the scalars deduced from two-point correlations of DNS results with those obtained from optimal perturbation and Reynolds normal stress anisotropy instability mechanisms. It has been found that although for all the passive scalars the vortex structure is the same, there is a marked variation in streak spacing of the scalars implying that the preferential streak spacing is not necessarily linked to the preferential vortex spacing.
Coherent structure generation in near-wall turbulence
Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2002
We present a new mechanism for generation of near-wall streamwise vortices – which dominate turbulence phenomena in boundary layers – using linear perturbation analysis and direct numerical simulations of turbulent channel flow. The base flow, consisting of the mean velocity profile and low-speed streaks (free from any initial vortices), is shown to be linearly unstable to sinuous normal modes only for relatively strong streaks, i.e. for wall inclination angles of streak vortex lines exceeding 50°. Analysis of streaks extracted from fully developed near-wall turbulence indicates that about 20% of streak regions in the buffer layer exceed the strength threshold for instability. More importantly, these unstable streaks exhibit only moderate (twofold) normal-mode amplification, the growth being arrested by self-annihilation of streak-flank normal vorticity due to viscous cross-diffusion. We present here an alternative, streak transient growth (STG) mechanism, capable of producing much ...
Streaks and vortices in near-wall turbulence
… of the Royal …, 2005
Email alerting service here in the box at the top right-hand corner of the article or click Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article -sign up http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/subscriptions go to: Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A To subscribe to This journal is This paper presents evidence that organization of wall-normal motions plays almost no role in the creation of streaks. This evidence consists of the theory of streak generation not requiring the existence of organized vortices, extensive quantitative comparisons between the theory and direct numerical simulations, including examples of large variation in average spacing of the streaks of different scalars simultaneously present in the flow, and an example of the scalar streaks in an artificially created purely random flow.
The mechanism of streak formation in near-wall turbulence
Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2005
Two conceptual frameworks for the origin of the streaky pattern in near-wall developed turbulent flows are compared. According to the framework that dominated the research over several decades, the pattern of streaks is dictated by the pattern of wall-normal motions via the lift-up mechanism. Various concepts within this framework describe the wall-normal motions as induced by longitudinal vortices, hairpin vortices, vortex packets, etc. According to the newly emerging conceptual framework, the combined action of lift-up of the mean profile, mean shear, and viscous diffusion has its own pattern-forming properties. The pattern of streaks is dictated by these linear effects to a much greater extent than by the pattern of the wall-normal motions. Numerical results supporting the new conceptual framework are presented. An approximate approach for calculating the streak spacing within the new framework is proposed. It is shown to have a significant predictive ability.
A Computational Study of Turbulent Structure Formation
2007
Direct Numerical Simulation of channel flow was utilized to study the evolution of various vortex configurations presented as flow initial conditions. Simulations of longitudinally, laterally and cross-flow oriented vortices suggested that the predominant form of turbulent structure was the half hairpin vortex. This vortical structure was dominant in the simulations seen in this as well as other investigations. In all cases hairpin vortices quickly degenerated to half hairpin or inclined vortical structures. It is hypothesized that these structures function as the predominant momentum transfer mechanism within the boundary layer, entraining fluid into the vortex cores like miniature tornados and transporting this fluid to the top of the boundary layer while simultaneously dragging fluid viscously around the inclined core of the vortex causing mixing of low-speed and high-speed flows.
Temporal development of turbulent boundary layers with embedded streamwise vortices
Theoretical and Computational Fluid Dynamics, 1992
The interaction of streamwise vortices with turbulent boundary layer has been investigated using large-eddy simulation. The initial conditions are a pair of counterrotating Oseen vortices with flow between them directed toward the wall (common-flow-down), superimposed on various instantaneous realizations of a turbulent boundary layer. The time development of the vortices and their interaction with the boundary layer are studied by integrating the filtered Navier-Stokes equations in time. The most important effects of the vortices on the boundary layer are the thinning of the boundary layer between vortices (downwash region) and the thickening of the boundary layer in the upwash region. The vortices first move toward the wall as a result of the self-induced velocity, and then apart from each other because of the image vortices due to the solid wall. The Reynolds stress profiles highlight the highly three-dimensional structure of the turbulent boundary layer modified by the vortices. The presence of significant turbulent activity near the vortex center and in the upwash region suggests that localized instability mechanisms in addition to the convection of turbulent energy by the secondary flow are responsible for this effect. High levels of turbulent kinetic energy and secondary stresses in the vicinity of the vortex center are also observed. The numerical results show good agreement with experimental results.
Physics of Fluids, 2021
The drag-reduction mechanism of spanwise wall oscillation in a turbulent channel was investigated as an extension of the work of Yakeno et al. ["Modification of quasi-streamwise vortical structure in a drag-reduced turbulent channel flow with spanwise wall oscillation," Phys. Fluids 26, 085109 (2014)] at a low Reynolds number. Flow instability was evaluated by computing the transient energy growth under an oscillating base flow which governed the generation of a near-wall streak structure. Oscillation affected the optimal energy growth of the streak mode, whose characteristics were reasonably consistent with those in a direct numerical simulation. The optimal growth of the tiltedstreak mode was enhanced with a thicker Stokes layer under longer oscillation periods, while that of the original streak mode was weakened. The transition of the optimal perturbation under oscillation showed that the spanwise Stokes layer shear contributed considerably more to modification than the spanwise velocity did. A new drag-reduction performance estimation model was suggested using the acceleration of the spanwise velocity shear based on streak formation modification under oscillation, which restrains energy transfer to streamwise vortices via a tilting delay due to oscillation. This simple model worked well even under long oscillation periods and was theoretically consistent with that of Yakeno et al. based on the change in the Reynolds shear stress due to a streamwise vortex at a low Reynolds number.
From Streaks to Spots and on to Turbulence: Exploring the Dynamics of Boundary Layer Transition
Flow, Turbulence and Combustion, 2013
Bypass transition to turbulence in boundary layers is examined using linear theory and direct numerical simulations (DNS). First, the penetration of lowfrequency free-stream disturbances into the boundary layer is explained using a model problem with two time scales, namely the shear and wall-normal diffusion. The simple model provides a physical understanding of the phenomenon of shear sheltering. The second stage in bypass transition is the amplification of streaks. Streak detection and tracking algorithms were applied to examine the characteristics of the streak population inside the boundary layer, beneath free-stream turbulence. It is demonstrated that simple statistical averaging masks the wealth of streak amplitudes in transitional flows, and in particular the high-amplitude, relatively rare events that precede the onset of turbulence. The third stage of the transition process, namely the secondary instability of streaks, is examined using secondary instability analysis. It is demonstrated that two types of instability are possible: An outer instability arises near the edge of the boundary layer on the lifted, low-speed streaks. An inner instability also exists, and has the appearance of a near-wall wavepacket. The stability theory is robust, and can predict the particular streaks which are likely to undergo secondary instability and break down in transitional boundary layers beneath free-stream turbulence. Beyond the secondary instability, turbulent spots are tracked in DNS in order to examine their characteristics in the subsequent nonlinear stages of transition. At every stage, we compare the findings from linear theory to the empirical observations from direct solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations. The complementarity between the theoretical predictions and the computational
The evolution of synthesised vortices in turbulent boundary layer
Particle image velocimetry technique has been used to investigate the evolution of synthesised vortical structures in the turbulent boundary layer. Synthetic jet actuator is implemented on the flat plate surface to synthesise various vortical structures by operating the actuator at varying operating parameters. The vortices are issued into the boundary layer and their evolution and subsequent interaction with the relatively less energetic near wall fluid is studied. The investigation is based on the quantitative measurements that are made both on the central and parallel lateral planes. Finally, the enhancement of the wall shear stress resulted in by the passing vortices is measured to evaluate the effectiveness of the actuator towards flow separation control.