Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-16T07:42:13.977Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Streamwise vortices and transition to turbulence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2006

James M. Hamilton  and
Frederick H. Abernathy
James M. Hamilton
Affiliation:
Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA Present address: 3715 Linwood Avenue, Oakland, CA 94602, USA.
Frederick H. Abernathy
Affiliation:
Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A series of experiments was conducted to determine the conditions under which streamwise vortices can cause transition to turbulence in shear flows. A specially designed obstacle was used to produce a single vortex in a water-table flow, and the design of this obstacle is discussed. Laser-Doppler velocimetry measurements of the streamwise and crossflow velocity fields were made in transitional and non-transitional flows, and flow visualization was also used. It was found that strong vortices (vortices with large circulation) lead to turbulence while weaker vortices do not. Determination of a critical value of vortex strength for transition, however, was complicated by ambiguities in calculating the vortex circulation. The profiles of streamwise velocity were found to be inflexional for both transitional and non-transitional flows. Transition in single-vortex and multi-vortex flows was compared, and no qualitative differences were observed, suggesting no significant vortex interactions affecting transition.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 264 , 10 April 1994 , pp. 185 - 212
Copyright
© 1994 Cambridge University Press

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

Batchelor, G. K. 1967 An Introduction to Fluid Dynamics. Cambridge University Press.
Bertschy, J. R. 1979 Laminar and turbulent boundary layer flows of drag reducing solutions. PhD thesis, Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University.
Chin, R. W. 1981 Stability of flows down an inclined plane. PhD thesis, Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University.
Craik, A. D. D. 1985 Wave Interactions and Fluid Flows. Cambridge University Press.
Drazin, P. H. & Reid, W. H. 1981 Hydrodynamic Stability. Cambridge University Press.
Hamilton, J. M. 1991 Streamwise vortices and transition to turbulence. PhD thesis, Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University.
Horstmann, K. H., Quast, A. & Redeker, G. 1990 Flight and wind-tunnel investigations of boundary-layer transition. J. Aircraft 27, 146.Google Scholar
Klebanoff, P. S., Tidstrom, K. D. & Sargent, L. M. 1962 The three-dimensional nature of boundary-layer instability. J. Fluid Mech. 12, 1.Google Scholar
Lighthill, M. J. 1963 In Laminar Boundary Layers (ed. L. Rosenhead), pp. 46–113. Clarendon (reprinted by Dover).
Obara, C. J. & Holmes, B. J. 1985 Flight-measured laminar boundary-layer transition phenomena including stability theory analysis. NASA TP-2417.
Pearson, C. F. & Abernathy, F. H. 1984 Evolution of the flow field associated with a streamwise diffusing vortex. J. Fluid Mech. 146, 271.Google Scholar
Press, W. H., Flannery, B. P., Teukolsky, S. A. & Vetterling, W. T. 1986 Numerical Recipes: the Art of Scientific Computing. Cambridge University Press.
Sabersky, R. H., Acosta, A. J. & Hauptmann, E. G. 1971 Fluid Flow: A First Course in Fluid Mechanics, 2nd edn. Macmillan.
Suri, A. K. 1988 Streamwise vortices in shear flow transition. PhD thesis, Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University.
Swearingen, J. D. & Blackwelder, R. F. 1987 The growth and breakdown of streamwise vortices in the presence of a wall. J. Fluid Mech. 182, 255.Google Scholar
Yang, Z. 1987 A single streamwise vortical structure and its instability in shear flow. PhD thesis, Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University.