No description available.

Thesis (M.S. in Meteorology and Physical Oceanography)--Naval Postgraduate School, Sept. 2004. / Thesis advisor(s): Timothy P. Stanton. Includes bibliographical references (p. 95-99). Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2007. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-137). Also available on the World Wide Web.

In order to improve the state of turbulence modeling for three-dimensional flows, more detailed information on the fundamental physics of the flow is required. It has been recognized for some time now that organized motions or coherent structures in the flow play a large part in determining the flow characteristics, and there is now a large body of literature dealing with various aspects of coherent structures. However, almost all of the existing literature deal with mean two-dimensional flows with very little reported for mean three-dimensional flows. In the present study, measurements were performed in a three-dimensional, pressure-driven turbulent boundary layer (<i>Re</i>_θ = 5936) in the flow around a wing-body junction with a variety of multiple-sensor probes, to examine the features of the coherent structures in the flow. This test flow has a number of practical applications and was selected because of its strong three-dimensional nature and the availability of an extensive set of mean-flow measurements from previous investigations. The measurements were carried out with a hot-wire rake with sixteen sensors spaced approximately logarithmically over 25.4 mm (1 inch), a parallel-sensor probe with two parallel sensors spaced approximately 4.8 mm apart, a rotatable wall-sensor probe with two wall-mounted hot-film sensors spaced 6.93 mm apart and a traversable wall-sensor probe with two variable-spacing wall-mounted hot-film sensors. The hot-wire rake was used to examine the structure of the flow in both the Y (normal to the wall) and Z (spanwise) directions. The parallel and rotatable wall-sensor probes were used to look at the angular characteristics of the coherent structures in the flow and at the wall, respectively, and the spanwise structure of the flow at the wall was examined through the traversable wall-sensor probe. The results of the measurements show that the spectral characteristics of the flow are affected by three-dimensional effects. The direction of motion of the coherent structures lags behind the local mean-velocity vectors in the X-Z plane (parallel to the wall) with very little variation with frequency (structure size). Unlike two-dimensional boundary layers, the spectral variation of the convective wave speed does not collapse when normalized with the local mean velocity and friction velocity in the outer and inner regions, respectively. In the outer region of the boundary layer, the distribution of the intermittency with Y appears to agree quite closely with previously reported results for two-dimensional boundary layers. The mean ejection frequency in the near-wall flow and the frequency at the peak of the first moment of the wall shear-stress power spectrum show fairly close agreement, consistent with previously reported results for a two dimensional boundary layer. The measurements with the traversable wall-sensor probe indicate the presence of an organized structure, probably low-speed streaks in the near-wall region, with a preferred spanwise spacing. This spanwise spacing was found to be Î Î * = 85 and 135 at two different measurement stations. somewhat different from the well accepted value of Î Î * = 100 for two-dimensional boundary layers. Time-delayed correlations of the velocity signal over a range of Y locations reveal an inclined linear wavefront similar to previously reported results for a two-dimensional boundary layer. / Ph. D.

Numerical simulations of incompressible, two-dimensional, monochromatically and bichromatically forced laminar free shear layers are performed on the basis of a vorticity-velocity formulation of the complete Navier-Stokes equations employing central finite differences. Spatially periodic shear layers developing in time (temporal model) are compared with shear layers developing in the stream-wise direction (spatial model). The regimes of linear growth and saturation of the fundamental are quantitatively scrutinized, the saturation of the subharmonic and vortex merging are investigated, and the effects of a forcing phase-shift between fundamental and subharmonic. For the spatial model the appearance of an unforced subharmonic was also examined. It was found that contrary to temporal shear layers a significant control of vortex merging by means of a forcing phase-shift and vortex shredding are not possible in spatial shear layers due to strong dispersion.

Detailed current profiles between the sediment-water interface and 20 cm above it reveal a viscous sublayer in the bottom boundary layer on the Oregon continental shelf. Data from three field experiments are used to test fundamental assumptions about boundary layer flow in the ocean. The first study, discussed in Chapter 1, evaluates the hypothesis that, in the absence of the obvious influence of topographic irregularities, the flow behaves like a universally similar, neutrally-buoyant flow over a smooth wall. The second study, discussed in Chapter 2, evaluates the influence which irregular small-scale topography may have on the near-bed flow, while the third, discussed in Chapter 3, examines streamwise velocity fluctuations in the viscous Sublayer and buffer layer and evaluates the hypothesis that spectra from the viscous sublayer and buffer layer of laboratory and geophysical boundary layer flows can be reduced to universal forms. although the thickness of the viscous sublayer scales with v/u, as required by universal similarity, the non-dimensional sublayer thickness is not as constant as in neutrally-buoyant laboratory flows. Even in the absence of the obvious effects of bottom irregularities, the near-bed flow is not as simple as smooth-walled boundarylayer flows in the laboratory. In the second study, it is shown that when the near-bed flow experiences resistance due to form drag as well as skin friction, the constant stress boundary layer assumption is not valid close to the sediment-water interface. Th the third study, it is shown that non-dimensionalized spectra of streamwise velocity fluctuations in the viscous sublayer and buffer layer at the ocean floor are very similar to those found in the laboratory. / Graduation date: 1982

No description available.

An experimental investigation of transition in boundary layer flows under the influence of various freestream conditions is described. Velocity profiles are obtained automatically by means of a stepper-motor driven traverse mechanism which carries a hot wire probe connected to a constant temperature anemometer and associated instrumentation. This was achieved by use of a data acquisition and control facility centred around a microcomputer with a Eurocard rack mounted extension. The automatic boundary layer traverse is software controlled and the data obtained is stored in a disc file for subsequent analysis and graphical display. As an integral part of this facility a successful method of obtaining reliable intermittency values from a hot wire signal was developed. The influence of freestream turbulence and pressure gradient upon transition within a boundary layer developing on a flat plate is elucidated by a series of controlled experiments. From the data accumulated, the concept of statistical similarity in transition regions is extended to include moderate non-zero pressure gradients, with the streamwise mean intermittency distribution described by the normal distribution function. An original correlation which accounts for the influence of freestream turbulence in zero pressure gradient flows, and the combined influence of freestream turbulence and pressure gradient in adverse pressure gradient flows, on the transition length Reynolds number R, is presented. (The limited amount of favourable pressure gradient data precluded the extension of the correlation to include favourable pressure gradient flows). A further original contribution was the derivation of an intermittency weighted function which describes the development of the boundary layer energy thickness through the transition region. A general boundary layer integral prediction scheme based on existing established integral techniques for the laminar and turbulent boundary layers with an intermittency modelled transition region, has been developed and applied successfully to a range of test data.

No description available.

No description available.