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Launceston, Australia
3-7 December 2012
Abstract
Turbulent boundary layers are investigated over spanwise oscillating and straight riblets for a range of Reynolds numbers
(1400 < Re < 2800). This work is motivated by previous studies of riblets [2] and temporal spanwise oscillation [10] that
have both separately demonstrated viscous drag reduction in
turbulent boundary layers. Mean velocity profiles acquired over
these surfaces are regression fitted to the canonical turbulent
boundary layer profile using the roughness modified Clauser
and velocity defect plots to determine the friction velocity U
and virtual origin z0 . This method for meandering riblets is inconclusive with the variation of U and z0 within the margin of
experimental error. For both meandering and straight riblets,
robust modifications are observed in the turbulence intensity of
the streamwise velocity signal (u ) and pre-multiplied energy
spectrum (kx uu ). A reduction in the near-wall peak of u is observed for both riblet cases compared to the smooth wall. This
is more pronounced for the meandering case. The measured
energy spectra in the near-wall region suggest that for the riblet cases the energy contribution from scales consistent with
the near-wall cycle are reduced. This is again more pronounced
for the meandering case. Finally, it is noted that compared to
the smooth wall the meandering riblets increase the magnitude
of large-scale turbulent energy in the outer part of the boundary layer (z/ 0.07), suggesting that these surfaces modify
the largest scale coherent motions residing in the log and wake
regions of the flow.
flow
A
Introduction
the maximum yaw angle from the streamwise direction (at the
position x /2 of a sine wave) is = 15 . With a maximum yaw
angle of = 15 and a streamwise wavelength of x = 1250, we
use equation (1) to obtain the approximate maximum spanwise
displacement (A+ ) of the meandering riblets.
A+ =
+
x tan()
2
(1)
Assuming a convection velocity at the crest of the riblets of approximately Uc+ 10, and assuming the riblets redirect the flow
at the meandering angle, we estimate V + 3 (which [10] shows
for +
x = 1250 could give up to 15% drag reductions). The riblets are of 60 triangular cross-section with height and spacing
set at h+ = 18 and s+ = 25, which was inherited from previous
studies of converging-diverging riblet geometries conducted using the same facilities (see [6] for description).
Straight Riblets
U (ms1 )
x (m)
Meandering
h+
m
s+
m
+
x
A+
Straight
h+
s
s+
s
Experiments are conducted in a zero pressure gradient windtunnel with a working section of 0.94 m 0.375 m cross-section
and length 6.7 m. The hot-wire probe is placed 4 m downstream
from the tripped inlet and is mounted to a cylindrical sting that is
attached to a stepper motor driven vertical traverse. A vertically
traversing microscope is used to position the probe as close as
0.25 mm from the smooth wall or the riblet tips for the start of
the traverse. A camera located outside of the tunnel, positioned
0.5 m away from the probe in the spanwise direction is used to
For this section, the boundary layer over the meandering and
straight riblets are compared with the smooth wall case in several aspects including mean velocity profile, turbulence intensity and premultiplied energy spectrum.
Mean Velocity and Turbulence Intensity
1
ln(z+ ) + A U +
(2)
0.12
(a)
smooth10
meander10
straight10
u /U
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0 4
10
0.12
(b)
10
u /U
10
smooth15
meander15
straight15
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.02
0 4
10
0.12
10
u /U
10
smooth20
meander20
straight20
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0 4
10
0.04
(c)
creases. At Re = 2800 the near-wall peak intensity for the meandering riblets is attenuated to such an extent that the peak is
absent altogether. In making this observation however, it is important to remember that the meandering riblets are of slightly
larger riblet height h+ and spacing s+ than the straight riblets.
10
10
z/
Figure 2: Freestream normalised RMS turbulence intensities
u /U for smooth wall, meandering and straight riblet surfaces
at (a) Re = 1400, (b) Re = 2000 and (c) Re = 2800.
the velocity defect plot) is not entirely justified, with some differences observed in the wake profile for the meandering case.
Without this assumption, it is impossible to accurately determine U with the current experimental set-up. A drag balance
will ultimately need to be implemented in future studies to obtain a direct measurement of U . To the best we can determine
with the above methodology, we note that meandering riblets
appear to behave as a marginally transionally rough surface, i.e.
a possible 1 2% drag increase compared to the smooth wall.
Straight riblets tend to yield a slight drag reduction (as would
be expected from the wealth of literature on these surfaces).
In the absence of accurate and reliable estimates of U , the turbulence statistics normalised by the freestream velocity U and
the boundary layer thickness is presented here for comparison
between flow over smooth surface and the straight and meandering riblet cases. Figure 2 shows the root-mean-squared turbulence intensity of streamwise velocity fluctuations (u ) for the 3
different Reynolds numbers (Re = 1400, 2000 and 2800 corresponding to freestream velocity U = 10, 15 and 20 ms1 ). It is
clear from figure 2 that the riblets attenuate the near-wall peak
of the turbulence intensity profile, and the effect is more significant for the meandering riblets as compared to the straight
riblets as the Reynolds number (and hence h+ of the riblets) in-
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
x /
10
2
1
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
z/
kx uu /U2
0.5
10
z/
z/
0
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
x /
10
x /
x /
x /
10
10
10
10
10
x /
10
1.5
103
kx uu /U2
The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council.
References