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Dynamics of three-dimensional coherent structures in a flat-plate boundary layer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2006

Dietmar Rempfer  and
Hermann F. Fasel
Dietmar Rempfer
Affiliation:
Institut für Aerodynamik und Gasdynamik, Universität Stuttgart, 70550 Stuttgart, Germany
Hermann F. Fasel
Affiliation:
Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
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Abstract

An investigation is presented that analyses the energy flows that are connected to the dynamical behaviour of coherent structures in a transitional flat-plate boundary layer. Based on a mathematical description of the three-dimensional coherent structures of this flow as provided by the Karhunen–Loève procedure, energy equations for the coherent structures are derived by Galerkin projection of the Navier–Stokes equations in vorticity transport formulation onto the corresponding basis of eigenfunctions. In a first step, the time-averaged energy balance – showing the energy flows that support the different coherent structures and thus maintain the fluctuations of the velocity field – is considered. In a second step, the instantaneous power budget is investigated for the particularly interesting case of a coherent structure providing a prime contribution to the characteristic spike events of the transitional boundary layer. As this structure shows a strong variation in energy, the question about which mechanisms cause these variations is addressed. Our results show that the occurrence of a spike must be attributed to an autonomous event and cannot be interpreted as just an epiphenomenon of the passage of a Λ-vortex.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 275 , 25 September 1994 , pp. 257 - 283
Copyright
© 1994 Cambridge University Press

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