Structure of turbulent boundary layers

Abhishek Shirra Nischal Agrawal Sambhav Jain

Introduction :
Turbulent boundary layers are boundary layers characterized by intense agitation, contrary to the laminar boundary layers where the flow takes place in layers i.e. each layer slides past the adjacent layers. Laminar boundary layers exist at small values of Reynolds number. Exchange of mass and momentum in case of laminar boundary layers are only at a microscopic scale and therefore molecular viscosity is able to predict the shear stress associated with such boundary layers. On the other hand, turbulent boundary layers exist at higher value of Reynolds numbers. Packets of fluid may be seen moving across at any time .Exchange of mass and momentum in case of turbulent boundary layers take place at higher scales compared to the laminar boundary layers. The shear stress associated with turbulence is characterised by an eddy viscosity. An important issue in the study of turbulence or turbulent boundary layers is the modelling of the eddy viscosity. Because of the mixing involved in turbulent boundary layers, the velocity gradient in turbulent boundary layers is steeper near the wall compared to the laminar boundary layers and therefore the wall shear stress is greater in this case. Turbulent boundary layers are also characterised by high heat transfer rates.

Boundary Layer Profiles

Depending upon the mean velocity profiles, the turbulent boundary layer can be conveniently divided into 4 sub-layers as shown in the plot towards the right. The inner-most layer in the boundary layer is the Viscous sub-layer. The flow in this region is dominated by molecular viscosity, though eddy viscosity also has some contribution. The flow in this is region is unsteady laminar and 3 dimensional. This region extends upto y+=5, in case of flow near a wall.

Figure 1: Boundary layer regions

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The velocity profile for this region may be estimated as:

The layer that lies just outside the viscous sublayer is the buffer layer. The buffer layer has contributions - both from eddy as well as molecular viscosity, or both Reynolds stresses as well as viscous stresses play an important role in this region. It might be stated here, as we shall see later, that this layer is very important for turbulent energy production. This region extends from y+=5, to y+=30. Just outside the buffer layer, dominated by eddy viscosity or Reynolds stresses, is the logarithmic layer. This layer extends from y+=30 to y+=500, and the velocity profile is logarithmic in this layer.

The outermost region, in the turbulent boundary layer, is termed as the wake. The velocity defect law is used, in order to predict the velocity profile in the wake region.

Structure of the boundary layer :

As inferred in the experiments in [1]and [4] The most important regions in the turbulent boundary layer are the regions near the wall as most of the turbulent energy is produced in this region which basically more or less governs the entire structure of the boundary layer. Figure 1 ref.[4], shows the normalized turbulent energy production rate per unit volume with the different regions of the turbulent boundary layer. A sharp peak can be observed in the Buffer layer region indicating a very high energy production there. Almost 80 % of the energy is produced in these regions very close to the wall and then transported to the entire boundary layer which can be seen from Figure 2.

Figure 2 Normalized turbulence production rate per unit volume

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Figure 3 Cumulative Turbulence Production rate in a typical boundary layer

Some important non intuitive features of the turbulent boundary layers:

Experiments, give evidence to some very interesting non intuitive features of the turbulent boundary layers which are discussed below. Experimental photographs from [4], are shown in fig.4. The viscous sub-layer, which is laminar, is not two dimensional and steady in nature. It is three dimensional and unsteady, and constitute a large fraction of the mean velocity right upto the wall. While the viscous sublayer is dominated by the molecular viscosity, the eddy viscosity also plays important role even in this region. The primary mechanism for turbulent energy production is the ejection of low speed bursts from near the wall region. These bursts are because of an instability in the boundary layer which would be explained later in the paper. The bursting phenomenon becomes more and more violent when the flow is in a positive pressure gradient flow, and becomes less violent in a negative pressure gradient flow.If sufficient negative pressure gradient is provided the bursting phenomenon ceases, and Relaminarization occurs. This highlights the importance of the bursting phenomenon in the turbulent boundary layers and also hints to the fact that most of the turbulent energy is produced because of this phenomenon.

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Figure 4: Experimental photographs corresponding to different regions of the boundary layer.

Fig. 4 (a) shows a photograph in the viscous sub-layer regime. The important feature observed here is that the flow is both 3-Dimensional and unsteady. Also, there is a large variation in the downstream velocity u, in the spanwise direction, and this may be because of the spanwise velocity.Also, the movement of the bubbles in the spanwise direction is a noticeable feature. Fig. 4(b) is a photograph of the buffer layer regime. Here, the lined streaks start getting mixed or tangled with the flow and are not so clearly visible. This indicates the onset of turbulence, although in this layer, still a streaky structure is obtained, indicating a buffer regime. Fig. 4(c) shows a photograph of the log region. Many different scales of motion are visible in this region and the streak become even less visible. Fig. 4(d) shows the wake region of the turbulence. Here the streaks become practically invisible and the turbulence is of a larger scale compared to the other regions.

Structure of turbulent boundary layer inferred using hot wire anemometry[5]:

Contrary to the previous discussion , that almost 70% of the turbulent energy is produced by bursting, in the paper by Wallace, Eckelmann and Brodkey a different picture of turbulence is presented. Experiments by them were conducted using the hot wire anemometry technique, and the instantaneous components of different components of fluctuations were obtained using this technique. On, closely observing the results , great implication about the turbulent boundary layer were made. Basically, it was observed that the u signal as well as the v signal in a wall bounded turbulent boundary layer looks just like a typical turbulent signal. However the interesting part comes, when we observe the uv signal. High levels of intermittency was observed in the uv signal. Basically fluid motions which were really important near the wall were characterized into 4 kinds based on the direction of turbulent velocity fluctuations, as represented in the fig.: a. b. c. d. u>0 and v<0 : Or the sweep of high speed Fluid towards the wall. u<0 and v>0: Or the bursting of the low speed fluid away from the wall. u>0 and v>0: Outward Interactions. u<0 and v<0: Inward Interactions. 4|Page

Figure 5 Quadrant Analysis

The figure shown below, shows the various u,v and uv signals obtained using the hot wire technique.

From this figure, it can be observed that the maximum negative contribution to the product uv, is associated with ejection, or sweep. There are small positive contributions to uv by Outward as well as Wallward interactions(these usually occur at the interference of the burst and the sweep regions, but they are significantly lesser in magnitude than the burst and sweep contributions. Therefore it may be concluded from these experiments that the maximum Reynolds stress occur due to bursts, sweeps. Interactions between bursts and sweeps contribute negatively to the Reynolds Stress.

Discussion from [1] and [3]:

Almost 70 % of the total Reynolds stresses associated with turbulence is due to the bursting and the sweep of the fluid near the wall. Therefore it becomes important to understand the cause of the wall-layer streaks. Basically, in a turbulent boundary layer there is flow both towards the wall and away from the wall. So in order to conserve energy, when there is flow towards the wall, there is a natural tendency to 5|Page

stretch the vortex or increase the spanwise component of the vorticity. On, the other hand, if there is flow away from the wall, there is a tendency to compress the vortex or decrease the vorticity. The spanwise component of vorticity, is directly linked to u/y, therefore there is a gradient in the spanwise direction in the mean velocity profile. Therefore a variation in the spanwise component of velocity, because of the inherent three dimensional nature in the turbulence near the wall. Because of this variation in the spanwise component of velocity, streamwise vorticity is generated. This streamwise component of vorticity is responsible for the lifting of the low speed wall layers. The entire mechanics of streak formation is very well explained in the diagram below from ref.[2].

Figure 6.1 Streak Formation Mechanism

Figure 6.2 Bursting Mechanism

The next important phenomenon that needs a discussion is the mechanics of streak breakup. Outside the viscous sublayer, in the buffer layer; the random eddy motions in the region, interact with the low speed streaks, to form regions of concentrated vorticity or intense shear layers. Because of some form of dynamic instability those regions which persist long enough for the instability to effect them undergo a dynamic breakdown and thus bursting takes place. This bursting phenomenon is explained in the above fig from ref.[2]. This following fig. highlights both the phenomenon for a turbulent boundary layer.

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Dissipation of turbulent energy exceeds production in the wake region. It is the supply of energy from the inner region, due to the bursting action, which play a crucial role in maintaining the turbulent layer. Boundary layer can be prevented from turning turbulent by controlling the bursting action by holding the low speed streak to the wall-layer which reduces bursting action in the wall region .This can be done by accelerating the flow, rotating the flow in rotating tubes or by wall suction (Cannon, 1965).

Discussion from [5]:

From the hot wire experiments it is observed that the total contribution of bursting and sweep events to Reynolds Stress is summed up to about 140%.This is different from the prediction by Kline, who predicted that only the burst contributes to almost 70 % of the energy production and did not take sweeps into account. Theres a negative contribution of the Outward and Wall ward Interactions, which then makes the total Reynolds Stress to be 100%. The majority of turbulent dissipation takes place near the high shear interaction zones, between the bursts and sweeps.

Conclusions:
1. Four distinct classes of motions, contribute to the Reynolds Stress, in the wall region of turbulent shear flow. 2. Ejection and Sweep contribute to a total stress of more than 100 %. 3. Outward and Wallward Interactions contribute negatively to the Reynolds stresses 4. The ejection and sweep type motions have much higher time steps than the other two. 5. Dissipation at the edge of the events, is several magnitudes greater than the average dissipation at the wall.

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References
H.T.KIM, S. (1971). The production of turbulence near a smooth wall in a turbulent boundary layer. J.Fluid.Mech , 133-160. http://classes.geology.illinois.edu/11SprgClass/geo575/ABLDD%20Lecture%202.pdf. (n.d.). Rao, K. (1971). The 'bursting' phenomenon in turbulent boundary layer. J.Fluid Mech. , 339-352. S.J.Kline, W. (1967). The structure of turbulent boundary layers. J.Fluid.Mech , 741-773. Wallace, E. (1972). The wall region in turbulent shear flow. Journal of Fluid Mechanics , 39-48.

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