The mean velocity profile in three-dimensional turbulent oundary layers

Abstract

The mean velocity distribution in a low-speed three-dimensional turbulent boundary-layer flow was investigated experimentally. The experiments were performed on a large-scale model which consisted of a flat plate on which secondary flow was generated by the pressure field introduced by a circular cylinder standing on the plate. The Reynolds number based on distance from the leading edge of the plate was about 6 x 10⁶.It was found that the wall-wake model of Coles does not apply for flow of this kind and the model breaks down in the case of conically divergent flow with rising pressure, for example, in the results of Kehl (1943). The triangular model for the yawed turbulent boundary layer proposed by Johnston (1960) was confirmed with good correlation. However, the value ofyu_τ/vwhich occurs at the vertex of the triangle was found to range up to 150 whereas Johnston gives the highest value as about 16 and hence assumes that the peak lies within the viscous sublayer. Much of his analysis is based on this assumption.The dimensionless velocity-defect profile was found to lie in a fairly narrow band when plotted againsty/δ for a wide variation of other parameters including the pressure gradient. The law of the wall was found to apply in the same form as for two-dimensional flow but for a more limited range ofy.