Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-qs9v7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-10T15:27:40.095Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An experimental investigation of turbulent spots and breakdown to turbulence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2006

J. W. Elder
J. W. Elder
Affiliation:
Geophysics Division, D.S.I.R., Wellington, New Zealand
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The theory of hydrodynamic stability and the impact on it of recent work with turbulent spots is discussed. Emmons's (1951) assumptions about the growth and interaction of turbulent spots are found experimentally to be substantially correct. In particular it is shown that the region of turbulent flow on a flat plate is simply the sum of the areas that would be obtained if all spots grew independently.

An investigation of the conditions required for breakdown to turbulence near a wall, that is, to initiate a turbulent spot, suggests that regardless of how disturbances are generated in a laminar boundary layer and independent of both the Reynolds number and the spatial extent of the disturbances, breakdown to turbulence occurs by the initiation of a turbulent spot at all points at which the velocity fluctuation exceeds a critical intensity. Over most of the layer this intensity is about 0·2 times the free-stream velocity. The Reynolds number is important merely in respect of the growth of disturbances prior to breakdown.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , October 1960 , pp. 235 - 246
Copyright
© 1960 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Dhawan, S. & Narasimha, R. 1958 J. Fluid Mech. 3, 418.
Dryden, H. L. 1953 J. Aero. Sci. 20, 477.
Emmons, H. W. 1951 J. Aero Sci. 18, 490.
Grant, H. 1958 J. Fluid Mech. 3, 149.
Hama, F. R., Long, J. D. & Hegarty, J. C. 1956 J. Appl. Phys. 28, 388.
Klebanoff, P. S. & Tidstrom, K. D. 1959 N.A.S.A. Tech. Note D-195.
Landau, L. 1944 C.R. Acad. Sci., U.R.S.S., 44, 311.
Schlichting, H. 1955 Boundary Layer Theory. London: Pergamon Press.
Schlichting, H. 1959 Handbuch der Physik, 8, 1. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Schubauer, G. B. & Klebanoff, P. S. 1955 NACA Rep. 909.
Schubauer, G. B. & Skramstad, H. K. 1948 NACA Tech. Note 348.
Shen, S. F. 1954 J. Aero Sci. 21, 62.
Stuart, J. T. 1956 J. Aero Sci. 23, 86 and 894.
Stuart, J. T. 1958 J. Fluid Mech. 4, 1.
Webb, W. H. & Harrington, R. P. 1956 J. Aero. Sci. 23, 792.