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Free Stream Turbulence in low-speed (incompressible), subsonic, transonic, and supersonic

Wind Tunnel Boundary Layers

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Free Stream Turbulence in low-speed (incompressible), subsonic, transonic, and supersonic

Wind Tunnel Boundary Layers

The last big unresolved problem in classical physics is turbulence. Turbulence, arising

from eddies and vertical currents, is an unusual motion of the air. It can be as insignificant or

serious enough to temporarily throw an airplane out of control or to inflict structural damage as a

few irritating bumps

Defined by Bradshaw as: "A three-dimensional time-dependent motion in which vortex

stretching causes velocity fluctuations to spread to all wavelengths between a minimum

determined by viscous forces and a maximum determined by the boundary conditions of the

flow. It is the usual state of fluid motion except at low Reynolds numbers." Turbulence is due to

the creation of point or line vortices on which any velocity component becomes infinite" and

Hintz explains as per the following sentences: "Turbulent fluid motion is an irregular flow

condition in which the different quantities with time and space coordinates display a random

variation, so that statistically distinct flow is an irregular condition of flow, average values can

be observed (Manshadi, 2011).

The undesirable effects of turbulence on wind tunnel results are being observed.

Researches suggests that if the turbulence strength in the test section becomes too large, the

transition may be unfavorable and the measurements may be incorrect, i.e., the drag, lift and

velocity profiles. Furthermore, it has long been reported that free stream turbulence can

somewhere alter the effective number of Reynolds in turbulent flow, the function of Reynolds

number is almost of significant parameters. The behavior of boundary layer, skin friction and

shape factor can be affected by small variations of free stream turbulence. In the test section,

turbulence may also induce the local Mach number, pressure, density and other boundary
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conditions. At high turbulence levels, the flow angularity was distorted. In short, the turbulence

in measurements can produce damaging errors. In the presence of free-stream turbulence (FST),

there are various empirical relationships to predict the transition position, often based only on the

turbulence intensity as data, but nothing with the accuracy better than 65 percent for all

turbulence intensity. Free-stream turbulence gives rise to the most complex boundary-layer

transition scenario. The explanation for the complexity would be that, at the same time as the

turbulence intensity of the FST deteriorates and the characteristic length scales rise, the

boundary-layer thickness increases with the downstream distance (Manshandi, 2011, Fransson &

Shahinfar, 2020).

In the case of zero and mild adverse pressure gradients, the influence of near isotropic

free-stream turbulence on the form factors and skin friction coefficients of turbulent boundary

layers can be seen. Raghunathan's investigation showed that the coefficient of skin friction and

the thickness of the boundary layer increased and that the form factor decreased with the

increasing strength of free-stream turbulence. Adverse pressure gradients were deemed to be a

concern and can weaken the boundary layer and eventually lead to flow separation. It has been

demonstrated that the boundary layer form factor remains constant throughout the limitations of

data instability, with the number of Reynolds rising. The fluid mechanisms that are responsible

for this improved mixing and subsequent stronger boundary layers with lower type factors are:

(1) A decrease of the ratio of the integral scale of the free-stream boundary layer thickness

turbulence typically occurs with adverse pressure gradient flow fields, boundary layers.

The decrease in Boundary layer thickness is mostly due to the rise in boundary layer that

occurs naturally when there are adverse pressure gradients, compared to lower values of

boundary layer that occur in the case of zero pressure gradient.

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(2) Vortex stretching of the turbulent eddies in the free-stream occurs when adverse pressure

gradients exist, resulting in a higher vorticity and a corresponding augmentation of fluid

mixing.

As a result of a lower number scale of turbulence to the boundary layer thickness,

stronger boundary layers with lower shape factors occur, and vortex stretching of the turbulent

eddies in the free-stream, both of which act to increase the transmission of momentum from the

free-stream to the boundary layers (Hoffmann et. al, 1989).

A modified transonic wind tunnel was studied by Amiri et. al in 2013 and resulted for CD

and Cm data, which are more responsive to free stream turbulence and Reynolds number, the

differences in the acquired data are more apparent. From these results, it is clearly shown that for

lift situations, the deviation between the current data and those of different sources begins around

α > 12 °, while for α < 12 °, the CL data is comparable to those available in the references

(Brandt & Schlatter, 2004).

Hypersonic wind tunnel turbulence entails all the unsteady flow behavior frozen

disruption patterns represented by the mean flow make up a substantial portion of hypersonic

turbulence for a first approximation. There is growing evidence that such hypersonic turbulence

substantially increases heating and ablation rates in the stagnation area as well as reducing the

amount of Reynolds transition when comparing these effects with laminar free-stream results.

Conclusion

Turbulence has an important characteristic of wind tunnel flow quality and can enthuse

uncorrected results in wind tunnel experiments. The causes of turbulence that must seek to be

limited are noise and eddy. Free-stream turbulence permits the entry into the shear layers of a
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body's surface or in its wake, influencing the distribution of energy and altering the transition,

separation and reattachment locations. Turbulence can be reduced by using anti-turbulence and

honeycomb screens. These are significant devices for turbulence reduction in wind tunnels. The

settling segment of screens can be used to even the variation of velocity of the flow.
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REFERENCES

Amiri, K., Soltani, M., & Haghiri, A. (2013). Steady flow quality assessment of a modified

transonic wind tunnel. Scientia Iranica, 20(3), 500-507.

doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scient.2013.02.001

Brandt, L., Schlatter, P., & Henningson, D. S. (2004). Transition in boundary layers subject to

free-stream turbulence. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 517, 167-198.

doi:10.1017/s0022112004000941

Colman, J., Boldes, U., Leo, J. M., & Sebastin, J. (2011). Low Speed Turbulent Boundary Layer

Wind Tunnels. Wind Tunnels and Experimental Fluid Dynamics Research.

doi:10.5772/17078

Colman, J., Boldes, U., Leo, J. M., & Sebastin, J. (2011). Low Speed Turbulent Boundary Layer

Wind Tunnels. Wind Tunnels and Experimental Fluid Dynamics Research.

doi:10.5772/17078

Fransson, J. H., & Shahinfar, S. (2020). On the effect of free-stream turbulence on boundary-

layer transition. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 899. doi:10.1017/jfm.2020.444

Hancock, P. E., & Bradshaw, P. (1983). The Effect of Free-Stream Turbulence on Turbulent

Boundary Layers. Journal of Fluids Engineering, 105(3), 284-289. doi:10.1115/1.3240989

Hoffmann, J. A., Kassir, S. M., & Larwood, S. M. (2013, September 5). The influence of free-

stream turbulence on turbulent boundary layers with mild adverse pressure gradients.

Retrieved January 16, 2021, from https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19890012674

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Khabbouchi, I., Fellouah, H., Ferchichi, M., & Guellouz, M. S. (2014). Effects of free-stream

turbulence and Reynolds number on the separated shear layer from a circular cylinder.

Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, 135, 46-56.

doi:10.1016/j.jweia.2014.10.005

Manshadi, M. D. (2011). The Importance of Turbulence Reduction in Assessment of Wind

Tunnel Flow Quality. Wind Tunnels and Experimental Fluid Dynamics Research.

doi:10.5772/17069

Shahinfar, S., & Fransson, J. H. (2011). Effect of free-stream turbulence characteristics on

boundary layer transition. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 318(3), 032019.

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/318/3/032019

Zverkov, I. D., Kozlov, V. V., & Kryukov, A. V. (2011). Influence of wind tunnel freestream

turbulence level on boundary-layer separation. Thermophysics and Aeromechanics, 18(2),

203-214. doi:10.1134/s0869864311020028