An experimental investigation of a turbulent junction vortex

An experimental study of the incompressible, three-dimensional, turbulent flow separation around the base of a bluff obstacle on a flat surface is described. The bluff obstacle is a streamlined, right circular cylinder mounted with its axis normal to the flat surface. The flow environment is characterized by a body Reynolds number of 183,000, based on the diameter of the circular cylinder. The study includes surface flow visualizations, surface pressure measurements, and mean flow measurements. The mean flow measurements consist of total pressure, static pressure, and velocity distributions in three planes around the base of the streamlined cylinder. The results show the presence of a large, dominant vortex in the junction between the cylinder and the flat surface. This vortex was found to consist of low total pressure fluid from the boundary layer flow upstream of the junction. In addition to the three-dimensional flow measurements, extensive measurements in the two-dimensional turbulent boundary layer on the flat surface are reported. These results show the existence of small, but statistically significant, spanwise variations in the nominally two-dimensional turbulent boundary layer. A systematic approach for estimating the wall shear stress from velocity profile data in a two-dimensional turbulent boundary layer based on the method of least squares is presented.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Mechanical Engineering

Department dc:contributor.department

Mechanical Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Year dc:date.issued

1985

Author dc:creator

• Harsh, Martin D.

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Pierce, Felix J.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Brown, Eugene F.
• Vick, Brian L.
• Johnson, Lee W.
• Thomas, W.C.

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10919/54526

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/54526