Experimental studies of shear stress and flow separation in low Reynolds number flows

Presented here is an experimental investigation of the kinematic theory of separation in unsteady two-dimensional flows, and an evaluation of a novel optical shear stress sensor. Fixed separation in the rotor-oscillator flow is studied for steady, periodic, and quasi-periodic fluid motion. Experimental results are directly compared to numerical simulations, which provide the shear-stress and pressure data required for detecting fixed separation in an unsteady flow. Good agreement between theory and experiments in determining both the location of the separation point and the angle of the separation profile is found. With the goal of directly measuring shear stress to high accuracy, an optical shear stress sensor is evaluated on a flat plate boundary layer. Wall-shear measured with the sensor is compared to that derived from particle image velocimetry (PIV) velocity profiles, and the resulting discrepancy between the two measurements is discussed.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Weldon, Matthew J. (Matthew Jacob)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Thomas Peacock and Alexandra Techet.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39892

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/39892