Turbulent flow boundary layer separation

Figure 5 Boundary layer separation Turbulent vs. laminar boundary flow close to an airfoil. Source From Ref. 89.

We must consider the laminar and turbulent portions of the boundary layer separately because the recovery factors, and hence the adiabatic wall temperatures, used to establish the heat flow will be different for each flow regime. It turns out that the difference is rather small in this problem, but we shall follow a procedure which would be used if the difference were appreciable, so that the general method of solution may be indicated. The free-stream acoustic velocity is calculated from... 

FIGURE 716 Laminar boundary layer separation witli a turbulent wake flow over a circular cylinder at Re = 7.000. 

Krahn [76] explained how the rotation of the sphere would cause the transition from laminar to turbulent boundary layers at different rotational velocities at the two sides of a sphere. The direction of the asymmetrical wake was explained based on the separation points for laminar and turbulent boundary layers. Krahn studied the flow around a cylinder. For a non-rotating cylinder the laminar boundary layer separates at 82° from the forward stagnation point, while the turbulent boundary layer separates at about 130°. Due to the rotation the laminar separation point will move further back, while the turbulent separation point will move forward. For some value of v qaa/v between 0 and 1 the laminar and turbulent separation points will be at equal distance from the stagnation point. The pressure on the turbulent side will be smaller than on the laminar side causing a negative Magnus force. 

Friction appears in boundary layers because the work done by shear forces in maintaining the velocity gradients in both laminar and turbulent flow is eventually converted into heat by viscous action. Friction generated in unseparated boundary layers is called skin friction. When boundary layers separate and form wakes, additional energy dissipation appears within the wake and friction of this type is called form friction since it is a function of the position and shape of the solid. 

On the other hand, as shown on pages 143 to 151, in the flow of fluids across a cylindrical shape boundary-layer separation occurs, and a wake develops that causes form friction. No sharp distinction is found between laminar and turbulent flow, and a common correlation can be used for both low and high Reynolds numbers. Also, the local value of the heat-transfer coefficient varies from point to point around a circumference. In Fig. 12.5 the local value of the Nusselt number is plotted radially for all points around the circumference of the tube. At low Reynolds numbers, is a maximum at the front and back of the tube and a minimum at the sides. In practice, the variations in the local coefficient hg are often of no importance, and average values based on the entire circumference are used. 

The coefficient k has been studied in experimental devices in which the area of contact between phases is known and where boundary-layer separation does not take place. The wetted-wall tower shown in Fig. 21.3, which is sometimes used in practice, is one device of this type. It has given valuable information on mass transfer to and from fluids in turbulent flow. A wetted-wall tower is essentially a vertical tube with means for admitting liquid at the top and causing... 

When surfaces are being blown off, separation of the turbulent boundary layer may occur. A normal component of the air-flow velocity appears at the site of separation of the turbulent boundary layer, and this gives an increase in the lift F if. Cleaver and Yates [274] determined the magnitude of the lift under conditions of turbulent boundary layer separation ... 

Internal Flow. Depending on the atomizer type and operating conditions, the internal fluid flow can involve compHcated phenomena such as flow separation, boundary layer growth, cavitation, turbulence, vortex formation, and two-phase flow. The internal flow regime is often considered one of the most important stages of Hquid a tomiza tion because it determines the initial Hquid disturbances and conditions that affect the subsequent Hquid breakup and droplet dispersion. 

Between about Rop = 350,000 and 1 X 10 , the drag coefficient drops dramatically in a drag crisis owing to the transition to turbulent flow in the boundary layer around the particle, which delays aft separation, resulting in a smaller wake and less drag. Beyond Re = 1 X 10 , the drag coefficient may be estimated from (Clift, Grace, and Weber) ... 

The probability density function of u is shown for four points in Fig. 11.16, two points in the wall jet and two points in the boundary layer close to the floor. For the points in the wall jet (Fig. 11.16<2) the probability (unction shows a preferred value of u showing that the flow has a well-defined mean velocity and that the velocity is fluctuating around this mean value. Close to the floor near the separation at x/H = I (Fig. 11.16f ) it is hard to find any preferred value of u, which shows that the flow is irregular and unstable with no well-defined mean velocity and large turbulent intensity. From Figs. 11.15 and 11.16 we can see that LES gives us information about the nature of the turbulent fluctuations that can be important for thermal comfort. This type of information is not available from traditional CFD using models. 

When the flow in the boundary layer is turbulent, streamline flow persists in a thin region close to the surface called the laminar sub-layer. This region is of particular importance because, in heat or mass transfer, it is where the greater part of the resistance to transfer lies. High heat and mass transfer rates therefore depend on the laminar sublayer being thin. Separating the laminar sub-layer from the turbulent part of the boundary... 

That tire existence of the buffer layer may be neglected and that in turbulent flow the boundary layer may be considered as consisting of a turbulent region adjacent to a laminar sub-layer which separates it from the surface. 

Phase-averaged values of 4 in a plane midway between two baffles of a stirred tank have been plotted in Fig. 1 (from Hartmann et al., 2004a) for two different SGS models (Smagorinsky and Voke, respectively) in LES carried out in a LB approach. The highest values, i.e., the strongest deviations from isotropy, occur in the impeller zone, in the boundary layers along wall and bottom of the tank, and at the separation points at the vessel wall from which the anisotropy is advected into the bulk flow. In the recirculation loops, the turbulent flow is more or less isotropic. 

When Re exceeds about 2 x 105, the flow in the boundary layer changes from streamline to turbulent and the separation takes place nearer to the rear of the sphere. The drag force is decreased considerably and ... 

If the particle Re is well above the creeping flow range, mean drag may be increased or decreased by freestream turbulence. The most significant effect is on the critical Reynolds number. As noted in Chapter 5, the sharp drop in Cd at high Re results from transition to turbulence in the boundary layer and consequent rearward shift in the final separation point. Turbulence reduces Re, presumably by precipitating this transition." ... 

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