Experimental Investigation of Turbulent Boundary Layers Under Favorable Pressure Gradient Available to Purchase

The goal of this research is to study the effect of favorable pressure gradient (FPG) on the near wall structures of a turbulent boundary layer on a smooth wall. 2D-PIV measurements have been performed in a sink flow, initially at a coarse resolution, to characterize the development of the mean flow and (under resolved) Reynolds stresses. Lack of self-similarity of mean velocity profiles shows that the boundary layer does not attain the sink flow equilibrium. In the initial phase of acceleration, the acceleration parameter, K = v/U²dU/dx, increases from zero to 0.575×10⁻⁶, skin friction coefficient decreases and mean velocity profiles show a log region, but lack universality. Further downstream, K remains constant, skin friction coefficient increases and the mean velocity profiles show a second log region away from the wall. In the initial part of the FPG region, all the Reynolds stress components decrease over the entire boundary layer. In the latter phase, they continue to decrease in the middle of the boundary layer, and increase significantly close to the wall (below y∼0.15δ), where they collapse when normalized with the local freestream velocity. Turbulence production and wallnormal transport, scaled with outer units, show self-similar profiles close to the wall in the constant K region. Spanwise-streamwise plane data shows evidence of low speed streaks in the log layer, with widths scaling with the boundary layer thickness.