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Aiming to study the rough-wall turbulent boundary layer structure over differently arranged roughness elements, an experimental study was conducted on flows with regular and random roughness. Varying planform densities of truncated cone roughness elements in a square staggered pattern were investigated. The same planform densities were also investigated in random arrangements. Velocity statistics were measured via two-component laser Doppler velocimetry and stereoscopic particle image velocimetry. Friction velocity, thickness, roughness length and zero-plane displacement, determined from spatially averaged flow statistics, showed only minor differences between the regular and random arrangements at the same density. Recent a priori morphometric and statistical drag prediction methods were evaluated against experimentally determined roughness length. Observed differences between regular and random surface flow parameters were due to the presence of secondary flows which manifest as high-momentum pathways and low-momentum pathways in the streamwise velocity. Contrary to expectation, these secondary flows were present over the random surfaces and not discernible over the regular surfaces. Previously identified streamwise-coherent spanwise roughness heterogeneity does not seem to be present, suggesting that such roughness heterogeneity is not necessary to sustain secondary flows. Evidence suggests that the observed secondary flows were initiated at the front edge of the roughness and sustained over irregular roughness. Due to the secondary flows, local turbulent boundary layer profiles do not scale with local wall shear stress but appear to scale with local turbulent shear stress above the roughness canopy. Additionally, quadrant analysis shows distinct changes in the populations of ejection and sweep events.
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This content will become publicly available on August 1, 2025
Turbulent Boundary Layer Control with Multi-Scale Riblet Design
Motivated by the saturation of drag reduction effectiveness at high non-dimensional riblet spacing in turbulent boundary layer flows, this study seeks to investigate the influence of a secondary blade riblet structure on flow statistics and friction drag reduction effectiveness in comparison to the widely explored single-scale blade riblet surface. The turbulent flow dynamics and drag reduction performance over single- and multi-scale blade riblet surfaces were experimentally examined in a flow visualization channel across various non-dimensional riblet spacings. The shear velocity was quantified by the streamwise velocity distributions from the logarithmic layer via planar Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements, whereas the near-wall flow dynamics were characterized by a Micro Particle Image Velocimetry (micro-PIV) system. The results highlighted that although both riblet surfaces exhibited similar drag reduction performances at low non-dimensional riblet spacings, the presence of a secondary riblet blade structure can effectively extend the drag reduction region with the non-dimensional riblet spacing up to 32 and achieve approximately 10% lower friction drag in comparison to the single-scale riblet surface when the non-dimensional riblet spacing increases to 44.2. The average number of uniform momentum zones (UMZs) on the multi-scaled blade riblet has also reduced by 9% compared to the single-scaled riblet which indicates the reduction of strong shear layers within a turbulent boundary layer. The inspection of near-wall flow statistics demonstrated that at high non-dimensional riblet spacings, the multi-scale riblet surface produces reduced wall-normal velocity fluctuations and Reynolds shear stresses. Quadrant analysis revealed that this design allows for the suppression of both the sweep and ejection events. This experimental result demonstrated that surfaces with spanwise variations of riblet heights have the potential to maintain drag reduction effectiveness across a wider range of flow speeds.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1916776
- PAR ID:
- 10561767
- Publisher / Repository:
- MDPI
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Energies
- Volume:
- 17
- Issue:
- 15
- ISSN:
- 1996-1073
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 3827
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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