Wall Turbulence with Designer Properties: Identification, Characterization and Manipulation of Energy Pathways

Abstract

The research performed under this BRI award targeted the identification, characterization and manipulation of energy pathways in wall turbulence. The objectives were pursued separately and collaboratively by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the University of Florida (UF) and the University of Texas at Austin (UT) teams through a joint numerical, experimental and modeling effort. Our approach applied the team's state-of-the-art capabilities in experiments (Caltech), simulation (UT), MEMS sensor development (UF) and linear algebra techniques (Caltech) to the resolvent formulation of the Navier-Stokes equations for wall turbulence proposed by McKeon and Sharma (2010). This formulation explicitly identifies the pathways for extraction of energy from the mean flow and transfer between wavenumbers, and thus can be used to identify forcing distributions required to manipulate the spectrum. Energetic pathways between modes have been identified, highlighted and characterized by experimentally exciting two modes and providing the first-known observation of a single triadic interaction.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 26, 2016
Accession Number
AD1005019

Entities

People

  • Beverley McKeon
  • David J. Goldstein
  • Joel Tropp
  • Mark Sheplak

Organizations

  • California Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Sensors
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Boundary Layer
  • California
  • Channel Flow
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Energy Transfer
  • Equations
  • Fluid Dynamics
  • Fluid Mechanics
  • Mechanics
  • Navier Stokes Equations
  • Physics
  • Pipe Flow
  • Pressure Gradients
  • Reynolds Number
  • Simulations
  • Standing Waves
  • Turbulence

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science / Meteorology, specifically Wind Wave Turbulence.
  • Research Science/Academic Research
  • Technical Research and Report Writing.