Date of Award
Fall 12-2015
Access Type
Thesis - Open Access
Degree Name
Master of Aerospace Engineering
Department
Aerospace Engineering
Committee Chair
Ebenezer Gnanamanickam
First Committee Member
J. Gordon Leishman
Second Committee Member
L.L. Narayanaswami
Abstract
Three-dimensional turbulent boundary layers (3DTBL) are seen quite commonly in nature as well as in the engineering applications. Despite this, very few high Reynolds number studies have been carried out on these boundary layers, particularly focusing on eddy structure, eddy scales and their interactions. The current study focused on developing, characterizing and evaluating an experimental framework to study high Reynolds number #3DTBL on a rotating disk with the long-term goal of carrying out high-fidelity measurements. The rotating disk flow is characterized by weak centrifugal pumping which sets up the cross flow that leads to turbulence. The tangential and radial velocities were measured using hot-wire anemometry. The mean flow, turbulent intensity, energy spectra, skewness and kurtosis of the flow have been analyzed and compared with 2DTBL measurements. It was found that the measurements collapsed well for z/9 > 0.3-0.4 in outer scaling. Closer to the wall and in inner scaling, collapse of the data was not achieved. The main associated errors were the disk flatness, signal attenuation caused by spatial and temporal resolution challenges and hot-wire conduction close to the wall. The encountered challenges and steps taken to address these are discussed in detail.
Scholarly Commons Citation
Digre, Daniel, "The Three-Dimensional Turbulent Boundary Layer on a Rotating Disk" (2015). Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses. 208.
https://commons.erau.edu/edt/208
