Experimental characterization of smooth body flow separation topography and topology on a two-dimensional geometry of finite span

Abstract

A smooth body, adverse pressure gradient (APG), turbulent boundary layer (TBL) separation is experimentally studied. The geometry features canonical TBL development prior to encountering a smooth, two-dimensional convex ramp geometry of finite span onto which a streamwise APG that is fully adjustable is imposed. Both large- and small-scale separations are studied, and all data are archived on the NASA Turbulence Modeling Resource website. This paper describes the large-scale separation case with focus on the surface topography and topology of both separation and reattachment. Despite the spanwise uniform approach TBL and ramp geometry, the separation is highly three-dimensional but the reattachment is spanwise uniform. The surface flow topology is characterized by the ‘owl-face pattern of the fourth kind’ – found to be highly repeatable over multiple experiments. This ubiquitous topology has been reported for a variety of flows including inclined bodies of revolution. It is demonstrated that the APG and the secondary flow associated with the sidewall–ramp juncture is responsible for the formation of the surface separation patterns.