Conditionally sampled measurements near the outer edge of a turbulent boundary layer

Abstract

The conditional sampling technique is used to measure ensemble averages of the longitudinal and normal velocity fluctuations u and v respectively and of the Reynolds shear stress fluctuations uv both within the turbulent and irrotational regions near the outer edge of a turbulent boundary layer. The measurements are made in both a smooth- and a rough-wall boundary layer under zero-pressure-gradient conditions. The smooth- and rough-wall results are qualitatively similar but the magnitude of the rough-wall averages is higher than that of the smooth- wall averages, corresponding with the higher value of wall shear stress on the rough surface. The maximum shear stress value encountered within a burst represents a significant proportion of the wall shear stress.The statistical properties of the turbulence within the burst are close but not quite identical to the nearly Gaussian properties of the inner region of the boundary layer. During an attempt to distinguish between bursts of different ages or strengths at the time of measurement, it was found that bursts of relatively short duration travel at much the same longitudinal velocity as the local mean U and contribute little to the local shear stress. The longer and less frequent bursts have a mean velocity smaller than U and a maximum shear stress comparable to the shear stress at the wall.