Boundary layer transition due to distributed roughness: effect of roughness spacing

Abstract

The influence of roughness spacing on boundary layer transition over distributed roughness elements is studied using direct numerical simulation and global stability analysis, and compared with isolated roughness elements at the same Reynolds number $Re_h=U_eh/\nu$ ( $U_e$ is the boundary layer edge velocity, h is roughness height and $\nu$ is the kinetic viscosity of the fluid). Small spanwise spacing ( $\lambda _z=2.5h$ ) inhibits the formation of counter-rotating vortex pairs (CVP) and, as a result, hairpin vortices are not generated and the downstream shear layer is steady. For $\lambda _z=5h$ , the CVP and hairpin vortices are induced by the first row of roughness, perturbing the downstream shear layer and causing transition. The temporal periodicity of the primary hairpin vortices appears to be independent of the streamwise spacing. Distributed roughness leads to a lower critical roughness Reynolds number for instability to occur and a more significant breakdown of the boundary layer compared with isolated roughness. When the streamwise spacing is $\lambda _x=5h$ , the high-momentum fluid barely moves downward into the cavities and the wake flow has little impact on the following roughness elements. The leading unstable varicose mode is associated with the central low-speed streaks along the aligned roughness elements, and its frequency is close to the shedding frequency of hairpin vortices in the isolated case. For larger streamwise spacing ( $\lambda _x=10h$ ), two distinct modes are obtained from global stability analysis. The first mode shows varicose symmetry, corresponding to the primary hairpin vortex shedding induced by the first-row roughness. The high-speed streaks formed in the longitudinal grooves are also found to be unstable and interact with the varicose mode. The second mode is a sinuous mode with lower frequency, induced as the wake flow of the first-row roughness runs into the second row. It extracts most energy from the spanwise shear between the high- and low-speed streaks.