Influence of short roughness strip on the turbulent boundary layer structure

Hot-wire measurements have been undertaken in a turbulent boundary layer which is subjected to an impulse in form of a short roughness strip with the aim of examining its influence on the structure of the turbulent boundary layer. The results indicate that, while the energy containing motion is shifted from low wave number to high wave number near the wall due to the interfering of the roughness strip with the near-wall structure, the reverse is the case in the outer region. While the anisotropy at small scale changes appreciably, there is no discernable change at the large scale when distance from the wall is increased as reflected in the collapses of spectra shear correlation coefficient at the low wave number. It further shows that the roughness strip alters the flow dynamics of the boundary layer as shown in the changes in the mixing length distribution. © 2007 M.O. Oyewola, M.S. Adaramola, A.F. Olaberinjo, J.A. Akinyemi, and J.O. Oyewola, 2007.