Mean turbulence statistics in boundary layers over high-porosity foams

TL;DR

This study investigates turbulence characteristics over high-porosity foams, revealing significant slip velocities, velocity deficits, and large-scale vortex structures that influence boundary layer behavior.

Contribution

It provides detailed measurements of turbulence and mean flow over high-porosity foams, highlighting the effects of pore size and foam thickness on boundary layer dynamics.

Findings

Slip velocity exceeds 30% of free stream velocity

Velocity deficit increases with pore size

Large-scale Kelvin-Helmholtz vortices observed

Abstract

This paper reports turbulent boundary layer measurements made over open-cell reticulated foams with varying pore size and thickness, but constant porosity ($\epsilon \approx 0.97$). The foams were flush-mounted into a cutout on a flat plate. A Laser Doppler Velocimeter (LDV) was used to measure mean streamwise velocity and turbulence intensity immediately upstream of the porous section, and at multiple measurement stations along the porous substrate. The friction Reynolds number upstream of the porous section was $Re_\tau \approx 1690$. For all but the thickest foam tested, the internal boundary layer was fully developed by $<10 \delta$ downstream from the porous transition, where $\delta$ is the boundary layer thickness. Fully developed mean velocity profiles showed the presence of a substantial slip velocity at the porous interface ($>30\%$ of the free stream velocity) and a mean velocity deficit relative to the canonical smooth-wall profile further from the wall. While the magnitude of the mean velocity deficit increased with average pore size, the slip velocity remained approximately constant. Fits to the mean velocity profile suggest that the logarithmic region is shifted relative to a smooth wall, and that this shift increases with pore size until it becomes comparable to substrate thickness $h$. For all foams, the turbulence intensity was found to be elevated further into the boundary layer to $y/ \delta \approx 0.2$. An outer peak in intensity was also evident for the largest pore sizes. Velocity spectra indicate that this outer peak is associated with large-scale structures resembling Kelvin-Helmholtz vortices that have streamwise length scale $2\delta-4\delta$. Skewness profiles suggest that these large-scale structures may have an amplitude-modulating effect on the interfacial turbulence.