Interference and heat transfer between hairpin vortices in wakes behind staggered hills

TL;DR

This study uses numerical simulations to analyze how hairpin vortices in wakes behind staggered hills interact and influence heat transfer, revealing that decreased hill spacing intensifies vortex interference and enhances heat transfer.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the effects of hill spacing on vortex interference and heat transfer in laminar boundary layer wakes, which was not previously detailed.

Findings

Interference between hairpin vortices increases as hill spacing decreases.

Narrower hill spacing leads to stronger vortex legs and secondary vortices.

Heat transfer coefficient increases with stronger vortex interference.

Abstract

The present study performs a numerical simulation of the interference and heat transfer between hairpin vortices formed in wakes behind staggered hills in a laminar boundary layer. Hairpin vortices are periodically shed in the wake of a row of hills, causing interference between the hairpin vortices. As the spanwise distance between the hills decreases, interference increases and the hairpin vortices become strong. At that time, because the interference between the legs of the hairpin vortex and the Q2 ejection becomes strong, the head of each hairpin vortex rises sharply. When the hill spacing decreases, the turbulence caused by the head and both legs of the hairpin vortex generated from a hill in the second row increases remarkably. In addition, the secondary vortex also generates turbulence. The hairpin vortex and the secondary vortex are attracted to adjacent hairpin vortices, causing widespread high turbulence in the spanwise direction near the wall surface. Regardless of the hill spacing, Q2 ejection and Q4 sweep due to the hairpin vortex occur, and the secondary vortex forms around the hairpin vortex, activating heat transport and increasing the heat transfer coefficient in the wake. When the hill spacing becomes narrower, the interference between the hairpin vortices strengthens the legs of each hairpin vortex and secondary vortex, and heat transport near the wall surface becomes very active. The heat transfer increases over a wide range of the wake because the legs of hairpin vortices flowing downstream are spread in the spanwise direction.