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Experiments on transition in plane Couette flow

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2006

Nils Tillmark  and
P. Henrik Alfredsson
Nils Tillmark
Affiliation:
Department of Gasdynamics, Royal Institute of Technology, S-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
P. Henrik Alfredsson
Affiliation:
Department of Gasdynamics, Royal Institute of Technology, S-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
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Abstract

The first flow visualization experimental results of transition in plane Couette flow are reported. The Couette flow water channel was of an infinite-belt type with counter-moving walls. The belt and channel walls were transparent making it possible to visualize the flow pattern in the streamwise-spanwise plane by utilizing fluid-suspended reflective flakes. Transition was triggered by a high-amplitude pointwise disturbance. The transitional Reynolds number, i.e. the lowest Reynolds number for which turbulence can be sustained, was determined to be 360 ± 10, based on half-channel height and half the velocity difference between the walls. For Reynolds numbers above this value a large enough amplitude of the initial disturbance gave rise to a growing turbulent spot. Its shape and spreading rate was determined for Reynolds numbers up to 1000.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 235 , February 1992 , pp. 89 - 102
Copyright
© 1992 Cambridge University Press

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