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Self-preserving characteristics in wall-wake flow downstream of an isolated bedform

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Abstract

The results of an experimental study on the turbulence characteristics in flow over and downstream of an isolated bedform are presented. The vertical profiles of time-averaged streamwise velocity, Reynolds stresses and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) fluxes at different horizontal locations over and downstream of a bedform are shown to demonstrate their variations. The experimental results signify a flow acceleration, separation and deceleration over the stoss-side, at the crest and in the leeside of a bedform. In addition, in the wall-wake region (far downstream of the bedform), the defects (uninterrupted upstream value minus downstream value at a given vertical distance) in time-averaged streamwise velocity, Reynolds shear stress (RSS), turbulence intensities and TKE fluxes demonstrate the self-preserving characteristics in their individual vertical profiles when they are scaled by their individual peak defects. For scaling the vertical distance to achieve the self-preserving characteristics, the defect profiles of velocity were scaled by the half-width of peak velocity defect, those of RSS and turbulence intensities by the half-width of peak RSS defect and those of TKE fluxes by the half-width of individual peak TKE flux defects. The peak defects of all the parameters lessen, as one moves toward the downstream, recovering their uninterrupted upstream profiles.

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Acknowledgements

Second author acknowledges JC Bose fellowship to carry out this study in collaboration with first author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physics and Applied Mathematics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute Kolkata, Kolkata, West Bengal, 700108, India

    Sankar Sarkar

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, 721302, India

    Subhasish Dey

  3. Department of Hydraulic Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Hydro-Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Subhasish Dey

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  1. Sankar Sarkar
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  2. Subhasish Dey
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Correspondence to Subhasish Dey.

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Sarkar, S., Dey, S. Self-preserving characteristics in wall-wake flow downstream of an isolated bedform. Environ Fluid Mech 20, 1119–1139 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10652-020-09744-8

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