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Experimental study of turbulent coherent structures using particle image velocimetry and hydrogen bubble visualisation techniques

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Abstract

The characteristics of coherent structures in turbulent boundary layers were investigated experimentally using PIV and hydrogen bubble visualisation techniques. Turbulent boundary layers were generated and tested in two flumes with different scale, for two Reynolds numbers: \(\hbox {Re}=32{,}000\) and 71,200, both over a smooth bed. Measurements from the PIV technique and hydrogen bubble visualisation lead to the same research findings, suggesting a linear relationship between the instantaneous integral spatial scale and the instantaneous spacing between turbulent streaks. This new approach to determining the streak spacing provides some guidance for experimentalists in terms of experimental methodology. Results of hydrogen bubble visualisations provide additional evidence that streamwise vortices reside near low-speed streaks. Detailed statistical analysis further demonstrates the better performance of Burr distribution for the probability density function of streak spacing. Combining the measurements of flow field in the horizontal and vertical plane, streamwise vortices are observed to be tilted \(\pm ~8^\circ \) in the (x, z) plane and shear layers are inclined to the wall at \(30^\circ \) in the (x, y) plane.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully appreciate for the financial support from the UCL Dean’s Prize and the China Scholarship Council (CSC). This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51909074), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2019M661713), and Key Laboratory of Coastal Disaster and Defence of Ministry of Education, Hohai University (Grant No. 201912).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Coastal Disaster and Protection, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China

    Xuan Zhang & Jinhai Zheng

  2. Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    Xuan Zhang & Richard Simons

  3. College of Harbor, Coastal and Offshore Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, China

    Xuan Zhang & Jinhai Zheng

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  1. Xuan Zhang
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Correspondence to Xuan Zhang.

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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by XZ. The first draft of the manuscript was written by XZ, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Zhang, X., Simons, R. & Zheng, J. Experimental study of turbulent coherent structures using particle image velocimetry and hydrogen bubble visualisation techniques. Arch Appl Mech 91, 1113–1132 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00419-020-01813-0

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