LOW-REYNOLDS-NUMBER AXISYMMETRICAL TURBULENT BOUNDARY-LAYER ON A CYLINDER

In the present study, an axisymmetric turbulent boundary layer growing on a cylinder is investigated experimentally using hot wire anemometr y. The combined effects of transverse curvature as well as low Reynold s number on the mean and turbulent flow quantities are studied. The me asurements include the mean velocity, turbulence intensity, skewness a nd flatness factors in addition to wall shear stress. The results are presented separately for the near wall region and the outer region usi ng dimensionless parameters suitable for each case. They are also comp ared with the results available in the open literature. The present in vestigation revealed that the mean velocity in near wall region is sim ilar to other simple turbulent flows (flat plate boundary layer, pipe and channel flows); but it differs in the logarithmic and outer region s. Further, for dimensionless moments of higher orders, such as skewne ss and flatness factors, the main effects of the low Reynolds number a nd the transverse curvature are present in the near wall region as wel l as the outer region. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.