Pl. Komarov et Af. Polyakov, THE STRUCTURE OF AVERAGED FLOW BEHIND A BACKWARD-FACING STEP IN A SLOTTED CHANNEL, High temperature, 36(3), 1998, pp. 389-394
The results are given of an experimental investigation of the structur
e of averaged Row behind a backward-facing step flown about by a turbu
lent flow of air in a slotted channel. The fields of two components of
averaged velocity of Row are measured by a laser Doppler anemometer,
manufactured by Dantec Electronic A/C (Denmark), in the subsonic range
of forward flow velocity, corresponding to the range of Reynolds numb
ers of 2600-11200 calculated by the step height, An analysis of the re
sultant velocity fields enables one to reveal that the position of the
boundaries and longitudinal and transverse axes of the main and secon
dary recirculation vortices is independent of the velocity of forward
flow in the investigated range, as well as to propose simple approxima
tion formulas for their description. The results of a special investig
ation of the distribution of the tangential derivative of the averaged
component W demonstrate that the averaged held of velocity behind a s
tep may be treated as two-dimensional. The approximation of the measur
ed profiles of longitudinal velocity to the Falkner-Skan profile (m =
0.7) in the wall region of the main recirculation vortex points to lam
inarization of flow in this zone.