Measurement in a Zero-Pressure Gradient Turbulent Boundary Layer with Forced Thermal Convection

A subsonic zero-pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer developing on a uniformly heated surface at a Reynolds number in the range of 3, 560 ≤ Re θ ≤ 5,360 was investigated. Particle-image velocimetry measurements were performed at various positions in the streamwise direction for several wind-tunnel speeds and for different wall excess temperatures to show the thermal convection effects to expand the boundary-layer thickness δ 0.99 and to enlarge the turbulence intensities in the log-law and wake region. The mean velocity profiles are found to be self-preserving. The inclination of large-scale ramp-like vortex packets increases to higher characteristic angles, i.e., the mean angles are enlarged by approximately 5–10°. Hairpin-like vortex structures originating from the near-wall region seem to undergo higher climbing rates in the wall-normal direction causing the above mentioned significant changes in the boundary-layer thickness δ 0.99 and the strongly increased distributions of turbulence intensities in the wake region of the boundary layer. Changes in the distributions of the skewness and flatness of the probability density function (PDF) of the streamwise fluctuations corroborate these findings. The two-point correlation distribution of the streamwise velocity fluctuations R uu is increased for wall distances y / δ 0.99 = 0.1 to y / δ 0.99 = 0.75 indicating the existence of coherent structures in higher regions of the boundary layer.