EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY OF A PRESSURE-DRIVEN, 3-DIMENSIONAL, TURBULENT BOUNDARY-LAYER

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation into a strongly skewed, pressure-driven three-dimensional turbulent boundary layer. Mean velocity and static pressure measurements reveal the general nature of the flowfield studied, while detailed measurements of the Reynolds stress tensor with an X-array hot wire indicate the effect of the strong pressure gradients on the turbulent velocity field. Two separate regions of the flow are investigated in depth: the plane of symmetry along the centerline of the facility, and a freestream streamline passing through a region of highly skewed flow. The results from the streamline investigation show that the magnitude of the Reynolds shear stresses relative to the normal stresses drops off under the influence of the three-dimensionality, and the shear vector lags strongly behind the velocity gradient vector.