Combined dye-streak and hydrogen-bubble visual observations of a turbulent boundary layer

Abstract

The turbulent boundary layer over a flat plate was observed visually using two dye injectors and a normal bubble wire. One dye injector was a standard wall slot; the other one was a small Pitot probe which could be placed anywhere in the flow. The purpose of these experiments was to improve understanding of the relationships between the bursting of low-speed streaks near the wall and the flow field farther away from the wall.On the basis of these observations, it seems that (i) each lift-up is associated with a disturbance which originates in the logarithmic region and is characterized by a mean motion towards the wall, and that (ii) such disturbances are generated by the interaction of an earlier burst from further upstream with the fluid motion in the logarithmic region.