More on the Turbulent-Strip Theory for Wake-Induced Transition

Abstract

A theory for transition from laminar to turbulent flow with an unsteady, periodic passing of turbulent wakes in the free stream has recently been presented by the authors. The theory considers a time-averaged transitional flow caused by the formation and propagation of turbulent strips along the surface. To apply the theory, however, both the origin and a quantity related to the production rate of these turbulent strips must be known. In this paper, after a brief review of the theory, a dimensional analysis of the problem is presented and data from experiments reexamined in light of the result. From this, an expression for the time-averaged intermittency is obtained, which may be used to calculate the time-averaged distributions of various boundary layer quantities for wake-induced transitional flow.