Experimental Investigation of a Turbulent Flow in the Vicinity of an Appendage Mounted on a Flat Plate

Abstract

Experimental measurements were carried out in an incompressible three-dimensional turbulent shear layer in the vicinity of an appendage mounted perpendicular to a flat plate. The thickness of the turbulent boundary layer as it approached the appendage leading edge was 76 mm or 1.07 times the maximum thickness of the appendage. As the oncoming boundary layer passed around the appendage, a strong secondary flow was formed which was dominated by a horseshoe root vortex. This secondary flow had a major effect in redistributing both the mean flow and turbulence quantities throughout the shear layer, and this effect persisted to a significant degree up to at least three chord lengths downstream of the appendage leading edge.