The Oscillatory Boundary Layer Growth Over the Top and Bottom Plates of a Rotating Channel

Abstract

The behavior of the steady boundary layers formed over the top and bottom surfaces of a rotating channel is theoretically investigated. At the leading edge, not surprisingly, the flow behaves in accordance with the Blasius solution. Far downstream, the boundary layers are established as an Ekman layer. The transition from the Blasius layer to the Ekman layer is not monotonously smooth, but occurs in a spatially wave-like manner. This undulatory transition zone results from the Coriolis coupling between the motion in the main and cross flow directions. The length of the transition zone is relatively short, occuring within a few cycles of the aforementioned undulations.