Laminar-To-Turbulent Transition on a Body of Revolution With an Extended Favorable Pressure Gradient Forebody

Abstract

An experimental study of the laminar-to-turbulent transition and resulting hydrodynamic forces on a body of revolution with a long, favorable pressure gradient forebody (i.e., where pressure is dropping and the flow accelerating) is reported. Over a substantial range of body velocity and angle of attack the favorable pressure gradient is shown to postpone transition to the point of laminar separation, and this extended laminar region results in a much lower hydrodynamic drag than is characteristic of an all-turbulent body. The intermittency of the boundary layer and the propagation characteristics of turbulent spots in the extended favorable pressure gradient region are quantified by hot film probes mounted flush with the body surface. The sensitivity of the boundary layer transition to three-dimensional surface roughness elements located in tandem (along a streamline) is also quantified. A number of such elements in tandem causes transition at a lower Reynolds number than would a single element of the same size, this effect becoming more pronounced with increasing number of roughness elements and decreasing space between them.