The potential for transient growth in compressible boundary layers is studied. Transient amplification is mathematically associated with a non-orthogonal eigenvector basis, and can amplify disturbances although the spectrum of the linearized evolution operator is entirely confined to the stable half-plane. Compressible boundary layer flow shows a large amount of transient growth over a wide range of parameter values. The disturbance size is here measured by a positive definite energy like quantity that has been derived such that pressure-related transfer terms in its evolution equation mutually cancel. The maximum of the transient growth is found for structures which are independent of the streamwise direction and is found to scale with R2. This suggests that the transient growth originates from the same lift-up mechanism found to give large growth in incompressible shear flows. The maximum growth is also found to increase with Mach number. In compressible flow, disturbances that experience optimal transient growth can be excited naturally by a non-linear interaction of oblique unstable first mode waves. Thus, a triggering of transient growth may account for the difference in timescales between the fast oblique breakdown process and traditional secondary instability.

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Reynolds-number effects in the adverse-pressure-gradient (APG) turbulent boundary layer (TBL) developing on the suction side of a NACA4412 wing section are assessed in the present work. To this end, we analyze four cases at Reynolds numbers based on freestream velocity and chord length ranging from Re c = 100, 000 to 1, 000, 000, all of them with 5 • angle of attack. The results of four well-resolved large-eddy simulations (LESs) are used to characterize the effect of Reynolds number on APG TBLs subjected to approximately the same pressure-gradient distribution (defined by the Clauser pressure-gradient parameter β). Comparisons of the wing profiles with zeropressure-gradient (ZPG) data at matched friction Reynolds numbers reveal that, for approximately the same β distribution, the lower-Reynolds-number boundary layers are more sensitive to pressure-gradient effects. This is reflected in the values of the inner-scaled edge velocity U + e , the shape factor H, the components of the Reynolds-stress tensor in the outer region and the outer-region production of turbulent kinetic energy. This conclusion is supported by the larger wall-normal velocities and outer-scaled fluctuations observed in the lower-Re c cases. Thus, our results suggest that two complementing mechanisms contribute to the development of the outer region in TBLs and the formation of large-scale energetic structures: one mechanism associated with the increase in Reynolds number, and another one connected to the APG. Future extensions of the present work will be aimed at studying the differences in the outer-region energizing mechanisms due to APGs and

The receptivity to localized surface roughness of a swept-wing boundary layer is studied by direct numerical simulation (DNS) and computations using the parabolized stability equations (PSEs). The DNS is laid out to reproduce wind tunnel experiments performed by Saric and coworkers, where micron-sized cylinders were used to trigger steady crossflow modes. The amplitudes of the roughness-induced fundamental crossflow wave and its superharmonics obtained from nonlinear PSE solutions agree excellently with the DNS results. A receptivity model using the direct and adjoint PSEs is shown to provide reliable predictions of the receptivity to roughness cylinders of different heights and chordwise locations. Being robust and computationally efficient, the model is well suited as a predictive tool of receptivity in flows of practical interest. The crossflow mode amplitudes obtained based on both DNS and PSE methods are 40 % of those measured in the experiments. Additional comparisons between experimental and PSE data for various disturbance wavelengths reveal that the measured disturbance amplitudes are consistently larger than those predicted by the PSE-based receptivity model by a nearly constant factor. Supplementary DNS and PSE computations suggest that possible natural leading-edge roughness and free-stream turbulence in the experiments are unlikely to account for this discrepancy. It is more likely that experimental uncertainties in the streamwise location of the roughness array and cylinder height are responsible for the additional receptivity observed in the experiments.

This work deals with the feedforward active control of Tollmien-Schlichting instability waves over incompressible 2D and 3D boundary layers. Through an extensive numerical study, two strategies are evaluated; the optimal linear-quadratic-Gaussian (LQG) controller, designed using the Eigensystem realization algorithm, is compared to a wave-cancellation scheme, which is obtained using the direct inversion of frequency-domain transfer functions of the system. For the evaluated cases, it is shown that LQG leads to a similar control law and presents a comparable performance to the simpler, wave-cancellation scheme, indicating that the former acts via a destructive interference of the incoming wavepacket downstream of actuation. The results allow further insight into the physics behind flow control of convectively unstable flows permitting, for instance, the optimization of the transverse position for actuation. Using concepts of linear stability theory and the derived transfer function, a more efficient actuation for flow control is chosen, leading to similar attenuation of Tollmien-Schlichting waves with only about 10% of the actuation power in the baseline case.

A direct numerical simulation database of the flow around a NACA4412 wing section at R e c = 400,000 and 5∘ angle of attack (Hosseini et al. Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow 61, 117–128, 2016), obtained with the spectral-element code Nek5000, is analyzed. The Clauser pressure-gradient parameter β ranges from ≃ 0 and 85 on the suction side, and from 0 to − 0.25 on the pressure side of the wing. The maximum R e 𝜃 and R e τ values are around 2,800 and 373 on the suction side, respectively, whereas on the pressure side these values are 818 and 346. Comparisons between the suction side with zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layer data show larger values of the shape factor and a lower skin friction, both connected with the fact that the adverse pressure gradient present on the suction side of the wing increases the wall-normal convection. The adverse-pressure-gradient boundary layer also exhibits a more prominent wake region, the development of an outer peak in the Reynolds-stress tensor components, and increased production and dissipation across the boundary layer. All these effects are connected with the fact that the large-scale motions of the flow become relatively more intense due to the adverse pressure gradient, as apparent from spanwise premultiplied power-spectral density maps. The emergence of an outer spectral peak is observed at β values of around 4 for λ z ≃ 0.65δ 99, closer to the wall than the spectral outer peak observed in zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layers at higher R e 𝜃. The effect of the slight favorable pressure gradient present on the pressure side of the wing is opposite the one of the adverse pressure gradient, leading to less energetic outer-layer structures.

An inviscid algebraic instability for streamwise independent disturbances in compressible flow is found to be related to Ellingsen and Palm’s [Phys. Fluids 18, 487 (1975)] solution for incompressible flow. For compressible flow, the streamwise disturbance velocity, the density, as well as temperature perturbations grow linearly with time. The effect of viscosity on the inviscid algebraic growth is clarified using a rescaling of the viscous disturbance equations, showing the dependence of the viscous transient growth on the Reynolds number.

This paper represents a continuation of the work by Tempelmann et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 646, 2010b, pp. 5–37) on spatial optimal growth in incompressible boundary layers over swept flat plates. We present an extension of the methodology to compressible flow. Also, we account for curvature effects. Spatial optimal growth is studied for boundary layers over both flat and curved swept plates with adiabatic and cooled walls. We find that optimal growth increases for higher Mach numbers. In general, extensive non-modal growth is observed for all boundary layer cases even in subcritical regions, i.e. where the flow is stable with respect to modal crossflow disturbances. Wall cooling, despite stabilizing crossflow modes, destabilizes disturbances of non-modal nature. Curvature acts similarly on modal as well as non-modal disturbances. Convex walls have a stabilizing effect on the boundary layer whereas concave walls have a destabilizing effect. The physical mechanisms of optimal growth in all studied boundary layers are found to be similar to those identified for incompressible flat-plate boundary layers.