The three-dimensional development of a plane free shear layer subjected to small sinusoidal perturbations periodically placed along the span is experimentally studied. Both laser induced fluorescence and direct interface visualization are used to monitor the interface between the two fluids. The development of the different flow stabilities is obtained through analysis of the temporal and spatial evolution of the interface separating the two streams. It is shown that the characteristic time of growth of the two-dimensional shear instability is much shorter than that of the three-dimensional instability. The primary Kelvin-Helmholtz instability develops first, leading to the formation of an almost two-dimensional array of spanwise vortex tubes. Under the effect of the strain field created by the evolving spanwise vortices, the perturbed vorticity existing on the braids undergoes axial stretching, resulting in the formation of vortex tubes whose axes are aligned with the principal direction of the positive strain field. During the formation of these streamwise vortex tubes, the spanwise vortices maintain, to a great extent, their two-dimensionality, suggesting an almost uncoupled development of both instabilities. The vortex tubes formed through the three-dimensional instability of the braids further undergo nonlinear interactions with the spanwise vortices inducing on their cores a wavy undulation of the same wavelength, but 180° phase shifted with respect to the perturbation. In addition, it is shown that owing to the nature of the three-dimensional instability, the effect of vertical and axial perturbations are coupled. Finally, the influence of the amplitude and wavelength of the perturbation on the development of the two- and three-dimensional instabilities is described.

Turbulent heat transfer to CO2 at supercritical pressure flowing in heated vertical tubes is investigated using direct numerical simulation at the inlet Reynolds number Re0=5400, which is based on inlet bulk velocity and tube diameter. Temperature range within the flow field covers the pseudocritical region, where very significant fluid property variations are involved. Both upward and downward flows are considered. The wall temperature distribution shows well-known heat transfer deterioration characterized by the localized peak in upward flows, while no such anomaly is observed in downward flows. The deterioration occurs at the region where turbulence is attenuated significantly, and is followed by the enhancement with restoration of turbulence caused by complicated interactions with a buoyancy effect. Further investigation of turbulence statistics indicates that ρux″ux″¯, ρux″ur″¯, and ρux″h″¯ are significantly affected by their respective buoyancy production terms due to ρ′ux′¯, ρ′ur′¯, and ρ′h′¯ which are proven to be significant in vertical supercritical flows. Combined with the deformation of mean velocity profile into an M-shaped one in upward flow, ρ′ux′¯ becomes negatively correlated from a certain downstream region so that ρux″h″¯ undergoes a very complicated transition changing both in sign and magnitude, causing severe impairment of heat transfer in upward supercritical flows.

In the present study, we apply a distributed (i.e., spatially varying) forcing to flow over a circular cylinder for drag reduction. The distributed forcing is realized by a blowing and suction from the slots located at upper and lower surfaces of the cylinder. The forcing profile from each slot is sinusoidal in the spanwise direction but is steady in time. We consider two different phase differences between the upper and lower blowing/suction profiles: zero (in-phase forcing) and π (out-of-phase forcing). The Reynolds numbers considered are from 40 to 3900 covering various regimes of flow over a circular cylinder. For all the Reynolds numbers larger than 47, the present in-phase distributed forcing attenuates or annihilates the Kármán vortex shedding and thus significantly reduces the mean drag and the drag and lift fluctuations. The optimal wavelength and amplitude of the in-phase forcing for maximum drag reduction are also obtained for the Reynolds number of 100. It is shown that the in-phase forcing produces the phase mismatch along the spanwise direction in the vortex shedding, weakens the strength of vortical structures in the wake, and thus reduces the drag. Unlike the in-phase forcing, the out-of-phase distributed forcing does not reduce the drag at low Reynolds numbers, but it reduces the mean drag and the drag and lift fluctuations at a high Reynolds number of 3900 by affecting the evolution of the separating shear layer, although the amount of drag reduction is smaller than that by the in-phase forcing.

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