An investigation of channel flow with a smooth air–water interface

Abstract

Experiments and numerical simulation are used to investigate fully developed laminar and turbulent channel flow with an air–water interface as the lower boundary condition. Laser Doppler velocimetry measurements of streamwise and wall-normal velocity components are made over a range of Reynolds number based upon channel height and bulk velocity from 1100 to 4300, which encompasses the laminar, transitional and low Reynolds numbers turbulent regimes. The results show that the airflow statistics near the stationary wall are not significantly altered by the air–water moving interface and reflect those found in channel flows. The mean statistics on the water interface side largely exhibit results similar to simulated Poiseuille–Couette flow (PCF) with a solid moving wall. For second-order statistics, however, the simulation and experimental results show some discrepancies near the moving water surface, suggesting that a full two-phase simulation is required. A momentum and energy transport tubes analysis is investigated for laminar and turbulent PCFs. This analysis builds upon the classical notion of a streamtube and indicates that part of the energy from the pressure gradient is transported towards the stationary wall and is dissipated as heat inside the energy tubes, while the remainder is transmitted to the moving wall. For the experiments, the airflow energy is transmitted towards the water to overcome the drag force and drive the water forward; therefore, the amount of energy transferred to the water is higher than the energy transferred to a solid moving wall.