Effect of the separating streamline curvature on the axisymmetric backward-facing step flow

Abstract

An experimental study on the flow over the axisymmetric backward-facing step was carried out. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effect of the separating streamline curvature on the reattachment length and to understand the structure of recirculating flows. Local mean and fluctuating velocity components were measured in the separating and reattaching axisymmetric region of turbulent boundary layer on the wall of convex cylinder placed in a water tunnel by using 2-color 4-beam fiber optics laser Doppler velocimetry. The study demonstrates that the reattachment length increases with increasing separating streamline curvature. It is also observed that the reverse flow velocity and turbulent kinetic energy increase with an increase in the separating streamline curvature. In addition, the behavior of maximum turbulent stresses show that the effect of separating streamline curvature is larger in the region of recirculating zone(X/H