Experimental Study of the Particles Influence on the Pyramid Wake within the Turbulent Boundary Layer

Abstract

Particle imaging velocimetry (PIV) was used to study the near-field variation of a pyramid rough element in clear water and a liquid–solid boundary layer (thickness: 60 mm). Particles with an average diameter of 355 µm and Stokes number of 4.3 were injected into a 1:1000 mass ratio (solid particles: water) liquid–solid two-phase solution. Experiments were conducted to collect instantaneous velocity field information in the streamwise–normal direction and streamwise–spanwise direction at a Reynolds number of 8350. Then, the average velocity field and turbulence intensity of the rough element wake under single-phase and two-phase conditions were compared, and the morphology and periodicity of the shedding structure were analyzed by using proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) combined with the power spectral density function (PSD). Particles were shown to have no significant impact on the recirculation area in the streamwise–spanwise plane but did result in a reduction of the recirculation zone in the streamwise–normal plane and a 0.2h closer location of the streamline's origin to the obstacle. Along with the weakening of the upwash structure, the particle phase diminishes the velocity gradient along the span direction and turbulence intensity. Structural shedding at the top of the pyramid and near the wall occurred simultaneously, and the same shedding period was maintained. Particularly, in the first two POD modes, the energy of the shedding structure near the wall was higher than that at the obstacle tip, with a maximum energy differential of approximately 6%. The Strouhal number of the shedding structure decreased by particles from 0.217 to 0.209. The concentration distribution and degree of dispersion in the particle-laden flow illustrate different results, with lower statistics in the wake flow field.