Measurements of turbulence structure in the boundary layer on a rough surface

Abstract

Mean products of velocity fluctuations up to fourth order have been measured in a wind tunnel at the trailing edge of a flat plate, one side of which was covered with floor-sanding paper to produce a fully rough surface. This set-up permits easy comparison of structural parameters in smooth-wall and rough-wall boundary layers. The Reynolds-stress profiles and second-order parameters are closely the same on the rough and smooth surfaces; in particular the decrease in Reynolds shear stress near the rough surface, encountered by several other laboratory workers, was not found in the present results. The triple products are spectacularly altered for a distance of up to 10 roughness heights from the rough surface, and imply a large net rate of transport of turbulent energy and shear stress towards the surface. Comparison with other published data shows that the behaviour of this modified region depends on roughness geometry as well as on the roughness height itself; for example, the mean cube of the normal-component fluctuation remains positive (energy transport away from the surface) over sand or gravel roughness but goes negative, like the other energy-transport terms, over crop canopies.