Self-similar turbulent boundary layer with imposed pressure gradient. Velocity-defect law

Abstract

Self-similar flows in a turbulent boundary layer when the free-stream velocity is specified as a power function of the longitudinal coordinate are investigated. The self-similar formulation not only simplifies solving the problem by reducing the equations of motion to ordinary differential equations but also provides a mean for formulating the closure conditions for these equations. It is shown that for the class of flows under consideration that depend on three governing parameters, the dimensionless mixing length in the outer region is a function of the normalized distance from the wall and the exponent m of the power law. In calculations, this function is assumed to be independent of pressure gradient, which gives the results very close to experimental data. As a result of an exact asymptotic solution of the problem, we establish the characteristic scale of the velocity defect in the outer region (the velocity-defect law) valid in the entire range of variation of the Clauser similarity parameter.