Turbulence measurements in a natural convection boundary layer along a vertical flat plate

Abstract

A turbulent natural convection boundary layer, the structure of which still remains a matter of conjecture for want of reliable measurement, is investigated with the V-shaped hot-wire technique. The reliability of Reynolds stress and turbulent heat flux measurements is verified by the excellent agreement with the indirect measurements estimated by integrating momentum and thermal energy equations with measured mean velocity and mean temperature. Turbulent quantities clarified quantitatively in the present study indicate that the natural convection boundary layer has a unique turbulent structure rarely seen in other turbulent boundary layers.