The response of a turbulent boundary layer to a step change in surface roughness. Part 2. Rough-to-smooth

Abstract

An experimental study of the structure of the internal layer which grows down-stream from a rough-to-smooth surface change shows it to be essentially different from that studied by Antonia & Luxton (1971 b) for the case of a smooth-to-rough perturbation. The rate of growth of the internal layer is less than that for the smooth-to-rough step and it appears that the more intense initial rough-wall flow dictates the rate of diffusion of the disturbance for a considerable distance. Inside the internal layer the mixing length I is increased relative to the equilibrium distribution I = KY. A turbulent energy budget shows that the advection is comparable with the production or dissipation, whilst there seems to be some diffusion of energy into the internal-layer region close to the wall. The boundary layer, as a whole, recovers much more slowly following a rough-to-smooth change than following a smooth-to-rough change, and at the last measuring station (16 boundary-layer thicknesses from the start of the smooth surface) the distributions of mean velocity and Reynolds shear stress are far from self-preserving.