On turbulent boundary layers in oscillatory flow

An experimental investigation has been made of turbulent boundary layer response to harmonic oscillations associated with a travelling wave imposed on an otherwise constant freestream velocity and convected in the freestream direction. The tests covered oscillation frequencies of 4-12 Hz for freestream amplitudes of up to 11% of the mean velocity. Additional steady flow measurements were used to infer the quasi-steady response to freestream oscillations. The results show a welcome insensitivity of the mean flow and turbulent intensity distributions to the freestream oscillations tested. An approximate analysis based on these results has been developed. It is probably of limited validity but it does provide a useful guide to the physical processes involved. The effects on boundary layer response of varying the travelling wave convection velocity and frequency of oscillation are illustrated by the analysis and show a behaviour broadly similar to that of laminar boundary layers. The travelling wave convection velocity exhibits a dominant influence on the turbulent boundary layer response to freestream oscillations.