Kenzo Sasaki

Under the action of free-stream turbulence (FST), elongated streamwise streaky structures are generated inside the boundary layer, and their amplitude and wavelength are crucial for the transition onset. While turbulence intensity is strongly correlated with the transitional Reynolds number, characteristic length scales of the FST are often considered to have a slight impact on the transition location. However, a recent experiment by Fransson and Shahinfar [J. Fluid Mech. 899, A23 (2020)] shows significant effects of FST scales. They found that, for higher free-stream turbulence levels and larger integral length scales, an increase in the length scale postpones transition, contrary to established literature. Here, by performing well-resolved numerical simulations, we aim at understanding why the FST integral length scale affects the transition location differently at low- and high turbulence levels. We found that the integral length scales in Fransson and Shahinfar's experiment are so large that the introduced wide streaks have substantially lower growth in the laminar region, upstream of the transition to turbulence, than the streaks induced by smaller integral length scales. The energy in the boundary layer subsequently propagate to smaller spanwise scales as a result of the nonlinear interaction. When the energy has reached smaller spanwise scales, larger amplitude streaks results in regions where the streak growth are larger. It takes longer for the energy from wider streaks to propagate to the spanwise scales associated with the breakdown to turbulence, than for those with smaller spanwise scales. Thus, there is a faster transition for FST with lower integral length scales in this case.

Resolvent analysis has found applications in several areas of fluid mechanics, providing physical insight into both laminar and turbulent flows. In spite of such fact, the global (3D) resolvent is computationally expensive, which limits the size of the domain and the Reynolds number of the flows which can be considered. In this work, we derive a parabolic resolvent approach, which enables a significant increase in the computational efficiency of the calculation, for streaky structures in boundary layer flows. The computational speedup depends on the size of the problem and could be of more than one order of magnitude for the same accuracy as the global calculation. The method is derived based on an optimization method via the Lagrange multipliers over the linearized boundary layer equations and it is coupled to a Krylov-Arnoldi decomposition to the computation of suboptimals. The application of the method is exemplified for two problems: a Falkner-Skan boundary layer, where we obtain trends for both the optimals and suboptimals, and a turbulent boundary layer, where characteristics such as the double peak in the spectrum and the characteristic inner and outer length scales can be recovered when a variable eddy viscosity is considered. In both cases, a scaling is found for the dominant gain, given in terms of the fourth power of the Reynolds number, defined in terms of the relevant scale for the problem, the displacement thickness, and the modified Rotta-Clauser parameter for the laminar and turbulent boundary layers, respectively. For the laminar case, we further demonstrate that a forcing limited to the free-stream region is capable of generating streaky structures inside the boundary layer, a relevant feature for free-stream turbulence-induced transition.

Spectral proper orthogonal decomposition (SPOD) is an increasingly popular modal analysis method in the field of fluid dynamics due to its specific properties: a linear system forced with white noise should have SPOD modes identical to response modes from resolvent analysis. The SPOD, coupled with the Welch method for spectral estimation, may require long time-resolved datasets. In this work, a linearised Ginzburg–Landau model is considered in order to study the method's convergence. Spectral proper orthogonal decomposition modes of the white-noise forced equation are computed and compared with corresponding response resolvent modes. The quantified error is shown to be related to the time length of Welch blocks (spectral window size) normalised by a convective time. Subsequently, an algorithm based on a temporal data shift is devised to further improve SPOD convergence and is applied to the Ginzburg–Landau system. Next, its efficacy is demonstrated in a numerical database of a boundary layer subject to bypass transition. The proposed approach achieves substantial improvement in mode convergence with smaller spectral window sizes with respect to the standard method. Furthermore, SPOD modes display growing wall-normal and spanwise velocity components along the streamwise direction, a feature which had not yet been observed and is also predicted by a global resolvent calculation. The shifting algorithm for the SPOD opens the possibility for using the method on datasets with time series of moderate duration, often produced by large simulations.

In this work we perform reactive control of stochastic disturbances in forced turbulent jets based on destructive interference. The study is motivated by the success of recent studies in applying this type of control on instability waves in transitional boundary layers and free-shear flows. Linear convective mechanisms in the initial region of turbulent jets are explored in order to perform reactive control, wherein the actuation signal is updated in real time based on sensor measurements performed upstream, resulting in an inverse feedforward approach. The control law is based on empirical transfer functions of the jet response to stochastic forcing and actuation, which are measured experimentally. Since turbulent jets have energy content spread in a number of azimuthal wave numbers, we apply axisymmetric forcing at the nozzle lip in order to be able to perform control using a reduced number of sensors and actuators. The external forcing produces axisymmetric wave packets which possess stochastic phases and amplitudes, akin to turbulent fluctuations found in unforced jets. We demonstrate the successful implementation of real-time reactive control of these disturbances, achieving order-of-magnitude attenuations of associated velocity fluctuations. Control is shown to reduce fluctuation levels over an extensive streamwise range.

In shock wave/boundary layer interactions, two mechanisms have been recognized to drive the low-frequency unsteadiness of the reflected shock: upstream boundary layer forcing and downstream feedback. The current work presents a quantitative analysis of the causal mechanisms underlying such flow unsteadiness. The analysis is based on a large-eddy simulation database covering approximately 300 cycles of the low-frequency shock fluctuations in a Mach 2 turbulent boundary layer. This time span enables the accurate application of frequency-domain system identification methods targeting such low frequencies. The evaluation of the spectrum in the interaction zone indicates that the broadband low-frequency unsteadiness is predominantly two-dimensional and can be isolated via spanwise averaging. Empirically derived transfer functions are computed using the averaged flow field and indicate the occurrence of a feedback between the locations downstream of the flow separation and the shock fluctuations. The results indicate that this mechanism dominates over the upstream forcing of the interaction region. Accordingly, the computed transfer functions are also used as an estimation tool to predict the shock motion accurately; for the largest streamwise separation between input and output signals, correlations above 0.6 are observed between predictions and raw data. Computation of spectral proper orthogonal decomposition modes reveals the existence of upstream traveling waves in the leading spectral mode at the main shock frequency; higher frequencies do not exhibit this trend. Furthermore, the spectral modes obtained using selected flow regions downstream of the shock enable the reconstruction of a significant portion of the energy in the interaction zone. Finally, a linear stability analysis is conducted using the mean turbulent flow, showing the existence of upstream traveling waves. Evaluation of a vortex sheet model indicates that these upstream traveling modes are of acoustic nature. The predicted modes from this local analysis present a compelling match against the spectral modes, both in terms of the shape and phase speed of the fluctuations. The combined analysis of the techniques indicates that downstream disturbances are the dominant cause of shock oscillations in the present configuration, leading to shock motion by upstream traveling acoustic modes.

This work deals with the closed-loop control of streaky structures induced by free-stream turbulence (FST), at the levels of 3.0 % and 3.5 %, in a zero-pressure-gradient transitional boundary layer, by means of localized sensors and actuators. A linear quadratic Gaussian regulator is considered along with a system identification technique to build reduced-order models for control. Three actuators are developed with different spatial supports, corresponding to a baseline shape with only vertical forcing, and to two other shapes obtained by different optimization procedures. A computationally efficient method is derived to obtain an actuator that aims to induce the exact structures that are inside the boundary layer, given in terms of their first spectral proper orthogonal decomposition (SPOD) mode, and an actuator that maximizes the energy of induced downstream structures. All three actuators lead to significant delays in the transition to turbulence and were shown to be robust to mild variations in the FST levels. Integrated total drag reductions observed were up to 21 % and 19 % for turbulence intensity levels of 3.0 % and 3.5 %, respectively, depending on the considered actuator. Differences are understood in terms of the SPOD of actuation and FST-induced fields along with the causality of the control scheme when a cancellation of disturbances is considered along the wall-normal direction. The actuator optimized to generate the leading downstream SPOD mode, representing the streaks in the open-loop flow, leads to the highest transition delay, which can be understood due to its capability of closely cancelling structures in the boundary layer.

The current work presents a realizable method to control streaky disturbances in boundary layer flows and delay transition to turbulence by means of active flow control. Numerical simulations of the nonlinear transitional regime in a Blasius boundary layer are performed where streaks are excited in the boundary layer by means of a high level of free-stream turbulence. The occurring disturbances are measured by means of localized wall-shear-stress sensors and damped out using near-wall actuators, which resemble ring plasma actuators. Each actuator is powered by a time-varying signal whose amplitude is computed by processing signals from the sensors. The processed signal is the result of two control laws: the linear quadratic Gaussian regulator (LQG) and the inverse feed-forward control technique (IFFC). The use of the first control method, LQG, requires a state-space representation of the system dynamics, so the flow is described by means of a linear time-invariant operator that captures only the most relevant information of the dynamics and results in a reduced-order model (ROM). The ROM is computed by means of the eigensystem realization algorithm (ERA), which is based on the impulse responses of the real system. Collecting such impulse responses may be unfeasible when considering free-stream turbulence because of the high dimensionality of the input forcing needed for a precise description of such a phenomenon. Here, a new method to identify the relevant system dynamics and generate the needed impulse responses is proposed, based on additional shear-stress measurements in an upstream location. Transfer functions between such measurements and other downstream sensors are obtained and allow the derivation of the ERA system, in a data-driven approach that would be realizable in experiments. Finally, in order to discuss the advantages of the LQG based on the ROM and analyse its performance, the implemented LQG is compared to the IFFC, which consists of wave cancellation. The work (i) presents a systematic and straightforward way to deal with high-dimensional disturbances in order to build ROMs for a feasible control technique, and (ii) shows that even when considering practical constraints, such as the type and size of actuators and sensors, it is possible to achieve at least as large delay of bypass transition as that obtained in more idealized cases found in the literature.