Author(s): Bushra Afzal; Mdabdullah Al Faruque; Ram Balachandar

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Keywords: Open-channel flow; near-wall perturbation; free stream turbulence; probability density functions; Reynolds shear stress; skin friction coefficient; flow recovery

Abstract: Three series of experiments were conducted to study the effect of Reynolds number, near-wall perturbation and turbulence on the velocity characteristics of smooth open-channel flows. Measurements were carried out using a laser Doppler anemometer. The variables of interest include mean velocity, turbulence, velocity probability density functions and Gram-Charlier series coefficients. For the range of depth Reynolds number studied (23×103 < Re h <72×103), the turbulence intensity and Reynolds shear stress profiles show that the effect of Reynolds number can be significant in open-channel flows. However, at identical distances from the bed, the velocity probability density functions are relatively insensitive to Reynolds number effects. The coefficients of the Gram-Charlier series expansion are also independent of Reynolds number for wall normal distances y+ <300. In the case of the flow with the near-wall perturbation, the mean velocity profile at the farthest downstream station more-or-less recovers to the undisturbed state, whereas the turbulence intensity profiles do not completely recover. From the various profiles obtained downstream of the perturbation, the wall-normal distance corresponding to 0.01

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3826/jhr.2009.3113

Year: 2009