Roughness Effects on Complex Near-wall Turbulent Flows

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The proposed research focuses on experimental and numerical study of turbulent flows over inclined and V shaped rib turbulators, adverse and favorable pressure gradient boundary layers over rough walls, and three-dimensional turbulent wall jets and offset jets over rough walls. These flows have important applications in a multitude of engineering systems such as heat exchangers, gas turbines, separation control, film cooling technology as well as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. Our ability to accurately predict these flows is deficient because the turbulent transport phenomena in these flows are not well understood. Therefore, I am proposing a seminal experimental research program to provide a better understanding of these flows. My research team will apply a state-of-the-art non-intrusive technique that will provide measurements of the instantaneous three-component velocity field in a plane. Advanced techniques will then be employed to post-process these measurements to visualize the vortical structure and explore the dynamic roles of these structures in turbulence production and turbulent transport phenomena. My team will also apply computational fluid dynamics software and numerical models with varying sophistication to analyze these flows. The novel experimental datasets obtained in this research will be used to evaluate the numerical results. The fundamental understanding gained from this research and the novel experimental data sets will also enable researchers to develop more accurate numerical models for diverse engineering flows. These refined numerical models will facilitate the development of innovative technologies and design of efficient and environmentally friendly engineering systems in the aerospace, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, power generation and gas and oil industries. This will create huge socio-economic benefit for Canada. This project will also create a truly exceptional environment to develop strategic research collaboration with world class experts in turbulence modeling and mentor the next generation of highly qualified engineers, researchers and professors.