Sensitivity analysis of wavy wall performance in turbulent separation control: Effects of amplitude and period variations

Abstract

The influence of transversely oriented sinusoidal wall corrugation on an incompressible isothermal flow in the near-wall region, subjected to adverse pressure gradient conditions at a friction Reynolds number of $Re_{\tau} = 2500$, is investigated using Large Eddy Simulation. This study is a continuation of the work of Kami\'nski et al. (2024) devoted to dynamics of the flow in the regions of crests and downhill/uphill waviness parts, and where the impact of the local and global pressure gradient were analysed. It focuses on the influence of the waviness parameters, such as amplitude ($A$) and number of waviness periods ($N_{\lambda}$) on the turbulent boundary layer separation. In terms of the effective slope, $ES\propto|{dA}/{dx}|$, where $x$ is the streamwise direction, the analyzed cases included the configurations with $ES$ ranging from $ES=0$ (flat wall) to $ES=0.2455$ ($A/\lambda=0.051$, where $\lambda$ is the length of a single waviness). Specifically, the primary objective was to identify a combination of $A$ and $N_{\lambda}$ that would result in the greatest increase in the wall-shear stress $\tau_w$, relative to the flat plate configuration, aiming to achieve the maximum postponement of turbulent separation. It is shown that the waviness significantly affects the flow field by enhancing the turbulent kinetic energy that leads to increased $\tau_w$. In particular, it is shown that the enhancement in TKE depends mainly on $ES$ and not on particular values of $A$ and $N_{\lambda}$. Namely, the cases which are significantly diversified by $A$ and $N_{\lambda}$ but are characterised by the same $ES$ exhibit almost identical TKE profiles. The highest increase in the wall-shear stress compared to the reference flat plate configuration was observed for the combination of $A$ and $N_{\lambda}$ corresponding to $ES=0.1473$.