Effects of groove distributions on supersonic turbulent channel flows

Abstract

This paper investigates the influences of the distribution of the grooves on the wall on the turbulent statistics, transport of turbulent kinetic energy, and flow structures in supersonic turbulent channel flows at the bulk Mach number of 3.0 by performing direct numerical simulations. It is found that the existence of the grooves leads to the enhancement of the turbulent kinetic energy close to the wall and the abatement thereof above the buffer layer. The density and temperature fluctuations are also enhanced, but only within the buffer layer, above which the influences of the grooves can be disregarded. The pressure fluctuations, however, are significantly increased, which is attributed to the radiated acoustic waves from the wall generated by the disturbances on the wall. Such inference is substantiated by the fact that the inclination angles of the phase averaged pressure are related to the Mach number. Nevertheless, the acoustic and dynamic processes seem to be decoupled, leading to insignificant pressure-dilatation terms in the transport of turbulent kinetic energy.