Flow around Surface-Mounted Cubical Obstacle

The flow field around a surface-mounted cube has been investigated, using LDA measurement techniques. The experiments were performed in a fully developed channel flow, so that the incoming flow conditions are well-defined. The Reynolds number, based on the height of the channel, is around \(8\times 10^4\), and the geometry and coordinate system are shown schematically in figure 1.

Fig. 1: Flow geometry and coordinate system

The flow considered here was investigated by means of LDA measurements.

The dimensions of the channel are 390 cm by 60 cm by 5 cm (\(l \times w \times h\)). The cube, of height \(H=h/2\), was placed with its leading edge 52 channel heights downstream of the inlet. The boundary-layer was tripped at the inlet in order to obtain fully-developed conditions at least 5 channel heights upstream of the front face of the cube.

Flow visualisation and surface pressure measurements are also reported in Martinuzzi & Tropea (1993). A sketch illustrating the flow structures identified is shown in figure 2.

Fig. 2: Sketch of flow structures

Measurements available include profiles across the channel height at a selection of locations (both on, and off, the flow centreline) of:

• Mean velocities, \(U\), \(V\), \(W\)
• Reynolds stresses, \(\overline{u^2}\), \(\overline{v^2}\), \(\overline{w^2}\), \(\overline{uv}\), \(\overline{uw}\)
• Third and fourth order moments

Sample plots of selected quantities are available.

The plots in figure 3 and figure 4 indicate the locations at which profiles are provided.

Fig. 3: Locations of measured profiles

Fig. 4: Detail of measured profile locations around the cube

The data can be downloaded as compressed archives from the links below, or as individual files.

• smcb-allfiles.zip
• smcb-allfiles.tar.gz

The file readme.txt contains some description of the data files.

1. Hussain, H.J., Martinuzzi, R.J. (1996). Energy balance for turbulent flow around a surface mounted cube placed in a channel. Phys. Fluids, Vol. 8, pp. 764-780.
2. Martinuzzi, R., Tropea, C. (1993). The flow around surface-mounted, prismatic obstacles placed in a fully developed channel flow. Journal of Fluid Engineering, Vol. 115, pp. 85-92.
3. Martinuzzi, R., Prud'homme, M. (1993). Higher-order correlations for the turbulent flow around a surface-mounted cube placed in a channel. Proc. 9th Int. Symp. on Turbulent Shear Flows, Kyoto, Japan.
4. Martinuzzi, R., Melling, A., Tropea, C. (1993). Reynolds stress field for the turbulent flow around a surface-mounted cube placed in a channel. Proc. 9th Int. Symp. on Turbulent Shear Flows, Kyoto, Japan.
5. Murakami, S., Mochida, A., Ooka, R. (1993). Numerical simulation of flowfield over surface-mounted cube with various second-moment closure models. Proc. 9th Int. Symp. on Turbulent Shear Flows, Kyoto, Japan.

Indexed data: