Streaky 3D Structures in the Boundary Layer

Abstract

It has been recently shown [Choi, Nature, April 06 - Cossu, PRL, February 06] that 3D streaky structures in the boundary layer can remain laminar longer than the 2D Blasius °ow. The aim of this investigation is to study the possibility of promoting these 3D streaky structures via surface roughness, computing them and evaluat- ing the resulting stabilization using the Reduced Navier Stokes equations (RNS). The RNS are derived from Navier-Stokes making use of the fact that two very di®erent scales are present: one slow (streamwise direc- tion) and two short (spanwise and wall-normal direction). The RNS allows us to perform these 3D computations in a standard PC, without using CPU costly DNS simulations.