• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2002.08a
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• pp.687-690
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• 2002

Multimode boundary-layer transition on a NACA0012 airfoil is experimentally investigated under periodically passing wakes and the moderate level of free-stream turbulence. The periodic wakes are generated by rotating circular cylinders clockwise or counterclockwise around the airfoil. The free-stream turbulence is produced by a grid upstream of the rotating cylinder, and its intensity(Tu) at the leading edge of the airfoil is $0.5\;or\;3.5\;{\%}$. The Reynolds number ($Re_c$) based on chord length (C) of the alrfoil is $2.0{\times}10^5$, and Strouhal number ($St_c$) of the passing wake is about 0.7. Time- and phase-averaged streamwise mean velocities and turbulence fluctuations are measured with a single hot-wire probe, and especially, the corresponding wall skin friction is evaluated using a computational Preston tube method. The wake-passing orientation changes pressure distribution on the airfoil in a different manner irrespective of the free-stream turbulence. Regardless of free-stream turbulence level, turbulent patches for the receding wakes propagate more rapidly than those for the approaching wake because adverse pressure gradient becomes larger. The patch under the high free-stream turbulence ($Tu=3.5{\%}$) grows more greatly in laminar-like regions compared with that under the low background turbulence ($Tu=0.5{\%}$) in laminar regions. The former, however, does not greatly change the original turbulence level in the very near-wall region while the latter does it. At further downstream, the former interacts vigorously with high environmental turbulence inside the pre-existing transitional boundary layer and gradually lose his identification, whereas the latter keep growing in the laminar boundary layer. The calmed region is more clearly observed under the lower free-stream turbulence level and for the receding wakes. The calmed region delays the breakdown further downstream and stabilizes more the boundary layer.