Amplitude modulation in turbulent boundary layer over anisotropic porous wall

In this study, the amplitude modulation effect in a turbulent boundary layer over anisotropic porous walls is investigated experimentally at the Reynolds number based on friction velocity of Reτ = 236–319. The streamwise and wall-normal velocity fields were measured using time-resolved particle image velocimetry. To clarify the coherent structures related to the amplitude modulation over the porous wall with skin friction reduction effect, the large-scale structures are extracted from the low-pass filtered streamwise velocity fluctuations. The small-scale events related to high fluctuation energy are detected by the variable-interval space-averaging technique. Over the porous wall, the induced upwash and downwash motion leads to a notable suppression of large-scale structures. The small-scale motions in the near-wall region are mainly caused by the ejection events, while the sweep events are significantly suppressed. The amplitude modulation effects indicate that the positive and negative large-scale velocity streaks produce suppression and enhancement effects to the near-wall small-scale turbulence, respectively, which is contrary to the conventional phenomenon over the smooth wall case. The interaction between outer large-scale and inner small-scale structures is significantly weakened by the porous wall, contributing to the overall skin friction reduction.