Effects of large-scale free stream turbulence on a turbulent boundary layer

Results of a wind tunnel experiment in which there are systematic variations of free stream turbulence above a flat-plate boundary layer are presented. Upstream of the plate, an active grid generates free stream turbulence varying in intensity from 0.25% to 10.5%. The momentum thickness Reynolds number of the boundary layer varies from 550 to nearly 3000. In all cases, the ratio of the free stream turbulence length scale to the boundary layer depth is greater than unity. Hotwire measurements show that, at high turbulence intensities, the effects of the free stream turbulence extend deep into the boundary layer, affecting the wall stress as well as the small-scale (derivative) statistics. Premultiplied energy spectra show a double peak. At very low free stream turbulence intensities these peaks are associated with the inner and outer scales of the turbulent boundary layer, but at high turbulence intensities the free stream energy peak dominates over the boundary layer’s outer scale. The implications of the effect of the large free stream turbulence scales on the small, near-wall scales is discussed with reference to recent high Reynolds number experiments in a turbulent boundary layer without free stream turbulence [Hutchins and Marusic, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 365, 647 (2007)].