Surface pressure fluctuations in a separating turbulent boundary layer

Abstract

A novel, microphone-employing technique for the measurement of pressure fluctuations through pinhole apertures in the flow surface is used in the present study of separating boundary layer pressure fluctuation spectra and wavespeeds. The rms of the surface pressure fluctuation increases monotonically through the adverse-pressure gradient attached flow region and the detached flow zone. A correlation of the detached flow data is given which is derived from velocity and length scales of the separated flow. The celerity of the surface pressure fluctuations for the attached flow increases with frequency to a maximum, and the streamwise coherence decreases drastically after the begining of flow reversal.