On the effects of a periodic, spanwise variation of suction upon asymptotic suction flow

Summary The effects of superposing streamwise vorticity, periodic in the lateral direction, upon two-dimensional asymptotic suction flow are analyzed. Such vorticity, generated by prescribing a spanwise variation in the suction velocity, is known to play an important role in unstable and turbulent boundary layers. The flow induced by the variation has been obtained for a freestream velocity which (i) is steady, (ii) oscillates periodically in time, (iii) changes impulsively from rest. For the oscillatory case it is shown that a frequency can exist which maximizes the induced, unsteady wall shear stress for a given spanwise period. For steady flow the heat transfer to, or from a wall at constant temperature has also been computed.Nomenclature (x, y, z) spatial coordinates - (u, v, w) corresponding components of velocity - (, , ) corresponding components of vorticity - t time - stream function for v and w - v _w mean wall suction velocity - nondimensional amplitude of variation in wall suction velocity - characteristic wavenumber for variation in direction of z - T temperature - P pressure - density - coefficient of kinematic viscosity - coefficient of thermal diffusivity - (/v _w)² - frequency of oscillation of freestream velocity - nondimensional amplitude of freestream oscillation - /v _w ² - z z - y –v _w y/ - v _w ² t/4 - /v _w - U ₀ characteristic freestream velocity - u/U ₀ - coefficient of viscosity - _w wall shear stress - Prandtl number (/) - q heat transfer to wall - T _w wall temperature - T (T _w–T)/(T _w–)