Investigation of unsteady wake-separated boundary layer interaction using particle-image-velocimetry

The current paper presents an experimental investigation of the interaction between unsteady wakes and the separated boundary layer on the suction side of an ultra-high-lift low-pressure turbine airfoil. Two-dimensional Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements of the unsteady boundary layer over the T106C LP turbine profile were performed in a low speed linear cascade facility, at selected phases of passing wakes. The wakes are created by moving cylindrical bars across the inlet of the test section. Various phenomena were investigated such as separation and transition characteristics, vortex structures within the unsteady boundary layer, their interaction and effects on the transition process, the corresponding vortex shedding mechanisms and the unsteady behaviour of the separation bubble due to the wake- boundary layer interaction. The current measurements suggest that rollup vortices are generated as the wake approaches the separated shear layer on the suction surface before the wake centerline starts impinging on the blade. At this instant, the bubble is sufficiently high for the free shear layer to roll up into a vortex and the incoming wake is highly distorted (strained) due to the velocity field within the blade passage, and the turbulence distribution within the wake is not symmetrical. Vortices within the boundary layer, identified using the swirl strength distributions calculated from the eigenvalues of the velocity gradient tensor, seem to be coalescing and forming bigger scale structures, which in turn break up into smaller but higher swirl strength eddies. In between the passing wakes, the separation bubble grows in both in height and length, trying to return to its steady state shape.