Experimental study of two separating turbulent boundary layers

A detailed study of two strong adverse pressure gradient flows, one with a free-stream velocity of 35 m/sec, at throat (producing a Re sub theta of 27000 at detachment) and another with free-stream velocity of 22 m/sec, at throat (producing a Re sub theta of 19000 at detachment) is presented. In these examples flows separate slowly and reattach very rapidly over a very short distance in a streamwise direction. In the backflow region, there appears to be a semi-logarithmically flat region in the streamwise fluctuating velocity component, u', which spreads over a definite range of y/delta. In power spectra, the flow variables phi sub upsilon upsilon (kappa sub 1 delta)/ -uv bar sub max vs. kappa sub 1 delta forms a unique set of scaling parameters for adverse pressure gradient flows. Experimental results show good agreement with previous studies.