Intermittency Models and Spot Measurements

Experimental work at the University of Oxford Osney Lab has demonstrated characteristics of the late-stage transition process by the use of thin-film heat transfer gauges. The development of turbulent spots has been observed in a range of environments, including flat plates, turbine blade cascade tests and wake-passing experiments. These results were taken at Mach/Reynolds numbers and gas-to-wall temperature ratios representative of gas turbines. Analyses of the spot characteristics are consistent with measurements taken in low speed experiments, and support the Schubauer and Klebanoff type of turbulent spots. The addition of simulated wakes from upstream stages has been observed to be primarily superpositional for these tests.