Effects of spanwise rotation on the structure of two-dimensional fully developed turbulent channel flow.

Experiments on fully developed turbulent flow in a channel which is rotating at a steady rate about a spanwise axis are described. The Coriolis force components in the region of two-dimensional mean flow affect both local and global stability. Three stability-related phenomena were observed or inferred: (1) the reduction (increase) of the rate of wall-layer streak bursting in locally stabilized (destabilized) wall layers; (2) the total suppression of transition to turbulence in a stabilized layer; (3) the development of large-scale roll cells on the destabilized side of the channel by growth of a Taylor-Gortler vortex instability. Local effects of rotational stabilization, such as reduction of the turbulent stress in wall layers, can be related to the local Richardson number in a simple way. This paper not only investigates this effect, but also, by methods of flow visualization, exposes some of the underlying structure changes caused by rotation.-