Analysis of the scaling laws for the turbulence driven panel responses

The high computational costs, associated to the numerical solution of the fluctuating pressure field generated at the wall by the turbulent boundary layer and of the induced structural response, push for the exploration of alternative methodologies of analysis. Wall pressure fluctuations spectra are often modeled using semi-empirical expressions based on the experimental evidence and on the identification of universal scaling laws. In this work the possibility to adopt a dimensionless representation, able to provide a universal expression for the structural response of plates under turbulent boundary layer excitations, is investigated with the help of pressure fluctuations and acceleration experimental data sets. The test article is a plane thin plate wetted by a fluid over one face, the boundary layer is fully developed and pressure gradient effects are negligible. The attention is devoted to the investigation and the definition of a normalization of the required axes: the excitation frequency and the power spectral density of the structural response. The analysis is initially based on analytical models for the structural response under turbulent boundary layer excitations. The proposed scaling laws are successively and successfully applied to four data sets measured in different conditions both in wind tunnels and in a towing tank.