The effect of a single vortex generator jet on the characteristics of a turbulent boundary layer

A flat plate experiment was performed in a water tunnel to determine the effects of a vortex generator jet on the characteristics of a turbulent boundary layer at various wall normal locations. The results show that the characteristic distributions of the turbulent fluctuation quantities are nearly unaffected by the induced vortex structures neither in the steady nor in the dynamic blowing case. The shear layer interaction between the turbulent main flow and the jet flow produces less turbulent fluctuations than it is expected from a turbulent free jet flow. Thus, the mixing process of this flow control strategy is based only on a large-scale momentum transport superimposed by the turbulent fluctuation quantities. This allows a separation of scales for physical interpretation and numerical simulations.