Observations of meandering superstructures in the roughness sublayer of a turbulent boundary layer

The existence of meandering superstructures in a turbulent boundary layer overlying irregular roughness is explored with high-frame-rate particle-image velocimetry measurements within the roughness sublayer at moderate Reynolds number. Elongated streamwise fields of view reconstructed from this data using a Taylor’s hypothesis approach revealed spanwise-meandering regions of low-streamwise-momentum fluid that extended several boundary-layer thicknesses in the streamwise direction. Such signatures are consistent with previous observations of superstructures in smooth-wall turbulence. Counter-rotating wall-normal vortex cores were found to reside along the spanwise boundaries of these superstructure patterns, consistent with the spatial characteristics of hairpin vortex packets.