Nonlinear instability of developing streamwise vortices with applications to boundary layer heat transfer...

The intent of the present contribution is to explain theoretically the experimentally measured surface heat transfer rates on a slightly concave surface with a thin boundary layer in an otherwise laminar flow. As the flow develops downstream, the measured heat transfer rate deviates from the local laminar value and eventually exceeds the local turbulent value in a non-trivial manner even in the absence of turbulence. While the theory for steady strong nonlinear development of streamwise vortices can bridge the heat transfer from laminar to the local turbulent value, further intensification is attributable to the transport effects of instability of the basic steady streamwise vortex system. The problem of heat transport by steady and fluctuating nonlinear secondary instability is formulated. An extended Reynolds analogy for Prandtl number unity, Pr=1, is developed, showing the similarity between streamwise velocity and the temperature. The role played by the fluctuation-induced heat flux is similar to momentum flux by the Reynolds shear stress. Inferences from the momentum problem indicate that the intensified heat flux developing well beyond the local turbulent value is attributed to the transport effects of the nonlinear secondary instability, which leads to the formation of 'coherent structures' of the flow. The basic underlying pinions of the non-linear hydrodynamic stability problem are the analyses of J. T. Stuart, which uncovered physical mechanisms of nonlinearities that are crucial to the present developing boundary layers supporting streamwise vortices and their efficient scalar transporting mechanisms.