Control of laminar-instability waves using a new technique

A new technique using surface-film activators has been developed to induce and control laminar-instability waves by periodic heating. A flat plate was instrumented and installed in the GALCIT High-speed Water Tunnel with flush-mounted surface heaters and probes. Extremely two-dimensional naturally occurring Tolmien-Schlichting (TS) waves were observed along with the subsequent formation of turbulent spots. Laminar-instability waves were then excited in a controlled fashion using the surface-mounted heaters. A preliminary experiment on cancellation of excited laminar-instability waves was carried out. Finally, turbulent spots were produced using amplitude-modulated bursts to form Gaussian TS wave packets. Flow visualization, along with wall shear measurements, was used to infer the velocity and vorticity field near the wall