Adverse pressure gradient corner flows

This project was initiated in order to examine the nature of local flow separation along a streamwise corner in the presence of an adverse pressure gradient. Our results have shown that when the flow separates, a bubble is formed in the corner region which emanates from a singular point on the corner line. The presence of the bubble deflects the adjacent primary flow away from the corner to the extent that the local mean velocity vector is generally skewed in both pitch and yaw. These conditions correspond to a relatively hostile environment for a sensing probe, inasmuch as the mean flow is arbitrarily skewed, and moderate-to-high turbulence intensity fluctuations exist within the separation bubble and in the adjacent flow. Two complementary studies were pursued, namely: (1) the acquisition of mean flow data in a rectangular diffuser with locally detached flow present in the corner regions and (2) the development of a hot-wire response model to accommodate an arbitrarily skewed mean flow across the sensing element.