Influence of the axisymmetric contraction ratio on free-stream turbulence

The effect of axisymmetric contractions of a given shape and of contraction ratios c = 11, 22, 44.5, 64, and 100 on the free-stream turbulence of an incompressible flow has been studied experimentally with hot-wires. It is found that the longitudinal and lateral kinetic energies of turbulence increase along the contraction. The monotonic increase of the longitudinal turbulent kinetic energy with increasing c is in contrast with the linear (Batchelor-Proudman-Ribner-Tucker) theory. The variation of the lateral turbulent kinetic energy with c is in qualitative agreement with the theory. Linear theory overpredicts the decrease in the longitudinal turbulence intensity with increasing c and underpredicts the decrease in the lateral turbulence intensity with increasing c. For the given flow tunnel, it is found that a contraction ratio c greater than about 45 is not greatly effective in reducing longitudinal turbulence levels further; the lateral turbulent intensity continues to decrease with increasing c.