Influence of Reynolds number on characteristics of turbulent wall boundary layers

Hot-wire anemometer measurements, using two types of probes, are reported for wall boundary layer flows with particular attention being given to the near-wall region and to measurements at high Reynolds numbers up to R_ϕ≈ 15,000. To obtain accurate near-wall measurements, the influence of wall proximity on hot-wire readings was eliminated by using a highly insulating wall material. Measurements were carried out with a single hot-wire boundary layer probe to obtain the longitudinal velocity informatemperature-wake sensor for the cross flow tion and a hot-wire, information. The results provided in the paper include measurements of averaged properties like mean velocity, rms-quantities of velocity fluctuations, probability density distributions etc. Conditional averages are also provided in order to yield information related to coherent flow structures present in boundary layer flows. It is shown that these structure remain present up to the highest Reynolds number investigated in the present study. The conditionally averaged data provide quantitative information on the mechanisms that are involved in the production of turbulence in boundary-layer flows.