Measurements in a self-preserving plane wall jet in a positive pressure gradient

Measurements of a wall jet in a self-preserving pressure gradient are described. The quantities measured with a linearized hot-wire anemometer were the mean velocity, the turbulence stresses, triple and quadruple velocity correlations, intermittency and spectra of the longitudinal turbulence intensity. The turbulence, as well as the mean flow, reached a self-preserving state in which the ratio of the maximum velocity to the free-stream velocity was 2·65. Skin friction was also measured using the razor-blade technique in the viscous sublayer and buffer region. The values of the constants in the logarithmic law of the wall are found to be similar to those in boundary-layer and pipe flows. The skin-friction coefficient is slightly lower than that found for the wall jet in still air (Guitton 1970), but close to the formula of Bradshaw & Gee (1962) for the wall jet in an external stream with zero pressure gradient. A balance of the terms in the turbulence energy equation is presented and discussed. The shearing stress is not zero at the point of maximum velocity but is of opposite sign to that at the wall and hence the contribution of this stress to turbulence production is negative in the outer part of the boundary-layer region. However, the total turbulence production remains positive because the contribution of the normal stresses is positive and slightly larger. The pressure—velocity gradient correlations are evaluated by difference from the Reynolds stress equations and are compared with the theoretical model of Hanjalić & Launder (1972 b ). Agreement is quite good in the outer region of the wall jet. The above model is also compared with the triple velocity correlations and again found to be in fair agreement.