Turbulence Over A Compliant Surface: Numerical Simulation And Analysis

In this paper we present results from a numerical investigation of turbulent channel flow in the presence of a compliant wall. The compliant wall is modelled as a homogeneous spring-supported plate. The simulation code is validated both by comparison with an alternative code and by reproducing results of linear stability theory. Our results demonstrate that with the wall compliance we used in the simulation there is little change in the very long-time behaviour of the turbulent skin friction drag and little modification to the near-wall turbulent coherent structures. The values of pertinent statistical quantities of the turbulence near the compliant walls converge to those near a rigid wall and the statistical effect of the wall compliance on the turbulent channel flow is small.