Downstream evolution of junction flow three-component velocity fluctuations through the lens of the diagnostic plot

Experimental measurements of the streamwise and transverse velocity components have been acquired in three spanwise/wall-normal planes in the wakes of both a streamlined ‘wing’ and a bluff ‘wing’ junction. The ‘extended’ diagnostic plot introduced by Alfredsson et al. (2011) (see figure 3 therein) is used as a benchmark to locally evaluate the departure of turbulent wing-body junction flow wakes from ‘equilibrium’ boundary layers. Both obstacles produce a secondary flow of Prandtl's first kind, which disrupts the equilibrium implied by the universality of the extended diagnostic plot. The plane wake of the obstacle itself (away from the junction) also disrupts this equilibrium. It is found that with downstream development the boundary layer eventually recovers to the base zero-pressure-gradient ‘equilibrium’, and that this recovery process emanates from the near-wall region. The transverse velocity components are also examined in “extended diagnostic” form, revealing that the wall-normal fluctuations recover to the zero-pressure-gradient case near the wall more rapidly than the wall-parallel components.