Simultaneous measurements of temperature and its dissipation using pairs of parallel cold wires

Abstract

 The link between fluctuations of a passive scalar and its dissipation is an important problem for various aspects of turbulent flow modelling both with and without chemical reaction. This paper first reports experimental methods for simultaneous measurements of the three derivatives involved in temperature dissipation using cold wire probes in a boundary layer over a weakly heated flat plate. Particular attention is paid to the determination of the optimal length and spacing between sensors, including a four-wire probe of fixed dimensions, for such gradient measurements. Corrections to be applied to account for the effect of the fixed geometry are analyzed. Results about joint statistics, including conditional temperature pdfs, between the scalar and its dissipation are then reported and compared to previous results which mainly concerned conditional dissipation rates.