New drag balance facility for skin-friction studies in turbulent boundary layer at high Reynolds numbers

Abstract

A unique drag balance facility is described here for the study of skin-friction in high Reynolds number wall turbulence. The facility was tested in the High Reynolds Number Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel (HRNBLWT) at the University of Melbourne, giving direct measurements of skin-friction over a large surface. The approach utilizes a drag balance, however, here the implementation is unique in two aspects, the design and the Reynolds number at which the experiments were conducted. The drag balance consists of a large floating flat plate whose displacement is translated into a force measurement by a load cell. Measurements of skin-friction coefficient c f at different Reynolds numbers were obtaine..