Spectral and instantaneous flow field characteristics of the laminar to turbulent transition in a cone and plate apparatus

Fluid-surface interaction, is very much influenced by the flow distribution and the flow spectra. For biological surfaces, cell functions such as mytosis and cell turnover, can be triggered by the instantaneous flow fluctuations which induce augmented shear stress levels inside the wall surface boundary layer. The objective of this work is to study the flow field along a cellular surface and to understand the interaction process. For that purpose, a cone and plate apparatus was built in which the transitional and turbulent instantaneous flow field characteristics, especially near the plate surface, were investigated using spatial hot wire anemometry, concentrating on time domain and spectral analysis. The frequency spectrum of velocity fluctuations near the plate is influenced by the plate roughness. We found that there is a linear relation between wall roughness and the preferred frequencies of the spectra. In addition a universal law exists for mean velocities, similar to the logarithmic law of the wall, when normalized by R̃^1/2, the apparatus Reynolds number.