Statistical properties of wall pressure fluctuations over a forward-facing step

This work describes an experimental study of the flow field and wall pressure fluctuations induced by quasi-two-dimensional incompressible turbulent boundary layers overflowing a forward-facing step (FFS). Pressure fluctuations are measured upstream and downstream of an instrumented FFS step model installed inside a large scale recirculation water tunnel, while two-dimensional (2D) velocity fields are measured close to the step via 2D particle image velocimetry (PIV). The overall flow physics is studied in terms of averaged velocity and vorticity fields for different Reynolds numbers based on the step's height. The wall pressure statistics are analyzed in terms of several indicators, including the root mean squares and probability density functions of the pressure fluctuations, demonstrating that the most relevant flow structure is the unsteady recirculation bubble formed at the reattachment region downstream of the step. Pressure spectra and cross correlations are computed as well, and the convection velocity characterizing the propagation of hydrodynamic perturbations is determined as a function of the distance to the vertical side of the step. The simultaneous measurement of time-resolved PIV fields and wall pressure signals enabled us to compute the pressure/velocity cross correlations in the region downstream of the step and substantiated the relevant role played by the recirculation bubble.