Measuring Mean Spanwise Flow with a Rotating Single Hot-Wire Probe over a Wide Yawed Riblet-Textured Surface

Abstract

This study investigates the spatial development and recovery of near-wall flow steering induced by yawed widely-spaced riblets. To accurately measure the mean spanwise velocity in the near-wall region, we developed a unique, customised rotating probe equipped with a single hot-wire. This novel technique demonstrates high sensitivity, reliably detecting small spanwise velocity components. We applied this probe to map the flow over straight-to-yawed and yawed-to-straight riblet configurations. For the straight-to-yawed transition, the downstream distribution of the mean spanwise velocity closely aligns with the step-forced spatial Stokes layer (SSL) solution, achieving an equivalent active wall motion of $V^+_\mathrm{equ} \approx 2.0$. This offers a simplified analytical pathway for future passive flow manipulation studies. Conversely, flow recovery over the yawed-to-straight configuration diverges from the SSL step-down phase prediction. Instead, a spatial lag was observed where crest-adjacent flow recovered quickly, but significant residual spanwise flow ($V^+ > 0.5$) persisted far downstream ($\widehat{x}{}^{+} > 1000$).