Analysis of laminar to turbulent transition of pulsating flow in ocean environment with energy gradient method

Highlights: → The effect of ocean environment on the flow breakdown position is weak. → Effect of ocean environment with small period on the transition is very limited. → The effect of ocean environment on the transition increases as the oscillation amplitude increases. - Abstract: The laminar to turbulent transition process of pulsating flow in ocean environment is investigated with the theory of energy gradient. The effect of ocean environment on the flow breakdown position is weak. The effect of oscillating period on the laminar to turbulent transition increases with the increasing of oscillating period. The influence of ocean environment on the transition also increases with the increasing of oscillating amplitude. If the oscillating amplitude is very high, the traditional calculation method could not give a satisfactory prediction for the laminar to turbulent transition.