On the logarithmic region in wall turbulence

2013 ◽  
Vol 716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Marusic ◽  
Jason P. Monty ◽  
Marcus Hultmark ◽  
Alexander J. Smits

AbstractConsiderable discussion over the past few years has been devoted to the question of whether the logarithmic region in wall turbulence is indeed universal. Here, we analyse recent experimental data in the Reynolds number range of nominally$2\times 1{0}^{4} \lt {\mathit{Re}}_{\tau } \lt 6\times 1{0}^{5} $for boundary layers, pipe flow and the atmospheric surface layer, and show that, within experimental uncertainty, the data support the existence of a universal logarithmic region. The results support the theory of Townsend (The Structure of Turbulent Shear Flow, Vol. 2, 1976) where, in the interior part of the inertial region, both the mean velocities and streamwise turbulence intensities follow logarithmic functions of distance from the wall.

1997 ◽  
Vol 330 ◽  
pp. 307-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. SIMONE ◽  
G.N. COLEMAN ◽  
C. CAMBON

The influence of compressibility upon the structure of homogeneous sheared turbulence is investigated. For the case in which the rate of shear is much larger than the rate of nonlinear interactions of the turbulence, the modification caused by compressibility to the amplification of turbulent kinetic energy by the mean shear is found to be primarily reflected in pressure–strain correlations and related to the anisotropy of the Reynolds stress tensor, rather than in explicit dilatational terms such as the pressure–dilatation correlation or the dilatational dissipation. The central role of a ‘distortion Mach number’ Md =  S[lscr ]/a, where S is the mean strain or shear rate, [lscr ] a lengthscale of energetic structures, and a the sonic speed, is demonstrated. This parameter has appeared in previous rapid-distortion-theory (RDT) and direct-numerical-simulation (DNS) studies; in order to generalize the previous analyses, the quasi-isentropic compressible RDT equations are numerically solved for homogeneous turbulence subjected to spherical (isotropic) compression, one-dimensional (axial) compression and pure shear. For pure-shear flow at finite Mach number, the RDT results display qualitatively different behaviour at large and small non-dimensional times St: when St < 4 the kinetic energy growth rate increases as the distortion Mach number increases; for St > 4 the inverse occurs, which is consistent with the frequently observed tendency for compressibility to stabilize a turbulent shear flow. This ‘crossover’ behaviour, which is not present when the mean distortion is irrotational, is due to the kinematic distortion and the mean-shear-induced linear coupling of the dilatational and solenoidal fields. The relevance of the RDT is illustrated by comparison to the recent DNS results of Sarkar (1995), as well as new DNS data, both of which were obtained by solving the fully nonlinear compressible Navier–Stokes equations. The linear quasi-isentropic RDT and nonlinear non-isentropic DNS solutions are in good general agreement over a wide range of parameters; this agreement gives new insight into the stabilizing and destabilizing effects of compressibility, and reveals the extent to which linear processes are responsible for modifying the structure of compressible turbulence.


2012 ◽  
Vol 694 ◽  
pp. 50-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshiyuki Tsuji ◽  
Yukio Kaneda

AbstractWe measured the correlation spectrum ${\hat {Q} }_{p} (\mathbi{k})$ of pressure fluctuations in a driving mixing layer with a Taylor-scale Reynolds number ${R}_{\lambda } $ up to ${\simeq }700$ by a newly developed pressure probe with spatial and temporal resolutions that are sufficient to analyse inertial-subrange statistics. The influence of the mean velocity gradient tensor ${S}_{ij} $ in the mixing layer, which is almost constant near its centreline, is studied using an idea similar to that underlying the linear response theory developed in statistical mechanics for systems at or near thermal equilibrium. If we write the spectrum ${\hat {Q} }_{p} (\mathbi{k})$ as ${\hat {Q} }_{p} (\mathbi{k})= { \hat {Q} }_{p}^{(0)} (\mathbi{k})+ \mrm{\Delta} {\hat {Q} }_{p} (\mathbi{k})$, where ${ \hat {Q} }_{p}^{(0)} (\mathbi{k})$ is the isotropic Kolmogorov spectrum in the absence of mean shear, then for small ${S}_{ij} $ the deviation $ \mrm{\Delta} {\hat {Q} }_{p} (\mathbi{k})$ due to the shear is approximately linear and is determined by a few non-dimensional universal constants in addition to ${S}_{ij} $, $k$ and the mean energy dissipation rate. We also measured the pressure–velocity and velocity–velocity correlation spectra. Deviations from isotropy due to shear are shown to be approximately proportional to ${S}_{ij} $ at large ${R}_{\lambda } $.


1956 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
pp. 521-539 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. V. R. Malkus

In this paper the spatial variations and spectral structure of steady-state turbulent shear flow in channels are investigated without the introduction of empirical parameters. This is made possible by the assumption that the non-linear momentum transport has only stabilizing effects on the mean field of flow. Two constraints on the possible momentum transport are drawn from this assumption: first, that the mean flow will be statistically stable if an Orr-Sommerfeld type equation is satisfied by fluctuations of the mean; second, that the smallest scale of motion that can be present in the spectrum of the momentum transport is the scale of the marginally stable fluctuations of the mean. Within these two constraints, and for a given mass transport, an upper limit is sought for the rate of dissipation of potential energy into heat. Solutions of the stability equation depend upon the shape of the mean velocity profile. In turn, the mean velocity profile depends upon the spatial spectrum of the momentum transport. A variational technique is used to determine that momentum transport spectrum which is both marginally stable and produces a maximum dissipation rate. The resulting spectrum determines the velocity profile and its dependence on the boundary conditions. Past experimental work has disclosed laminar, ‘transitional’, logarithmic and parabolic regions of the velocity profile. Several experimental laws and their accompanying constants relate the extent of these regions to the boundary conditions. The theoretical profile contains each feature and law that is observed. First approximations to the constants are found, and give, in particular, a value for the logarithmic slope (von Kármán's constant) which is within the experimental error. However, the theoretical boundary constant is smaller than the observed value. Turbulent channel flow seems to achieve the extreme state found here, but a more decisive quantitative comparison of theory and experiment requires improvement in the solutions of the classical laminar stability problem.


2013 ◽  
Vol 728 ◽  
pp. 376-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Hultmark ◽  
M. Vallikivi ◽  
S. C. C. Bailey ◽  
A. J. Smits

AbstractMeasurements of the streamwise component of the turbulent fluctuations in fully developed smooth and rough pipe flow are presented over an unprecedented Reynolds number range. For Reynolds numbers$R{e}_{\tau } \gt 20\hspace{0.167em} 000$, the streamwise Reynolds stress closely follows the scaling of the mean velocity profile, independent of the roughness, and over the same spatial extent. This observation extends the findings of a logarithmic law in the turbulence fluctuations as reported by Hultmark, Vallikivi & Smits (Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 108, 2012) to include rough flows. The onset of the logarithmic region is found at a location where the wall distance is equal to ∼100 times the Kolmogorov length scale, which then marks sufficient scale separation for inertial scaling. Furthermore, in the logarithmic region the square root of the fourth-order moment also displays logarithmic behaviour, in accordance with the observation that the underlying probability density function is close to Gaussian in this region.


1976 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. K. Richards ◽  
J. B. Morton

Three turbulent shear flows with quadratic mean-velocity profiles are generated by using an appropriately designed honeycomb and parallel-rod grids with adjustable rod spacing. The details of two of the flow fields, with quadratic mean-velocity profiles with constant positive mean-shear gradients ($\partial^2\overline{U}_1/\partial X^2_2 >0$), are obtained, and include, in the mean flow direction, the development and distribution of mean velocities, fluctuating velocities, Reynolds stresses, microscales, integral scales, energy spectra, shear correlation coefficients and two-point spatial velocity correlation coefficients. A third flow field is generated with a quadratic mean velocity profile with constant negative mean-shear gradient ($\partial^2\overline{U}_1/\partial X^2_2 < 0$), to investigate in the mean flow direction the effect of the change in sign on the resulting field. An open-return wind tunnel with a 2 × 2 × 20 ft test-section is used.


2001 ◽  
Vol 442 ◽  
pp. 89-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAVIER JIMÉNEZ ◽  
MARKUS UHLMANN ◽  
ALFREDO PINELLI ◽  
GENTA KAWAHARA

The behaviour of turbulent shear flow over a mass-neutral permeable wall is studied numerically. The transpiration is assumed to be proportional to the local pressure fluctuations. It is first shown that the friction coefficient increases by up to 40% over passively porous walls, even for relatively small porosities. This is associated with the presence of large spanwise rollers, originating from a linear instability which is related both to the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability of shear layers, and to the neutral inviscid shear waves of the mean turbulent profile. It is shown that the rollers can be forced by patterned active transpiration through the wall, also leading to a large increase in friction when the phase velocity of the forcing resonates with the linear eigenfunctions mentioned above. Phase-lock averaging of the forced solutions is used to further clarify the flow mechanism. This study is motivated by the control of separation in boundary layers.


1967 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Miles

Laboratory and field measurements of the generation of gravity waves by turbulent winds imply that a theoretical model based on laminar flow may be adequate on a laboratory, but not an oceanographic, scale. This suggests that the significance of wave-induced perturbations in the turbulent Reynolds stresses for momentum transfer from wind to waves must increase with an appropriate scale parameter. A generalization of the laminar model is constructed by averaging the linearized equations of motion for a turbulent shear flow in a direction (say y) parallel to the wave crests of a particular Fourier component of the surface-wave field. It is shown that the resulting, mean momentum transfer to this component comprises: (i) a singular part, which is proportional to the product of the velocity-profile curvature and the mean square of the wave-induced vertical velocity in the critical layer, where the mean wind speed is equal to the wave speed; (ii) a vertical integral of the mean product of the vertical velocity and the vorticity ω, where ω is the wave-induced perturbation in the total vorticity along a streamline of the y-averaged motion; (iii) the perturbation in the mean turbulent shear stress at the air-water interface. The equation that governs the advection of the vorticity ω under the action of the perturbations in the turbulent Reynolds stresses is derived. Further theoretical progress appears to demand some ad hoc hypothesis for the specification of these turbulent Reynolds stresses. Two such hypotheses are discussed briefly, but it does not appear worth while, in the absence of more detailed experimental data, to carry out elaborate numerical calculations at this time.


1985 ◽  
Vol 154 ◽  
pp. 187-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. R. Sreenivasan

A homogeneous turbulent shear flow in its asymptotic stage of development was subjected to an additional (longitudinal) strain by passing the flow through gradual contraction in the direction perpendicular to that of the mean shear. Two contractions, of area ratio 1.4 and 2.6, were used. Mean velocity and turbulent stress (both normal and shear) distributions were measured at several streamwise locations in the contraction region. The mean velocity distributions agree quite well with calculations based on the (inviscid) Bernoulli equation. Until at least half-way down the contraction with the larger area ratio, the rapid-distortion calculations considering only the streamwise acceleration were found to be reasonably successful in predicting the turbulent intensities. For the smaller-area-ratio contraction, corrections for the ‘natural development’ of the shear flow become important nearly everywhere. Similar calculations considering the shear as the only straining mechanism are generally less successful, although the shear strain rate is at least as rapid as, or even more so than, the longitudinal one. The pressure-rate-of-strain covariance terms estimated from the approximate component energy balance were used to test the adequacy of three models with varying degrees of complexity. Although none of these models appears general enough, their performance is generally adequate for the lower-area-ratio contraction; perhaps not surprisingly, the more complex the model the better its performance.


1974 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. A. Becker ◽  
A. P. G. Brown

The response of a Pitot probe in a uniform laminar stream is commonly expressed in the form\[ P_s = P+{\textstyle\frac{1}{2}}C_{\rho} U^2, \]wherePsis the probe signal pressure,Pis the stream static pressure,Uis the stream speed and ρ is the fluid density. It has been found that for ordinary sphere-nosed, round-nosed and square-nosed probes\[ 1-C = K(\sin^2\theta)^m = K(U^2_n/U^2)^m, \]where θ is the angle between the velocity vector and the probe axis, andUn≡Usin θ is the transverse velocity component. The parametersmandKare functions of the probe geometry. These formulae also describe the performance in a turbulent stream when the probe is small compared with the turbulence scale. The evaluation of the time-averaged response is treated, and an answer is developed to the question of what it is that a Pitot probe measures in a turbulent stream. In a turbulent shear flow having the properties of a boundary layer, the reference pressure is best taken to be the static pressure at the shear-layer edge. It is shown that round-nosed probes withDi/D≃0·45 and square-nosed probes withDi/D≃0·15 then detect${\textstyle\frac{1}{2}}\rho\overline{U}^2_x$with good accuracy, whereDi/Dis the ratio of the inside and outside diameters of the Pitot tube. When measurements are made with two probes of dissimilar geometry, the differential response can be used to find the mean-square level of the transverse velocity fluctuations. Turbulence levels so measured agree closely with results from hot-wire anemometry.


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