Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T20:07:30.030Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Interactions within the turbulent boundary layer at high Reynolds number

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2011

M. GUALA ,
M. METZGER  and
B. J. McKEON
M. GUALA*
Affiliation:
Graduate Aerospace Laboratories, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
M. METZGER
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
B. J. McKEON
Affiliation:
Graduate Aerospace Laboratories, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
*
†Email address for correspondence: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Simultaneous streamwise velocity measurements across the vertical direction obtained in the atmospheric surface layer (Reτ ≃ 5 × 105) under near thermally neutral conditions are used to outline and quantify interactions between the scales of turbulence, from the very-large-scale motions to the dissipative scales. Results from conditioned spectra, joint probability density functions and conditional averages show that the signature of very-large-scale oscillations can be found across the whole wall region and that these scales interact with the near-wall turbulence from the energy-containing eddies to the dissipative scales, most strongly in a layer close to the wall, z+ ≲ 103. The scale separation achievable in the atmospheric surface layer appears to be a key difference from the low-Reynolds-number picture, in which structures attached to the wall are known to extend through the full wall-normal extent of the boundary layer. A phenomenological picture of very-large-scale motions coexisting and interacting with structures from the hairpin paradigm is provided here for the high-Reynolds-number case. In particular, it is inferred that the hairpin-packet conceptual model may not be exhaustively representative of the whole wall region, but only of a near-wall layer of z+ = O(103), where scale interactions are mostly confined.

JFM classification

Geophysical and Geological Flows: Atmospheric flows Turbulent Flows: Turbulent boundary layers Turbulent Flows: Turbulent Flows
Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 666 , 10 January 2011 , pp. 573 - 604
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Acarlar, M. S. & Smith, C. R. 1987 A study of hairpin vortices in a laminar boundary layer. Part 2. Hairpin vortices generated by fluid injection. J. Fluid Mech. 175, 43–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adrian, R. J. 2007 Vortex organization in wall turbulence. Phys. Fluids 19, 041301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adrian, R. J., Meinhart, C. D. & Tomkins, C. D. 2000 Vortex organization in the outer region of the turbulent boundary layer. J. Fluid Mech. 422, 1–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
del Álamo, J. C. & Jiménez, 2003 Spectra of the very large anisotropic scales in turbulent channels. Phys. Fluids 15 (6), L41–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balakumar, B. J. & Adrian, R. J. 2007 Large- and very-large-scale motions in channel and boundary layer flows. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 365, 665–681.Google ScholarPubMed
Bandyopadhyay, P. R. & Hussain, A. K. M. F. 1984 The coupling between scales in shear flows. Phys. Fluids 27 (9), 2221–2228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christensen, K. T. & Adrian, R. J. 2001 Statistical evidence of hairpin vortex packets in wall turbulence. J. Fluid Mech. 431, 433–443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chung, D. & McKeon, B. J. 2010 Large-eddy simulation investigation of large-scale structures in a long channel flow. J. Fluid Mech. (to appear).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Favre, A. J., Gaviglio, J. J. & Dumas, R. 1967 Structure of velocity space–time correlations in a boundary layer. Phys. Fluids 10, S138–S145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flack, K. A., Schultz, M. P. & Shapiro, T. A. 2005 Experimental support for Townsend's Reynolds number similarity hypothesis on rough walls. Phys. Fluids 17 (3), 035102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ganapathisubramani, B., Longmire, E. & Marusic, I. 2003 Characteristics of vortex packets in turbulent boundary layers. J. Fluid Mech. 478, 35–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ganapathisubramani, B., Longmire, E. & Marusic, I. 2006 Experimental investigation of vortex properties in a turbulent boundary layer. Phys. Fluids 18, 055105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guala, M., Hommema, S. E. & Adrian, R. J. 2006 Large-scale and very-large-scale motions in turbulent pipe flow. J. Fluid Mech. 554, 521–542.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guala, M., Metzger, M. & McKeon, B. J. 2010 Intermittency in the atmospheric surface layer: unresolved or slowly varying? Physica D 239 (14), 1251–1257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gulitski, G., Kholmyansky, M., Kinzelbach, W., Lüthi, B., Tsinober, A. & Yorish, S. 2007 Velocity and temperature derivatives in high-Reynolds-number turbulent flows in the atmospheric surface layer. Part 1. Facilities, methods and some general results. J. Fluid Mech. 589, 57–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hommema, S. E. & Adrian, R. J. 2003 Packet structure of surface eddies in the atmospheric boundary layer. Boundary-Layer Met. 106, 147–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, J. & Morrison, J. 2000 Eddy structure in turbulent boundary layers. Eur. J. Mech. B Fluids 19 (5), 673–694.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutchins, N. & Marusic, I. 2007 a Evidence of very long meandering features in the logarithmic region of turbulent boundary layers. J. Fluid Mech. 579, 1–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutchins, N. & Marusic, I. 2007 b Large-scale influences in near-wall turbulence. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 365, 647–664.Google ScholarPubMed
Ikeda, T. & Durbin, P. 2007 Direct simulations of a rough-wall channel flow. J. Fluid Mech. 571, 235–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, K. C. & Adrian, R. J. 1999 Very large-scale motion in the outer layer. Phys. Fluids 11, 417–422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kovasznay, L. S. G., Kibens, V. & Blackwelder, R. F. 1970 Large-scale motion in the intermittent region of a turbulent boundary layer. J. Fluid Mech. 41, 283–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krogstad, P. A., Kaspersen, J. H. & Rimestad, S. 1998 Convection velocities in a turbulent boundary layer. Phys. Fluids 18, 055105.Google Scholar
Lee, M., Kim, J. & Moin, P. 1990 Structure of turbulence at high shear rate. J. Fluid Mech. 216, 561–583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LeHew, J., Guala, M. & McKeon, B. 2010 A study of convection velocities in a zero pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer. Proc. 40th Fluid Dynamics Conference and Exhibit 28 June–1 July 2010, Chicago, Illinois. AIAA Paper 2010-4474.Google Scholar
Mahrt, L. 1998 Stratified atmospheric boundary layers and breakdown of models. Theor. Comp. Fluid Dyn. 11, 263–279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marusic, I. & Heuer, W. D. C. 2007 Reynolds number invariance of the structure inclination angle in wall turbulence. Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 114504.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marusic, I. & Hutchins, N. 2008 Study of the log-layer structure in wall turbulence over a very large range of Reynolds number. Flow Turbulence Combust. 81 (1), 115–130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marusic, I., Mathis, R. & Hutchins, N. 2010 Predictive model for wall-bounded turbulent flow. Science 329, 193–196.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mathis, R., Hutchins, N. & Marusic, I. 2009 Large-scale amplitude modulation of the small-scale structures of turbulent boundary layers. J. Fluid Mech. 628, 311–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKeon, B. J. 2008 Scaling in wall turbulence: scale separation and interaction. AIAA Paper 2008-4237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKeon, B. J. & Sreenivasan, K. R. 2007 Scaling and structure in high Reynolds number wall-bounded flows. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 365, 635–646.Google ScholarPubMed
Metzger, M. & Holmes, H. 2008 Time scales in the unstable atmospheric surface layer. Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 126, 29–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Metzger, M., McKeon, B. J. & Holmes, H. 2007 The near-neutral atmospheric surface layer: turbulence and non-stationarity. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 365, 859–876.Google ScholarPubMed
Metzger, M. M. & Klewicki, J. C. 2001 A comparative study of near-wall turbulence in high and low Reynolds number boundary layers. Phys. Fluids 13, 692–701.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monty, J. P., Stewart, J. A., Williams, R. C. & Chong, M. S. 2007 Large-scale features in turbulent pipe and channel flows. J. Fluid Mech. 589, 147–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, S. C., Stolpa, S. R., Slaboch, P. E. & Klewicki, J. 2007 Near-surface particle image velocimetry measurements in a transitionally rough-wall atmospheric boundary layer. J. Fluid Mech. 580, 319–338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrison, J. F. 2007 The interaction between inner and outer regions of turbulent wall-bounded flows. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 365, 683–698.Google Scholar
Morrison, J. F., Jiang, W., McKeon, B. J. & Smits, A. J. 2004 Scaling of the streamwise velocity component in turbulent pipe flow. J. Fluid Mech. 508, 99–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrison, W. R. B., Bullock, K. J. & Kronauer, R. E. 1971 Experimental evidence of waves in the sublayer. J. Fluid Mech. 47, 639–656.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orlandi, P. & Leonardi, S. 2008 Direct numerical simulation of three-dimensional turbulent rough channels: parameterization and flow physics. J. Fluid Mech. 606, 399–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perry, A. E. & Chong, M. S. 1982 On the mechanism of wall turbulence. J. Fluid Mech. 119, 173–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poggi, D., Porporato, A., Ridolfi, L., Albertson, J. & Katul, G. 2004 Interaction between large and small scales in the canopy sublayer. Geophys. Res. Lett. 31, (5) L05102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Theodorsen, T. 1952 Mechanism of turbulence. In Proceedings of the 2nd Midwestern Conference on Fluid Mech., pp. 1–19. Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.Google Scholar
Tomkins, C. D. & Adrian, R. J. 2003 Spanwise structure and scale growth in turbulent boundary layers. J. Fluid Mech. 490, 37–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tutkun, M., George, W. K., Delville, J., Stanislas, M., Johansson, P. B. V., Foucaut, J. M. & Coudert, S. 2009 Two-point correlations in high Reynolds number flat plate turbulent boundary layers. J. Turbulence 10 (21), 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waleffe, F. 2001 Exact coherent structures in channel flow. J. Fluid Mech. 435, 93–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wu, X. & Moin, P. 2009 Direct numerical simulation of turbulence in a nominally zero-pressure-gradient flat-plate boundary layer. J. Fluid Mech. 630, 5–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhou, J., Adrian, R. J. & Balachandar, S. 1996 Autogeneration of near wall vortical structure in channel flow. Phys. Fluids 8, 288–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhou, J., Adrian, R. J., Balachandar, S. & Kendall, T. M. 1999 Mechanisms for generating coherent packets of hairpin vortices in channel flow. J. Fluid Mech. 387, 353–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar