Anisotropy of the temperature dissipation in a turbulent wake

Abstract

Measurements by Freymuth & Uberoi (1971) of the terms in the transport equation for the temperature variance in a plane turbulent wake indicated approximate equality for the three components of the temperature dissipation, thus indicating isotropy for that quantity. This result was in sufficient disagreement with the results obtained in several other turbulent shear flows to warrant further measurements of the temperature dissipation in the wake. The present measurements indicate that the dissipation is larger than the isotropic value by about 50 % near the wake centreline and nearly 100 % near the region of maximum production. The magnitude of this ratio is similar to that obtained in other turbulent shear flows. The present measured ratio of total dissipation to isotropic dissipation leads to a satisfactory closure of the temperature variance budget for our experiments and also for the plane-wake measurements of Fabris (1974). It is concluded that the temperature dissipation is not isotropic.