Fine-structure turbulence in the wall region of a turbulent boundary layer

Abstract

Measurements have been made concerning the fine structure of the turbulence in the part adjacent to the wall of the wall region of a plane turbulent boundary layer. The objective was to gain further information concerning the larger-scale disturbance mechanism which is mainly responsible for the generation of turbulence. Hot-wire anemomet.ry was used and information on the fine structure was obtained by differentiating and filtering the hot-wire signal.The distributions of the Kolmogorov microscale and of the flatness and skewness factors of the axial fluctuating velocity u and its first and second derivative determined at two Reynolds numbers suggest the existence of Reynolds number similarity. In the region y+ < 15 the flatness and skewness factors of u increase with decreasing y+. At approximately y+ = 15 the flatness factor shows a minimum value, while the skewness factor becomes zero. This location agrees with that where the turbulence intensity u′ has a maximum value. In the outer part of the wall region (y+ > 100) the flatness and skewness factors approach values obtained in shear-free turbulence at the same turbulence Reynolds number.The fine structure of the turbulence is strongly associated with and dominated by the random, larger-scale, intermittent inrush-ejection cycle. In the viscous sublayer both the fine structure, and the large-scale mechanism of the turbulence are influenced mainly by the inrush phase, while further out in the wall region (y+ > 40) they are influenced by both inrush and ejection. As a result, in the viscous sublayer the average burst periods of the high frequency turbulence components and their flatness factors (of ∂u/∂t and of ∂2u/∂t2) attain values twice those in the outer part.The change in the mechanism of the fine structure with distance from the wall is clearly demonstrated by the spectra of non-negative variables, i.e. (∂u/∂t)2 and (∂2u/∂t2)2. The spectra agree with each other and decrease with increasing frequency, following a power law as predicted by Gurvich & Yaglom (1967). The power law applies to almost the whole frequency range, when the highest, viscous, frequency range is excluded. However, the exponent is different for the viscous sublayer and the outer part of the wall region. In the buffer layer the spectra have two distinct power-law regions. In the lower frequency range the exponent is the same as that for the viscous sublayer, while in the higher frequency range it is the same as that for the outer part of the wall region.