Extended self-similarity in moment-generating-functions in wall-bounded turbulence at high Reynolds number

X. I.A. Yang, C. Meneveau, I. Marusic, L. Biferale

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

27 Scopus citations

Abstract

In wall-bounded turbulence, the moment generating functions (MGFs) of the streamwise velocity fluctuations exp(quz+) develop power-law scaling as a function of the wall normal distance z/δ. Here u is the streamwise velocity fluctuation, + indicates normalization in wall units (averaged friction velocity), z is the distance from the wall, q is an independent variable, and δ is the boundary layer thickness. Previous work has shown that this power-law scaling exists in the log-region 3Reτ0.5z+,z0.15δ where Reτ is the friction velocity-based Reynolds number. Here we present empirical evidence that this self-similar scaling can be extended, including bulk and viscosity-affected regions 30<z+,z<δ, provided the data are interpreted with the Extended-Self-Similarity (ESS), i.e., self-scaling of the MGFs as a function of one reference value, qo. ESS also improves the scaling properties, leading to more precise measurements of the scaling exponents. The analysis is based on hot-wire measurements from boundary layers at Reτ ranging from 2700 to 13000 from the Melbourne High-Reynolds-Number-Turbulent-Boundary-Layer-Wind-Tunnel. Furthermore, we investigate the scalings of the filtered, large-scale velocity fluctuations uzL and of the remaining small-scale component, uzS=uz-uzL. The scaling of uzL falls within the conventionally defined log region and depends on a scale that is proportional to l+∼Reτ1/2; the scaling of uzS extends over a much wider range from z+≈30 to z≈0.5δ. Last, we present a theoretical construction of two multiplicative processes for uzL and uzS that reproduce the empirical findings concerning the scalings properties as functions of z+ and in the ESS sense.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number044405
JournalPhysical Review Fluids
Volume1
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 9 2016

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Computational Mechanics
  • Modeling and Simulation
  • Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes

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