Abstract
At high Reynolds numbers, the logarithmic range in wall-bounded flows spans many scales. An important conceptual modeling framework of the logarithmic range is Townsend's attached eddy hypothesis [The Structure of Turbulent Shear Flow (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1976)], where high Reynolds number wall-bounded flows are modeled as assemblies of space-filling, self-similar, and wall-attached eddies. Recently, Yang et al. [Phys. Rev. Fluids 1, 024402 (2016)] reinterpreted this hypothesis and developed the “hierarchical random additive process” model (HRAP), which provides further insights into the scaling implications of the attached eddies. For example, in a recent study [Yang et al., Phys. Rev. Fluids 2, 064602 (2017)], the HRAP model was used for making scaling predictions of the second-order structure function in the logarithmic range, where 's are the velocity fluctuations in the Cartesian direction. Here, we provide empirical support for this HRAP model using high-fidelity experimental data of all three components of velocity in a high Reynolds number boundary layer flow. We show that the spanwise velocity fluctuation can be modeled as a random additive process, and that the wall-normal velocity fluctuation is dominated by the closest neighboring wall-attached eddy. By accounting for all the three velocities in all the three Cartesian directions, the HRAP model is formally a well rounded model for the momentum-carrying scales in wall-bounded flows at high Reynolds numbers.
8 More- Received 11 June 2018
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.3.124606
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