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PubMed2001

Probability density function and "plus" and "minus" structure functions in a turbulent channel flow.

We consider the statistical properties of the longitudinal velocity increments in a turbulent channel flow at different distances from the wall. The probability density function (PDF) of the velocity difference of the streamwise component near the wall are found to be, especially at small scales, strongly skewed, showing a very long left tail. We consider "plus" and "minus" structure functions and compute separately the statistics for the right and left part of the PDF. It is found that the relative scaling exponents for the right tail are less affected by the presence of the wall and their values are consistent with the ones found in experiments in homogeneous and isotropic turbulence. A simple phenomenological model that explains the results obtained is also given.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2000

Small scale intermittency and bursting in a turbulent channel flow

The statistical properties of the streamwise velocity fluctuations in a fully developed turbulent channel flow are studied experimentally by means of single hot wire measurements. The intermittency features, studied through the scaling of the moments of the velocity structure function computed using the extended self- similarity and through the probability density function of the wavelet coefficients, are found to be dependent on the distance from the wall. The maximum intermittency effects are observed in the region between the buffer layer and the inner part of the logarithmic region where it is known that the bursting phenomenon, related to coherent structures such as low speed streaks and streamwise vortices, is the dominant dynamical feature. An eduction technique based on wavelet transform for identification of organized motion is developed and used to analyze the turbulent signals. Streamwise velocity conditional averages computed on events educed with the proposed method are reported. Events responsible for intermittency are found to consist of regions of high velocity gradients and are directly correlated with the observed increase of intermittency close to the wall.

Journal Article↗