Phenomenology of Wall Bounded Newtonian Turbulence

Abstract

We construct a simple analytic model for wall-bounded turbulence, containing only four adjustable parameters. Two of these parameters characterize the viscous dissipation of the components of the Reynolds stress-tensor and other two parameters characterize their nonlinear relaxation. The model offers an analytic description of the profiles of the mean velocity and the correlation functions of velocity fluctuations in the entire boundary region, from the viscous sub-layer, through the buffer layer and further into the log-layer. As a first approximation, we employ the traditional return-to-isotropy hypothesis, which yields a very simple distribution of the turbulent kinetic energy between the velocity components in the log-layer: the streamwise component contains a half of the total energy whereas the wall-normal and the cross-stream components contain a quarter each. In addition, the model predicts a very simple relation between the von-Kármán slope $κ$ and the turbulent velocity in the log-law region $v^+$ (in wall units): $v^+=6 κ$. These predictions are in excellent agreement with DNS data and with recent laboratory experiments.