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Reynolds number scaling of pocket events in the viscous sublayer

M. Metzger*, A. Fershtut, and C. Kunkel

J. Klewicki

  • Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, USA

  • Mechanical Engineering Department, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire 03824, USA and Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia

  • *Corresponding author: m.metzger@utah.edu
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Phys. Rev. Fluids 2, 124602 – Published 15 December, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.2.124602

Abstract

Recent findings [X. Wu et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 114, E5292 (2017)] reinforce earlier assertions [e.g., R. Falco, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London A 336, 103 (1991)] that the sublayer pocket motions play a distinctly important role in near-wall dynamics. In the present study, smoke visualization and axial velocity measurements are combined in order to establish the scaling behavior of pocket events in the viscous sublayer of the turbulent boundary layer. In doing so, an identical analysis methodology is employed over an extensive range of friction Reynolds numbers 388≤δ+≤2.2×105. Both the pocket width W and time interval between pocket events T increase logarithmically with Reynolds number when normalized by viscous units. Normalization of W and T by the Taylor microscales evaluated at a wall-normal location of about 100 viscous units, however, appears to successfully remove this Reynolds-number dependence. The present results are discussed in the context of motion formation owing to the three dimensionalization of the near-wall vorticity field and, concomitantly, the recurring perturbation of the viscous sublayer.

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Phys. Rev. Fluids 2, 124602– Published 15 December, 2017
  • Received 6 August 2017
Article part of CHORUS

©2017 American Physical Society

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