Scaling of Near-Wall Flows in Quasi-Two-Dimensional Turbulent Channels

Devranjan Samanta (1) , François Ingremeau (2) , Rory Cerbus (1, 3) , Tuan Tran (4) , Walter I. Goldburg (3) , Pinaki Chakraborty (1) , Hamid Kellay (2)

1 Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology
2 LOMA - Laboratoire Ondes et Matière d'Aquitaine
3 Department of Physics and Astronomy [Pittsburgh]
4 Division of Thermal and Fluids Engineering, NTU

The law of the wall and the log law rule the near-wall mean velocity profile of three-dimensional turbulent flows. These well-known laws, which are validated by legions of experiments and simulations, may be universal. Here, using a soap-film channel, we report the first experimental test of these laws in quasi-two-dimensional turbulent channel flows under two disparate turbulent spectra. We find that despite the differences with three-dimensional flows, the laws prevail, albeit with notable distinctions: the two parameters of the log law are markedly distinct from their three-dimensional counterpart; further, one parameter (the von Kármán constant) is independent of the spectrum whereas the other (the offset of the log law) depends on the spectrum. Our results suggest that the classical theory of scaling in wall-bounded turbulence is incomplete wherein a key missing element is the link with the turbulent spectrum.

Mots clés: (47.27.nd) Channel flow

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]

Devranjan Samanta, François Ingremeau, Rory Cerbus, Tuan Tran, Walter I. Goldburg, et al.. Scaling of Near-Wall Flows in Quasi-Two-Dimensional Turbulent Channels. Physical Review Letters, 2014, 113 (2), pp.024504 (1-5). ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.024504⟩. ⟨hal-01064019⟩