Intro.

Turbulent Flows
INTRODUCTION TO TURBULENT FLOWS
What is turbulence?
How is turbulence created?
How do we solve turbulent flows?
General Purposes
- u

and U
- Mass diffussion and concentration statistics
- Details of turbulent motion and how they interact
Three Types of turbulene
- Grid turbulence -- not self-sustaining
- Wall shear layers --- self sustaining
- wall effect as a turbulence source
- Free shear layers -- mixing layers
-- two fluid at different speeds
-- ets! wa"es
Charater!st!s of turbulene
- #elocity fluctuates in a random manner -- $tatisitically can be studied
- High levels of vorticity fluctuations
- High %eynolds numbers
- Described by the &avier-$to"es '&-$( e)uations
- Higher levels of momentum and energy transfers
- Dissivative
- *ontinuum level
- *ertain spatial structures - eddies +vortices
- mushroom li"e! etc! all are distributed continuesly,
Reynol"s Deo#pos!t!ons $R%NS & Reynol"s %'era(e of N)S*
i i i
u U u +
-

T t
t
i i
dt u
T T
Lim
U
.
.
-
/
/
Intro. Turbulent Flows
u
~
't(!
m/s
U
i
u
i
Fig, /, 0ypical of velocity fluctuation in turbulent flows,
0he mean value of a fluctuation components is 1ero!

T t
t
i i i
dt U u
T T
Lim
u
.
.
. (
-
'
/
For time averages to ma"e sense! the integral have to be independent of t
0
,
.

t
U
i
j
i
j
i
x
U
x
u

-
2
.

j
i
j
i
x
u
x
u
( (' '
- -
j j i i j i
u U u U u u + +
3 . 3 .
j i j i j i j i
u u U u u U U U + + +
j i j i
u u U U +

j i
u u . if u
i
and u
j
are correlated,
3 . if u
i
and u
j
are uncorrelated,
4
Intro. Turbulent Flows
i i
x
P
x
p

-
if
p
-
3 P 5 p,
&-$ e)uations can be written as
j j
i
i j
i
j
i
x x
u
x
p
x
u
u
t
u

- -
/
-
-
- 4

'/(

.
-

i
i
x
u
'4(
i
u
-
and j
u
-
are the instantaneous velocities,
E+uat!on for the #ean flo, for a turbulent flo,
0he momentum e)uation is obtained by substituting
i i i
u U u +
-
and
p
-
3 P 5 p and ta"ing a
time average ' .

t
U
i
(,
j j
i
i j
i
j
j
i
j
x x
U
x
P
x
u
u
x
U
U

4
/

'6(
0he continuity e)uation becomes7
.

i
i
x
U
and
.

i
i
x
u
,
.
-

i
i
x
u
.
( '

+
i
i i
x
u U
j
j i
j
j
i
j
i
j
j
i
j
x
u u
x
u
u
x
u
u
x
u
u

! since
.

j
j
i
x
u
u
,
j i
j j j
i
i j
i
j
u u
x x x
U
x
P
x
U
U

4
/

,
_

j i
j
i
j i j
i
j
u u
x
U
x x
P
x
U
U

/ /
or

,
_

j i
j
i
ij
j j
i
j
u u
x
U P
x x
U
U

'8(
where
ij
is 9ronec"er delta,
ij
3 i if i 3 j! and . if i j,
6
Intro. Turbulent Flows
:)uation '8( is the momentum e)uation for the mean flow, For turbulent flows! it is not
enough e)uations to solve the problem! because of the attendance of the %eynolds stress
tensors j i
u u
, 0his leads to a closure problem,
;n general! one can write7
j i ij
u u
'<(
where

,
_

66 64 6/
46 44 4/
/6 /4 //

ij
, ;f ij

is symetric! then ji ij

and there are six independent
components! instead of nine, 0he diagonal components of ij

are normal stresses7

4
/
u 2
4
4
u 2
4
6
u ,
0he off-diagonal components of ij

are shear stresses! and they play an important role in the

transport of mean momentum by turbulent motion, =ne of the methods to solve the closure
problem is the use of turbulence models,
How do we estimate or model j i
u u
?
Len(th Sales !n Turbulent Flo,s
0urbulent flows are characteri1ed by the existence of several lengths, *onsider a laminar
boundary layer flow over a flat plate7

y
x
L
U
u = u'y(
Fig, 4, >aminar boundary layer over a flat plate,
L 3 convective length scale
U 3 convective velocity scale
3 diffusive length scale
0he time scale is then7
U
L
,
8
Intro. Turbulent Flows
We can also estimate that
U
L
-
4 ? /
4 ? /
%e
/
L
UL

,
_

, '@(
Furthermore! L is related to the convection of momentum! and relates to the molecular
diffusion of momentum deficit across the flow! away from the surface,
$uppose we have a turbulent boundary layer7

y
U

L
u
x
u
smallest
eddy si1e
largest eddy
si1e
Fig, 6, 0urbulent boundary layer over a flat plate,
U
L
convective time scale,
- 'u(
U
L
and
L

-
U
u
where u is the characteristic velocity fluctuation,
U
L
-
u

turbulent diffusion time scale matches the convective time scale,

What is the smallest eddy si1e?
or
What is the smallest length scale in the turbulent flow?
>arge scales are as big as the width of the flow ;nteract with the mean flow,
0he smallest scales? 9olmogorov length scale,
<
Intro. Turbulent Flows
>arge
scale
:nergy
transfer
among
eddies
dissipation
to heat
smallest
eddies
Fig, 8, :nergy cascade in turbulent motion,
0urbulence generates new 'smaller( length scales till the local %eynolds number becomes
small for viscous dissipation to become significant,
How can we estimate the 9olmogorov length scale '(?
-ol#o(oro' theory7
- f'!( 'A(
where 3 9olmogorov length scale! 3 dissipation rate! and 3 "inematic viscosity
For an e)uilibrium turbulent boundary layer!
dissipation 3 energy input
0he dissipation '( and can be used to obtain the smallest scales of length '(! time '(!
fre)uency 'f
K
(! and velocity '(! in the flow! and are referred to as the Kolmogorov scales
'0enne"es and >umley! /BA4(
= '
6
?(
/?8 'C(
= '?(
/?4 'B(
f
K
= U?'2(
'/.(
/ ()
1/4
'//(
@
Intro. Turbulent Flows
0he turbulent "inetic energy dissipation rate plays an important role in turbulent flow
analysis, ;n an isotropic turbulence! the dissipation rate! ! is given by
( ) /<
4
u x ? '/4(
#alues of ( ) u x ?
4
can be obtained experimentally using 0aylorDs fro1en hypothesis, 0he
hypothesis states that if the turbulent velocity fluctuations are small compared to the mean
velocity! then the autocorrelation of the fluctuating velocity with time delay will be the
same as the spatial correlation with separation U in the streamwise direction 'Eradshaw!
/BA/(, ;n a mathematical form! the 0aylorDs hypothesis can be expressed as
t
u
y U x
u

( '
/

'/6(
where u t ? can usually be obtained from instantaneous velocity measurements,
;n addition to the 9olmogorov length scale! the 0aylor microscale '
Tylor
( and integral
length scale '( are often used in the analysis of turbulent flows, 0he 0aylor microscale! with
dimension of length! is defined as 'after 0enne"es and >umley! /BA4(
( )

Tylor
u
u x

1
]
1
1
1
4
4
/ 4
?
?
'/8(
Ey recalling 0aylorDs fro1en hypothesis! based on :), '/8(! we can obtain
'( 3 ' ( '/<(
where ' ( is the spatial correlation with separation ' 3 U), Figure < shows a typical
spatial correlation curve,
0he area under the spatial correlation curve is the integral length scale! , so that

.
' ( d '/@(
A
Intro. Turbulent Flows
0he 0aylor microscale '
Tylor
( and the integral length scale ' ( are far larger than the
9olmogorov length scale '(,

.
/,.


(

)
Fig, <, F typical spatial correlation curve,
C