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Generation mechanism of a hierarchy of vortices in a turbulent boundary layer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2019

Yutaro Motoori  and
Susumu Goto Open the ORCID record for Susumu Goto [Opens in a new window]
Yutaro Motoori*
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, 1-3 Machikaneyama, Toyonaka, Osaka, 560-8531, Japan
Susumu Goto*
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, 1-3 Machikaneyama, Toyonaka, Osaka, 560-8531, Japan
*
†Email addresses for correspondence: [email protected], [email protected]
†Email addresses for correspondence: [email protected], [email protected]
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Abstract

To understand the generation mechanism of a hierarchy of multiscale vortices in a high-Reynolds-number turbulent boundary layer, we conduct direct numerical simulations and educe the hierarchy of vortices by applying a coarse-graining method to the simulated turbulent velocity field. When the Reynolds number is high enough for the premultiplied energy spectrum of the streamwise velocity component to show the second peak and for the energy spectrum to obey the $-5/3$ power law, small-scale vortices, that is, vortices sufficiently smaller than the height from the wall, in the log layer are generated predominantly by the stretching in strain-rate fields at larger scales rather than by the mean-flow stretching. In such a case, the twice-larger scale contributes most to the stretching of smaller-scale vortices. This generation mechanism of small-scale vortices is similar to the one observed in fully developed turbulence in a periodic cube and consistent with the picture of the energy cascade. On the other hand, large-scale vortices, that is, vortices as large as the height, are stretched and amplified directly by the mean flow. We show quantitative evidence of these scale-dependent generation mechanisms of vortices on the basis of numerical analyses of the scale-dependent enstrophy production rate. We also demonstrate concrete examples of the generation process of the hierarchy of multiscale vortices.

JFM classification

Boundary Layers: Boundary layer structure Turbulent Flows: Turbulent boundary layers Vortex Flows: Vortex dynamics
Type
JFM Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 865 , 25 April 2019 , pp. 1085 - 1109
Copyright
© 2019 Cambridge University Press 

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