Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-02T02:23:41.326Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A note on Kolmogorov's third-order structure-function law, the local isotropy hypothesis and the pressure–velocity correlation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2006

Erik Lindborg
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanics, KTH, S-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden, e-mail: erikl@mech.kth.se

Abstract

We show that Kolmogorov's (1941b) inertial-range law for the third-order structure function can be derived from a dynamical equation including pressure terms and mean flow gradient terms. A new inertial-range law, relating the two-point pressure–velocity correlation to the single-point pressure–strain tensor, is also derived. This law shows that the two-point pressure–velocity correlation, just like the third-order structure function, grows linearly with the separation distance in the inertial range. The physical meaning of both this law and Kolmogorov's law is illustrated by a Fourier analysis. An inertial-range law is also derived for the third-order velocity–enstrophy structure function of two-dimensional turbulence. It is suggested that the second-order vorticity structure function of two-dimensional turbulence is constant and scales with $\epsilon ^{2/3}_\omega$ in the enstrophy inertial range, εω being the enstrophy dissipation. Owing to the constancy of this law, it does not imply a Fourier-space inertial-range law, and therefore it is not equivalent to the k−1 law for the enstrophy spectrum, suggested by Kraichnan (1967) and Batchelor (1969).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1996 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Antonia, R. A., Zhu, Y. & Hosokawa, I. 1995 Refined similarity hypotheses for turbulent velocity and temperature fields. Phys. Fluids 7, 16371648.Google Scholar
Batchelor, G. K. 1969 Computation of the energy spectrum in homogeneous two-dimensional turbulence. Phys. Fluids 12, suppl.-II233–II239.Google Scholar
Brachet, M. E., Meneguzzi, M., Politano, H. & Sulem, P. L. 1988 The dynamics of freely decaying two-dimensional turbulence. J. Fluid Mech. 194, 333349Google Scholar
Frisch, U. 1991 From global scaling, à la Kolmogorov, to local, multifractal scaling in fully developed turbulence Turbulence and stochastic processes: Kolmogorov's ideas 50 years on, Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 434, 8999.Google Scholar
Frisch, U. 1995 Turbulence. Cambridge University Press.
Harris, V. G., Graham, J. A. H. & Corrsin, S. 1977 Further experiments in nearly homogeneous turbulent shear flow. J. Fluid Mech. 81, 657687Google Scholar
Hinze, J. O. 1975 Turbulence. McGraw-Hill.
Hunt, J. C. R. & Vassilicos, J. C. 1991 Kolmogorovs's contributions to the physical and geometrical understanding of small-scale turbulence and recent developments. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 434, 183210.Google Scholar
Kármán, T. von & Howarth, L. 1938 On the statistical theory of isotropic turbulence Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A, 164, 192215.Google Scholar
Kolmogorov, A. N. 1941a The local structure of turbulence in incompressible viscous fluid for very large Reynolds number English translation in Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 434, 913.Google Scholar
Kolmogorov, A. N. 1941b Dissipation of energy in the locally isotropic turbulence, English translation in Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 434, 1517Google Scholar
Kolmogorov, A. N. 1962 A refinement of previous hypotheses concerning the local structure of turbulence in a viscous incompressible fluid at high Reynolds number. J. Fluid Mech. 13, 8285.Google Scholar
Kraichnan, R. H. 1967 Inertial ranges in two-dimensional turbulence Phys. Fluids 10, 14171423.Google Scholar
Landau, L. D. & Lifshitz, E. M. 1987 Fluid Mechanics, 2nd edn. Pergamon.
Lighthill, M. J. 1959 Introduction to Fourier Analysis and Generalised Functions. Cambridge University Press.
Lindborg, L. 1995 Kinematics of homogeneous axisymmetric turbulence. J. Fluid Mech. 302, 179201.Google Scholar
Monin, A. S. & Yaglom, A. M. 1975 Statistical Fluid Mechanics II. The MIT Press.
Obukhov, A. M. 1962 Some specific features of atmospheric turbulence. J. Fluid Mech. 13, 7781.Google Scholar
Rogers, M. M., Moin, P. & Reynolds, W. C. 1986. The structure and modelling of the hydrodynamic and passive scalar fields in homogeneous turbulent shear flow. Rep. TF-25. Thermosciences Division, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Standford University.
Saddoughi, S. G. & Veeravalli, S. V. 1994 Local isotropy in turbulent boundary layers at high Reynolds number. J. Fluid Mech. 268, 333372.Google Scholar
Van Atta, C. W. & Chen, W. Y. 1970 Structure functions of turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer over the ocean. J. Fluid Mech. 44, 145159.Google Scholar
Van Atta, C. W. & Park, J. T. 1980 Hot- and cold-wire sensitivity corrections for moments of the fine scale turbulence in heated flows. Phys. Fluids 23, 701705.Google Scholar