The shearless turbulence mixing layer

The interaction of two energy-containing turbulence scales is studied in the absence of mean shear. The flow, a turbulence mixing layer, is formed in decaying grid turbulence in which there are two distinct scales, one on either side of the stream. This is achieved using a composite grid with a larger mesh spacing on one side of the grid than the other. The solidity of the grid, and thus the mean velocity, is kept constant across the entire flow. Since there is no mean shear there is no turbulence production and thus spreading is caused solely by the fluctuating pressure and velocity fields. Two different types of grids were used: a parallel bar grid and a perforated plate. The mesh spacing ratio was varied from 3.3:1 to 8.9:1 for the bar grid, producing a turbulence lengthscale ratio of 2.4:1 and 4.3:1 for two different experiments. For the perforated plate the mesh ratio was 3:1 producing a turbulence lengthscale ratio of 2.2:1. Cross-stream profiles of the velocity variance and spectra indicate that for the large lengthscale ratio (4.3:1) experiment, a single scale dominates the flow while for the smaller lengthscale ratio experiments, the energetics are controlled by both lengthscales on either side of the flow. In all cases the mixing layer is strongly intermittent and the transverse velocity fluctuations have large skewness. The downstream data of the second, third and fourth moments for all experiments collapse well using a single composite lengthscale. The component turbulent energy budgets show the importance of the triple moment transport and pressure terms within the layer and the dominance of advection and dissipation on the outer edge. It is also shown that the bar grids tend toward self-similarity with downstream distance. The perforated plate could not be measured to the same downstream extent and did not reach self-similarity within its measurement range. In other respects the two types of grids yielded qualitatively similar results. Finally, we emphasize the distinction between intermittent turbulent penetration and turbulent diffusion and show that both play an important role in the spreading of the mixing layer.