Scales of Turbulence
Course: Turbulence (AM2205)
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Leonardo da Vinci
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Flowing water
Re >2300, turbulent
Occurrence of small scales.
Generated by the inertial forces
and dissipated by the viscous forces.
Re=UaxialD/n
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Turbulence in a Box
Lets consider a periodic box:
u(0)=u(L)
where,
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Fourier Decomposition in 3D
In 3D space,
Physical interpretation:
Energy:
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Energy Spectrum
The energy spectrum can be described as average
energy of eddies plotted against their size. This is energy
) versus wave number (k), which is defined as
density (E
k = 2/.
Wavelength () characterizes eddy size. Small
wavelength corresponds to large k. Smaller eddies have
low energy; hence, the spectrum tapers off rapidly at
high k.
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Energy Spectrum
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Energy Spectrum
A plot of the vorticity spectrum would go the other way:
small eddies have high vorticity at least until some very
small size is reached, below which there is little
turbulent motion.
The rate of energy dissipation goes like vorticity: it is
largest at small scales. That is because vorticity and
dissipation involve derivatives of velocity. (The rate of
energy dissipation is |u |2 . Differentiation amplifies
at small scales.)
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t
stirring with spoon
f ( x, t )
f ( k , t )d f
2
L
:
u
f u
u
t
=Dissipation rate
Power input
:
u
u
t
=Dissipation rate
Power input
For constant power input:
Decreasing Increasing u : u
At high Reynolds number (Re) flow field has higher
gradients.
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Scales of Turbulence
Integral scales: Scale for largest eddies.
Dissipation/Taylor scales: Scale at which
turbulence is isotropic.
Kolmogorov scales: Scale for smallest eddies
(after Kolmogorov, 1941).
Characteristic length scale ( Lc )
Characteristic time scale ( tc )
Characteristic mean velocity (Uc )
For the characteristic time, tc , the following ratio
holds:
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Scales of Turbulence
Log E
Integral
scale
Kolmogorov scale
Taylor
scale
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T k Re )
Microstructure of Turbulence
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Integral Scale
For integral length scale l0,
Here, is the energy dissipation rate. The
proportionality constant is of the order one.
The Reynolds number associated with these large
eddies is referred to as the turbulence Reynolds
number ReL, which is defined as:
Taylor Micro-scale
From these scales, characterizing the smallest vortices of
a turbulent flow, the Taylor micro-scale has to be
distinguished, which is defined as follows:
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where,
represents the square of the
corresponding turbulence intensity (Tu).
As turbulence always occurs for large Reynolds numbers,
e.g. Re = 104, above equation shows that even for Tu =
20%, a comparatively large degree of turbulence, the
viscous dissipation is negligible compared with the
turbulence production.
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Kolmogorov Hypothesis
Kolmogorovs hypothesis of local isotropy states that at
sufficiently high Reynolds numbers, the small-scale turbulent
motions (l << Lc) are statistically isotropic.
Kolmogorovs first similarity hypothesis states that in every
turbulent flow at sufficiently high Reynolds number, the
statistics of the small scale motions (l < LEI ) have a universal
form that is uniquely determined by and .
Kolmogorovs second similarity hypothesis states that in
every turbulent flow at sufficiently high Reynolds number,
the statistics of the motions of scale l in the range Lc >> l >>
l have a universal form that is uniquely determined by
independent of .
Note: LEI is the length scale that forms the demarcation between
the large scale anisotropic eddies. Lc is the characteristic or
Integral length scale. l is the Kolmorogov length scale.
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Kolmogorov Scale
Following a suggestion of Kolmogorov, so-called microscales can be introduced to characterize the turbulent
flow field:
Kolmogorov Scale
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Kolmogorov Scale
For the Kolmogorov time scale, the following
expression results:
The Reynolds number resulting on the basis of the
above-introduced micro-length scale and microvelocity scale is:
Note that the fact that the Kolmogorov Reynolds
number Re of the small eddies is 1, is consistent
with the notion that the cascade proceeds to smaller
and smaller scales until the Reynolds number is small
enough for dissipation to be effective.
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Kolmogorov Scale
The characteristic turbulent eddy quantities,
determined by Kolmogorovs scales of turbulence,
are those that represent the viscous effects which
damp the turbulent velocity fluctuations.
These smallest eddies are assumed to convert the
kinetic energy of turbulence into heat. Because of
these characteristic properties, the following
definitions are available in the literature for the
smallest scales of turbulence:
Kolmogorov scales = micro-scales = viscous eddy
scales:
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l l0 ~ Re L 3 4
Ratio of Integral to Kolmogorov velocity scales:
u u0 ~ Re L 1 4
Ratio of Integral to Kolmogorov Length scales:
0 ~ Re L 1 2
Note: As expected, at high Reynolds numbers, the
velocity and time scales of the smallest eddies are
small compared to those of the largest eddies.
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Kolmogorov Hypothesis
Kolmogorovs hypothesis of local isotropy states that at
sufficiently high Reynolds numbers, the small-scale turbulent
motions (l << l0) are statistically isotropic.
Kolmogorovs first similarity hypothesis states that in every
turbulent flow at sufficiently high Reynolds number, the
statistics of the small scale motions (l < LEI ) have a universal
form that is uniquely determined by and .
Kolmogorovs second similarity hypothesis states that in
every turbulent flow at sufficiently high Reynolds number,
the statistics of the motions of scale l in the range l0 >> l >>
l have a universal form that is uniquely determined by
independent of .
Note: LEI is the length scale that forms the demarcation between
the large scale anisotropic eddies. L0 is the Integral length scale.
l is the Kolmorogov length scale.
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Eddy Sizes
The bulk of the energy is contained in the larger
eddies in the size range LEI = l0 /6 < l < 6l0 , which
is therefore called the energy containing range.
The suffixes EI and DI indicate that LEI is the
demarcation line between energy (E) and inertial
(I) ranges, as LDI is that between the dissipation
(D) and inertial (I) ranges.
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Wave Numbers
The wave number is defined as = 2/l
Different ranges can be shown as a function of wave no.
The wave no. can also be made non-dimensional by
multiplying it with the Kolmogorov length scale l (or ) to
result in the commonly used dimensionless group ( ).
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k E ) d
0
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1 r
This means that large wave numbers correspond to small
eddies and small wave numbers to large eddies. Eddies
with wave numbers in the region of e , the previous figure
contains the largest part of the energy and contribute little
to the energy dissipation.
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This equation is called the Kolmogorov spectrum law, or simply the 5/3
law. The equation states that, if the flow is fully turbulent, the energy
spectra should exhibit a 5/3 decay. The region where this law applies
is known as the inertial sub-range and is the region where the energy
cascade proceeds in local equilibrium.
This law is often used in experiments and simulations (DNS, LES) to
verify that the flow is fully turbulent.
Note that the largest eddies, e , contain most of the turbulence energy
and are therefore responsible for most of the turbulent transport.
Nevertheless, the small eddies are responsible for mixing on the small
scales.
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Intermittency
Neither k nor are constant in time or space.
Within a turbulent flow field, k and may vary
widely in space, sometimes by orders of
magnitude.
Also, at a given point in space the instantaneous
values of may vary in time. This is called
intermittency. The peak values of relative to the
mean tend to increase with Reynolds number.
Peak values may be of the order of 15 times the
average in laboratory scale flows and 50 times
the average in atmospheric flows.
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Vortex Stretching
The interaction between vorticity ( )and velocity
gradients ui ) is an essential ingredient to create and
,i
maintain turbulence.
Consider an fluid element rotates on x-y plane about
z-axis in addition to a stretching along z-axis.
Therefore, an extension in z-direction can decrease
the length scales and increase the velocity
components in the x-y plane.
Neglecting viscous dissipation, Conservation of
angular momentum says that r 2 Constant
According to Kelvins Circulation theorem:
2
Circulation, r Constant
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Vortex Stretching
Vorticity will cause stretching along z-direction. Thus, there will
be decrease in length in x and y directions. This will increase
vorticity in these directions, hence stretching will occur in x and ydirections.
Vortex Stretching
Thus, the cascade of energy of turbulent motion
estimates to smaller scales.
z
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Vortex Stretching
t2
t1
t4
(Baldyga and Bourne, 1984)
t5
t3
t6
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