Turbulent spots and waves in a model for plane Poiseuille flow

Abstract

The structure of a turbulent spot in plane Poiseuille flow is investigated using a model derived from the Navier-Stokes equations through a Galerkin method. The mean profile of the streamwise velocity inside the turbulent spot has the characteristic flat profile of a turbulent Poiseuille flow. The waves developing at the wing tips of the spot have an asymmetric streamwise velocity with respect to the channel centerline, whereas their associated wall-normal velocity component is symmetric. On the outskirts of the spot, a large-scale flow occupying the full gap between the plates is observed. It is characterized by a streamwise inflow toward the spot and a spanwise outflow from the spot. A detailed comparison with the numerical simulations and the experiments in the literature shows that these results are in fair agreement with the main features of the transitional plane Poiseuille flow. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.