Fluctuations of Turbulent Bed Shear Stress

Abstract

With the assumption that the bed shear stress fluctuates in a lognormal fashion, the probability density function (PDF) of the standardized bed shear stress is derived as a function of the relative shear stress intensity. The PDF is more skewed with larger relative intensities, but approaches a Gaussian function when the relative intensity is small. The computed PDF agrees well with the reported experimental data for flows over a smooth boundary. The higher-order moments of the bed shear stress, skewness, and kurtosis, are shown analytically to be also dependent on the relative intensity. The theoretical dependencies are then compared to a number of measurements available in the literature. The Reynolds number effect on the relative intensity is also discussed.