Interactions between scales in wall turbulence: Phase relationships, amplitude modulation and the importance of critical layers

Abstract

We present a framework for predicting the interactions between motion at a single scale and the underlying stress fluctuations in wall turbulence, derived from approximations to the Navier-Stokes equations. The dynamical equations for an isolated scale and stress fluctuations at the same scale are obtained from a decomposition of the governing equations and formulated in terms of a transfer function between them. This transfer function is closely related to the direct correlation coefficient of Duvvuri & McKeon (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 767, 2015, R4), and approximately to the amplitude modulation coefficient described in Mathis et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 628, 2009, pp. 311-337), by consideration of interactions between triadically consistent scales. In light of the agreement between analysis and observations, the modelling approach is extended to make predictions concerning the relationship between very-large motions and small-scale stress in the logarithmic region of the mean velocity. Consistent with experiments, the model predicts that the zero-crossing height of the amplitude modulation statistic coincides with the wall-normal location of the very large-scale peak in the one-dimensional premultiplied spectrum of streamwise velocity fluctuations, the critical layer location for the very large-scale motion. Implications of fixed phase relationships between small-scale stresses and larger isolated scales for closure schemes are briefly discussed.