Turbulent pipe flow: Statistics,<i>Re</i>-dependence, structures and similarities with channel and boundary layer flows

Abstract

Direct numerical simulation data of fully developed turbulent pipe flow are extensively compared with those of turbulent channel flow and zero-pressure-gradient boundary layer flow for Reτ up to 1000. In the near-wall region, a high degree of similarity is observed in the three flow cases in terms of one-point statistics, probability density functions of the wall-shear stress and pressure, spectra, Reynolds stress budgets and advection velocity of the turbulent structures. This supports the notion that the near-wall region is universal for pipe and channel flow. Probability density functions of the wall shear stress, streamwise turbulence intensities, one-dimensional spanwise/azimuthal spectra of the streamwise velocity and Reynolds-stress budgets are very similar near the wall in the three flow cases, suggesting that the three canonical wall-bounded flows share many features. In the wake region, the mean streamwise velocity and Reynolds stress budgets show some expected differences.