Simple Eulerian time correlation of full-and narrow-band velocity signals in grid-generated, ‘isotropic’ turbulence

Abstract

Space-time correlation measurements in the roughly isotropic turbulence behind a regular grid spanning a uniform airstream give the simplest Eulerian time correlation if we choose for the upstream probe signal a time delay which just ‘cancels’ the mean flow displacement. The correlation coefficient of turbulent velocities passed through matched narrow-band niters shows a strong dependence on nominal filter frequency (∼ wave-number at these small turbulence levels). With plausible scaling of the time separations, a scaling dependent on both wave-number and time, it is possible to effect a good collapse of the correlation functions corresponding to wave-numbers from 0·5 cm −1 , the location of the peak in the three-dimensional spectrum, to 10 cm −1 , about half the Kolmogorov wave-number. The spectrally local time-scaling factor is a ‘parallel’ combination of the times characterizing (i) gross strain distortion by larger eddies, (ii) wrinkling distortion by smaller eddies, (iii) convection by larger eddies and (iv) gross rotation by larger eddies.