On streak spacing in wall-bounded turbulent flows

The present study is a continuation of the examination by Hamilton et al. of the regeneration mechanisms of near-wall turbulence and an attempt to investigate the conjecture of Waleffe et al. The basis of this study is an extension of the 'minimal channel' approach of Jimenez and Moin that emphasizes the near-wall region and reduces the complexity of the turbulent flow by considering a plane Couette flow of near minimum Reynolds number and stream-wise and span-wise extent. Reduction of the flow Reynolds number to the minimum value which will allow turbulence to be sustained has the effect of reducing the ratio of the largest scales to the smallest scales or, equivalently, of causing the near-wall region to fill more of the area between the channel walls. A plane Couette flow was chosen for study since this type of flow has a mean shear of a single sign, and at low Reynolds numbers, the two wall regions are found to share a single set of structures.