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Turbulent Shear Stress

This document discusses turbulent shear stress and velocity fluctuations near boundaries. It introduces the concepts of friction velocity (u*) and roughness Reynolds number (R*) to characterize the boundary layer. The von Karman-Prandtl equation, known as the Law of the Wall, relates velocity to distance from the boundary using u* and von Karman's constant. Depending on the value of R*, the boundary layer can be classified as hydrodynamically smooth or rough flow.

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159 views5 pages

Turbulent Shear Stress

This document discusses turbulent shear stress and velocity fluctuations near boundaries. It introduces the concepts of friction velocity (u*) and roughness Reynolds number (R*) to characterize the boundary layer. The von Karman-Prandtl equation, known as the Law of the Wall, relates velocity to distance from the boundary using u* and von Karman's constant. Depending on the value of R*, the boundary layer can be classified as hydrodynamically smooth or rough flow.

Uploaded by

syedahmedali_276353
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Turbulent Shear Stress

Friction Velocity

At the boundary, fluid velocity slows to zero. By transport of momentum, velocity in


the interior must match this condition through some adjustment mechanism that will
determine the thickness of the boundary layer. Typically friction is thought to be the
adjustment mechanism. Recalling that the viscous stress is:

Eq 1

We can divide both sides by the density to yield:

Eq 2

The dimensions of the left hand side are

Eq 3

or units of velocity squared. We define a term called the friction velocity or shear
velocity:

Eq 4

Thus

Eq 5

Integrating

Eq 6

Since u=0 at z=0, C=0 and:


Eq 7

Velocity Fluctuations

A record of velocity as a function of time can be characterized as fluctuations about


some mean value:

Eq 8

Turbulence will give rise to velocity fluctuations in both the horizontal (velocity u)
and vertical (velocity w) directions characterized by u' and w'.

The associated momentum fluctuation is called the turbulent stress or Reynolds stress.
Analogous to the viscous case, we can express the turbulent stress as being the
product of eddy viscosity, Av and the shear:

Eq 9

Thus the friction velocity can be written:

Eq 10

Prandtl hypothesized that turbulent fluctuations should act over some correlation
scale l so that

Eq 11
Thus

Eq 12

von Karman further hypothesized that the correlation scale should be proportional to
the distance from the boundary:

Eq 13

where kappa is von Karman's constant, the turbulent momentum exchange coefficient.
By experiment kappa has been found to be 0.41.

Eq 14

Integrating:

Eq 15

Let u be 0 at z=z0. Then

Eq 16

This is the von Karman-Prandtl equation, the Law of the Wall.

Structure of the Boundary Layer

We can now develop the structure of the boundary layer. Very near to the boundary
where viscous forces dominate there may be a viscous sub-layer where equation 1
applies. Whether this viscous sub-layer exists depends on whether the boundary is
smooth or rough. If it is rough it will generate turbulence at the boundary so that
turbulent forces become more important than viscous forces.
The roughness is characterized by a dimensionless number

Eq 17

where ks is a length scale of the roughness elements (which may be due to grain
roughness of the surface, ripple patterns, or fluid stratification)

When R* is less than 5, the flow is said to be hydrodynamically smooth (HSF), when
R* is greater than 70 the flow is said to be hydrodynamically rough (HRF), when
between 5 and 70 the flow is transitional.

The value of z0 for HSF and HRF have been established by experiment. For HSF:

Eq 18

For HRF:

Eq 19

To summarize:
The most common way in which u* and z0 are measured is by determing the velocity
profile above a boundary. The profile is fit to the Law of the Wall and the parameters
from the fit used to decide whether the flow is HSF or HRF.

Eq 20

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