PHYSICS OF FLUIDS VOLUME 13, NUMBER 3 MARCH 2001

A comparative study of near-wall turbulence in high and low Reynolds

number boundary layers
M. M. Metzgera) and J. C. Klewicki
Physical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah,
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112
共Received 8 March 2000; accepted 8 December 2000兲
The present study explores the effects of Reynolds number, over three orders of magnitude, in the
viscous wall region of a turbulent boundary layer. Complementary experiments were conducted
both in the boundary layer wind tunnel at the University of Utah and in the atmospheric surface
layer which flows over the salt flats of the Great Salt Lake Desert in western Utah. The Reynolds
numbers, based on momentum deficit thickness, of the two flows were R␪ ⫽2⫻103 and R␪ ⬇5
⫻106 , respectively. High-resolution velocity measurements were obtained from a five-element
vertical rake of hot-wires spanning the buffer region. In both the low and high R␪ flows, the length
of the hot-wires measured less than 6 viscous units. To facilitate reliable comparisons, both the
laboratory and field experiments employed the same instrumentation and procedures. Data indicate
that, even in the immediate vicinity of the surface, strong influences from low-frequency motions at
high R␪ produce noticeable Reynolds number differences in the streamwise velocity and velocity
gradient statistics. In particular, the peak value in the root mean square streamwise velocity profile,
when normalized by viscous scales, was found to exhibit a logarithmic dependence on Reynolds
number. The mean streamwise velocity profile, on the other hand, appears to be essentially
independent of Reynolds number. Spectra and spatial correlation data suggest that low-frequency
motions at high Reynolds number engender intensified local convection velocities which affect the
structure of both the velocity and velocity gradient fields. Implications for turbulent production
mechanisms and coherent motions in the buffer layer are discussed. © 2001 American Institute of
Physics. 关DOI: 10.1063/1.1344894兴

I. INTRODUCTION ization refers to normalization by ␯ and the friction velocity

As indicated in the recent review by Gad-el-Hak and
Bandyopadhyay,1 most of what is known concerning the
characteristics of the viscous wall region of turbulent bound-
ary layers has been derived from experiments and/or numeri-
cal simulations at low to moderate Reynolds number, R␪
⬍5000 (R␪ ⬅U ⬁ ␪ / ␯ , where U ⬁ , ␪ , and ␯ denote the free
stream velocity, momentum deficit thickness, and kinematic
viscosity, respectively兲. Numerous technologically important
flows, most notably those within the atmosphere, are at con-
siderably higher Reynolds numbers, R␪ ⬎100 000. Because
of this fact, there is significant motivation to obtain improved
instantaneous and statistical descriptions of the near-wall
motions affecting the momentum and scalar transport pro-
cesses in high R␪ flows. These improved descriptions are
required to resolve scaling issues, advance physical models,
and refine numerical models such as those associated with
large eddy simulations. The extrapolation of low R␪ results
to flows at high R␪ can be problematic. For example, contro-
versy continues to exist regarding whether the peak value in
the inner normalized fluctuating streamwise velocity profile
is independent of Reynolds number,1–3 where inner normal-
a兲
Electronic mail: metzger@eng.utah.edu
u ␶ (⬅ 冑␶ w / ␳ ) with ␳ and ␶ w symbolizing the mass density
and wall shear stress, respectively.
Several interrelated factors exacerbate the task of quan-
tifying the structure of turbulent boundary layers at high R␪ .
One factor stems from the significant demands placed on
experimental facilities designed for high Reynolds number
boundary layer studies. Specifically, the production of a high
Reynolds number boundary layer requires either a high free
stream velocity, a thick boundary layer, a low kinematic vis-
cosity, or a suitable combination of the three. Because the
generation of a thick boundary layer demands a very long
wind tunnel with a substantial development length, exacting
high construction and maintenance expenses, most high Rey-
nolds number facilities compromise development length in
favor of higher flow speeds. Notable examples include the
National Transonic Facility at NASA Langley and the Na-
tional Diagnostic Facility at the Illinois Institute of Technol-
ogy. For a fixed development length 共i.e., fixed test section
length兲, increasing the external flow speed generally results
in a reduction of the boundary layer thickness ␦ . In the case
of the Princeton University ‘‘Superpipe,’’ operating pres-
sures above atmospheric are utilized to decrease the kine-
matic viscosity, effectively increasing R␪ . A decrease in ei-
ther ␦ or ␯ translates into a reduction in spatial resolution of
any fixed sized probe. Furthermore, as R␪ increases, the
boundary layer thickness increases dramatically when mea-

1070-6631/2001/13(3)/692/10/$18.00 692 © 2001 American Institute of Physics

Phys. Fluids, Vol. 13, No. 3, March 2001
sured in terms of the smallest scales of turbulent motion,
which are on the order of the viscous or inner unit of length
defined as ␯ /u ␶ . For example, at R␪ ⫽5⫻103 , ␦ ⫹ ⬇2 000,
while at R␪ ⫽1⫻106 , ␦ ⫹ ⬎350 000, where the superscript
⫹
denotes normalization by inner units ␯ and u ␶ . Thus, even
if ␦ remained constant over this R␪ range, the smallest scales
of turbulent motion still decrease by a factor greater than
175, posing severe challenges for sensor spatial resolution at
high Reynolds numbers.
The present course of research attempts to overcome
many of these difficulties by probing a high Reynolds num-
ber boundary layer (R␪ ⬇5⫻106 ) flow with extremely large
length scales. A remote site on the salt flats of the Great Salt
Lake Desert was chosen because of the exceptionally smooth
and barren terrain. An additional advantage of the site is the
highly predictable summer diurnal wind patterns, with ex-
tended periods of constant wind speed and direction occur-
ring in the late afternoon and continuing into the early
evening. During these periods the atmospheric surface layer,
comprising roughly the lower tenth of the planetary bound-
ary layer, passes through neutral thermal stability, and, thus,
mimics a laboratory boundary layer. Comparisons are made
between the flow over the salt flats and the low Reynolds
number (R␪ ⫽2⫻103 ) flow generated in a laboratory wind
tunnel. The present results focus on the structure of the flow
in the viscous sublayer and buffer layer (2⬍y ⫹ ⬍30) where
turbulence production has been observed to reach a peak.4
The aim is to delineate Reynolds number effects on near-
wall turbulence statistics and turbulence production mecha-
nisms. Single- and two-point streamwise velocity statistics,
single- and two-point ⳵ u/ ⳵ y statistics, spectra, spatiotempo-
ral correlations, and joint probability density functions were
analyzed. For purposes of comparison and consistency, the
same instrumentation and procedures were utilized in both
the R␪ ⬇5⫻106 and R␪ ⫽2⫻103 experiments; more impor-
tantly, nearly identical inner normalized probe scales were
obtained in the two experiments which yielded high-
resolution streamwise velocity measurements at both R␪ .
II. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS
The low Reynolds number experiments were conducted
in the open circuit wind tunnel 共0.9⫻0.6⫻7.9 m3 ) located in
the Physical Fluid Dynamics 共PFD兲 laboratory at the Univer-
sity of Utah. Measurements were taken 5.3 m downstream
from the inlet. At this location, the axial free stream intensity
measured less than 0.3%. The high Reynolds number experi-
ments were conducted at a test site located on the southern
end of the salt flats of the Great Salt Lake Desert (113°26.5⬘
W, 40°8.1⬘ N兲. The terrain surrounding the test site is ex-
tremely smooth and flat with a roughness length estimated at
3⫻10⫺4 m. Surface elevation varies by less than 1 m over
the first 13 km north of the test site, and the upwind fetch
remains unobstructed for more than 100 km. The field ex-
periments were performed near sunset under conditions of
near neutral thermal stability, as verified from estimates of
the Monin–Obukov length. During the field trials, deviations
in the local mean wind direction, arising from low-frequency
motions of the order of 5–10 min, were not more than ⫾5°;
A comparative study of near-wall turbulence 693
TABLE I. Boundary layer integral parameters.
␪ 共m兲
R␪ U ⬁ 共m/s兲 u ␶ 共m/s兲 ␯ (m2 /s兲 ␦ 共m兲 H
2⫻103 1.6 0.074 1.79⫻10⫺5 0.19 0.019 1.4
⬃5⫻106 4.3 0.06–0.11 1.83⫻10⫺5 150 28 2.0
however, over the duration of any particular data acquisition
run, the mean wind direction remained essentially constant.
Table I presents a summary of the boundary layer inte-
gral parameters representative of the two experiments. In
both cases, the friction velocity u ␶ was determined using the
streamwise velocity gradient at the wall, as opposed to a
Clauser plot. The shape factor H (⬅ ␪ / ␦ * , with ␦ * denoting
the displacement thickness兲 was determined by integrating
the mean streamwise velocity profile. At the salt flats site,
mean horizontal wind speed profiles acquired from a tether-
sonde and miniSODAR were used to estimate ␦ , U ⬁ , ␪ , ␦ * ,
and R␪ .
Time-resolved streamwise velocity data were obtained
using constant temperature hot-wire anemometry with the
five-wire rake depicted in Fig. 1. The rake remained at a
fixed location with the bottom of the probe resting on the
surface of the ground plane. In this position, the five hot-
wires of the rake span a vertical distance of 0.5–5 mm above
the surface, and, thus, allow for detailed study of the viscous
sublayer and buffer layer regions of the boundary layer. Ver-
tical wire spacing was measured using a cathetometer
(⫾0.025 mm precision兲 with an overall estimated uncer-
tainty of 4%. The hot-wires were comprised of 5 ␮ m diam-
eter tungsten wire with a 1 mm active region. Regarding
spatial resolution, it is important to note that for both the
field and laboratory measurements, l ⫹ ⬍6, where l ⫹
⬅lu ␶ / ␯ with l denoting the sensor length. Data sets were
sampled long enough temporally to capture over 10 000 in-
tegral time scales in the wind tunnel and 1000–2000 integral
time scales, per run, for the field data 共ten independent runs
were acquired over a 3 h time frame兲. Note, in the former
FIG. 1. Schematic of wall rake probe used in the present study. The lowest
wire lies 0.5 mm nominal above the surface. All dimensions are in mm.
694 Phys. Fluids, Vol. 13, No. 3, March 2001
FIG. 2. Inner normalized plot of mean streamwise velocity vs position
above the surface. The solid black line represents the log-law estimate of
Coles 共Ref. 7兲. The dotted lines mark the upper and lower bounds of the data
of Blackwelder and Haritonidis 共Ref. 8兲.
case, this is more than twice that needed to ensure conver-
gence of the first four statistical moments of the streamwise
velocity to within ⫾5% accuracy.3
Calibrations were performed both prior to and following
each experiment. In the field trials, a 5.5 °C ambient tem-
perature drop occurred over the course of the experiments.
Since this constituted a non-negligible temperature drift, a
temperature compensation technique, following Abdel-
Rahman et al.,5 was incorporated. Throughout the duration
of the field experiments, ambient temperature measurements
were acquired concurrent with the hot-wire data. In the labo-
ratory, temperature compensation was not required and cali-
bration data was fit to the model equation E 2 ⫽A⫹BV n . For
all experiments, the square wave frequency response of each
of the sensors on the probe was at least 15 kHz.
III. RESULTS
A. Velocity and velocity gradient statistics
The mean, inner normalized, streamwise velocity profile
in the near-wall region is shown in Fig. 2. The notation
adopted throughout the remainder of the article is such that y
denotes the wall normal coordinate and ũ⫽U⫹u, where the
tilde denotes an instantaneous quantity, while the upper and
lower case letters symbolize the corresponding mean value
and the zero-mean, fluctuating quantity, respectively. The su-
perscript ⫹ denotes normalization by the kinematic viscosity
␯ and friction velocity u ␶ . For consistency, the value of u ␶
in both the wind tunnel and field studies was determined
from the mean vertical velocity gradient at the wall, ⌬U/⌬y,
as opposed to a Clauser plot. Due to suspected heat conduc-
tion effects between the substrate and the wire closest to the
ground plane, u ␶ was determined using the second wire clos-
est to the ground 共see Fig. 1兲. Uncertainty in u ␶ , to within a
95% confidence interval, is estimated at 3.8% for the wind
tunnel data and 4.0%–6.5% for the salt flats data. This ac-
counts for uncertainties in measuring ␯ and ⌬y as well as the
M. M. Metzger and J. C. Klewicki
FIG. 3. Inner normalized plot of rms streamwise velocity vs position above
the surface.
uncertainty in measuring ⌬U allowing for covariances of the
calibration fit parameters and the variance of the estimated
mean value. The range of percent uncertainty in u ␶ for the
salt flats data reflects the decrease in u ␶ over the course of
the experiment, whereas the variance in u ␶ between indepen-
dent runs remained fairly constant. Note, ten independent
runs were acquired at the salt flats site. The scatter between
runs, obvious in the reported statistics, may be due to a num-
ber of factors including the inherent variability of the atmo-
sphere leading to unstationary statistics in the velocity when
averaged over any given time frame, slight misalignments of
the probe with the mean wind direction, and a fairly rapid
transition period between stably and unstably stratified con-
ditions at the test site.
For comparison, the recent data of Folz,6 also acquired at
the salt flats site, are included in Fig. 2. Folz’s experiments
utilized an 8-wire probe, which was traversed vertically to
obtain profile data, and a 24-wire probe, which was held at a
fixed vertical position. Only a single data set is reported for
each of Folz’s probes. Figure 2 indicates that mean data from
the field experiments tend to exceed Coles7 log-law line in
the region y ⫹ ⬎20. As discussed by Blackwelder and
Haritonidis,8 and manifest in their mean profile data, this
observed trend exists when sublayer streamwise velocity
data are used to determine u ␶ as opposed to a Clauser plot.
The composite high and low Reynolds number data support
inner scaling of the mean streamwise velocity profile.
In contrast, the inner normalized profile of the stream-
wise root mean square 共rms兲 velocity, presented in Fig. 3,
shows significant deviations between the low and high R␪
data, especially in the measured peak value near y ⫹ ⫽15. For
the wind tunnel data, the uncertainty in u ⬘ ⫹ is estimated at
less than 4.4% 共95% confidence interval兲 over the y ⫹ range
measured. For the salt flats data, uncertainty estimates in u ⬘ ⫹
range from 5.4% to 11% 共95% confidence interval兲 depend-
ing on the particular run, with the highest uncertainties oc-
curring in the lowest two wires near the ground plane. To-
gether, the data in Fig. 3 depict a trend in the peak value of
u ⬘ ⫹ , increasing with increasing R␪ . Figure 4 displays the
Phys. Fluids, Vol. 13, No. 3, March 2001 A comparative study of near-wall turbulence 695

FIG. 4. Peak value of the inner normalized rms streamwise velocity vs
Reynolds number. The dotted line corresponds to the best fit line through the
low R␪ data. The average value of the combined salt flats data is denoted
by 丢 .
peak u ⬘ ⫹ measurements from the present study as a function
of R␪ , along with data from Fernholz and Finley9 and sev-
eral other studies as referenced in Table II. The combined
⬘ ⫹ value of 3.66. The hori-
salt flats data yield an average u max
zontal error bars in Fig. 4 reflect the uncertainty in calculat-
ing R␪ at the field site. As shown, the curve fit, derived only
from the low R␪ data, extrapolates to well within the error
bounds and scatter of the field data. Overall, the data suggest
a logarithmic dependence of u max⬘ ⫹ on R␪ , indicating a failure
of inner scaling in the near-wall region. Interestingly, Maru-
sic et al.10 have found that u ⬘ ⫹ measured at y ⫹ ⫽200 also
exhibits a logarithmic dependence on R␪ with a slope of
approximately 0.5. Their proposed similarity law for u ⬘ ⫹ ,
valid outside the buffer layer from y ⫹ ⭓100 to y/ ␦ ⭐1, pre-
dicts an increase in u ⬘ ⫹ with increasing Reynolds number in
this region.
Importantly, in all of the comparison cases listed in
Table II as well as those of Fernholz and Finley,9 l ⫹ ⭐10.
Previous studies8,11–14 have demonstrated the significant ef-
fect of reduced spatial resolution on the detection of small-
scale structures in the near-wall region and specifically on
the measurement of u ⬘ . For example,14 at a fixed R␪ increas-
ing the probe length 共or decreasing the spatial resolution兲
⬘ ⫹ from 2.81 to
from l ⫹ ⫽3.3 to 16 results in a decrease of u max
FIG. 5. Skewness of the streamwise velocity vs inner normalized position
above the surface.
2.73; and similarly,11 increasing l ⫹ from 14 to 32 produces a
⬘ ⫹ . The sensitivity of u ⬘ on probe
2.7 to 2.43 reduction in u max
resolution could easily lead to erroneous conclusions regard-
ing the R␪ dependence of u max ⬘ ⫹ , especially when based on
data that only cover a narrow R␪ range.1 This probably ac-
counts for a majority of previous work,2,9,15–17 contrary to
the present study, that supports inner scaling of u ⬘ in the
near-wall region.
Near-wall skewness and kurtosis profiles of the stream-
wise velocity fluctuations are presented in Figs. 5 and 6. The
wind tunnel data from the present study generally show good
agreement with the previous low R␪ data of Klewicki.18 The
values of S(u) and K(u) near y ⫹ ⫽2 in the present wind
tunnel data are, however, slightly higher than the typical low
R␪ limiting values19,20 of 1 and 4, respectively. In contrast,
both the skewness and kurtosis from the salt flats data
achieve considerably higher values near the wall, reaching
values of 1 and 4, respectively, at y ⫹ ⫽6 and continuing to
increase approaching the wall. Note, the low R␪ S(u) data

TABLE II. Low Reynolds number comparison data.

Paper Year R␪ ⬘⫹
u max

Ballint et al.24 1991 2685 2.68

Ching et al.37 1995 400, 1316 2.64, 2.71
Johansson et al.38 1987 4940 2.82
Johansson and Karlsson39 1988 2420 2.68
Klewicki and Falco3 1990 1010, 2870, 4850 2.65, 2.93, 3.05
Ligrani and Bradshaw12 1987 2620 2.81
Purtell et al.40 1981 465, 1840 2.41, 2.7
Spalart41 1988 300, 670, 1410 2.52, 2.64, 2.67
Ueda and Hinze42 1975 1244, 4248 2.73, 2.89
Wei and Willmarth13 1989 237, 1137, 3872 2.65, 2.68, 2.77 FIG. 6. Kurtosis of the streamwise velocity vs inner normalized position
above the surface.
696 Phys. Fluids, Vol. 13, No. 3, March 2001
FIG. 7. Effect of applying a high-pass filter, with cutoff frequency f c , to the
streamwise velocity statistics of the salt flats data at y ⫹ ⬇20. Dashed lines
represent the unfiltered, wind tunnel results at the corresponding wall nor-
mal location. The average, unfiltered S(u) and u ⬘ ⫹ values of the cumulative
field data are 0.39 and 0.34, respectively. Arrows denote the approximate
location at which the filtered salt flats data reach the respective low R␪ wind
tunnel values.
exhibit a negative peak in the region 20⬍y ⫹ ⬍30, while the
high R␪ data remain positive out to y ⫹ ⫽100. For y ⫹ ⬎20,
the K(u) data from both the high and low R␪ flows appear to
merge.
As discussed in Sec. I, a major distinction between high
and low Reynolds number flows lies in the range of intrinsic
turbulent length scales. Specific to the present study is the
rather unusual condition that ␦ varies by a factor of about
1000 between the high and low R␪ flows, whereas the sub-
layer thickness remains nearly identical for the two flows.
From this, one may hypothesize that the observed differ-
ences, as apparent from the statistics shown in Figs. 2–6,
result primarily from the large scales inherent in the salt flats
boundary layer. Townsend21 originally posed the concept
that the motion at any point consists of two components
共‘‘active’’ and ‘‘inactive’’ motions兲 which do not interact
directly. He further supposed22 that the large-scale, ‘‘inac-
tive’’ motions behave like a slowly varying mean flow to the
small-scale, stress-producing, ‘‘active’’ motions. Bradshaw23
showed, by considering short- and long-time averages using
a simple sinusoidal model of turbulence, that large-scale,
‘‘inactive’’ motions can produce extensive streamwise veloc-
ity fluctuations in the inner layer without noticeable effect on
the mean flow.
This notion, that a range of large-scale, low-frequency
motions exist superposed on smaller-scale, high-frequency
motions, was explored in the context of the present data. A
simple high-pass filtering procedure was applied to the field
data at y ⫹ ⬇20. This position corresponds closely to the
negative peak observed in S(u) at low R␪ and the peak u ⬘ ⫹
observed at high R␪ . Resultant u ⬘ ⫹ and S(u) values from
the filtered salt flats data are plotted in Fig. 7 as a function of
inner normalized cutoff frequency, f ⫹ c ⫽ f c ␯ /u ␶ . Note, the
2
⫹
scatter in f c is due primarily to variations in u ␶ between
runs, the uncertainty in f ⫹ c being estimated at less than 0.1%
M. M. Metzger and J. C. Klewicki
共95% confidence interval兲 over all runs. The dotted horizon-
tal lines represent the average u ⬘ ⫹ and S(u) values of the
unfiltered, wind tunnel data at y ⫹ ⬇20. The average, unfil-
tered values of the field data at this vertical location are
u ⬘ ⫹ ⫽3.6 and S(u)⫽0.39. As expected, increasing the cut-
off frequency results in a monotonic decrease in the filtered
u ⬘ ⫹ values from the collective field data. At a sufficiently
large cutoff frequency ( f ⫹ ⫹
c ⫽0.0018), the filtered u ⬘ values
attain the low R␪ value. A similar trend occurs in the S(u)
data, with the filtered salt flats data approaching that of the
low R␪ data near a cutoff frequency of f ⫹ c ⫽0.04. Above this
frequency, the filtered S(u) values steadily increase, appar-
ently asymptoting to zero within the scatter of the data. The
effect of the high-pass filter procedure on K(u) 共not shown兲
is negligible for f ⫹
c ⬍0.002, whereas, above this frequency,
the filtered K(u) values show dramatic amplification. Recall
from Fig. 6 that the field and wind tunnel K(u) values at
y ⫹ ⬇20 nearly overlie.
The high-pass filtering procedure systematically elimi-
nates any additive effect of large-scale, low-frequency mo-
tions on the measured statistics. Therefore, assuming that the
observed differences between the low and high R␪ flows re-
sult from the increased range of large scales inherent in the
high R␪ flow and assuming that the large and small scales of
motion merely superpose, then one would expect the filtered
u ⬘ ⫹ and S(u) values in Fig. 7 to approach their correspond-
ing low R␪ values at identical cutoff frequencies. The fact
that this does not exactly occur in the present data suggests
that there exists some direct coupling, albeit weak, between
the large and small scales of motion. Note, the extent of the
large-scale motions, as referred to in the present context, are
roughly taken as those motions with frequencies below ␻ ⫹
⫽0.03, where ␻ ⬅2 ␲ f . Since each individual time series
from the salt flats exhibited the same trend, environmental
factors, such as mean wind variations and/or surface layer
thermal stability conditions, are believed to have an inconse-
quential impact on the present observations.
Owing to the relatively close spacing of the hot-wires on
the five element rake 共see Fig. 1兲, the simultaneously
sampled data permitted measurement of ⳵ u/ ⳵ y time series.
These were computed using a simple two-point finite differ-
ence, with the measurement point taken as halfway between
adjacent wires. Figure 8 shows the present ( ⳵ u/ ⳵ y) ⬘ ⫹ data
compared with the results from previous measurements3,20,24
of wall region spanwise vorticity ␻ z⬘ ⫹ . Note, the results of
Klewicki and Falco3 indicate that, independent of Reynolds
number, ␻ z statistics are nearly identical to ⳵ u/ ⳵ y statistics
near the wall. The noticeable amplification in ( ⳵ u/ ⳵ y) ⬘ ⫹ at
high R␪ , in the region 2⬍y ⫹ ⬍10, emerges due to an in-
crease in spectral intensity from the entire range of scales of
motion 共see Sec. III B兲. For y ⫹ ⬎10, no discernable Rey-
nolds number trend is apparent. Additionally, the present
data indicate, within tolerable scatter, that the wall value of
␻ z⬘ ⫹ does not vary with R␪ . This result supports the recent
high-resolution LDA pipe flow measurements by Durst et
al.19 as well as the earlier wall shear stress measurements by
Alfredsson et al.25 Both studies report a constant limiting
value of ␻ z⬘ ⫹ ⬇0.4 at the wall.
The sign of the near-wall instantaneous velocity gradient
Phys. Fluids, Vol. 13, No. 3, March 2001
FIG. 8. Inner normalized plot of the rms of the vertical gradient of stream-
wise velocity vs position above the surface.
⳵ ũ/ ⳵ y 共or instantaneous spanwise vorticity ␻˜ z ) can provide
useful information regarding the nature of turbulent motions
near the wall. Figure 9 presents the probability of finding
positive ⳵ ũ/ ⳵ y as a function of inner normalized distance
above the wall. The low Reynolds number ␻ ˜ z results of Ra-
26
jagopalan and Antonia are also shown. The data presented
in Fig. 9 reveal Reynolds number similarity, at least within
the region near the wall (y ⫹ ⬍25), in accord with the previ-
ous ␻ ˜ z measurements of Klewicki et al.27 over a much nar-
rower Reynolds number range, 1010⭐R␪ ⭐4850. The com-
posite data indicate that, even out to R␪ ⬇5⫻106 , the
instantaneous spanwise vorticity vector persistently remains
aligned with the direction of the mean shear very near the
wall. This imposes constraints on the probable shape of the
instantaneous streamwise velocity profile in the near-wall re-
gion, since ␻ ˜ z motions close to the wall correspond more to
shear layers than solid body rotations.28
FIG. 9. Probability of encountering positive ⳵ ũ/ ⳵ y 共or negative, instanta-
neous spanwise vorticity兲 in the near wall region.
A comparative study of near-wall turbulence 697
FIG. 10. Power spectral functions of the streamwise velocity 共upper two
plots兲 and streamwise velocity gradient 共lower two plots兲 near y ⫹ ⫽15 as a
function of inner normalized angular frequency. The exact wall normal po-
sitions corresponding to the above plots are as follows. For R␪ ⫽2⫻103 ,
⌿ u : y ⫹ ⫽20.6; ⌿ ⳵ u/ ⳵ y : y ⫹ ⫽16.7, and for R␪ ⬇5⫻106 , ⌿ u : y ⫹ ⫽16.9;
⌿ ⳵ u/ ⳵ y : y ⫹ ⫽14.1.
B. Spectra
One-dimensional power spectra of the inner normalized
streamwise velocity ⌽( ␻ ⫹ ,u ⫹ ) and velocity gradient
⌽( ␻ ⫹ , ⳵ u ⫹ / ⳵ y ⫹ ) were calculated in order to investigate dif-
ferences in the range of scales between the low and high R␪
flows, here ␻ ⫹ (⬅ ␻␯ /u ␶ 2 ) denotes the inner normalized an-
gular frequency. Following the format of Perry and Abell,16
data are presented in terms of spectral functions
⌿ u ⫽ ␻ ⫹ ⌽ 共 ␻ ⫹ ,u ⬘ ⫹ 兲
and 共1兲
⌿ ⳵ u/ ⳵ y ⫽ ␻ ⫹ ⌽ 共 ␻ ⫹ , ⳵ u ⫹ / ⳵ y ⫹ 兲 .
Power spectral functions acquired near y ⫹ ⫽15 are shown in
Fig. 10. The low Reynolds number wind tunnel data are
represented as black lines, while the high Reynolds number
salt flats data are drawn in light gray. The scales of motion
appear to be universal, in terms of inner normalization, only
in the low- to intermediate-frequency range, 0.03⭐ ␻ ⫹
⭐0.25. The present results taken together with the low R␪
channel data of Wei and Willmarth13 共their Fig. 21, also
acquired at y ⫹ ⫽15) indicate that this universal region ex-
tends further toward the high-frequency end of the spectrum
as the Reynolds number decreases. For example, their u
spectra, acquired over the Reynolds number range 200⬍R␪
⬍4000, begin to diverge at approximately ␻ ⫹ ⫽0.7, com-
pared to ␻ ⫹ ⫽0.25 in the present study. They did not observe
a noticeable deviation of the spectra at low frequencies; how-
ever, the lowest frequency reported in their paper was ␻ ⫹
⫽0.01. At this frequency, the present low and high R␪ val-
ues of ⌿ u differ by only ⬃0.07. This departure presumably
diminishes as the Reynolds number difference decreases, and
most likely, was not detectable over the Reynolds number
range investigated in the study of Wei and Willmarth.
698 Phys. Fluids, Vol. 13, No. 3, March 2001 M. M. Metzger and J. C. Klewicki

The present u spectra of Fig. 10 support the conclusion

that enhanced energy in the low-frequency motions is re-
sponsible for the observed Reynolds number discrepancy in
the u ⬘ ⫹ and S(u) profiles 共see Figs. 3 and 5兲. With high-pass
filtering, the low and high R␪ u ⬘ ⫹ and S(u) values at y ⫹
⫽15 coalesce at average cutoff frequencies of ␻ ⫹ c ⫽0.012
and ␻ ⫹ c ⫽0.11, respectively. From the spectra, it is apparent
that these cutoff frequencies lie well above the high-
frequency regime. On the other hand, the ⳵ u/ ⳵ y spectra re-
veal that enhanced contributions in the intermediate fre-
quency range 共roughly between ␻ ⫹ ⫽0.3 and 1.0兲 of the high
R␪ flow account for the slight Reynolds number dissimilarity
in the ( ⳵ u/ ⳵ y) ⬘ ⫹ profiles of Fig. 8 near y ⫹ ⫽15. For y ⫹
⬍10, the ( ⳵ u/ ⳵ y) ⬘ ⫹ profiles begin to diverge appreciably.
At y ⫹ ⬇10, the high R␪ spectrum of ⳵ u/ ⳵ y 共not shown兲 con-
tains more intensity, relative to the R␪ ⫽2⫻103 spectrum,
over the entire frequency range. Interestingly, in the R␪ ⬇5 FIG. 11. Spatial correlation of streamwise velocity vs inner normalized
⫻106 case, contributions associated with the lower frequen- distance from the reference position. The present study uses reference posi-
tions of y ⫹ ⫽1.6 (R␪ ⫽2⫻103 ) and 1.3⬍y ⫹ ⬍2.2 (R␪ ⬇5⫻106 ), while that
cies ( ␻ ⫹ ⬍0.03) have increased proportionately more than of Klewicki 共Ref. 18兲 uses a reference position of y ⫹ ⫽4.5.
that at all other frequencies in the spectrum.
Head and Bandyopadhyay29 observed in their flow visu-
alization studies that hairpin vortex-like motions in a turbu- present wind tunnel data coincide with the low R␪ results
lent boundary layer become more stretched at higher Rey- from the data base of Klewicki18 using a reference location
nolds numbers. The R␪ effects observed at high frequencies of y ⫹ ⫽4.5. The high and low R␪ results in Fig. 11 compare
in both the near-wall u and ⳵ u/ ⳵ y spectra are consistent with well for small ⌬y ⫹ , but begin to diverge significantly for
this notion. Owing to conservation of angular momentum, ⌬y ⫹ ⭓10. This behavior is consistent with the notion that a
the stretching of vortex loops into hairpin vortices necessar- considerable influence from large-scale motions at high R␪ ,
ily generates smaller-scale fluctuations with higher fre- which penetrate inside the near-wall region, causes both a
quency content, both of which should be manifest in the deviation from viscous scaling in the u statistics and a no-
velocity and vorticity spectra. Additionally, because of the ticeable increase in the correlated streamwise velocity fluc-
inherent random nature of turbulent boundary layer flow, tuations. Conversely, the R ⳵ u/ ⳵ y (⌬y ⫹ ) profiles of Fig. 12 dis-
stretching of one component of the vorticity vector will con- play relatively close agreement. The present results, using
ceivably lead to stretching of the other two components ow- fixed reference locations at y ⫹ ⫽2.8 (R␪ ⫽2⫻103 ) and 2.3
ing to the effect of the reorientation terms in the vorticity ⬍y ⫹ ⬍4 (R␪ ⬇5⫻106 ), are compared with the low R␪ ,
transport equations. The question remains whether the spec- R ⳵ u/ ⳵ y (⌬y ⫹ ) data of Klewicki18 as well as correlation coef-
tral amplification in the high-frequency ⳵ u/ ⳵ y motions at ficient profiles of spanwise vorticity from Klewicki and
high R␪ is a direct consequence of the stretching of spanwise
vorticity or, for example, streamwise vorticity 共characteriz-
ing hairpin vortices兲 that has become stretched and reori-
ented into the spanwise direction.

C. Correlations
Simultaneously sampled signals from the hot-wire rake
allowed the spatiotemporal structure of the near-wall flow to
be explored. In particular, the autocorrelation coefficient of
the streamwise velocity

具 u 共 y,t 兲 u 共 y⫹⌬y,t⫹ ␶ 兲 典
R u 共 y,⌬y, ␶ 兲 ⫽ 共2兲
u ⬘ 共 y 兲 u ⬘ 共 y⫹⌬y 兲
was determined for ⌬y spatial separation and ␶ time delay,
where 具 • 典 denotes a long-time average. The autocorrelation
coefficient for the streamwise velocity gradient (R ⳵ u/ ⳵ y ) was
also determined in a similar manner. In all calculations using
Eq. 共2兲, statistical stationarity was assumed so that t⫽0 and FIG. 12. Spatial correlation of the vertical gradient of streamwise velocity
time averages were performed over the entire record dura- vs inner normalized distance from the reference position. The present study
uses reference positions of y ⫹ ⫽2.8 (R␪ ⫽2⫻103 ) and 2.3⬍y ⫹ ⬍4.0 (R␪
tion. Figure 11 displays the present R u (⌬y ⫹ ) results using ⬇5⫻106 ). Comparison data utilize the following reference positions:
fixed reference locations of y ⫹ ⫽1.6 and 1.3⬍y ⫹ ⬍2.2 for Klewicki 共Ref. 18兲, y ⫹ ⫽7.5; Klewicki and Falco 共Ref. 3兲, y ⫹ ⫽7.5; Raja-
the R␪ ⫽2⫻103 and R␪ ⬇5⫻106 flows, respectively. The gopalan and Antonia 共Ref. 26兲, y ⫹ ⫽4.75; and Kim 共Ref. 26兲, y ⫹ ⫽4.75.
Phys. Fluids, Vol. 13, No. 3, March 2001
FIG. 13. Weighted joint probability density functions of inner normalized
⳵ u/ ⳵ y. Dotted lines represent the origin of ⳵ ũ/ ⳵ y. 共a兲 R␪ ⫽2⫻103 ,
y⫹ ⫹ 6 ⫹ ⫹
1 ⫽2.8, y 2 ⫽16.6. 共b兲 R␪ ⬇5⫻10 , y 1 ⫽4.0, y 2 ⫽23.5.
Falco,30 Rajagopalan and Antonia,26 and the DNS data of
Kim.26 In particular, all of the data indicate a negative peak
between 12⬍⌬y ⫹ ⬍18. Although small, one apparent differ-
ence between the high and low R␪ data is a reduction in
magnitude of the negative peak from ⫺0.42, at low R␪ , to
approximately ⫺0.33, at high R␪ . Reasons for this disparity
become evident in contour plots of the weighted joint prob-
ability density function 共pdf兲 of ⳵ u/ ⳵ y.
In order to examine the different quadrant contributions
underlying the correlations in Fig. 12, weighted joint pdf’s of
⳵ u/ ⳵ y were computed. For two random variables ␥ 1 and ␥ 2 ,
the weighted joint pdf is expressed as ␥ 1 ␥ 2 p( ␥ 1 , ␥ 2 ). In the
present case, ␥ 1 ⫽ ⳵ u(y ⫹
1 )/ ⳵ y ( ␯ /u ␶ ) and ␥ 2 ⫽ ⳵ u(y 2 )/
2
⫹ ⫹ ⫹
⳵ y ( ␯ /u ␶ ), where y 2 ⫽y 1 ⫹⌬y . The weighted joint pdf’s,
2
derived from the ⳵ u/ ⳵ y signals forming the basis for the
observed peak negative correlation in R ⳵ u/ ⳵ y , are shown in
Fig. 13. The corresponding reference positions are y ⫹
⫽2.8, y ⫹ ⫹ ⫹
2 ⫽16.6 (R␪ ⫽2⫻10 ) and y 1 ⫽4.0, y 2 ⫽23.5 (R␪
3
⬇5⫻106 ). The coordinate axes defining the origin of the
instantaneous ⳵ ũ/ ⳵ y (⬅ ⳵ U/ ⳵ y⫹ ⳵ u/ ⳵ y), denoted by the
dotted lines in Fig. 13, were calculated using Van Driest’s31
formulation. The present wind tunnel results agree remark-
ably well with the near-wall, spanwise vorticity results of
Rajagopalan and Antonia,26 R␪ ⫽1450 共their Fig. 10兲, and
those of Klewicki and Falco,30 R␪ ⫽1010 关their Fig. 17共b兲兴.
In particular, the negative peak correlation in R ⳵ u/ ⳵ y largely
results from fourth quadrant 共Q4兲 interactions between
⫺⳵ u/ ⳵ y in the buffer region and ⫹⳵ u/ ⳵ y in the viscous
sublayer. Substantial contributions also arise from second
quadrant 共Q2兲 interactions between ⫹⳵ u/ ⳵ y in the buffer
region and ⫺ ⳵ u/ ⳵ y in the viscous sublayer. In the high R␪
flow, there is a larger positive contribution from Q3 which
accounts for the fact that the negative peak correlation has a
slightly lower magnitude than that observed for the lower R␪
flows. Relative to the instantaneous axes, all of the motions
A comparative study of near-wall turbulence 699
FIG. 14. Probable instantaneous streamwise velocity profiles corresponding
to the quadrant contributions shown in Fig. 13. Tick marks on the vertical
axes are drawn in increments of y ⫹ ⫽20. Dotted lines represent the mean
boundary layer profile.
in the viscous sublayer have ⫹⳵ ũ/ ⳵ y. In the buffer layer,
about one-third of Q4 contributions actually exhibit
⫺ ⳵ ũ/ ⳵ y, for the case of the low R␪ flow, while in the high
R␪ flow, about half of the Q4 contributions possess ⫺⳵ ũ/ ⳵ y.
This type of information provides a useful foundation to
construct likely streamwise velocity profiles that characterize
predominant near-wall turbulent events or coherent motions.
Figure 14 presents a set of probable instantaneous boundary
layer profiles consistent with the weighted joint pdf results of
Fig. 13. Mean profiles are denoted by a dotted line. Figures
14共a兲, 14共b兲, and 14共d兲 largely resemble the conditionally
averaged velocity profiles of Blackwelder and Kaplan32
共their Fig. 9兲, acquired at R␪ ⫽2550 and based on bursting
events detected at y ⫹ ⫽15. In particular, the profile in Fig.
14共a兲, associated with Q2 contributions, looks strikingly
⫹
similar to their conditionally averaged profile at the time of
the detected burst event, i.e., at zero time lag ␶ ⫽0. The pro-
files drawn in Figs. 14共b兲 and 14共d兲 correspond to their con-
ditionally averaged profiles occurring at ␶ ⬍0 and ␶ ⬎0, re-
1 spectively, characteristic of near-wall coherent structures.
Specifically, the decelerated flow of Q3 represents an ejec-
tion, while the accelerated flow of Q4 signifies a sweep.33
The probability of ⫺ ⳵ ũ/ ⳵ y occurring in Q3 and Q4 implies
that inflectional profiles, shown in Figs. 14共c兲 and 14共e兲, may
coexist in the buffer layer as well. Note, plausible shapes for
the inflectional profiles are portrayed in accordance with the
hydrogen bubble, side-view flow visualization results of Kim
et al.34 The fact that the probability of finding an instanta-
neous inflectional profile increases with R␪ may stem from
an inherent amplification in the spanwise vorticity fluctua-
tions or ( ⳵ u/ ⳵ y) ⬘ ⫹ at high R␪ in the region y ⫹ ⭐10 共see
Fig. 8兲.
Space–time autocorrelations associated with
R u (⌬y ⫹ , ␶ ⫹ ) are shown in Fig. 15 with parts 共a兲 and 共b兲
representing the low and high R␪ experimental results, re-
spectively. The y ⫹ reference locations are identical to the
ones used to compute the corresponding autocorrelation pro-
files in Fig. 11 for the case of ␶ ⫽0. Since upstream events
700 Phys. Fluids, Vol. 13, No. 3, March 2001
FIG. 15. Space–time autocorrelations of u. Dotted lines denote the locus of
maximum correlation. Reference locations are identical to those used in Fig.
11. 共a兲 R␪ ⫽2⫻103 . 共b兲 R␪ ⬇5⫻106 .
occur at a positive time delay, the flow in Fig. 15 can be
thought of as moving from right to left. The angle of maxi-
mum correlation, denoted by the dotted lines, in the region
0⭐y ⫹ ⭐10 is nearly identical in the two flows, measuring
60° (R␪ ⫽2⫻103 ) and 63° (R␪ ⬇5⫻106 ). For y ⫹ ⬎10, the
angle of maximum correlation in the high R␪ case increases
to 76°. The tilt of the isocontours suggests that, on average,
the predominant motion is characterized by the ejection of
low-momentum fluid away from the wall into the buffer
layer. The weighted joint pdf’s between viscous sublayer and
buffer layer u motions 共not shown兲 illustrate that, indeed, the
major contribution to R u arises from Q3, i.e., the most prob-
able configuration stems from low-speed buffer layer fluid
coupled with low-speed fluid in the viscous sublayer. This
observation agrees well with the dye injection flow visual-
ization results of Kline et al.4 obtained at R␪ ⫽1085, in
which the trajectory of low-speed streaks/‘‘eddies’’ away
from the wall was tracked using high-speed cinematography.
From their Fig. 17, and using inner normalization of space
and time scales, one finds that low-speed ‘‘eddies’’ are
ejected from the wall at an angle of 58°, in remarkable ac-
cord with the present results. Correlations associated with the
high R␪ data generally exhibit larger magnitudes than the
corresponding low R␪ values at any given (⌬y ⫹ , ␶ ⫹ ). This
deviation tends to increase with increasing spatial separation
⌬y ⫹ .
IV. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Streamwise velocity and velocity gradient data from
high-resolution hot-wire anemometry were used to explore
the influence of Reynolds number on viscous wall region
structure in a turbulent boundary layer. Low and high Rey-
nolds number experiments were performed spanning an R␪
range over three orders of magnitude. Importantly, in both
cases, the same sensors and instrumentation were employed
and the hot-wire lengths measured less than 6 ␯ /u ␶ . Com-
parison of the present low and high R␪ results reveal that, to
within the scatter of the data, the mean streamwise velocity
profile, normalized by inner variables, exhibits Reynolds
number similarity. On the other hand, the same data suggest
M. M. Metzger and J. C. Klewicki
a logarithmic increase in the peak value of u ⬘ ⫹ with increas-
ing R␪ . In the skewness profile, the high R␪ data remain
positive at least out to y ⫹ ⫽100; while at low R␪ , the skew-
ness becomes negative at y ⫹ ⬇10.
Certain aspects of the flow physics at high Reynolds
number can be inferred from these experimental observa-
tions. In particular, the attached eddy hypothesis of
Townsend,22 see also Marusic et al.,10 predicts that in a re-
gion outside of the buffer layer u ⬘ ⫹ depends logarithmically
on y/L o , where L o represents a characteristic length of the
largest attached eddy in the flow, the flow postulated as be-
ing comprised of a distribution of attached eddies of varying
scales. Since the range of eddy length scales increases with
Reynolds number, so must u ⬘ ⫹ . If the peak value of u ⬘ ⫹
inside the buffer layer does not grow accordingly with u ⬘ ⫹
outside of the buffer layer, then the mean gradient ⳵ 具 u 2 典 / ⳵ y
in this region could become zero or change sign from nega-
tive to positive. This would represent a dramatic shift in the
location of the peak production of turbulent kinetic energy
away from the wall and result in a gradient flux of turbulent
kinetic energy from the log layer toward the wall. The
present data indicate that such a dramatic change in flow
physics does not occur with increasing R␪ . Furthermore, be-
cause the skewness of u remains positive as the rms in-
creases, the probability of local flow reversal, in the absolute
sense, does not necessarily grow. The present results regard-
ing the unlikelihood of finding ⫺⳵ ũ/ ⳵ y near the wall also
supports this statement. Note, the possibility of local flow
reversal occurring in the sublayer could have appreciable im-
plications on turbulent production mechanisms at high R␪ .
Through high-pass filtering, the disparities between the
low and high R␪ profiles of u ⬘ ⫹ and S(u) have been shown
to originate mostly from the large-scale, low-frequency mo-
tions. The filtering procedure also demonstrated the potential
that direct interactions between large and small scales of mo-
tion exist, which cannot be entirely removed by assuming a
simple superposition of scales. Both the low- and high-
frequency regions associated with the spectra of u and ⳵ u/ ⳵ y
displayed an increase in spectral intensity at high R␪ . A
narrow region in the intermediate frequency range of the u
spectra scaled with inner variables. This universal region
widens, extending further toward the high-frequency end of
the spectrum, as the Reynolds number decreases.13
Near-wall features evident in the space–time autocorre-
lations of u and, particularly, in the weighted joint pdf’s of
⳵ u/ ⳵ y, were argued to be characteristic of turbulent bursts,
sweeps, and ejections. More importantly, the present data
revealed that, under inner normalization, many near-wall fea-
tures are highly similar over a substantial Reynolds number
range, 2⫻103 ⭐R␪ ⭐5⫻106 . In addition, plan view flow
visualizations35,36 have demonstrated that inner normalized
spacing of low-speed streaks in the sublayer remains con-
stant at ⬃100␯ /u ␶ , over a Reynolds number range similar to
that of the present study. It is well known that the production
of turbulent kinetic energy in a low Reynolds number bound-
ary layer peaks in the buffer layer,4 and that, in the near-wall
region, most of the net production occurs during turbulent
burst events.4,34 Therefore, based on the cumulative data,
Phys. Fluids, Vol. 13, No. 3, March 2001
many of the near-wall mechanisms involved in turbulent pro-
duction processes at low R␪ 共e.g., turbulent bursts, sweeps,
ejections, and low speed streaks兲 appear to remain largely
intact at R␪ ⬇5⫻106 . Time and length scales associated with
some of these coherent motions, however, are posited to vary
with Reynolds number based on an increased contribution
from ‘‘inactive’’ motions at high R␪ . The net effect of these
changes in scale on turbulent momentum transport across the
boundary layer remains to be determined.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the help of Jeff
Adams in the construction of the five-element hot-wire rake.
Also, the assistance provided by the personnel of the U.S.
Army Dugway Proving Ground, West Desert Test Center,
Meteorology Division, and in particular the efforts of Chris-
topher Biltoft, is greatly appreciated.
This work was partially supported by the U.S. Army.
M.M.M. was supported by graduate fellowships from the
University of Utah and the National Science Foundation dur-
ing the course of this work.
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