Direct numerical simulation and theory of a wall-bounded flow with zero skin friction

We study turbulent plane Couette-Poiseuille (CP) flows in which the conditions (relative wall velocity U w ≡ 2U w , pressure gradient dP /dx and viscosity ν) are adjusted to produce zero mean skin friction on one of the walls, denoted by APG for adverse pres- sure gradient. The other wall, FPG for favorable pressure gradient, provides the friction velocity u τ , and h is the half-height of the channel. This leads to a one-parameter family of one-dimensional flows of varying Reynolds number Re ≡ U w h/ν. We apply three codes, and cover three Reynolds numbers stepping by a factor of two each time. The agreement between codes is very good, and the Reynolds-number range is sizable. The theoretical questions revolve around Reynolds-number independence in both the core region (free of local viscous effects) and the two wall regions. The core region follows Townsend’s hypoth- esis of universal behavior for the velocity and shear stress, when they are normalized with u τ and h; on the other hand universality is not observed for all the Reynolds stresses, any more than it is in Poiseuille flow or boundary layers. The FPG wall region obeys the classi- cal law of the wall, again for velocity and shear stress. For the APG wall region, Stratford conjectured universal behavior when normalized with the pressure gradient, leading to a square-root law for the velocity. The literature, also covering other flows with zero skin friction, is ambiguous. Our results are very consistent with both of Stratford’s conjectures, suggesting that at least in this idealized flow turbulence theory is successful like it was for the classical logarithmic law of the wall. We appear to know the constants of the law within a 10% bracket. On the other hand, that again does not extend to Reynolds stresses other than the shear stress, but these stresses are passive in the momentum equation.