The streamwise turbulence intensity in the intermediate layer of turbulent pipe flow

The spectral model of Perry et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 165, 1986, pp. 163–199) predicts that the integral length scale varies very slowly with distance to the wall in the intermediate layer. The only way for the integral length scale’s variation to be more realistic while keeping with the Townsend–Perry attached eddy spectrum is to add a new wavenumber range to the model at wavenumbers smaller than that spectrum. This necessary addition can also account for the high-Reynolds-number outer peak of the turbulent kinetic energy in the intermediate layer. An analytic expression is obtained for this outer peak in agreement with extremely high-Reynolds-number data by Hultmark et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 108, 2012, 094501; J. Fluid Mech., vol. 728, 2013, pp. 376–395). Townsend’s (The Structure of Turbulent Shear Flows, 1976, Cambridge University Press) production–dissipation balance and the finding of Dallas et al. (Phys. Rev. E, vol. 80, 2009, 046306) that, in the intermediate layer, the eddy turnover time scales with skin friction velocity and distance to the wall implies that the logarithmic derivative of the mean flow has an outer peak at the same location as the turbulent kinetic energy. This is seen in the data of Hultmark et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 108, 2012, 094501; J. Fluid Mech., vol. 728, 2013, pp. 376–395). The same approach also predicts that the logarithmic derivative of the mean flow has a logarithmic decay at distances to the wall larger than the position of the outer peak. This qualitative prediction is also supported by the aforementioned data.