Nonlinear mechanism of the self-sustaining process in the buffer and logarithmic layer of wall-bounded flows

Abstract: The nonlinear mechanism in the self-sustaining process (SSP) of wall-bounded turbulence is investigated. Resolvent analysis is used to identify the principal forcing mode which produces the maximum amplification of the velocities in numerical simulations of the minimal channel for the buffer layer and a modified logarithmic (log) layer. The wavenumbers targeted in this study are those of the fundamental mode that is infinitely long in the streamwise direction and once periodic in the spanwise direction. The identified mode is then projected out from the nonlinear term of the Navier-Stokes equations at each time step from the simulation of the corresponding minimal channel. The results show that the removal of the principal forcing mode of the fundamental wavenumber can inhibit turbulence in both the buffer and log layer, with the effect being greater in the buffer layer. Removing other modes instead of the principal mode of the fundamental wavenumber only marginally affects the flow. Closer inspection of the dyadic interactions in the nonlinear term shows that contributions toward the principal forcing mode come from a limited set of wavenumber interactions. Using conditional averaging, the flow structures that are responsible for generating the nonlinear interaction to self-sustain turbulence are identified as spanwise rolls interacting with oblique streaks. This method, based on the equations of motion, validates the similarities in the SSP of the buffer and log layer, and characterises the underlying quadratic interactions in the SSP of the minimal channel.