Analysis of scale energy budgets in wall turbulence using dual plane PIV

The scale energy budget in the near wall region is a subject of great interest in turbulent flows since it combines concepts from independent analysis in physical space and scale space. Earlier, this energy budget was studied numerically using Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) data and experimentally using low resolution dual plane Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) data. It was observed that the low resolution PIV data were not sufficient to accurately capture the dynamics of the energy balance and hence high resolution experiments were conducted in similar experimental conditions. The results from these high resolution data conducted in two locations of the logarithmic layer of the boundary layer indicate that the resolution of these experiments is sufficient to capture the scale energy budget in the near wall region. Predictions of the cross-over scale, which is related to the relative importance of production and transfer of turbulent kinetic energy, are found to match expected trends, and illustrate that the experimental technique provides a powerful tool for the scale energy budget analysis.