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Updated: Jul 17, 2026

The Diffusion of Passive Tracers in Laminar Shear Flow
Published on: May 1, 2018
Asymptotic scaling in turbulent pipe flow
1Graduate Aeronautical Laboratories, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. mckeon@caltech.ecu
Abstract:
The streamwise velocity component in turbulent pipe flow is assessed to determine whether it exhibits asymptotic behaviour that is indicative of high Reynolds numbers. The asymptotic behaviour of both the mean velocity (in the form of the log law) and that of the second moment of the streamwise component of velocity in the outer and overlap regions is consistent with the development of spectral regions which indicate inertial scaling. It is shown that an 'inertial sublayer' in physical space may be considered as a spatial analogue of the inertial subrange in the velocity spectrum and such behaviour only appears for Reynolds numbers R+>5 x 10(3), approximately, much higher than was generally thought.
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