On the structure of pressure fluctuations in simulated turbulent channel flow

Pressure fluctuations in a turbulent channel flow are investigated by analysing a database obtained from a direct numerical simulation. Detailed statistics associated with the pressure fluctuations are presented. Characteristics associated with the rapid (linear) and slow (nonlinear) pressure are discussed. It is found that the slow pressure fluctuations are larger than the rapid pressure fluctuations throughout the channel except very near the wall, where they are about the same magnitude. This is contrary to the common belief that the nonlinear source terms are negligible compared with the linear source terms. Probability density distributions, power spectra, and two-point correlations are examined to reveal the characteristics of the pressure fluctuations. The global dependence of the pressure fluctuations and pressure–strain correlations are also examined by evaluating the integral associated with Green-function representations of them. In the wall region where the pressure–strain terms are large, most contributions to the pressure–strain terms are from the wall region (i.e. local), whereas away from the wall where the pressure–strain terms are small, contributions are global. Structures of instantaneous pressure and pressure gradients at the wall and the corresponding vorticity field are examined.