On the extreme wall shear stress events in a turbulent pipe flow

Abstract

This study investigates the extreme wall shear stress events in a turbulent pipe flow by direct numerical simulation at a frictional Reynolds number Reτ≈500. A two-step conditional averaging scheme is implemented to identify the locations of extreme events and construct their spatial structures. Combined with the joint probability density functions of shear stresses, further evidence is provided for the argument that extreme positive events occur below an intense sweep event (Q4), and the formation of the backflow events is predominantly aided by an identifiable oblique vortex. Moreover, the conditional probability distribution of shear stress for varying thresholds used to define extreme events reveals that, when the threshold is above or below the mean, the probability distributions of the extreme positive events or the backflow events generally follow an exponential relationship, suggesting the extreme wall shear stress events are a threshold-independent process. Finally, the conditional space–time proper orthogonal decomposition is performed to extract the dominant modes and characterize the evolution of the extreme events from inception to dissipation, which exhibits morphological features of real flow structures. It is found that the observation of uθ modes can provide a basic representation of the entire variation process and the extreme values return to normal levels in a very short time.