ON MODELING 3-DIMENSIONAL TURBULENT WALL LAYERS

A Reynolds stress model with a modification to the epsilon equation is shown to reproduce the essential new features observed by Moin et al. [Phys. Fluids A 2, 1846 (1990)] in three-dimensional turbulent channe l flow. Perhaps the most significant of these features is an initial d rop of turbulent kinetic energy; previous turbulence models do not pre dict this. The effect of the three-dimensional modification on the inf inite swept-wing boundary layer is assessed. It is not large and is pr imarily restricted to a region near to the surface. A three-dimensiona l homogeneous shear flow is formulated and turbulence statistics are c omputed by solving a simple Reynolds stress model.