The structure of a turbulent boundary layer

According to the wave mechanism of turbulence, pulsation in the hydrodynamic parameters results from a superposition of perturbations arising at the wall and then spreading in the flow in the form of spherical wave packets. At the flow boundary, where the fluid velocity is characterized by a large gradient, the acoustic rays of these waves exhibit bending and reversal toward the wall, whereby the trajectories with various initial orientations are interweave and the wave packets are broken. The pulsation of parameters in the region of wave packet breakage results in the formation of a turbulent boundary layer. Upon the reflection of waves, the flow velocity oscillations immediately at the wall cease that corresponds to a laminar sublayer of the turbulent boundary layer. (C) 2003 MAIK "Nauka/Interperiodica".