The Theory of Axisymmetric Turbulence

This paper discusses a type of turbulence in a uniform stream which is next to isotropic turbulence in order of simplicity. Instead of spherical symmetry, or isotropy, axially symmetical turbulence possesses symmetry about an axis which in practice is usually the direction of mean flow. The analysis is developed with the aid of invariant theory, as suggested by a previous paper by Robertson. The form of the fundamental velocity correlation is obtained, and scales of axisymmetric turbulence are defined. The results of greatest practical interest concern the time rates of change of the mean squares of the lateral and longitudinal velocity components. The rates of change involve two terms, the first representing viscous dissipation, and the second representing a transfer of energy from one component to the other due to the finite correlation between the velocity and pressure at neighbouring points. The effect of the velocity-pressure correlation is to bring the two velocity components towards equality, while the effect of the viscous dissipation will only be towards equality if an inequality between the curvatures at the origin of two particular velocity correlation coefficient curves, both of which are measurable, is obeyed. The rates of change of the mean squares of the vorticity components are also obtained.