Kolmogorov turbulence by matched asymptotic expansions

The Kolmogorov [Dokl. Akad. Nauk. SSSR 30, 299 (1941), hereafter K41] inertial range theory is derived from first principles by analysis of the Navier-Stokes equation using the method of matched asymptotic expansions without assuming isotropy or homogeneity and the Kolmogorov (K62) [J. Fluid Mech. 13, 82 (1962)] refined theory is analyzed. This paper is an extension of Lundgren [Phys. Fluids 14, 638 (2002)], in which the second- and third-order structure functions were determined from the isotropic Karman-Howarth [Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 164, 192 (1938)] equation. The starting point for the present analysis is an equation for the difference in velocity between two points, one of which is a Lagrangian fluid point and the second, slaved to the first by a fixed separation r, is not Lagrangian. The velocity difference, so defined, satisfies the Navier-Stokes equation with spatial variable r. The analysis is carried out in two parts. In the first part the physical hypothesis is made that the mean dissipation is independent of viscosity as viscosity tends to zero, as assumed in K41. This means that the mean dissipation is finite as Reynolds number tends to infinity and leads to the K41 inertial range results. In the second part this dissipation assumption is relaxed in an attempt to duplicate the K62 theory. While the K62 structure is obtained, there are restrictions, resulting from the analysis which shows that there can be no inertial range intermittency as Reynolds number tends to infinity, and therefore the mean dissipation has to be finite as Reynolds number tends to infinity, as assumed in part one. Reynolds number-dependent corrections to the K41 results are obtained in the form of compensating functions of r/lambda, which tend to zero slowly like R-lambda(-2/3) as R-lambda-->infinity. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.