Inner-layer intensities for the flat-plate turbulent boundary layer combining a predictive wall-model with large-eddy simulations

Time series velocity signals obtained from large-eddy simulations (LES) within the logarithmic region of the zero-pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer over a smooth wall are used in combination with an empirical, predictive inner-outer wall model [I. Marusic, R. Mathis, and N. Hutchins, Predictive model for wall-bounded turbulent flow, Science 329, 193 (2010)] to calculate the statistics of the fluctuating streamwise velocity in the inner region. Results, including spectra and moments up to fourth order, are compared with equivalent predictions using experimental time series, as well as with direct experimental measurements at Reynolds numbers Re-tau = 7300, 13 600, and 19 000. The LES combined with the wall model are then used to extend the inner-layer predictions to Reynolds numbers Re-tau = 62 000, 100 000, and 200 000 that lie within a gap in log (Re-tau) space between laboratory measurements and surface-layer, atmospheric experiments. The present results support a loglike increase in the near-wall peak of the streamwise turbulence intensities with Re-tau and also provide a means of extending LES results at large Reynolds numbers to the near-wall region of wall-bounded turbulent flows. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4731299]