Theoretical Investigation of an Eddy-Viscosity-Type Expression of the Reynolds Stress with Low-Reynolds-Number Effect

In low-Reynolds-number turbulent flows, the influence of the molecular viscosity is important. The turbulence models which are applied to those flows should include the low-Reynolds-number effect. In this study, turbulent flow with the molecular viscosity effect is analyzed theoretically with the aid of a two-scale direct-interaction approximation (TSDIA) and the energy spectrum and a new low-Reynolds-number-type eddy-viscosity representation are derived. An priori test for the model expression on the basis of the result of direct numerical simulation (DNS) for turbulent Couette flows is performed. Received 5 July 2002 and accepted 8 January 2003 Published online 25 March 2003 Communicated by T.B. Gatski