Partial-average-based equations of incompressible turbulent flow

This paper presents a detailed study of incompressible turbulent flow based on a newly developed statistical partial average scheme. As the ensemble average is taken on two groups of turbulent fluctuations separately, the partial average scheme is able to capture the first-order statistical moment of the fluctuation field, providing valuable information in addition to what have been known in the past from the conventional Reynolds average. The first-order statistical moment serves as the foundation in formulating theories of orthotropic turbulence and a momentum transfer chain in the modeling of second-order correlation terms, and eventually leads to a complete set of equations of incompressible turbulent flow. Without any empirical coefficients, the same set of the equations is used to simulate statistical mean behaviors and coherent structures of various benchmark turbulent flows. The simulated results are in good agreement with experimental data. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd.