REYNOLDS-NUMBER DEPENDENCE OF ISOTROPIC NAVIER-STOKES TURBULENCE

Reynolds number dependence of turbulence energy spectra and higher-order moments of velocity differences is explored by numerical integrations of the incompressive Navier-Stokes equation. The simulations have spatial resolutions up to 512(3) and cover 15 less-than-or-equal-to R(lambda) less-than-or-equal-to 200, where R(lambda) is the Taylor microscale Reynolds number. The energy spectra collapse when scaled by the wave number k(p) of peak dissipation and also by the spectrum level at k(p). k(p) varies with R(lambda) in accord with the 1941 Kolmogorov theory. High-order normalized moments of velocity differences over inertial-range distances exhibit an R(lambda)-independent variation with separation distance. Implications of these observations are discussed.