Statistics obtained from seven different direct numerical simulations (DNSs) pertaining to a canonical turbulent boundary layer (TBL) under zero pressure gradient are compiled and compared. The considered data sets include a recent DNS of a TBL with the extended range of Reynolds numbersRe_θ= 500–4300. Although all the simulations relate to the same physical flow case, the approaches differ in the applied numerical method, grid resolution and distribution, inflow generation method, boundary conditions and box dimensions. The resulting comparison shows surprisingly large differences not only in both basic integral quantities such as the friction coefficientc_for the shape factorH₁₂, but also in their predictions of mean and fluctuation profiles far into the sublayer. It is thus shown that the numerical simulation of TBLs is, mainly due to the spatial development of the flow, very sensitive to, e.g. proper inflow condition, sufficient settling length and appropriate box dimensions. Thus, a DNS has to be considered as a numerical experiment and should be the subject of the same scrutiny as experimental data. However, if a DNS is set up with the necessary care, it can provide a faithful tool to predict even such notoriously difficult flow cases with great accuracy.

A recent assessment of available direct numerical simulation (DNS) data from turbulent boundary layer flows (Schlatter & Örlü,J. Fluid Mech., vol. 659, 2010, pp. 116–126) showed surprisingly large differences not only in the skin friction coefficient or shape factor, but also in their predictions of mean and fluctuation profiles far into the sublayer. While such differences are expected at very low Reynolds numbers and/or the immediate vicinity of the inflow or tripping region, it remains unclear whether inflow and tripping effects explain the differences observed even at moderate Reynolds numbers. This question is systematically addressed by re-simulating the DNS of a zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layer flow by Schlatteret al. (Phys. Fluids, vol. 21, 2009, art. 051702). The previous DNS serves as the baseline simulation, and the new DNS with a range of physically different inflow conditions and tripping effects are carefully compared. The downstream evolution of integral quantities as well as mean and fluctuation profiles is analysed, and the results show that different inflow conditions and tripping effects do indeed explain most of the differences observed when comparing available DNS at low Reynolds number. It is further found that, if transition is initiated inside the boundary layer at a low enough Reynolds number (based on the momentum-loss thickness) ${\mathit{Re}}_{\theta } \lt 300$ , all quantities agree well for both inner and outer layer for ${\mathit{Re}}_{\theta } \gt 2000$ . This result gives a lower limit for meaningful comparisons between numerical and/or wind tunnel experiments, assuming that the flow was not severely over- or understimulated. It is further shown that even profiles of the wall-normal velocity fluctuations and Reynolds shear stress collapse for higher ${\mathit{Re}}_{\theta } $ irrespective of the upstream conditions. In addition, the overshoot in the total shear stress within the sublayer observed in the DNS of Wu & Moin (Phys. Fluids, vol. 22, 2010, art. 085105) has been identified as a feature of transitional boundary layers.

Direct numerical simulations (DNSs) and experiments of a spatially developing zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layer are presented up to Reynolds number Reθ=2500, based on momentum thickness θ and free-stream velocity. For the first time direct comparisons of DNS and experiments of turbulent boundary layers at the same (computationally high and experimentally low) Reθ are given, showing excellent agreement in skin friction, mean velocity, and turbulent fluctuations. These results allow for a substantial reduction of the uncertainty of boundary-layer data, and cross validate the numerical setup and experimental technique. The additional insight into the flow provided by DNS clearly shows large-scale turbulent structures, which scale in outer units growing with Reθ, spanning the whole boundary-layer height.

Turbulent boundary layers under adverse pressure gradients are studied using well-resolved large-eddy simulations (LES) with the goal of assessing the influence of the streamwise pressure-gradient development. Near-equilibrium boundary layers were characterized through the Clauser pressure-gradient parameter $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ . In order to fulfil the near-equilibrium conditions, the free stream velocity was prescribed such that it followed a power-law distribution. The turbulence statistics pertaining to cases with a constant value of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ (extending up to approximately 40 boundary-layer thicknesses) were compared with cases with non-constant $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ distributions at matched values of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ and friction Reynolds number $Re_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}$ . An additional case at matched Reynolds number based on displacement thickness $Re_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}^{\ast }}$ was also considered. It was noticed that non-constant $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ cases appear to approach the conditions of equivalent constant $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ cases after long streamwise distances (approximately 7 boundary-layer thicknesses). The relevance of the constant $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ cases lies in the fact that they define a ‘canonical’ state of the boundary layer, uniquely characterized by $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ and $Re$ . The investigations on the flat plate were extended to the flow around a wing section overlapping in terms of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ and $Re$ . Comparisons with the flat-plate cases at matched values of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ and $Re$ revealed that the different development history of the turbulent boundary layer on the wing section leads to a less pronounced wake in the mean velocity as well as a weaker second peak in the Reynolds stresses. This is due to the weaker accumulated effect of the $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ history. Furthermore, a scaling law suggested by Kitsios et al. (Intl J. Heat Fluid Flow, vol. 61, 2016, pp. 129–136), proposing the edge velocity and the displacement thickness as scaling parameters, was tested on two constant-pressure-gradient parameter cases. The mean velocity and Reynolds-stress profiles were found to be dependent on the downstream development. The present work is the first step towards assessing history effects in adverse-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layers and highlights the fact that the values of the Clauser pressure-gradient parameter and the Reynolds number are not sufficient to characterize the state of the boundary layer.

One recent focus of experimental studies of turbulence in high Reynolds number wall-bounded flows has been the scaling of the root mean square of the fluctuating streamwise velocity, but progress has largely been impaired by spatial resolution effects of hot-wire sensors. For the near-wall peak, recent results seem to have clarified the controversy; however, one of the remaining issues in this respect is the emergence of a second (so-called outer) peak at high Reynolds numbers. The present letter introduces a new scaling of the local turbulence intensity profile, based on the diagnostic plot by Alfredsson and Örlü [Eur. J. Mech. B/Fluids 42, 403 (2010)], which predicts the location and amplitude of the “outer” peak and suggests its presence as a question of sufficiently large scale separation.