Amplitude and wall-normal distance variation of small scales in turbulent boundary layers

The spatial organization of small scales around large-scale coherent structures in a flat plate turbulent boundary layer is studied using a conditional-averaging technique applied to experimental and computational data. The technique averages the small-scale velocity conditioned on the projection coefficient between the instantaneous streamwise velocity field and a model for large-scale velocity structures in the wake and logarithmic regions. Two distinct scenarios are identified for the organization of the small scales: amplitude variation, in which at a given wall-normal location the small-scale intensity varies in amplitude across the streamwise extent of the large-scale structure, and height variation, in which the small-scale velocity intensity remains nearly constant along a curve that changed its wall-normal location across the streamwise extent of the large-scale structure. Small scales that are energetic at the wall-normal location where the large-scale structure is centered primarily show evidence of height variation, while small scales that are energetic at wall-normal locations far from the center of the large-scale structure primarily show evidence of amplitude variation. Connections can be drawn between the statistical observations characterized by the amplitude modulation statistic and the structural picture associated with vortex clusters.