The ultimate state of turbulent permeable-channel flow

Abstract: Direct numerical simulations have been performed for heat and momentum transfer in internally heated turbulent shear flow with constant bulk mean velocity and temperature, $u_{b}$ and $\theta_{b}$, between parallel, isothermal, no-slip and permeable walls. The wall-normal transpiration velocity on the walls $y=\pm h$ is assumed to be proportional to the local pressure fluctuations, i.e. $v=\pm \beta p/\rho$ (Jim\'enez et al., J. Fluid Mech., vol. 442, 2001, pp.89-117). The temperature is supposed to be a passive scalar, and the Prandtl number is set to unity. Turbulent heat and momentum transfer in permeable-channel flow for $\beta u_{b}=0.5$ has been found to exhibit distinct states depending on the Reynolds number $Re_b=2h u_b/\nu$. At $Re_{b}\lesssim 10^4$, the classical Blasius law of the friction coefficient and its similarity to the Stanton number, $St\approx c_{f}\sim Re_{b}^{-1/4}$, are observed, whereas at $Re_{b}\gtrsim 10^4$, the so-called ultimate scaling, $St\sim Re_b^0$ and $c_{f}\sim Re_b^0$, is found. The ultimate state is attributed to the appearance of large-scale intense spanwise rolls with the length scale of $O(h)$ arising from the Kelvin-Helmholtz type of shear-layer instability over the permeable walls. The large-scale rolls can induce large-amplitude velocity fluctuations of $O(u_b)$ as in free shear layers, so that the Taylor dissipation law $\epsilon\sim u_{b}^{3}/h$ (or equivalently $c_{f}\sim Re_b^0$) holds. In spite of strong turbulence promotion there is no flow separation, and thus large-amplitude temperature fluctuations of $O(\theta_b)$ can also be induced similarly. As a consequence, the ultimate heat transfer is achieved, i.e., a wall heat flux scales with $u_{b}\theta_{b}$ (or equivalently $St\sim Re_b^0$) independent of thermal diffusivity, although the heat transfer on the walls is dominated by thermal conduction.