Unstable periodic orbits in plane Couette flow with the Smagorinsky model

Abstract

We aim at a description of the logarithmic velocity profile of wall turbulence in terms of unstable periodic orbits (UPOs) for plane Couette flow with a Smagorinsky-type eddy viscosity model. We study the bifurcation structure with respect to the Smagorinsky constant, arising from the gentle UPO reported by Kawahara and Kida [1] for the Navier-Stokes (NS) equation. We find that the obtained UPOs in the large eddy simulation (LES) system connect to those in the NS system, and that the gentle UPO in the LES system is an edge state branch whose stable manifold separates LES turbulence from an LES ‘laminar’ state. As the Reynolds number decreases this solution arises as the saddle solution of the saddle-node bifurcation. Meanwhile, the mean and root-mean-square velocity profiles of the node solution of the LES gentle UPO are in good agreement with those of LES turbulence.