Exact second-order spatio-temporal structure-function relationships in non-stationary incompressible turbulent flows with Reynolds decomposition and phase averaging

Abstract

The Karman-Howarth-Monin-Hill (KHMH) equation has been widely applied to scale-by-scale turbulent energy cascade studies in recent years, however, the forms and interpretations are not consistent. The present work generalizes to considering two different spatio-temporal points to reformulate the KHMH equation based on Reynolds decomposition and phase averaging. The unaveraged form and phase averaged form are detailed and interpreted. Then the assumptions of homogeneity and isotropy are included in the KHMH equation to obtain the special form for homogeneous flows and isotropic flows.