Temporal evolution of vortical structures in the wall region of turbulent channel flow

Hairpin-like vortical structures that form in the wall region of turbulent channel flow are investigated. The analysis is performed by following a procedure in which the Navier-Stokes equations are first integrated by means of a computational code based on a mixed spectral-finite difference technique in the case of the flow in a plane channel. A DNS turbulent-flow database, representing the turbulent statistically steady state of the velocity field through 10 viscous time units, is computed and the vortex-detection method of the imaginary part of the complex eigenvalue pair of the velocity-gradient tensor is applied to the velocity field. As a result, hairpin-like vortical structures are educed. Flow visualizations are provided of the processes of evolution that characterize hairpin vortices in the wall region of turbulent channel flow. The relationship is investigated between vortex dynamics and 2nd- and 4th- quadrant events, showing that ejections and sweeps play a fundamental role in the way the morphological evolution of a hairpin vortex develops with time.