NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF TURBULENT SHEAR FLOWS

We simulate three-dimensional mixing layers, isotropic turbulence, and rotating turbulence. In the mixing-layer case, we show that high compressibility inhibits helical pairings obtained in the incompressible case, yielding a staggered array of large A-shaped vortices. For isotropic turbulence, one shows the existence of large coherent low-pressure vortices, characterized by exponential tails of various p.d.f.'s. We develop also a new subgrid-scale model applied with success to the backward-facing step, and to the compressible boundary layer. Finally, one looks at the influence of solid-body rotation upon free-shear flows or homogeneous turbulence. At moderate Rossby numbers, cyclonic vortices are stabilized, while anticyclonic vortices are disrupted into intense Gortler-type alternate longitudinal vortices.