A waveguide model of the developed turbulent boundary layer

A study of the developed turbulent boundary layer that emerges when incompressible viscous fluid flows around a plate at a zero angle of attack and with zero longitudinal pressure gradient is presented. The waveguide approach is used for describing the turbulent boundary layer; in this approach, turbulent fluctuations are related with Tollmien–Schlichting waves that are in three-wave resonance. To study the original nonlinear system of equations, an estimate of hydrodynamic quantities is proposed that does not violate the generally accepted approach in the boundary layer but leads to the appearance of a new small parameter–the ratio of the thickness of the boundary layer momentum loss to the damping length of the least damped mode of the Tollmien–Schlichting waves. Equations for the coherent and stochastic parts of fluctuations are obtained on the basis of the method of multiple scales. The dispersion characteristics of waves of the least damped mode on the profile of the average longitudinal velocity of the developed turbulent boundary layer are determined, and the conditions for the multiple three-wave resonance of this mode of the Tollmien–Schlichting waves are analyzed. For the coherent part of the fluctuations, the fluctuation characteristics are compared with the known numerical results.