- Reynolds decomposition
In
fluid dynamics and the theory ofturbulence , Reynolds decomposition is a mathematicaltechnique to separate the average and fluctuating parts of a quantity.For example, for a quantity the decomposition would be:
where denotes the time average of (often called the steady component), and the fluctuating part (or perturbations). The perturbations are defined such that their time average equals zero.
This allows us to simplify the
Navier-Stokes equations by substituting in the sum of the steady component and perturbations to the velocity profile and taking the mean value. The resulting equation contains a nonlinear term known as theReynolds stresses which gives rise toturbulence .ee also
*
Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations
*Turbulence
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