The present study analyzes differential diffusion and the mechanisms responsible for it with regard to the turbulent/nonturbulent interface (TNTI) with special focus on model development for scale-resolving simulations. In order to analyze differences between resolved and subfilter phenomena, direct numerical simulation (DNS) data are compared with explicitly filtered data. The DNS database stems from a temporally evolving turbulent plane jet transporting two passive scalars with Schmidt numbers of unity and 0.25 presented by Hunger et al. [F. Hunger et al., J. Fluid Mech. 802, R5 (2016)]. The objective of this research is twofold: (i) to compare the position of the turbulent-nonturbulent interface between the original DNS data and the filtered data and (ii) to analyze differential diffusion and the impact of the TNTI with regard to scale resolution in the filtered DNS data. For the latter, differential diffusion quantities are studied, clearly showing the decrease of differential diffusion at the resolved scales with increasing filter width. A transport equation for the scalar differences is evaluated. Finally, the existence of large scalar gradients, gradient alignment, and the diffusive fluxes being the physical mechanisms responsible for the separation of the two scalars are compared between the resolved and subfilter scales.

• Received 14 June 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.3.014601