Reynolds stress

In the context of fusion plasmas, the Reynolds stress is a mechanism for generation of sheared flow from turbulence.

Starting from the incompressible momentum balance equation, neglecting the dissipative pressure tensor:

${\frac {\partial u_{y}}{\partial t}}+\nabla _{x}\left(u_{x}u_{y}\right)=-\nabla _{y}P+{\frac {1}{\rho }}\left({\vec {j}}\times {\vec {B}}\right)_{y}$

Averaging over a magnetic surface (i.e., over y), the right-hand side cancels:

${\frac {\partial u_{y}}{\partial t}}+\nabla _{x}\left(u_{x}u_{y}\right)=0$

Now, writing the flow as the sum of a mean and a fluctuating part

$u={\bar {u}}+{\tilde {u}}$

one obtains

${\frac {\partial {\bar {u}}_{y}}{\partial t}}+\nabla _{x}\left\langle {\tilde {u}}_{x}{\tilde {u}}_{y}\right\rangle =0$

Here, the Reynolds stress tensor appears:

$R_{xy}=\left\langle {\tilde {u}}_{x}{\tilde {u}}_{y}\right\rangle$

Thus, a non-zero value of the gradient of the Reynolds stress (of fluctuating flow components) can drive a laminar flow. Obviously, ${\tilde {u}}_{x}$ and ${\tilde {u}}_{y}$ must be correlated for this to work, which will depend on the details of the (equations describing the) turbulence.

See also

• H-mode
• Internal Transport Barrier