Summary of the AFOSR/MSU Research Specialists Workshop on Coherent Structure in Turbulent Boundary Layers. Held at Michigan State University July 30 to August 1, 1979.

Abstract : There was general agreement that progress towards a consensus of turbulent boundary layer structural information was made, and that the directions which future research work should take were clarified. There was general recognition that a number of different coherent motions exist in the boundary layer, and that different techniques (both visual and probe) emphasize some at the expense of others. It is necessary to determine what role each of the coherent motions play, as well as the importance of the interactions between these motions. Substantial progress has been made, but a consensus emerged that more overlap of techniques and objectives is needed, and that more experiments which combine flow visualization with quantitative measurements should be performed. Three different theoretical approaches were discussed. Each qualitatively simulated the occurrence of some of the observed structural features, via their underlying mechanisms. At this stage, none of the theories can be considered complete or predictive. Some potentially important qualitative correspondences were made between numerical large eddy simulations and recent wall region data, although the computations still suffer from resolution, and perhaps spectral leakage problems.