EDQNM closure models the evolution of the turbulent energy spectrum through spectral triad interactions. Fourth-order correlations are approximated using products of second-order correlations, an eddy damping limits the resulting triple correlations, and their memory integrals are replaced by expressions using current spectra. The modeled damping times are additional physical input. This allows evolving spectra and scale-dependent transfer, but does not automatically recover coherent structures or internal intermittency. Bertoglio, Squires and Ferziger's simulation comparison explains the damping assumptions and tests their limitations.
Combining the Kolmogorov two-thirds law with the Kolmogorov four-fifths law gives the velocity increment skewness in the inertial range:
The constant-skewness turbulence closure assumes this same value throughout the universal equilibrium range, including the dissipative crossover. This is an extra modeling assumption; neither similarity law establishes it near .
Write , , and . Since and , substituting into the Kolmogorov equation for structure functions gives
Dividing by yields the normalized constant-skewness structure-function equation:
At small , , recovering for differentiable velocity increments. At large , the dominant balance gives , recovering the assumed Kolmogorov two-thirds law.
This turbulence closure is inexpensive: a single ordinary differential equation interpolates between the two regimes while respecting the local third-order balance. Its prescribed skewness cannot independently predict scale-dependent derivative statistics, transient spectral evolution or internal intermittency.
EDQNM closure instead evolves the turbulent energy spectrum through modeled spectral triad interactions. Its quasi-normal fourth-order approximation is supplemented by eddy damping and a Markovian treatment of correlation memory. It retains more information about scale-dependent transfer and evolving spectra, at the cost of spectral integrals and modeled damping times. It is still approximate and does not automatically describe coherent structures or internal intermittency. The simple constant-skewness model is therefore useful as an equilibrium interpolation; EDQNM closure addresses a broader spectral evolution problem.
The quadratic nonlinear term of the Navier-Stokes equation couples three Fourier modes whose wave vectors close to a triangle. These spectral triad interactions transfer kinetic energy between wave numbers. A turbulence closure can model their triple correlations while retaining more scale information than a prescribed local power law.