The hierarchy of multi-point probability density functions and characteristic functions in compressible turbulence

The hierarchies of equations for a general multi-point probability density function (PDF) and its characteristic function (CF) are derived for compressible turbulent flows, obeying the ideal gas law. The closure problem of turbulence is clearly exhibited in each of the approaches, with n-point statistics being dependent on the (n + 1)-point statistics and, for some cases, even the (n + 2)-point statistics. When dynamic viscosity and heat conductivity are dependent on temperature as a power-law, the CF hierarchy could contain fractional derivatives if the exponent is a non-integer. The additional conditions satisfied by all the PDFs and CFs in both the hierarchies are also prescribed. The PDF and CF equations derived in this paper, with the unclosed terms explicitly written in terms of higher order PDF/CF, act as a starting point in constructing symmetry-based invariant solutions of compressible turbulence, analogous to the works of Waclawczyk et al. [“Statistical symmetries of the Lundgren–Monin–Novikov hierarchy,” Phys. Rev. E 90, 013022 (2014)] and Oberlack and Rosteck [“New statistical symmetries of the multi-point equations and its importance for turbulent scaling laws,” Discrete Contin. Dyn. Syst. 3, 451–471 (2010)] for incompressible turbulence.