  A model-based description of the scaling and radial location of turbulent
fluctuations in turbulent pipe flow is presented and used to illuminate the
scaling behaviour of the very large scale motions. The model is derived by
treating the nonlinearity in the perturbation equation (involving the Reynolds
stress) as an unknown forcing, yielding a linear relationship between the
velocity field response and this nonlinearity. We do not assume small
perturbations. We examine propagating modes, permitting comparison of our
results to experimental data, and identify the steady component of the velocity
field that varies only in the wall-normal direction as the turbulent mean
profile. The "optimal" forcing shape, that gives the largest velocity response,
is assumed to lead to modes that will be dominant and hence observed in
turbulent pipe flow.
  An investigation of the most amplified velocity response at a given
wavenumber-frequency combination reveals critical layer-like behaviour
reminiscent of the neutrally stable solutions of the Orr-Sommerfeld equation in
linearly unstable flow. Two distinct regions in the flow where the influence of
viscosity becomes important can be identified, namely a wall layer that scales
with $R^{+1/2}$ and a critical layer, where the propagation velocity is equal
to the local mean velocity, that scales with $R^{+2/3}$ in pipe flow. This
framework appears to be consistent with several scaling results in wall
turbulence and reveals a mechanism by which the effects of viscosity can extend
well beyond the immediate vicinity of the wall.
