Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)The paper is focused on the study of fully turbulent channel flows, using Large Eddy Simulations (LES), in order to address the effects of adverse pressure gradient regions. Analyses of the effects of streak instabilities, which have been shown to be relevant in such regions, are extended to moderate Reynolds numbers. The work considers two different channel geometries in order to further separate influences from wall curvature, flow separation and adverse pressure gradients. Turbulent kinetic energy and Reynolds stress budgets are investigated at separation and re-attachment points. The numerical approach used in the present work is based on the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, which are solved by a pseudo-spectral methodology for structured grids. Wall-resolved LES calculations are performed using the WALE subgrid scale model. The study shows that the streak instability mechanism persists at higher Reynolds numbers with and without wall curvature in the adverse pressure gradient regions. Moreover, the observed effects are also present regardless of the existence of flow separation regions. Finally, the study of turbulent kinetic energy budgets indicates that, independently of the flow condition, there are well-defined patterns for such turbulent properties at separation and re-attachment points. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.56 137151Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)CNPq [309985/2013-7, 470695/2013-7]FAPESP [2013/03413-4, 2013/07375-0, 2014/07623-6]