Steady Couette and pressure-driven turbulent channel flows have large regions in which the gradients of the viscous and Reynolds stresses are approximately in balance (stress gradient balance regions). In the case of Couette flow, this region occupies the entire channel. Moreover, the relevant features of pressure-driven channel flow throughout the channel can be obtained from those of Couette flow by a simple transformation. It is shown that stress gradient balance regions are characterized by an intrinsic hierarchy of ‘scaling layers’ (analogous to the inner and outer domains), filling out the stress gradient balance region except for locations near the wall. The spatial extent of each scaling layer is found asymptotically to be proportional to its distance from the wall.

There is a rigorous connection between the scaling hierarchy and the mean velocity profile. This connection is through a certain function $A(y^+)$ defined in terms of the hierarchy, which remains $O(1)$ for all $y^+$. The mean velocity satisfies an exact logarithmic growth law in an interval of the hierarchy if and only if $A$ is constant. Although $A$ is generally not constant in any such interval, it is arguably almost constant under certain circumstances in some regions. These results are obtained completely independently of classical inner/outer/overlap scaling arguments, which require more restrictive assumptions.

The possible physical implications of these theoretical results are discussed.