Intermittency in two-dimensional Ekman-Navier-Stokes turbulence

Dynamic scaling in rotating turbulence: A shell model study

We investigate the scaling form of appropriate timescales extracted from time-dependent correlation functions in rotating turbulent flows. In particular, we obtain precise estimates of the dynamic exponents z_{p}, associated with the timescales, and their relation with the more commonly measured equal-time exponents ζ_{p}. These theoretical predictions, obtained by using the multifractal formalism, are validated through extensive numerical simulations of a shell model for such rotating flows.

Conformal Invariance of Characteristic Lines in a Class of Hydrodynamic Models

This paper addresses the problem of the existence of conformal invariance in a class of hydrodynamic models. For this we analyse an underlying transport equation for the one-point probability density function, subject to zero-scalar constraint. We account for the presence of non-zero viscosity and large-scale friction. It is shown analytically, that zero-scalar characteristics of this equation are invariant under conformal transformations in the presence of large-scale friction. However, the non-zero molecular diffusivity breaks the conformal group (CG). This connects our study with previous observations where CG invariance of zero-vorticity isolines of the 2D Navier–Stokes equation was analysed numerically and confirmed only for large scales in the inverse energy cascade. In this paper, an example of CG is analysed and possible interpretations of the analytical results are discussed.

Irreversibility of the two-dimensional enstrophy cascade

We study the time irreversibility of the direct cascade in two-dimensional turbulence by looking at the time derivative of the square vorticity along Lagrangian trajectories, a quantity called metenstrophy. By means of extensive direct numerical simulations we measure the time irreversibility from the asymmetry of the probability density function of the metenstrophy and we find that it increases with the Reynolds number of the cascade, similarly to what is found in three-dimensional turbulence. A detailed analysis of the different contributions to the enstrophy budget reveals a remarkable difference with respect to what is observed for the energy cascade, in particular the role of the statistics of the forcing to determine the degree of irreversibility.

Large-deviation statistics of vorticity stretching in isotropic turbulence

A key feature of three-dimensional fluid turbulence is the stretching and realignment of vorticity by the action of the strain rate. It is shown in this paper, using the cumulant-generating function, that the cumulative vorticity stretching along a Lagrangian path in isotropic turbulence obeys a large deviation principle. As a result, the relevant statistics can be described by the vorticity stretching Cramér function. This function is computed from a direct numerical simulation data set at a Taylor-scale Reynolds number of Re(λ)=433 and compared to those of the finite-time Lyapunov exponents (FTLE) for material deformation. As expected, the mean cumulative vorticity stretching is slightly less than that of the most-stretched material line (largest FTLE), due to the vorticity's preferential alignment with the second-largest eigenvalue of strain rate and the material line's preferential alignment with the largest eigenvalue. However, the vorticity stretching tends to be significantly larger than the second-largest FTLE, and the Cramér functions reveal that the statistics of vorticity stretching fluctuations are more similar to those of the largest FTLE. In an attempt to relate the vorticity stretching statistics to the vorticity magnitude probability density function in statistically stationary conditions, a model Kramers-Moyal equation is constructed using the statistics encoded in the Cramér function. The model predicts a stretched-exponential tail for the vorticity magnitude probability density function, with good agreement for the exponent but significant difference (35%) in the prefactor.

Statistical conservation law in two- and three-dimensional turbulent flows

Particles in turbulence live complicated lives. It is nonetheless sometimes possible to find order in this complexity. It was proposed in Falkovich et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 214502 (2013)] that pairs of Lagrangian tracers at small scales, in an incompressible isotropic turbulent flow, have a statistical conservation law. More specifically, in a d-dimensional flow the distance R(t) between two neutrally buoyant particles, raised to the power -d and averaged over velocity realizations, remains at all times equal to the initial, fixed, separation raised to the same power. In this work we present evidence from direct numerical simulations of two- and three-dimensional turbulence for this conservation. In both cases the conservation is lost when particles exit the linear flow regime. In two dimensions we show that, as an extension of the conservation law, an Evans-Cohen-Morriss or Gallavotti-Cohen type fluctuation relation exists. We also analyze data from a 3D laboratory experiment [Liberzon et al., Physica D 241, 208 (2012)], finding that although it probes small scales they are not in the smooth regime. Thus instead of 〈R-3〉, we look for a similar, power-law-in-separation conservation law. We show that the existence of an initially slowly varying function of this form can be predicted but that it does not turn into a conservation law. We suggest that the conservation of 〈R-d〉, demonstrated here, can be used as a check of isotropy, incompressibility, and flow dimensionality in numerical and laboratory experiments that focus on small scales.

Fluctuating hydrodynamics and turbulence in a rotating fluid: universal properties

We analyze the statistical properties of three-dimensional (3D) turbulence in a rotating fluid. To this end we introduce a generating functional to study the statistical properties of the velocity field v. We obtain the master equation from the Navier-Stokes equation in a rotating frame and thence a set of exact hierarchical equations for the velocity structure functions for arbitrary angular velocity Ω. In particular we obtain the differential forms for the analogs of the well-known von Karman-Howarth relation for 3D fluid turbulence. We examine their behavior in the limit of large rotation. Our results clearly suggest dissimilar statistical behavior and scaling along directions parallel and perpendicular to Ω. The hierarchical relations yield strong evidence that the nature of the flows for large rotation is not identical to pure two-dimensional flows. To complement these results, by using an effective model in the small-Ω limit, within a one-loop approximation, we show that the equal-time correlation of the velocity components parallel to Ω displays Kolmogorov scaling q(-5/3) wherein as for all other components, the equal-time correlators scale as q(-3) in the inertial range where q is a wave vector in 3D. Our results are generally testable in experiments and/or direct numerical simulations of the Navier-Stokes equation in a rotating frame.

Dynamic multiscaling in two-dimensional fluid turbulence

We obtain, by extensive direct numerical simulations, time-dependent and equal-time structure functions for the vorticity, in both quasi-Lagrangian and Eulerian frames, for the direct-cascade regime in two-dimensional fluid turbulence with air-drag-induced friction. We show that different ways of extracting time scales from these time-dependent structure functions lead to different dynamic-multiscaling exponents, which are related to equal-time multiscaling exponents by different classes of bridge relations; for a representative value of the friction we verify that, given our error bars, these bridge relations hold.

Nonlinear superposition of direct and inverse cascades in two-dimensional turbulence forced at large and small scales

We inquire about the properties of 2D Navier-Stokes turbulence simultaneously forced at small and large scales. The background motivation comes by observational results on atmospheric turbulence. We show that the velocity field is amenable to the sum of two auxiliary velocity fields forced at large and small scale and exhibiting a direct enstrophy and an inverse-energy cascade, respectively. Remarkably, the two auxiliary fields reconcile universal properties of fluxes with positive statistical correlation in the inertial range.

Structure-function scaling of bounded two-dimensional turbulence

Statistical properties of forced two-dimensional turbulence generated in two different flow domains are investigated by numerical simulations. The considered geometries are the square domain and the periodic channel domain, both bounded by lateral no-slip sidewalls. The focus is on the direct enstrophy cascade range and how the statistical properties change in the presence of no-slip boundaries. The scaling exponents of the velocity and the vorticity structure functions are compared to the classical Kraichnan-Batchelor-Leith (KBL) theory, which assumes isotropy, homogeneity, and self-similarity for turbulence scales between the forcing and dissipation scale. Our investigation reveals that in the interior of the flow domain, turbulence can be considered statistically isotropic and locally homogeneous for the enstrophy cascade range, but it is weakly intermittent. However, the scaling of the vorticity structure function indicates a steeper slope for the energy spectrum than the KBL theory predicts. Near the walls the turbulence is strongly anisotropic at all flow scales.

Evidence for the double cascade scenario in two-dimensional turbulence

Statistical features of homogeneous, isotropic, two-dimensional turbulence is discussed on the basis of a set of direct numerical simulations up to the unprecedented resolution 32768(2). By forcing the system at intermediate scales, narrow but clear inertial ranges develop both for the inverse and for direct cascades where the two Kolmogorov laws for structure functions are simultaneously observed. The inverse cascade spectrum is found to be consistent with Kolmogorov-Kraichnan prediction and is robust with respect the presence of an enstrophy flux. The direct cascade is found to be more sensible to finite size effects: the exponent of the spectrum has a correction with respect theoretical prediction which vanishes by increasing the resolution.

Smooth and filamental structures in chaotically advected chemical fields

This paper studies the spatial structure of decaying chemical fields generated by a chaotic-advection flow and maintained by a spatially smooth chemical source. Previous work showed that in a regime where diffusion can be neglected (large Péclet number), the structures are filamental or smooth depending on the relative strength of the chemical dynamics and the stirring induced by the flow. The scaling exponent, gamma(q), of the qth -order structure function depends, at leading order, linearly on the ratio of the rate of decay of the chemical processes, alpha , and the average rate of divergence of neighboring fluid parcel trajectories (Lyapunov exponent), h. Under a homogeneous stretching approximation, gamma(q)/q=max[alpha/h,1] which implies that a well-defined filamental-smooth transition occurs at alpha=h. This approximation has been improved by using the distribution of finite-time Lyapunov exponents to characterize the inhomogeneous stretching of the flow. However, previous work focused more on the behavior of the exponents as q varies and less on the effects of alpha and hence the implications for the filamental-smooth transition. Here we set out the precise relation between the stretching rate statistics and the scaling exponents and emphasize that the latter are determined by the distribution of the finite-size (rather than finite-time) Lyapunov exponents. We clarify the relation between the two distributions. We show that the corrected exponents, [symbol: see text] depend nonlinearly on alpha with [formula: see text]. The magnitude of the correction to the homogeneous stretching approximation, [formula: see text], grows as alpha increases, reaching a maximum when the leading-order transition is reached (alpha=h). The implication of these results is that there is no well-defined bulk filamental-smooth transition. Instead it is the case that the chemical field is unambiguously smooth for alpha>h(max), where h(max) denotes the maximum finite-time Lyapunov exponent and unambiguously filamental for alpha<h, with an intermediate character for alpha between these two values. Theoretical predictions are confirmed by numerical results obtained for a linearly decaying chemistry coupled to a renewing type of flow together with careful calculations of the Crámer function.

Forced-dissipative two-dimensional turbulence: A scaling regime controlled by drag

We consider two-dimensional turbulence driven by a steady prescribed sinusoidal body force working at an average rate epsilon. Energy dissipation is due mainly to drag, which damps all wave number at a rate micro. Simulations at statistical equilibrium reveal a scaling regime in which epsilon proportional, variant micro;{1/3}, with no significant dependence of epsilon on hyperviscosity, domain size, or numerical resolution. This power-law scaling is explained by a crude closure argument that identifies advection by the energetic large-scale eddies as the crucial process that limits epsilon by disrupting the phase relation between the body force and fluid velocity. The average input epsilon is due mainly to spatial regions in which the large-scale velocity is much less than the root-mean-square velocity. We argue that epsilon proportional, variant micro;{1/3} characterizes energy injection by a steady or slowly changing spectrally confined body force.

Scaling properties of the two-dimensional randomly stirred Navier-Stokes equation

We inquire into the scaling properties of the 2D Navier-Stokes equation sustained by a force field with Gaussian statistics, white noise in time, and with a power-law correlation in momentum space of degree 2 - 2 epsilon. This is at variance with the setting usually assumed to derive Kraichnan's classical theory. We contrast accurate numerical experiments with the different predictions provided for the small epsilon regime by Kraichnan's double cascade theory and by renormalization group analysis. We give clear evidence that for all epsilon, Kraichnan's theory is consistent with the observed phenomenology. Our results call for a revision in the renormalization group analysis of (2D) fully developed turbulence.

Intermittency in two-dimensional turbulence with drag

We consider the enstrophy cascade in forced two-dimensional turbulence with a linear drag force. In the presence of linear drag, the energy wave-number spectrum drops with a power law faster than in the case without drag, and the vorticity field becomes intermittent, as shown by the anomalous scaling of the vorticity structure functions. Using previous theory, we compare numerical simulation results with predictions for the power law exponent of the energy wave-number spectrum and the scaling exponents of the vorticity structure functions zeta(2q). We also study, both by numerical experiment and theoretical analysis, the multifractal structure of the viscous enstrophy dissipation in terms of its Rényi dimension spectrum D(q). We derive a relation between D(q) and zeta(2q), and discuss its relevance to a version of the refined similarity hypothesis. In addition, we obtain and compare theoretically and numerically derived results for the dependence on separation r of the probability distribution of delta(r)omega, the difference between the vorticity at two points separated by a distance r. Our numerical simulations are done on a 4096 x 4096 grid.

Trajectory structures and transport

The special problem of transport in two-dimensional divergence-free stochastic velocity fields is studied by developing a statistical approach, the nested subensemble method. The nonlinear process of trapping determined by such fields generates trajectory structures whose statistical characteristics are determined. These structures strongly influence the transport.

Two-dimensional turbulence of dilute polymer solutions

We investigate theoretically and numerically the effect of polymer additives on two-dimensional turbulence by means of a viscoelastic model. We provide compelling evidence that, at vanishingly small concentrations, such that the polymers are passively transported, the probability distribution of polymer elongation has a power law tail: Its slope is related to the statistics of finite-time Lyapunov exponents of the flow, in quantitative agreement with theoretical predictions. We show that at finite concentrations and sufficiently large elasticity the polymers react on the flow with manifold consequences: Velocity fluctuations are drastically depleted, as observed in soap film experiments; the velocity statistics becomes strongly intermittent; the distribution of finite-time Lyapunov exponents shifts to lower values, signaling the reduction of Lagrangian chaos.