The effect of a uniform spanwise magnetic field on a turbulent channel flow is investigated for the case of low magnetic Reynolds number. DNS and LES computations are performed for two values of the hydrodynamic Reynolds number (10^4 and 2\times 10^4) and the Hartmann number varying in a wide range. It is shown that the main effect of the magnetic field is the suppression of turbulent velocity fluctuations and momentum transfer in the wall-normal direction. This leads to drag reduction and transformation of the mean flow profile. The centerline velocity grows, the mean velocity gradients near the wall decrease, and the typical horizontal dimensions of the coherent structures enlarge upon increasing the Hartmann number. Comparison between LES and DNS results shows that the dynamic Smagorinsky model accurately reproduces the flow transformation.
We examine the changes in kinetic energy dissipation of a turbulent channel flow caused by a spanwise magnetic field. The numerical study is based on our simulation data from [Krasnov, Zikanov, Schumacher, Boeck, Phys. Fluids 20, 095105 (2008)] obtained by direct and large eddy simulations. We find that the Joule dissipation can exceed the viscous dissipation in the weakly dissipative bulk region, but remains comparatively small in the turbulence-generating near-wall region.
Recent research has shed light on the role of coherent structures in forming layers when stably stratified turbulence is forced with horizontal shear (Lucas, Caulfield & Kerswell, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 832, 2017, pp. 409-437). Here we extend our previous work to investigate the effect of rigid boundaries on the dynamics by studying stably-stratified plane Couette flow with gravity oriented in the spanwise direction. We observe near-wall layering and associated new mean flows in the form of large scale spanwise-flattened streamwise rolls. The layers exhibit the expected buoyancy scaling $l_z\sim…
In order to generalize the well-known spanwise-oscillating-wall technique for drag reduction, non-sinusoidal oscillations of a solid wall are considered as a means to alter the skin-friction drag in a turbulent channel flow. A series of Direct Numerical Simulations is conducted to evaluate the control performance of nine different temporal waveforms, in addition to the usual sinusoid, systematically changing the wave amplitude and the period for each waveform. The turbulent average spanwise motion is found to coincide with the laminar Stokes solution that is constructed, for the generic wavefo…
Perturbed plane Couette flow containing a thin spanwise-oriented ribbon undergoes a subcritical bifurcation at Re = 230 to a steady 3D state containing streamwise vortices. This bifurcation is followed by several others giving rise to a fascinating series of stable and unstable steady states of different symmetries and wavelengths. First, the backwards-bifurcating branch reverses direction and becomes stable near Re = 200. Then, the spanwise reflection symmetry is broken, leading to two asymmetric branches which are themselves destabilized at Re = 420. Above this Reynolds number, time evolutio…
Highly turbulent Taylor-Couette flow with spanwise-varying roughness is investigated experimentally and numerically (direct numerical simulations (DNS) with an immersed boundary method (IBM)) to determine the effects of the spacing and axial width $s$ of the spanwise varying roughness on the total drag and {on} the flow structures. We apply sandgrain roughness, in the form of alternating {rough and smooth} bands to the inner cylinder. Numerically, the Taylor number is $\mathcal{O}(10^9)$ and the roughness width is varied between $0.47\leq \tilde{s}=s/d \leq 1.23$, where $d$ is the gap width. E…
We investigate the growth in the spanwise direction of turbulent spots invading a laminar flow in a plane Couette flow. Direct Numerical Simulation is used to track the nucleation of streaks during the spot growth. Experiment and direct numerical simulation allow us to study the velocity of the spot fronts and of the vortices observed at the spots' edges. All these results show that two mechanisms are involved when turbulent spots grow: a formerly proposed local growth occurring at the spot spanwise tips but also in comparable proportion a global growth induced by large-scale advection identif…
Steady forcing at the wall of a channel flow is studied via DNS to assess its ability of yielding reductions of turbulent friction drag. The wall forcing consists of a stationary distribution of spanwise velocity that alternates in the streamwise direction. The idea behind the forcing builds upon the existing technique of the spanwise wall oscillation, and exploits the convective nature of the flow to achieve an unsteady interaction with turbulence. The analysis takes advantage of the equivalent laminar flow, that is solved analytically to show that the energetic cost of the forcing is unaffec…
We present a derivation that begins with the Navier--Stokes equation and ends with a prediction of multiple statistically stable states identical to those observed in a spanwise rotating plane Couette flow. This derivation is able to explain the presence of multiple states in fully developed turbulence and the selection of one state over the other by differently sized computational domains and different initial conditions. According to the present derivation, two and only two statistically stable states are possible in an infinitely large plane Couette flow with spanwise rotation, and that mul…
Role of the dissipative invariants in isotropic homogeneous MHD turbulence has been studied using the distributed chaos approach and results of direct numerical simulations. Effects of weak imposed mean magnetic field and magnetic fields in undisturbed solar photosphere are also briefly discussed in this context.
An extended inertial range dominated by the cross-helicity effects has been studied for forced (statistically steady) and for freely decaying magnetohydrodynamic MHD turbulence (with and without imposed/mean magnetic field) using the spatio-temporal distributed chaos approach. Good agreement with results of direct numerical simulations, laboratory measurements in MHD wind (plasma) tunnel, measurements in the Earth's magnetosheath and in the solar wind has been established. A spontaneous breaking of local reflection (mirror) symmetry has been briefly discussed for the MHD turbulence with zero a…
The separating and reattaching turbulent flow past a rectangular cylinder is studied to describe how small and large scales contribute to the sustaining mechanism of the velocity fluctuations. The work is based on the Anisotropic Generalised Kolmogorov Equations (AGKE), exact budget equations for the second-order structure function tensor in the space of scales and in the physical space. Scale-space energy fluxes show that forward and reverse energy transfers simultaneously occur in the flow, with interesting modelling implications. Over the longitudinal cylinder side, the Kelvin-Helmholtz ins…
Following the findings in \cite{wangsawijaya2020}, we re-examine the turbulent boundary layers developing over surfaces with spanwise heterogeneous roughness of various roughness wavelengths $0.32 \leq S/\overlineδ \leq 3.63$, where $S$ is the width of the roughness strips and $\overlineδ$ is the spanwise-averaged boundary-layer thickness. The heterogeneous cases induce counter-rotating secondary flows, and these are compared to the large-scale turbulent structures that occur naturally over the smooth wall. Both appear as meandering elongated high- and low-momentum streaks in the instantaneous…
Using results of laboratory experiments, direct numerical simulations, geomagnetic and solar observations, it is shown that high moments of helicity distribution can dominate power spectra of the magnetic field generated by the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) dynamo in swirling turbulence even for the cases with zero global helicity. The notion of helical distributed chaos has been used for this purpose.
We report the results of an experimental investigation into the decay of turbulence in plane Couette-Poiseuille flow using 'quench' experiments where the flow laminarises after a sudden reduction in Reynolds number $Re$. Specifically, we study the velocity field in the streamwise-spanwise plane. We show that the spanwise velocity containing rolls, decays faster than the streamwise velocity, which displays elongated regions of higher or lower velocity called streaks. At final Reynolds numbers above 425, the decay of streaks displays two stages: first a slow decay when rolls are present and seco…
Wall-resolved large-eddy simulations are performed to study the impact of spanwise traveling transversal surface waves in zero-pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer flow. Eighty variations of wavelength, period, and amplitude of the space- and time-dependent sinusoidal wall motion are considered for a boundary layer at a momentum thickness based Reynolds number of $Re_θ= 1000$. The results show a strong decrease of friction drag of up to $26\,\%$ and considerable net power saving of up to $10\,\%$. However, the highest net power saving does not occur at the maximum drag reduction. The dra…
A study of fully developed plane turbulent channel flow subject to spanwise system rotation through direct numerical simulations is presented. In order to study both the influence of the Reynolds number and spanwise rotation on channel flow, the Reynolds number $Re = U_b h/ν$ is varied from a low 3000 to a moderate $31\,600$ and the rotation number $Ro = 2 Ωh/U_b$ is varied from 0 to 2.7, where $U_b$ is the mean bulk velocity, $h$ the channel half gap and $Ω$ the system rotation rate. The mean streamwise velocity profile displays also at higher $Re$ the characteristic linear part with a slope …
In this short review, we present the main known features of MHD Turbulence at Low Magnetic Reynolds number, for which the flow isn't intense nor electrically conductive enough to disturb an externally applied magnetic field. The emphasis is deliberately placed on the very specific physical mechanisms of these flows, rather than their numerical modelling. We also focus on homogeneous magnetic fields which have received most attention. Since the basic properties of these flows have been thoroughly reviewed a number of times, this review is deliberately biased towards flows in bounded domains, in…
A nested polyhedra model has been developed for magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence. Driving only the velocity field at large scales with random, divergence free forcing results in a clear, stationary $k^{-5/3}$ spectrum for both kinetic and magnetic energies. Since the model naturaly effaces disparate scale interactions, does not have a guide field and avoids injecting any sign of helicity by random forcing, the resulting three dimensional k-spectrum is statistically isotropic. The strengths and weaknesses of the model are demonstrated by considering large or small magnetic Prandtl numbers. …
Waves of spanwise velocity imposed at the walls of a plane turbulent channel flow are studied by Direct Numerical Simulations. We consider sinusoidal waves of spanwise velocity which vary in time and are modulated in space along the streamwise direction. The phase speed may be null, positive or negative, so that the waves may be either stationary or traveling forward or backward in the direction of the mean flow. Such a forcing includes as particular cases two known techniques for reducing friction drag: the oscillating wall technique (a traveling wave with infinite phase speed) and the recent…
We study the turbulence transition of plane Couette flow in large domains where localised perturbations are observed to generate growing turbulent spots. Extending previous studies on the boundary between laminar and turbulent dynamics we determine invariant structures intermediate between laminar and turbulent flow. In wide but short domains we find states that are localised in spanwise direction, and in wide and long domains the states are also localised in downstream direction. These localised states act as critical nuclei for the transition to turbulence in spatially extended domains.
This paper aims to numerically verify the large Reynolds number asymptotic theory of magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) flows proposed in the companion paper Deguchi (2019). To avoid any complexity associated with the chaotic nature of turbulence and flow geometry, nonlinear steady solutions of the viscous-resistive magneto-hydrodynamic equations in plane Couette flow have been utilised. Two classes of nonlinear MHD states, which convert kinematic energy to magnetic energy effectively, have been determined. The first class of nonlinear states can be obtained when a small spanwise uniform magnetic fiel…
The aim of the present work is to derive rigorous estimates for turbulent MHD flow quantities such as the size and anisotropy of the dissipative scales, as well as the transition between 2D and 3D state. To this end, we calculate an upper bound for the attractor dimension of the motion equations, which indicates the number of modes present in the fully developed flow. This method has already been used successfully to derive such estimates for 2D and 3D hydrodynamic turbulence as a function of the $\mathcal L_\infty$ norm of the dissipation, as in \cite{doering95}. We tackle here the problem of…
This paper introduces an experimental apparatus, which drives turbulence electrically in a liquid metal pervaded by a high magnetic field. Unlike past magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) setups involving a shallow confinement, the experiment presented here drives turbulence whose dimensionality can be set anywhere between three-dimensional and quasi two-dimensional. In particular, we show that the dimensionality and componentality of the turbulence thus generated are in fact completely fixed by the single parameter lz(li)/h, which quantifies the competition between the solenoidal component of the Lorent…
We investigate three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics turbulence in the presence of both a large-scale velocity and non-uniform magnetic field. By assuming a turbulence driven by an external forcing with both helical and non-helical spectra, we investigate the combined effect of these two shears on turbulence intensity and turbulent transport represented by turbulent diffusivities (turbulent viscosity, $α$ and $β$ effect) in analogy with Reynolds. We show that turbulence viscosity and diffusivity are quenched for strong flow shear and magnetic field in the limits of weak and strong magnetic fi…
We review the current status of research in MHD turbulence theory and numerical experiments and their applications to astrophysics and solar science. We introduce general tools for studying turbulence, basic turbulence models, MHD equations and their wave modes. Subsequently, we cover the theories and numerics of Alfvenic turbulence, imbalanced turbulence, small-scale dynamos and models and numerics for supersonic MHD turbulence.
It is shown, using results of recent direct numerical simulations, that spectral properties of distributed chaos in MHD turbulence with zero mean magnetic field are similar to those of hydrodynamic turbulence. An exception is MHD spontaneous breaking of space translational symmetry, when the stretched exponential spectrum $\exp(-k/k_β)^β$ has $β=4/7$.
In order to obtain insights into dynamics of developed plane Couette turbulence, this paper considers bifurcation structure of unstable periodic orbits (UPOs) in the large-eddy-simulation (LES) system with the Smagorinsky-type eddy viscosity model. Treating the Smagorinsky constant as a bifurcation parameter, we detect the bifurcation points connecting two known UPOs which were separately discovered in the Navier--Stokes system [G. Kawahara and S. Kida, J. Fluid Mech., 449, 291--300 (2001)]. At the moderately high Reynolds number, the LES UPO of the present study possesses the spanwise vortice…
We investigate the influence of a uniform magnetic field ${\bf B_0}=B_0 e//$ on energy decay laws in incompressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence. The nonlinear transfer reduction along $B_0$ is included in a model that distinguishes parallel and perpendicular directions, following a phenomenology {\it à la} Kraichnan. We predict a slowing down of the energy decay due to anisotropy in the limit of strong $B_0$, with distinct power laws for energy decay of shear- and pseudo-Alfvén waves. Numerical results from the kinetic equations of Alfvén wave turbulence recover these predictions, and…
The ideal invariants present in the formalism of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), i.e. global quantities that are conserved in the absence of sources and dissipative effects, play an important role in various theoretical and numerical studies of MHD turbulence. The fluxes of these ideal invariants represent separate channels that transfer the information across different scales in a turbulent system. Once a statistically stationary state of turbulence is reached, the amount of any ideal invariant quantity introduced in the system by a forcing mechanism equals the amount of the same quantity removed…
It is shown that the second-order moment of helicity distribution (the Levich-Tsinober invariant of inviscid hydrodynamics) can be preserved as an adiabatic invariant in magnetohydrodynamics. The distributed chaos approach and inertial range phenomenology have been developed for the magnetohydrodynamic processes dominated by this adiabatic invariant, and some consequences of the theoretical consideration have been compared with results of direct numerical simulations and measurements in the solar wind. Helical scaling in interstellar MHD turbulence has been also briefly discussed in this conte…
In this paper we describe the mode-to-mode energy transfers and energy fluxes of MHD turbulence. These energy transfers are very useful for understanding the turbulence dynamics, as well as for applications such as dynamo. We illustrate how the energy fluxes provide valuable insights into the mechanism of growth of the large-scale magnetic energy in dynamo.
An open issue in turbulence theory is related to the determination of the exact evolution equation for the probability density associated to the relevant (stochastic) fluid fields. Such an equation in the usual approaches to turbulence reproduces, at most in an approximate sense, the correct fluid equations. In this paper we present a statistical model which applies to an incompressible, resistive and quasi-neutral magnetofluid. The approach is based on the formulation of an inverse kinetic theory (IKT) for the full set of MHD equations appropriate for an incompressible, viscous, quasi-neutral…
The purpose of this work is to investigate the spectral properties of the developed isotropic (non-Alfven) MHD turbulence stationary excited by an external force, which injects the cross helicity into the flow simultaneously with the energy. It is shown that the cross helicity blocks the spectral energy transfer in MHD turbulence and results in energy accumulation in the system. This accumulation proceeds until the vortex intensification compensates the decreasing efficiency of nonlinear interactions. The formula for estimating the average turbulence energy is obtained for the set ratio betwee…
Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence is pervasive in astrophysical systems. Recent high-resolution numerical simulations suggest that the energy spectrum of strong incompressible MHD turbulence is $E(k_{\perp})\propto k_{\perp}^{-3/2}$. So far, there has been no phenomenological theory that simultaneously explains this spectrum and satisfies the exact analytic relations for MHD turbulence due to Politano & Pouquet. Indeed, the Politano-Pouquet relations are often invoked to suggest that the spectrum of MHD turbulence instead has the Kolmogorov scaling -5/3. Using geometrical arguments and nume…
We report on a comparison of high-resolution numerical simulations of Lagrangian particles advected by incompressible turbulent hydro- and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flows. Numerical simulations were performed with up to $1024^3$ collocation points and 10 million particles in the Navier-Stokes case and $512^3$ collocation points and 1 million particles in the MHD case. In the hydrodynamics case our findings compare with recent experiments from Mordant et al. [1] and Xu et al. [2]. They differ from the simulations of Biferale et al. [3] due to differences of the ranges choosen for evaluating the…
The phenomenon of bursting, in which streaks in turbulent boundary layers oscillate and then eject low speed fluid away from the wall, has been studied experimentally, theoretically, and computationally for more than 50 years because of its importance to the three-dimensional structure of turbulent boundary layers. We produce five new three-dimensional solutions of turbulent plane Couette flow, one of which is periodic while four others are relative periodic. Each of these five solutions demonstrates the break-up and re-formation of near-wall coherent structures. Four of our solutions are peri…
We revisit the issue of spectral slope of MHD turbulence in the inertial range and argue that numerics favor Goldreich-Sridhar -5/3 slope rather than -3/2 slope. We also did precision measurements of anisotropy of MHD turbulence and determined the anisotropy constant C_A=0.34 of Alfvenic turbulence. Together with previously measured Kolmogorov constant C_K=4.2, or 3.3 for purely Alfvenic case, it constitutes a full description of MHD cascade in terms of spectral quantities, which is of high practical value for astrophysics.
The spectral slope of strong MHD turbulence has recently been a matter of controversy. While Goldreich-Sridhar model (1995) predicts Kolmogorov's -5/3 slope of turbulence, shallower slopes were often reported by numerical studies. We argue that earlier numerics was affected by driving due to a diffuse locality of energy transfer in MHD case. Our highest-resolution simulation (3072^2x1024) has been able to reach the asymptotic -5/3 regime of the energy slope. Additionally, we found that so-called dynamic alignment, proposed in the model with -3/2 slope, saturates and therefore can not affect as…
The scale locality of energy fluxes for magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) is investigated numerically for stationary states of turbulence. Two types of forces are used to drive turbulence, a kinetic force that acts only on the velocity field and a kinetic-inductive forcing mechanism, which acts on the velocity and magnetic fields alike. The analysis is performed in spectral space, which is decomposed into a series of shells following a power law for the boundaries. The triadic transfers occurring among these shells are computed and the fluxes and locality functions are recovered by partial summation …
We investigate the transfer of energy from large scales to small scales in fully developed forced three-dimensional MHD-turbulence by analyzing the results of direct numerical simulations in the absence of an externally imposed uniform magnetic field. Our results show that the transfer of kinetic energy from the large scales to kinetic energy at smaller scales, and the transfer of magnetic energy from the large scales to magnetic energy at smaller scales, are local, as is also found in the case of neutral fluids, and in a way that is compatible with Kolmogorov (1941) theory of turbulence. Howe…
The free decay of MHD turbulence at large Reynolds numbers is studied numerically using a shell model. We study the statistical properties based on representative sample of realisations (128 realisations for each type of initial conditions) over the period of $10^5$ large-scale turnover times. The performed simulations show that the force-free non-helical MHD turbulence can demonstrate two different scenarios of evolution in spite of similar initial conditions. Within the first scenario, the cross-helicity accumulation is so fast that the energy cascade vanishes before significant magnetic ene…
Magnetized turbulence is ubiquitous in many astrophysical and terrestrial systems but no complete, uncontested theory even in the simplest form, magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), exists. Many theories and phenomenologies focus on the joint (kinetic and magnetic) energy fluxes and spectra. We highlight the importance of treating kinetic and magnetic energies separately to shed light on MHD turbulence dynamics. We conduct an implicit large eddy simulation of subsonic, super-Alfvénic MHD turbulence and analyze the scale-wise energy transfer over time. Our key finding is that the kinetic energy spectrum…
In hydrodynamic turbulence, the kinetic energy injected at large scales cascades to the inertial range, leading to a constant kinetic energy flux. In contrast, in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence, a fraction of kinetic energy is transferred to the magnetic energy. Consequently, for the same kinetic energy injection rate, the kinetic energy flux in MHD turbulence is reduced compared to its hydrodynamic counterpart. This leads to relative weakening of the nonlinear term ($\la | ({\bf u}\cdot \nabla) {\bf u} | \ra$, where ${\bf u}$ is the velocity field) and turbulent drag, but strengthening …
The transport of heavy, neutral or charged, point-like particles by incompressible, resistive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence is investigated by means of high-resolution numerical simulations. The spatial distribution of such impurities is observed to display strong deviations from homogeneity, both at dissipative and inertial range scales. Neutral particles tend to cluster in the vicinity of coherent vortex sheets due to their viscous drag with the flow, leading to the simultaneous presence of very concentrated and almost empty regions. The signature of clustering is different for charge…
We present a model for compressible sub-Alfvenic isothermal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence in low-beta plasmas and numerically test it. We separate MHD fluctuations into 3 distinct families - Alfven, slow, and fast modes. We find that, production of slow and fast modes by Alfvenic turbulence is suppressed. As a result, Alfven modes in compressible regime exhibit scalings and anisotropy similar to those in incompressible regime. Slow modes passively mimic Alfven modes. However, fast modes show isotropy and a scaling similar to acoustic turbulence.
Recent numerical and observational studies revealed that spectra of magnetic and velocity fluctuations in MHD turbulence have different scaling indexes. This intriguing feature has been recently explained in the case of weak MHD turbulence, that is, turbulence consisting of weakly interacting Alfven waves. However, astrophysical turbulence is strong in majority of cases. In the present work, we propose a unifying picture that allows one to address weak and strong MHD turbulence on the same footing. We argue that magnetic and kinetic energies are different in both weak and strong MHD turbulence…
Leveling of MHD turbulence imbalance in shear flows
Abastumani Astrophysical Observatory（阿巴斯图马尼天体物理观测站）；Department of Physics, Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, Tbilisi State University（第比利斯国立大学精确与自然科学学院物理系）；Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf（德累斯顿-罗斯多夫亥姆霍兹中心）；M. Nodia Institute of Geophysics（M.诺迪亚地球物理研究所）
A phenomenology of isotropic magnetohydrodynamic turbulence subject to both rotation and applied magnetic field is presented. It is assumed that the triple correlations decay-time is the shortest between the eddy turn-over time and the ones associated to the rotating frequency and Alfvén wave period. For $Pm=1$ it leads to four kinds of piecewise spectra, depending on the four parameters, injection rate of energy, magnetic diffusivity, rotation rate and applied field. With a shell model of MHD turbulence (including rotation and applied magnetic field), spectra for $Pm \le 1$ are presented, tog…
Performing a stable, long duration simulation of driven MHD turbulence with a high thermal Mach number and a strong initial magnetic field is a challenge to high-order Godunov ideal MHD schemes because of the difficulty in guaranteeing positivity of the density and pressure. We have implemented a robust combination of reconstruction schemes, Riemann solvers, limiters, and Constrained Transport EMF averaging schemes that can meet this challenge, and using this strategy, we have developed a new Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) MHD module of the ORION2 code. We investigate the effects of AMR on sev…
