The assumption of similarity and self-preservation, which permits an analytical determination of the energy decay in isotropic turbulence, has played an important role in the development of turbulence theory for more than half a century. Sedov (1944), who first found an ingenious way to obtain two equations from one. Nonethless, it appears that this problem has never been reinvestigated in depth subsequent to this earlier work. In the present paper, such an analysis is carried out, yielding a much more complete picture of self-preservation isotropic turbulence. Based on these exact solutions, some physically significant consequences of recent advances in the theory of self-preserved homogenous statistical solution of the Navier-Stokes equations are presented. New results could be obtained for the analysis on turbulence features, such as the scaling behavior, the spectrum, and also the large scale dynamics. The general energy spectra and their behavior in different wave number range are investigated. This letter only focus on the scaling equation.
In this paper, we present an extensive study of linearly forced isotropic turbulence. By using an analytical method, we identified two parametric choices that are new to our knowledge. We proved that the underlying nonlinear dynamical system for linearly forced isotropic turbulence is the general case of a cubic Lienard equation with linear damping (Dumortier and Rousseau 1990).
We present developments of the Hamiltonian approach to problems of the freely decay of isotropic turbulence, and also consider specific applications of the modified Prelle-Singer procedure to isotropic turbulence. It demonstrates that a nonlinear second order ordinary differential equation is intimately related to the self-preserving solution of Karman-Howarth equation, admitting time-dependent first integrals and also proving the nonstandard Hamiltonian structure, as well as the Liouville sense of integrability.
In this letter, we present developments of the Hamiltonian approach to problems of the probability distribution for a passive scalar in isotropic turbulence, and also considers specific applications of the modified Prelle-Singer procedure to turbulence models. The following key questions are discussed and solved: what is the general dynamical structure of the resulting scale equation permitted by passive scalar turbulence models? What are the general requirements of the relations between canonical variables and the canonical variabes representation for turbulence by using canonical variables? …
The paper investigates the detailed features of one-dimensional energy spectra in three-dimensional isotropic turbulence, based on the exact solution of Karman-Howarth equation. Particular interest will be paid on the degree to which spectral scaling can lead the spectral data to be collapsed. The theory appears to be consistent with the wealth of experimental data (G.Comte-Bellot and S. Corrsin, 1971) at least in low Taylor microscale Reynolds number.
The normalized non-dimensional von Kármán-Howarth equation for isotropic homogeneous decaying and forced steady turbulence is integrated to obtain expressions for the dissipation rate coefficient $C_ε=(L ε)/< u^2 >^{3/2}$, where $L$ denotes the longitudinal integral length scale, $ε$ the mean dissipation rate and $< u^2 >$ the mean variance of the longitudinal velocity fluctuations. For decaying turbulence the final exact expressions for $C_ε$ for the low and high Reynolds number limit depend on the decay exponent $n$, which is known to depend on the initial velocity structure at the turbulenc…
A dynamical model is proposed for isotropic turbulence driven by steady forcing that yields a viscosity independent dynamics for the small-scale (inertial) regime. This reproduces the Kolmogorov spectrum for the two-point velocity correlation function in the fully developed (stationary) stage, while predicting intermittency corrections for higher order moments. The model also yields a transient stage with a power-law time evolution. The crossover time to fully developed turbulence scales with the turbulent system size as $\sim L^{11/3}$. The physical origin of the transient behavior is explain…
The central problem of fully developed turbulence is the energy cascading process. It has revisited all attempts at a full physical understanding or mathematical formulation. The main reason for this failure are related to the large hierarchy of scales involved, the highly nonlinear character inherent in the Navier-Stokes equations, and the spatial intermittency of the dynamically active regions. Richardson has described the interplay between large and small scales and the phenomena so described are known as the Richardson cascade. This local interplay also forms the basis of a theory by Kolmo…
In this letter, we present an extensive study of the linearly forced isotropic turbulence. By using analytical method, we identify two parametric choices, of which they seem to be new as far as our knowledge goes. We prove that the underlying nonlinear dynamical system for linearly forced isotropic turbulence is the general case of a cubic Lienard equation with linear damping. We also discuss a Fokker-Planck approach to this new dynamical system,which is bistable and exhibits two asymmetric and asymptotically stable stationary probability densities.
Based on the Karman-Howarth equation in 3D incompressible fluid, a new isotropic turbulence scale evolution equation and its related theory progress. The present results indicate that the energy cascading process has remarkable similarities with the determinisitic construction rules of the isotonic oscillators in quantum mechanics.
We demonstrate an unexpected connection between isotropic turbulence and wall-bounded shear flows. We perform direct numerical simulations of isotropic turbulence forced at large scales at moderate Reynolds numbers and observe sudden transitions from a chaotic dynamics to a spatially simple flow, analogous to the laminar state in wall bounded shear flows. We find that the survival probabilities of turbulence are exponential and the typical lifetimes increase superexponentially with the Reynolds number. Our results suggest that both isotropic turbulence and wall-bounded shear flows qualitativel…
This article accompanies the submission of a fluid dynamics video (entry 102248) of inertial cloud droplet clustering in isotropic turbulence for the Gallery of Fluid Motion of the 66th Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society, Division of Fluid Dynamics.
A new form of the well known Lin equation for the energy balance in isotropic turbulence is given which takes account of the filtered-partitioned transfer spectra which were used to resolve the scale paradox. It is argued that this new formulation provides a new starting point for both theoretical and numerical methods which may lead to a better understanding of the underlying energy processes in turbulence.
A stochastic EDQNM approach is used to investigate self-similar decaying isotropic turbulence at high Reynolds number ($400 \leq Re_λ\leq 10^4$). The realistic energy spectrum functional form recently proposed by Meyers & Meneveau is generalised by considering some of the model constants as random parameters, since they escape measure in most experimental set-ups. The induced uncertainty on the solution is investigated building response surfaces for decay power-law exponents of usual physical quantities. Large-scale uncertainties are considered, the emphasis being put on Saffman and Batchelor …
We conduct a careful analysis of the data provided by Krogstad & Davidson (2011) and show that their data do not support their conclusions. According to their published data, their decaying approximately homogeneous isotropic turbulent flows are, invariably, clearly different from Saffman turbulence; and very clearly marked differences exist between the far downstream turbulence behaviors generated by their conventional grid and by their multiscale cross grids.
We calculate the self-similar longitudinal velocity correlation function, the energy spectrum and the corresponding other properties using a theory on the isotropic homogeneous turbulence just presented by the author in a previous work. The correlation functions correspond to steady-state solutions of the evolution equation under the self-similarity hypothesis introduced by von Kármán. These solutions are numerically calculated and the results adequately describe several properties of the isotropic turbulence.
It is shown that the correlation integrals (invariants) play an important, and at certain conditions a dominant, role in helical isotropic homogeneous turbulence both in the inertial and near-dissipation ranges. Results of direct numerical simulations and recent laboratory experiments with multiscale grids have been used for this purpose. A possibility of spontaneous breaking of reflection symmetry has been also briefly discussed in this context.
The effects of Reynolds number and Stokes number on particle-pair relative velocity (RV) were investigated systematically using a recently developed planar four-frame particle tracking technique in a novel homogeneous and isotropic turbulence chamber.
Using fluctuating hydrodynamics we investigate the effect of thermal fluctuations in the dissipation range of homogeneous, isotropic turbulence. Simulations confirm theoretical predictions that the energy spectrum is dominated by these fluctuations at length scales comparable to the Kolmogorov length. We also find that the extreme intermittency in the far-dissipation range predicted by Kraichnan is replaced by Gaussian thermal equipartition.
In every turbulent flow with non-zero viscosity, heat is generated by viscous friction. This heat is then mixed by the velocity field. We consider how heat fluctuations generated this way are injected and distributed over length scales in isotropic turbulence. A triadic closure is derived and numerically integrated. It is shown how the heat fluctuation spectrum depends on the Reynolds and Prandtl numbers.
It is shown that the distributed chaos in the simple Hamiltonian (conservative) dynamical systems, such as the Nose-Hoover oscillator and double oscillator, can mimic the distributed chaos in the isotropic homogeneous turbulence. Direct numerical simulations with the classic Toda lattice and with the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (soliton turbulence) under random initial conditions have been also discussed in this context. These properties of the distributed chaos have been related to analytical properties of the Hamiltonian systems. Decrease of the smoothness results in the power-law spectra…
We present a detailed review of some of the most recent developments on Eulerian and Lagrangian turbulence in homogeneous and isotropic statistics. In particular, we review phenomenological and numerical results concerning the issue of universality with respect to the large scale forcing and the viscous dissipative physics. We discuss the state-of-the-art of numerical versus experimental comparisons and we discuss the dicotomy between phenomenology based on coherent structures or on statistical approaches. A detailed discussion of finite Reynolds effects is also presented.
Temporal decorrelations in compressible isotropic turbulence are studied using the space-time correlation theory and direct numerical simulation. A swept-wave model is developed for dilatational components while the classic random sweeping model is proposed for solenoidal components. The swept-wave model shows that the temporal decorrelations in dilatational fluctuations are dominated by two physical processes: random sweeping and wave propagation. These models are supported by the direct numerical simulation of compressible isotropic turbulence, in the sense of that all curves of normalized t…
It is shown that a mechanism of energy redistribution and dissipation by the inertial waves can be effectively utilized in isotropic turbulence at small Reynolds numbers (when the nonlocal interactions are the dominating ones). This mechanism totally suppresses the local interactions (cascades) in isotropic turbulence at the Taylor-scale based Reynolds number $R_λ < 10^2$. This value of $R_λ$ (that can be considered as a bifurcation value at which the local regime emerges from the nonlocal one in isotropic turbulence) is in agreement with recent direct numerical simulations data. Applicability…
We study the statistical properties of helicity in direct numerical simulations of fully developed homogeneous and isotropic turbulence and in a class of turbulence shell models. We consider correlation functions based on combinations of vorticity and velocity increments that are not invariant under mirror symmetry. We also study the scaling properties of high-order structure functions based on the moments of the velocity increments projected on a subset of modes with either positive or negative helicity (chirality). We show that mirror symmetry is recovered at small-scales, i.e., chiral terms…
Power spectrum of the distributed chaos can be represented by a weighted superposition of the exponential functions which is converged to a stretched exponential $\propto \exp-(k/k_β)^{β}$. An asymptotic theory has been developed in order to estimate the value of $β$ for the isotropic turbulence. This value has been found to be $β=3/4$. Excellent agreement has been established between this theory and the data of direct numerical simulations not only for the velocity field but also for the passive scalar, energy dissipation rate, and magnetic fields. One can conclude that the isotropic turbulen…
The streamwise and transverse velocities are measured simultaneously in grid turbulence at Reynolds numbers 100-300. We extract typical intermittency patterns, which are consistent with velocity profiles of Burgers and Lamb-Oseen vortices. The radii of these vortex tubes are estimated to be several of the Kolmogorov length.
We consider equilibrium statistics for high Reynolds number isotropic turbulence in an incompressible flow driven by steady forcing at the largest scale. Motivated by shell model observations, we develop a similarity theory for the inertial range from clearly stated assumptions. In the right variables, the theory is scaling invariant, but in traditional variables it shows anomalous scaling. We obtain the underlying probability density function, the scaling exponents, and the coefficients for the structure functions. An inertial range length scale also emerges.
The assumption of similarity and self-preservation, which permits an analytical determination of the energy decay in isotropic turbulence, has played an important role in the development of turbulence theory for more than half a century. Sedov (1944), who first found an ingenious way to obtain two equations from one. Nonethless, it appears that this problem has never been reinvestigated in depth subsequent to this earlier work. In the present paper, such an analysis is carried out, yielding a much more complete picture of self-preservation isotropic turbulence. Based on these exact solutions, …
We systematise the study of dynamic multiscaling of time-dependent structure functions in different models of passive-scalar and fluid turbulence. We show that, by suitably normalising these structure functions, we can eliminate their dependence on the origin of time at which we start our measurements and that these normalised structure functions yield the same linear bridge relations that relate the dynamic-multiscaling and equal-time exponents for statistically steady turbulence. We show analytically, for both the Kraichnan Model of passive-scalar turbulence and its shell model analogue, and…
This paper is the forth part of our series of work, is devoted to the analysis on the multiscales and cascade aspects of the statistical theory of isotropic turbulence based on the new Sedov-type solution. In this paper, we use the explicit map method to analyse the nonlinear dynamical behaviour for cascade in isotorpic turbulence. This deductive scale analysis is shown to provide the first visual evidence of the celebrated Richardson cascade, and reveals in partcular its multiscale character. The results also indicate that the energy cascading process has remarkable similarities with the dete…
ONE of the main goals in the development of theory of chaotic dynamical system has been to make progress in understanding of turbulence. The attempts to related turbulence to chaotic motion got strong impetus from the celebrated paper by Ruelle and Takens . Considerable success has been achieved mainly in the area: the onset of turbulence. For fully developed turbulence, many questions remain unanswered. The aim of this letter is to show that there are dynamical systems that are much simpler than the Navier-Stokes equations but that can still have turbulent states and for which many concepts d…
The radial relative velocity between particles suspended in turbulent flow plays a critical role in droplet collision and growth. We present a simple and accurate approach to RV measurement in isotropic turbulence - planar 4-frame particle tracking velocimetry - using routine PIV hardware. This study demonstrates the feasibility of accurately measuring RV using routine hardware and verifies, for the first time, the path-history and inertial filtering effects on particle-pair RV at large particle separations experimentally.
The recent development of a statistical model for incompressible Navier-Stokes (NS) fluids based on inverse kinetic theory (IKT, 2004-2008) poses the problem of searching for particular realizations of the theory which may be relevant for \textit{the statistical description of turbulence} and in particular for the so-called \textit{homogeneous, isotropic}and \textit{stationary} turbulence (HIST). Here the problem is set in terms of the $1-$point velocity probability density function (PDF) which determines a complete IKT-statistical model for NS fluids. This raises the interesting question of i…
The existence of drag reduction by polymer additives, well established for wall-bounded turbulent flows, is controversial in homogeneous, isotropic turbulence. To settle this controversy we carry out a high-resolution direct numerical simulation (DNS) of decaying, homogeneous, isotropic turbulence with polymer additives. Our study reveals clear manifestations of drag-reduction-type phenomena: On the addition of polymers to the turbulent fluid we obtain a reduction in the energy dissipation rate, a significant modification of the fluid energy spectrum especially in the deep-dissipation range, a…
The statistics of the deformation and breakup of neutrally buoyant sub-Kolmogorov ellipsoidal drops is investigated via Lagrangian simulations of homogeneous isotropic turbulence. The mean lifetime of a drop is also studied as a function of the initial drop size and the capillary number. A vector model of drop previously introduced by Olbricht, Rallison and Leal [J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech. $\mathbf{10}$, 291 (1982)] is used to predict the behaviour of the above quantities analytically.
Direct numerical simulation is used to investigate the decay exponent of isotropic homogeneous turbulence over a range of Reynolds numbers sufficient to display both high and low Re number decay behavior. The initial turbulence is generated by the stirring action of the flow past many small randomly placed cubes. Stirring occurs at 1/30th of the simulation domain size so that the low-wavenumber and large scale behavior of the turbulent spectrum is generated by the fluid and is not imposed. It is shown that the decay exponent in the resulting turbulence closely matches the theoretical predictio…
We use the recently developed Macroscopic Forcing Method [Mani and Park, Physical Review Fluids, 6:054607, 2021] to compute the scale-dependent eddy diffusivity characterizing ensemble-averaged scalar and momentum transport in incompressible homogeneous isotropic turbulence. For scales larger than the energy containing eddies, eddy diffusivity is found to be constant and consistent with the Boussinesq approximation. However for small scales eddy diffusivity is found to vanish inversely proportional to the wavenumber. Behavior at all scales is reasonably captured by a non-local eddy diffusivity…
An improved understanding of turbulence is essential for the effective modelling and control of industrial and geophysical processes. Homogeneous, isotropic turbulence (HIT) is the archetypal field for developing turbulence physics theory. Based on the Schur transform, we introduce an additive decomposition of the velocity gradient tensor into a normal part (containing the eigenvalues) and a non-normal or shear-related tensor. We re-interrogate some key properties of HIT and show that the the tendency of the flow to form disc-like structures is not a property of the normal tensor; it emerges f…
Small scale characteristics of turbulence such as velocity gradients and vorticity fluctuate rapidly in magnitude and oscillate in sign. Much work exists on the characterization of magnitude variations, but far less on sign oscillations. While averages performed on large scales tend to zero because of the oscillatory character, those performed on increasingly smaller scales will vary with the averaging scale in some characteristic way. This characteristic variation at high Reynolds numbers is captured by the so-called cancellation exponent, which measures how local averages tend to cancel out …
This paper examines the consistency of the exact scaling laws for isotropic MHD turbulence in numerical simulations with large magnetic Prandtl numbers Pm and with Pm=1. The exact laws are used to elucidate the structure of the magnetic and velocity fields. Despite the linear scaling of certain third-order correlation functions, the situation is not analogous to the case of Kolmogorov turbulence. The magnetic field is adequately described by a model of stripy (folded) field with direction reversals at the resistive scale. At currently available resolutions, the cascade of kinetic energy is sho…
We study the Lagrangian dynamics of semi-flexible macromolecules in laminar as well as in homogeneous and isotropic turbulent flows by means of analytically solvable stochastic models and direct numerical simulations. The statistics of the bending angle is qualitatively different in laminar and turbulent flows and exhibits a strong dependence on the topology of the velocity field. In particular, in two-dimensional turbulence, particles are either found in a fully extended or in a fully folded configuration; in three dimensions, the predominant configuration is the fully extended one.
We present the most extensive direct numerical simulations, attempted so far, of statistically steady, homogeneous, isotropic turbulence in two-dimensional fluid films with air-drag-induced friction and with polymer additives. Our study reveals that the polymers (a) reduce the total fluid energy, enstrophy, and palinstrophy, (b) modify the fluid energy spectrum both in inverse- and forward-cascade regimes, (c) reduce small-scale intermittency, (d) suppress regions of large vorticity and strain rate, and (e) stretch in strain-dominated regions. We compare our results with earlier experimental s…
We show by direct numerical simulation (DNS) that the Lagrangian cross correlation of velocity gradients in homogeneous isotropic turbulence increases at short times, whereas its auto-correlation decreases. Kinematic considerations allow to show that two invariants of the turbulent velocity field determine the short-time velocity gradient correlations. In order to get a more intuitive understanding of the dynamics for longer times, heuristic models are proposed involving the combined action of local shear and rotation. These models quantitatively reproduce the effects and disentangle the diffe…
We carry out a direct numerical simulation (DNS) study that reveals the effects of polymers on statistically steady, forced, homogeneous, isotropic fluid turbulence. We find clear manifestations of dissipation-reduction phenomena: On the addition of polymers to the turbulent fluid, we obtain a reduction in the energy dissipation rate, a significant modification of the fluid energy spectrum, especially in the deep-dissipation range, a suppression of small-scale intermittency, and a decrease in small-scale vorticity filaments. We also compare our results with recent experiments and earlier DNS s…
We investigate the conditional vorticity budget of fully developed three-dimensional homogeneous isotropic turbulence with respect to coherent and incoherent flow contributions. The Coherent Vorticity Extraction based on orthogonal wavelets allows to decompose the vorticity field into coherent and incoherent contributions, of which the latter are noise-like. The impact of the vortex structures observed in fully developed turbulence on statistical balance equations is quantified considering the conditional vorticity budget. The connection between the basic structures present in the flow and the…
In this work, we calculate the self-similar longitudinal velocity correlation function and the statistical properties of velocity difference using the results of the Lyapunov analysis of the fully developed isotropic homogeneous turbulence just presented by the author in a previous work (arXiv:0911.1463). There, a closure of the von Karman-Howarth equation is proposed and the statistics of velocity difference is determined through a specific analysis of the Fourier-transformed Navier-Stokes equations. The correlation functions correspond to steady-state solutions of the von Karman-Howarth equa…
Using time-resolved measurements of the orientation of rigid inertial fibers in a turbulence-tank, we investigate the autocorrelation of their tumbling rate. The correlation time ($τ_d$) is well predicted by Kolmogorov inertial-range scaling based on the fiber length (L) when the fiber inertia can be neglected. For inertial fibers, we propose a simple model considering fiber inertia (measured by a tumbling Stokes number) and a viscous torque which accurately predicts both the correlation time and the variance of the tumbling rate.
We investigate the single-point probability density function of the velocity in three-dimensional stationary and decaying homogeneous isotropic turbulence. To this end we apply the statistical framework of the Lundgren-Monin-Novikov hierarchy combined with conditional averaging, identifying the quantities that determine the shape of the probability density function. In this framework the conditional averages of the rate of energy dissipation, the velocity diffusion and the pressure gradient with respect to velocity play a key role. Direct numerical simulations of the Navier-Stokes equation are…
We study the statistical properties of orientation and rotation dynamics of elliptical tracer particles in two-dimensional, homogeneous and isotropic turbulence by direct numerical simulations. We consider both the cases in which the turbulent flow is generated by forcing at large and intermediate length scales. We show that the two cases are qualitatively different. For large-scale forcing, the spatial distribution of particle orientations forms large-scale structures, which are absent for intermediate-scale forcing. The alignment with the local directions of the flow is much weaker in the la…
We study the rotational dynamics of {\it inertial} disks and rods in three-dimensional, homogeneous isotropic turbulence. In particular, we show how the alignment and the decorrelation time-scales of such spheroids depend, critically, on both the level of inertia and the aspect ratio of these particles. These results illustrate the effect of inertia---which leads to a preferential sampling of the local flow geometry---on the statistics of both disks and rods in a turbulent flow. Our results are important for a variety of natural and industrial settings where the turbulent transport of asymmetr…
We study the effect of the Basset history force on the dynamics of small particles transported in homogeneous and isotropic turbulence and show that this term, often neglected in previous numerical studies, reduces the small-scale clustering typical of inertial particles. The contribution of this force to the total particle acceleration is, on average, responsible for about 10% of the total acceleration and particularly relevant during rare strong events. At moderate density ratios, i.e. sand or metal powder in water, its presence alters the balance of forces determining the particle accelerat…
We study the competition between domain coarsening in a symmetric binary mixtures below the critical temperature and turbulent fluctuations. We find that the coarsening process is arrested in presence of turbulence. The physics of the process shares remarkable similarities with the behaviour of diluted turbulent emulsions and the arrest length scale can be estimated with an argument similar to the one proposed by Kolmogorov and Hinze for the maximal stability diameter of droplets in turbulence. Although in the absence of flow the microscopic diffusion constant is negative, turbulence does effe…
Inertial-range features of turbulence are investigated using data from experimental measurements of grid turbulence and direct numerical simulations of isotropic turbulence simulated in a periodic box, both at the Taylor-scale Reynolds number $R_λ\sim 1000$. In particular, oscillations modulating the power-law scaling in the inertial range are examined for structure functions up to sixth order moments. The oscillations in exponent ratios decrease with increasing sample size in simulations though, in experiments, they survive at a low value of $4$ parts in $1000$ even after massive averaging. T…
We generalize Batchelor's parameterization of the autocorrelation functions of isotropic turbulence in a form involving a product expansion with multiple small scales. The richer small scale structure acquired this way, compared to the usual Batchelor function, is necessary so that the associated energy spectrum approximate well actual spectra in the universal equilibrium range. We propose that the generalized function provides an approximation of arbitrary accuracy for actual spectra of isotropic turbulence over the universal equilibrium range. The degree of accuracy depends on the number of …
The Reynolds number dependence of the dimensionless dissipation rate is derived directly from the Karman-Howarth equation in terms of the inverse of the integral scale Reynolds number and a coefficient which depends on the second- and third-order structure functions. Fitting this form to the results from a direct numerical simulation indicates that the coefficient is effectively constant.
