The dual cascade of energy and enstrophy in 2D turbulence cannot easily be understood in terms of an analog to the Richardson-Kolmogorov scenario describing the energy cascade in 3D turbulence. The coherent up- and downscale fluxes points to non-locality of interactions in spectral space, and thus the specific spatial structure of the flow could be important. Shell models, which lack spacial structure and have only local interactions in spectral space, indeed fail in reproducing the correct scaling for the inverse cascade of energy. In order to exclude the possibility that non-locality of interactions in spectral space is crucial for the dual cascade, we introduce a stochastic spectral model of the cascades which is local in spectral space and which shows the correct scaling for both the direct enstrophy - and the inverse energy cascade.
This investigation presents evidence of the relation between the dynamics of intense events in small-scale turbulence and the energy cascade. We use the generalised (Hölder) means to track the temporal evolution of intense events of the enstrophy and the dissipation in direct numerical simulations of isotropic turbulence. We show that these events are modulated by large-scale fluctuations, and that their evolution is consistent with a local multiplicative cascade, as hypothesised by a broad class of intermittency models of turbulence.
High resolution direct numerical simulations of two-dimensional turbulence in stationary conditions are presented. The development of an energy-enstrophy double cascade is studied and found to be compatible with the classical Kraichnan theory in the limit of extended inertial ranges. The analysis of the joint distribution of energy and enstrophy fluxes in physical space reveals a small value of cross correlation. This result supports many experimental and numerical studies where only one cascade is generated.
We discuss structure and geometrical characteristics of coherent vortices appearing as a result of the inverse cascade in the two-dimensional turbulence in a finite box. We demonstrate that the universal velocity profile, established previously, corresponds to the passive regime of flow fluctuations. We find the vortex core radius and the vortex size and argue that an amount of the vortices generated in the box depends on the system parameters.
We consider developed turbulence in the 2D Gross-Pitaevsky model, which describes wide classes of phenomena from atomic and optical physics to condensed matter, fluids and plasma. The well-known difficulty of the problem is that the hypothetical local spectra of both inverse and direct cascades in the weak-turbulence approximation carry fluxes which are either zero or have the wrong sign; such spectra cannot be realized. We analytically derive the exact flux constancy laws (analogs of Kolmogorov's 4/5-law for incompressible fluid turbulence), expressed via the fourth-order moment and valid for…
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, for the first time, 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 …
Three-dimensional (3D) turbulence is characterized by a dual forward cascade of both kinetic energy and helicity, a second inviscid flow invariant, from the integral scale of motion to the viscous dissipative scale. In helical flows, however, such as strongly rotating flows with broken mirror symmetry, an inverse energy cascade can be observed analogous to that of two-dimensional turbulence (2D) where a second positive-definite flow invariant, enstrophy, unlike helicity in 3D, effectively blocks the forward cascade of energy. In the spectral-helical decomposition of the Navier-Stokes equation …
This paper analyses the turbulent energy cascade from the perspective of statistical mechanics, and relates inter-scale energy fluxes to statistical irreversibility and information-entropy production. The microscopical reversibility of the energy cascade is tested by constructing a reversible 3D turbulent system using a dynamic model for the sub-grid stresses. This system, when reversed in time, develops a sustained inverse cascade towards the large scales, evidencing that the characterisation of the inertial energy cascade must consider the possibility of an inverse regime. This experiment is…
To answer the question whether a cascade of energy exists or not in turbulence, we propose a set of correlation functions able to test if there is an irreversible transfert of energy, step by step, from large to small structures. These tests are applied to real Eulerian data of a turbulent velocity flow, taken in the wind grid tunnel of Modane, and also to a prototype model equation for wave turbulence. First we demonstrate the irreversible character of the flow by using multi-time correlation function at a given point of space. Moreover the unexpected behavior of the test function leads us to…
We investigate experimentally turbulence of surface gravity waves in the Coriolis facility in Grenoble by using both high sensitivity local probes and a time and space resolved stereoscopic reconstruction of the water surface. We show that the water deformation is made of the superposition of weakly nonlinear waves following the linear dispersion relation and of bound waves resulting from non resonant triadic interaction. Although the theory predicts a 4-wave resonant coupling supporting the presence of an inverse cascade of wave action, we do not observe such inverse cascade. We investigate 4…
We report on the observation of surface gravity wave turbulence at scales larger than the forcing ones in a large basin. In addition to the downscale transfer usually reported in gravity wave turbulence, an upscale transfer is observed, interpreted as the inverse cascade of weak turbulence theory. A steady state is achieved when the inverse cascade reaches a scale in between the forcing wavelength and the basin size, but far from the latter. This inverse cascade saturation, which depends on the wave steepness, is probably due to the emergence of nonlinear dissipative structures such as sharp-c…
According to Richardson's cascade description of turbulence, large vortices break up to form smaller ones, thereby transferring kinetic energy towards smaller scales. Energy dissipation occurs at the smallest scales due to viscosity. We study this energy cascade in a phenomenological model of vortex breakdown. The model is a binary tree of decreasing masses connected by softening springs, with dampers acting on the lowest level. The masses and stiffnesses between levels change according to a power law. The different levels represent different scales, enabling the definition of "mass wavenumber…
We perform experiments to study the inverse cascade regime of gravity wave turbulence on the surface of a fluid. Surface waves are forced at an intermediate scale corresponding to the gravity-capillary wavelength. In response to this forcing, waves at larger scales are observed. The spectrum of their amplitudes exhibits a frequency-power law at high enough forcing. Both observations are ascribed to the upscale wave action transfers of gravity wave turbulence. The spectrum exponent is close to the value predicted by the weak turbulence theory. The spectrum amplitude is found to scale linearly w…
For the steady-state direct cascade of two-dimensional Navier-Stokes turbulence, we derive analytically the probability of strong vorticity fluctuations. The probability density function (pdf) of the vorticity coarse-grained over a scale in the inertial interval is shown to have a universal self-similar form, in distinction from other known direct cascades. The tails of the pdf are found to be exponential.
We report observation of an inverse energy cascade in second sound acoustic turbulence in He II. Its onset occurs above a critical driving energy and it is accompanied by giant waves that constitute an acoustic analogue of the rogue waves that occasionally appear on the surface of the ocean. The theory of the phenomenon is developed and shown to be in good agreement with the experiments.
We consider shell models that display an inverse energy cascade similar to 2-dimensional turbulence (together with a direct cascade of an enstrophy-like invariant). Previous attempts to construct such models ended negatively, stating that shell models give rise to a "quasi-equilibrium" situation with equipartition of the energy among the shells. We show analytically that the quasi-equilibrium state predicts its own disappearance upon changing the model parameters in favor of the establishment of an inverse cascade regime with K41 scaling. The latter regime is found where predicted, offering a …
We study two dimensional superfluid turbulence by employing an effective description valid in the limit where the density of superfluid vortices is parametrically small. At sufficiently low temperatures the effective description yields an inverse cascade with Kolmogorov energy spectrum $E(k) \sim k^{-5/3}$. Denoting the number of vortices as a function of time by $N(t)$, we find that the vortex annihilation rate scales like $\dot N \sim N^{5/3}$ in states with an inverse cascade and $\dot N \sim N^2$ for laminar flow.
We study numerically a Constantin-Lax-Majda-De Gregorio model generalized by Okamoto, Sakajo and Wunsch, which is a model of fluid turbulence in one dimension with an inviscid conservation law. In the presence of the viscosity and two types of the large-scale forcings, we show that turbulent cascade of the inviscid invariant, which is not limited to quadratic quantity, occurs and that properties of this model's turbulent state are related to singularity of the inviscid case by adopting standard tools of analyzing fluid turbulence.
The predictability problem in the inverse energy cascade of two-dimensional turbulence is addressed by means of direct numerical simulations. The growth rate as a function of the error level is determined by means of a finite size extension of the Lyapunov exponent. For error within the inertial range, the linear growth of the error energy, predicted by dimensional argument, is verified with great accuracy. Our numerical findings are in close agreement with the result of TFM closure approximation.
We present two phenomenological models for 2D turbulence in which the energy spectrum obeys a nonlinear fourth-order and a second-order differential equations respectively. Both equations respect the scaling properties of the original Navier-Stokes equations and it has both the -5/3 inverse-cascade and t -3 direct-cascade spectra. In addition, the fourth order equation has Raleigh-Jeans thermodynamic distributions, as exact steady state solutions. We use the fourth-order model to derive a relation between the direct-cascade and the inverse-cascade Kolmogorov constants which is in a good qualit…
We investigate and clarify the notion of locality as it pertains to the cascades of two-dimensional turbulence. The mathematical framework underlying our analysis is the infinite system of balance equations that govern the generalized unfused structure functions, first introduced by L'vov and Procaccia. As a point of departure we use a revised version of the system of hypotheses that was proposed by Frisch for three-dimensional turbulence. We show that both the enstrophy cascade and the inverse energy cascade are local in the sense of non-perturbative statistical locality. We also investigate …
We study quasi-geostrophic turbulence and plasma drift turbulence within the Charney-Hasegawa-Mima (CHM) model. We focus, theoretically and using numerical simulations, on conservation of {\em zonostrophy} and on its role in the formation of the zonal jets. The zonostrophy invariant was first predicted in \cite{perm,BNZ_invariant} in two special cases -- large-scale turbulence and anisotropic turbulence. Papers \cite{perm,BNZ_invariant} also predicted that the three invariants, energy, enstrophy and zonostrophy, will cascade anisotropically into non-intersecting sectors in the $k$-space, so th…
A general proof that more energy flows upscale than downscale in two-dimensional (2D) turbulence and barotropic quasi-geostrophic (QG) turbulence is given. A proof is also given that in Surface QG turbulence, the reverse is true. Though some of these results are known in restricted cases, the proofs given here are pedagogically simpler, require fewer assumptions and apply to both forced and unforced cases.
In this comment we point out that the high wavenumber $k^{-3}$ power-law observed by the PRL, [v. 103, 084501 (2009) by J. Yepez, G. Vahala, L.Vahala and M. Soe, arXiv:0905.0159] is an artifact stemming from the definition of the kinetic energy spectra and is thus not directly related to a Kelvin wave cascade. We also clarify a confusion about the wavenumber intervals on which Kolmogorov and Kelvin wave cascades are expected to take place.
The physical nature of compressible turbulence is of fundamental importance in a variety of astrophysical settings. We present the first direct evidence that mean kinetic energy cascades conservatively beyond a transitional "conversion" scale-range despite not being an invariant of the compressible flow dynamics. We use high-resolution three-dimensional simulations of compressible hydrodynamic turbulence on $512^3$ and $1024^3$ grids. We probe regimes of forced steady-state isothermal flows and of unforced decaying ideal gas flows. The key quantity we measure is pressure dilatation cospectrum,…
We present the first direct-numerical-simulation study of the statistical properties of two-dimensional superfluid turbulence in the Hall-Vinen-Bekharevich-Khalatnikov two-fluid model. We show that both normal-fluid and superfluid energy spectra can exhibit two power-law regimes, the first associated with an inverse cascade of energy and the second with the forward cascade of enstrophy. We quantify the mutual-friction-induced alignment of normal and superfluid velocities by obtaining probability distribution functions of the angle between them and the ratio of their moduli. Our study leads to …
In the context of random multiplicative energy cascade processes, we derive analytical expressions for translationally invariant one- and two-point cumulants in logarithmic field amplitudes. Such cumulants make it possible to distinguish between hitherto equally successful cascade generator models and hence supplement lowest-order multifractal scaling exponents and multiplier distributions.
Three-dimensional (3D) turbulence has both energy and helicity as inviscid constants of motion. In contrast to two-dimensional (2D) turbulence, where a second inviscid invariant--the enstrophy--blocks the energy cascade to small scales, in 3D there is a joint cascade of both energy and helicity simultaneously to small scales. The basic cancellation mechanism which permits a joint cascade of energy and helicity is illuminated by means of the helical decomposition of the velocity into positively and negatively polarized waves. This decomposition is employed in the present study both theoreticall…
Both the Kelvin wave and the Kolmogorov turbulence interpretations presented in the PRL, [v. 103, 084501 (2009) by J. Yepez, G. Vahala, L.Vahala and M. Soe, arXiv:0905.0159] are misleading, and much more theoretical analysis needs to be done for the interpretation of the important numerical results obtained by the authors. A way to do this is suggested.
The inverse energy cascade in Charney-Hasegawa-Mima turbulence is investigated. Kolmogorov law for the third order velocity structure function is shown to be independent on the Rossby number, at variance with the energy spectrum, as shown by high resolution direct numerical simulations. In the asymptotic limit of strong rotation, coherent vortices are observed to form at a dynamical scale which slowly grows with time. These vortices form an almost quenched pattern and induce strong deviation form Gaussianity in the velocity field.
Visual manifestations of intermittency in computations of three dimensional Navier-Stokes fluid turbulence appear as the low-dimensional or `thin' filamentary sets on which vorticity and strain accumulate as energy cascades down to small scales. In order to study this phenomenon, the first task of this paper is to investigate how weak solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations can be associated with a cascade and, as a consequence, with an infinite sequence of inverse length scales. It turns out that this sequence converges to a finite limit. The second task is to show how these results scale wi…
We find strong evidence for intermittency in forced two dimensional (2D) turbulence in a flowing soap film experiment. In the forward enstrophy cascade the structure function scaling exponents are nearly indistinguishable from 3D studies. Intermittency corrections are present in the inverse energy cascade as well, but weaker. Stretched exponential tails of the velocity difference probability distribution functions and shock like events at large velocity differences also resemble 3D studies. For decaying turbulence, where only the forward enstrophy cascade remains, all signs of intermittency di…
Reduced wavenumber models of turbulence, shell models, show cascade processes and anomalous scaling of correlators which might be analogous to what is observed in Navier-Stokes (N-S) turbulence. The scaling properties of the shell models depends on the specific symmetries and invariants of the models. A new shell model is investigated. It is argued that this model might have a closer resemblance than the standard GOY model to the N-S turbulence. The new shell model coincides with the Sabra model proposed by L'vov et al. \cite{lvov}, for a specific choice of the free parameters of their model. …
Large-scale turbulence in fluid layers and other quasi-two-dimensional compressible systems consists of planar vortices and waves. Separately, wave turbulence usually produces a direct energy cascade, while solenoidal planar turbulence transports energy to large scales by an inverse cascade. Here, we consider turbulence at finite Mach numbers when the interaction between acoustic waves and vortices is substantial. We employ solenoidal pumping at intermediate scales and show how both direct and inverse energy cascades are formed starting from the pumping scale. We show that there is an inverse …
High resolution numerical simulations of stationary inverse energy cascade in two-dimensional turbulence are presented. Deviations from Gaussianity of velocity differences statistics are quantitatively investigated. The level of statistical convergence is pushed enough to permit reliable measurement of the asymmetries in the probability distribution functions of longitudinal increments and odd-order moments, which bring the signature of the inverse energy flux. Their scaling laws do not present any measurable intermittency correction. The seventh order skewness is found to increase by almost t…
Two-dimensional turbulence governed by the so-called $α$ turbulence equations, which include the surface quasi-geostrophic equation ($α=1$), the Navier--Stokes system ($α=2$), and the governing equation for a shallow flow on a rotating domain driven by a uniform internal heating ($α=3$), is studied here in both the unbounded and doubly periodic domains. This family of equations conserves two inviscid invariants (energy and enstrophy in the Navier--Stokes case), the dynamics of which are believed to undergo a dual cascade. It is shown that an inverse cascade can exist in the absence of a direct…
We use multiscale-multispace correlations and Fourier transform techniques, to study some intermittent random field properties, which escape analysis by structure function scaling. These properties are parametrized in terms of a set of scale ratios, giving the typical interaction distances in space and scale of the random field fluctuations, and the characteristic lengths over which these fluctuations act coherently to generate intermittency. The relevance of these techniques in turbulence theory is discussed.
The effect of extreme hyperviscous damping, $νk_n^p, p=\infty$ is studied numerically in the GOY shell model of turbulence. It has resently been demonstrated [Leveque and She, Phys. Rev. Lett, 75,2690 (1995)] that the inertial range scaling in the GOY model is non-universal and depending on the viscous damping. The present study shows that the deviation from Kolmogorov scaling is due to the cascade of the second inviscid invariant. This invariant is non-positive definite and in this sense analogous to the helicity of 3D turbulent flow.
We generalize Kirchhoff's point vortex model of two-dimensional fluid motion to a rotor model which exhibits an inverse cascade by the formation of rotor clusters. A rotor is composed of two vortices with like-signed circulations glued together by an overdamped spring. The model is motivated by a treatment of the vorticity equation representing the vorticity field as a superposition of vortices with elliptic Gaussian shapes of variable widths, augmented by a suitable forcing mechanism. The rotor model opens up the way to discuss the energy transport in the inverse cascade on the basis of dynam…
Statistical characteristics of the Kraichnan direct cascade for two-dimensional hydrodynamic turbulence are numerically studied (with spatial resolution $8192\times 8192$) in the presence of pumping and viscous-like damping. It is shown that quasi-shocks of vorticity and their Fourier partnerships in the form of jets introduce an essential influence in turbulence leading to strong angular dependencies for correlation functions. The energy distribution as a function of modulus $k$ for each angle in the inertial interval has the Kraichnan behavior, $\sim k^{-4}$, and simultaneously a strong depe…
In systems governing two-dimensional turbulence, surface quasi-geostrophic turbulence, (more generally $α$-turbulence), two-layer quasi-geostrophic turbulence, etc., there often exist two conservative quadratic quantities, one ``energy''-like and one ``enstrophy''-like. In a finite inertial range there are in general two spectral fluxes, one associated with each conserved quantity. We derive here an inequality comparing the relative magnitudes of the ``energy'' and ``enstrophy'' fluxes for finite or infinitesimal dissipations, and for hyper or hypo viscosities. When this inequality is satisfie…
We study the dual cascade scenario for two-dimensional turbulence driven by a spectrally localized forcing applied over a finite wavenumber range $[k_\min,k_\max]$ (with $k_\min > 0$) such that the respective energy and enstrophy injection rates $ε$ and $η$ satisfy $k_\min^2ε\leη\le k_\max^2ε$. The classical Kraichnan--Leith--Batchelor paradigm, based on the simultaneous conservation of energy and enstrophy and the scale-selectivity of the molecular viscosity, requires that the domain be unbounded in both directions. For two-dimensional turbulence either in a doubly periodic domain or in an un…
Fluid turbulence is a far-from-equilibrium phenomenon and remains one of the most challenging problems in physics. Two-dimensional, fully developed turbulence may possess the largest possible symmetry, the conformal symmetry. We focus on the steady-state solution of two-dimensional bounded turbulent flow and propose a $c=0$ boundary logarithmic conformal field theory for the inverse energy cascade and another bulk conformal field theory in the classical limit $c\rightarrow -\infty$ for the direct enstrophy cascade. We show that these theories give rise to the Kraichnan-Batchelor scaling $k^{-3…
Energy cascade rates and Kolmogorov's constant for nonhelical steady magnetohydrodynamic turbulence have been calculated by solving the flux equations to the first order in perturbation. For zero cross helicity and space dimension $d=3$, magnetic energy cascades from large length-scales to small length-scales (forward cascade). In addition, there are energy fluxes from large-scale magnetic field to small-scale velocity field, large-scale velocity field to small-scale magnetic field, and large-scale velocity field to large-scale magnetic field. Kolmogorov's constant for magnetohydrodynamics is …
The existence of a second quadratic inviscid invariant, the helicity, in a turbulent flow leads to coexisting cascades of energy and helicity. An equivalent of the four-fifth law for the longitudinal third order structure function, which is derived from energy conservation, is easily derived from helicity conservation cite{Procaccia,russian}. The ratio of dissipation of helicity to dissipation of energy is proportional to the wave-number leading to a different Kolmogorov scale for helicity than for energy. The Kolmogorov scale for helicity is always larger than the Kolmogorov scale for energy …
We comment on the paper by E. B. Sonin, PRB v 85, 104516 (2012) [arXiv:1201.3188], with which we find ourselves in serious disagreement. We use this option to shed light on some important issues of a theory of Kelvin wave turbulence, touched in E. B. Sonin's paper, in particular, on the relation between the Vinen spectrum of strong- and the L'vov-Nazarenko spectrum of weak-turbulence of Kelvin waves. We also discuss the role of our explicit calculation of the Kelvin wave interaction Hamiltonian and of the "symmetry arguments" that are supposed to resolve a contradiction between the Kozik-Svist…
We argue that the constraints on transfers, given in the Letter [G. Plunk and T. Tatsuno, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 106}, 165003 (2011)], but not correctly, do not give the transfer and/or cascade directions which however can be assisted by the absolute equilibria calculated in this Comment, following Kraichnan [R. H. Kraichnan, Phys. Fluids {\bf 102}, 1417 (1967)]. One of the important statements about the transfers with only one or no diagonal component can be shown to be inappropriate according to the fundamental dynamics. Some mathematical mistakes are pointed out.
We present a detailed direct numerical simulation of statistically steady, homogeneous, isotropic, two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (2D MHD) turbulence. Our study concentrates on the inverse cascade of the magnetic vector potential. We examine the dependence of the statistical properties of such turbulence on dissipation and friction coefficients. We extend earlier work sig- nificantly by calculating fluid and magnetic spectra, probability distribution functions (PDFs) of the velocity, magnetic, vorticity, current, stream-function, and magnetic-vector-potential fields and their increments. …
Experimental data from a turbulent jet flow is analysed in terms of an additive, continuous stochastic process where the usual time variable is replaced by the scale. We show that the energy transfer through scales is well described by a linear Langevin equation, and discuss the statistical properties of the corresponding random force in detail. We find that the autocorrelation function of the random force decays rapidly: the process is therefore Markov for scales larger than Kolmogorov's dissipation scale $η$. The corresponding autocorrelation scale is identified as the elementary step of the…
The 2d and 3d like Gletzer, Okhitani and Yamada (GOY) shell models are examined. The 2d like model shows a transition from statistical quasi-equilibrium to cascade of enstrophy as a function of the spectral ratio of energy to enstrophy. The transition is related to the ratio of time scales, corresponding to eddy turnover times, between shells. The anomalous scaling, giving rise to non-linear scaling functions, is also connected to the ratio of eddy turnover times. This is illustrated in a simple stochastic model, where the structure function, $ζ(q)$, becomes independent of $q$. In the 3d like …
We derive the Kramers-Moyal equation for the conditional probability density of velocity increments from the theoretical model recently proposed by V.Yakhot [Phys.Rev.E {\bf 57}, 1737 (1998)] in the limit of high Reynolds number limit. We show that the higher order (n>=3) Kramers-Moyal coefficients tends to zero and the velocity increments are evolved by the Fokker-Planck operator. Our result is compatible with the phenomenological descriptions by R.Friedrich and J.Peinke [Phys.Rev.Lett. {\bf 78}, 863 (1997)].
