We present a generalized picture of intermittency in turbulence that is based on the theory of stochastic processes. To this end, we rely on the experimentally and numerically verified finding by R.~Friedrich and J.~Peinke [Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 863 (1997)] that allows for an interpretation of the turbulent energy cascade as a Markov process of the velocity increments in scale. It is explicitly shown that all known phenomenological models of turbulence can be reproduced by the Kramers-Moyal expansion of the velocity increment probability density function that is associated to a Markov process. We compare the different sets of Kramers-Moyal coefficients of each phenomenology and deduce that an accurate description of intermittency should take into account an infinite number of coefficients. This is demonstrated in more detail for the case of Burgers turbulence that exhibits the strongest intermittency effects. Moreover, the influence of nonlocality on the Kramers-Moyal coefficients is investigated by direct numerical simulations of a generalized Burgers equation. Depending on the balance between nonlinearity and nonlocality, we encounter different intermittency behaviour that ranges from self-similarity (purely nonlocal case) to intermittent behaviour (intermediate case that agrees with Yakhot's mean field theory [Phys. Rev. E 63 026307 (2001)]) to shock-like behaviour (purely nonlinear Burgers case).
Intermittency suppression in turbulence via forced light particles
University of Rome “Tor Vergata”（罗马托尔维尔加塔大学）；Télécom Paris, IP Paris（巴黎电信学院，巴黎理工学院）；Eindhoven University of Technology（埃因霍温理工大学）；Istituto per le Applicazioni del Calcolo “M. Picone”, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche（意大利国家研究委员会计算应用研究所）
We demonstrate that like in the forward cascade of three dimensional turbulence that displays intermittency (lack of self-similarity) due to the concentration of energy dissipation in a small set of fractal dimension less than three, the inverse cascade of two-dimensional turbulence can also display lack of self-similarity and intermittency if the energy injection is constrained in a fractal set of dimension less than two. A series of numerical simulations of two dimensional turbulence are examined, using different forcing functions of the same forcing length-scale but different fractal dimens…
Analyzing a large data base of high-resolution three-dimensional direct numerical simulations of decaying rotating stratified flows, we show that anomalous mixing and dissipation, marked anisotropy, and strong intermittency are all observed simultaneously in an intermediate regime of parameters in which both waves and eddies interact nonlinearly. A critical behavior governed by the stratification occurs at Richardson numbers of order unity, and with the flow close to being in a state of instability. This confirms the central dynamical role, in rotating stratified turbulence, of large-scale int…
Intermittency is a hallmark of turbulence, which exists not only in turbulent flows of classical viscous fluids but also in flows of quantum fluids such as superfluid $^4$He. Despite the established similarity between turbulence in classical fluids and quasi-classical turbulence in superfluid $^4$He, it has been predicted that intermittency in superfluid $^4$He is temperature dependent and enhanced for certain temperatures, which strikingly contrasts the nearly flow-independent intermittency in classical turbulence. Experimental verification of this theoretical prediction is challenging since …
The motion of a large, neutrally buoyant, particle, freely advected by a turbulent flow is determined experimentally. We demonstrate that both the translational and angular accelerations exhibit very wide probability distributions, a manifestation of intermittency. The orientation of the angular velocity with respect to the trajectory, as well as the translational acceleration conditioned on the spinning velocity provide evidence of a lift force acting on the particle.
The Reynolds number dependency of intermittency for 2D turbulence is studied in a flowing soap film. The Reynolds number used here is the Taylor microscale Reynolds number R_λ, which ranges from 20 to 800. Strong intermittency is found for both the inverse energy and direct enstrophy cascades as measured by (a) the pdf of velocity differences P(δu(r)) at inertial scales r, (b) the kurtosis of P(\partial_x u), and (c) the scaling of the so-called intermittency exponent μ, which is zero if intermittency is absent. Measures (b) and (c) are quantitative, while (a) is qualitative. These measurement…
By analyzing hot-wire velocity data taken in an open channel flow, an unambiguous definition of surface-layer thickness is here provided in terms of the cross-over scale between backward and forward energy fluxes. It is shown that the turbulence in the surface layer does not conform to the classical description of two-dimensional turbulence, since the direct energy cascade persists at scales smaller than the cross-over scale, comparable with the distance from the free-surface. The multifractal analysis of the one-dimensional surrogate of the turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate in terms o…
A class of spectral subgrid models based on a self-similar and reversible closure is studied with the aim to minimize the impact of subgrid scales on the inertial range of fully developed turbulence. In this manner, we improve the scale extension where anomalous exponents are measured by roughly one order of magnitude, when compared to direct numerical simulations or to other popular subgrid closures at the same resolution. We found a first indication that intermittency for high order moments is not captured by many of the popular phenomenological models developed so far.
We suggest a new approach to probing intermittency corrections to the Kolmogorov law in turbulent flows based on the Auto-Regressive Moving-Average modeling of turbulent time series. We introduce a new index $Υ$ that measures the distance from a Kolmogorov-Obukhov model in the Auto-Regressive Moving-Average models space. Applying our analysis to Particle Image Velocimetry and Laser Doppler Velocimetry measurements in a von Kármán swirling flow, we show that $Υ$ is proportional to the traditional intermittency correction computed from the structure function. Therefore it provides the same infor…
In pipe, channel and boundary layer flows turbulence first occurs intermittently in space and time: at moderate Reynolds numbers domains of disordered turbulent motion are separated by quiescent laminar regions. Based on direct numerical simulations of pipe flow we here argue that the spatial intermittency has its origin in a nearest neighbor interaction between turbulent regions. We further show that in this regime turbulent flows are intrinsically intermittent with a well defined equilibrium turbulent fraction but without ever assuming a steady pattern. This transition scenario is analogous …
Intermittency from instanton calculus at the transition to turbulence and fusion rules
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University（纽约大学柯朗数学科学研究所）；Institute for Theoretical Physics I, Ruhr University Bochum（波鸿鲁尔大学理论物理第一研究所）
Understanding rare events in turbulence provides a basis for the science of extreme weather, for which the atmosphere is modeled by Navier-Stokes equations (NSEs). In solutions of NSEs for isotropic fluids, various quantities, such as fluid velocities, roughly follow Gaussian distributions, where extreme events are prominent only in small-scale quantities associated with the dissipation-dominating length scale or anomalous scaling regime. Using numerical simulations, this study reveals another universal promotion mechanism at much larger scales if three-dimensional fluids accompany strong two-…
We study intermittency of circulation moments in turbulent superfluid helium by using experimental grid turbulence and numerical simulations of the Hall-Vinen-Bekarevich-Khalatnikov model. More precisely, we compute the velocity circulation $Γ_r$ in loops of size $r$ laying in the inertial range. For both, experimental and numerical data, the circulation variance shows a clear Kolmogorov scaling $\langle Γ_r^2 \rangle \sim r^{8/3}$ in the inertial range, independently of the temperature. Scaling exponents of high-order moments are comparable, within error bars, to previously reported anomalous…
The understanding of turbulent flows is one of the biggest current challenges in physics, as no first-principles theory exists to explain their observed spatio-temporal intermittency. Turbulent flows may be regarded as an intricate collection of mutually-interacting vortices. This picture becomes accurate in quantum turbulence, which is built on tangles of discrete vortex filaments. Here, we study the statistics of velocity circulation in quantum and classical turbulence. We show that, in quantum flows, Kolmogorov turbulence emerges from the correlation of vortex orientations, while deviations…
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.
Sub-Kolmogorov Intermittency and Multifractal Dissipation in Multiphase Turbulence
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia（摩德纳和雷焦艾米利亚大学）；Sorbonne Université（索邦大学）；Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne（洛桑联邦理工学院）；Université Paris-Saclay（巴黎萨克雷大学）；Inria Saclay - Tau team（法国国家信息与自动化研究所萨克莱-Tau团队）
A universal relation between intermittency and dissipation within and beyond homogeneous isotropic turbulence
Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP（格勒诺布尔阿尔卑斯大学、法国国家科学研究中心、格勒诺布尔理工学院）；Institut für Physik und ForWind, Universität Oldenburg（奥尔登堡大学物理与风电研究所）；Univ. Lille, CNRS, ONERA, Arts et Métiers ParisTech, Centrale Lille（里尔大学、法国国家科学研究中心、法国航空国防技术局、巴黎国立高等工艺学院、中央理工学院）
Direct numerical simulations of the forced Navier-Stokes equations were performed, in which each shell-averaged quantity evolved from a value appropriate to an initial Gaussian state, to fluctuate about a mean value. Once the transient had passed, mean values (and their associated statistics) were obtained by sampling the evolved time-series at intervals of the order of an eddy-turnover time. This was repeated for a range of Taylor-Reynolds numbers from 10.6 to 335.2. With increasing Reynolds number, our results for energy spectra, transfer spectra and inertial flux supported the Kolmogorov-Ob…
The intermittency of turbulent superfluid helium is explored systematically in a steady wake flow from 1.28 K up to T>2.18K using a local anemometer. This temperature range spans relative densities of superfluid from 96% down to 0%, allowing to test numerical predictions of enhancement or depletion of intermittency at intermediate superfluid fractions. Using the so-called extended self-similarity method, scaling exponents of structure functions have been calculated. No evidence of temperature dependence is found on these scaling exponents in the upper part of the inertial cascade, where turbul…
Large-scale intermittency is a widely observed phenomenon in convective surface layer turbulence that induces non-Gaussian temperature statistics, while such signature is not observed for velocity signals. Although approaches based on probability density functions have been used so far, those are not able to explain to what extent the signals' temporal structure impacts the statistical characteristics of the velocity and temperature fluctuations. To tackle this issue, a visibility network analysis is carried out on a field-experimental dataset from a convective atmospheric surface layer flow. …
High-resolution numerical simulations are utilized to examine isotropic turbulence in a compressible fluid when long wavelength velocity fluctuations approach light speed. Spectral analysis reveals an inertial sub-range of relativistic motions with a broadly 5/3 index. The use of generalized Lorentz-covariant structure functions based on the four-velocity is proposed. These structure functions extend the She-Leveque model for intermittency into the relativistic regime.
Non-Gaussian statistics of large-scale fields are routinely observed in data from atmospheric and oceanic campaigns and global models. Recent direct numerical simulations (DNSs) showed that large-scale intermittency in stably stratified flows is due to the emergence of sporadic, extreme events in the form of bursts in the vertical velocity and the temperature. This phenomenon results from the interplay between waves and turbulent motions, affecting mixing. We provide evidence of the enhancement of the classical small-scale (or internal) intermittency due to the emergence of large-scale drafts,…
The evolution of surface gravity waves is driven by nonlinear interactions that trigger an energy cascade similarly to the one observed in hydrodynamic turbulence. This process, known as wave turbulence, has been found to display anomalous scaling with deviation from classical turbulent predictions due to the emergence of coherent and intermittent structures on the water surface. In realistic oceanic sea states, waves are spread over a wide range of directions, with a consequent attenuation of the nonlinear properties. A laboratory experiment in a large wave facility is presented to discuss th…
Anisotropy and intermittency in drift-wave turbulence with zonal flows: a two-dimensional continuous wavelet analysis
Institute of Materials and Systems for Sustainability, Nagoya University（名古屋大学材料系统可持续研究所）；Institut de Mathématiques de Marseille (I2M), Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS（马赛数学研究所（I2M），艾克斯-马赛大学，法国国家科学研究中心）；National Institute for Fusion Science（国立核聚变科学研究所）
To describe the small-scale intermittency of turbulence, a self-similarity is assumed for the probability density function of a logarithm of the rate of energy dissipation smoothed over a length scale among those in the inertial range. The result is an extension of Kolmogorov's classical theory in 1941, i.e., a one-parameter framework where the logarithm obeys some stable distribution. Scaling laws are obtained for the dissipation rate and for the two-point velocity difference. They are consistent with theoretical constraints and with the observed scaling laws. Also discussed is the physics th…
We investigate the statistics of turbulence in emulsions of two-immiscible fluids of same density. We compute for the first time velocity increments between points conditioned to be located in the same phase or in different phases and examine their probability density functions (PDF) and the associated structure functions (SF). This enables us to demonstrate that the the presence of the interface reduces the skewness of the PDF at scales below the Kolmogorov-Hinze scale and therefore the magnitude of the energy flux towards the dissipative scales, which is quantified by the third-order SF. The…
In incompressible and periodic statistically stationary turbulence, exchanges of turbulent energy across scales and space are characterised by very intense and intermittent spatio-temporal fluctuations around zero of the time-derivative term, the spatial turbulent transport of fluctuating energy, and the pressure-velocity term. These fluctuations are correlated with each other and with the intense intermittent fluctuations of the interscale energy transfer rate. These correlations are caused by the sweeping effect, the link between non-linearity and non-locality, and also relate to geometrical…
We study the intermittency properties of the energy and helicity cascades in two 1536^3 direct numerical simulations of helical rotating turbulence. Symmetric and anti-symmetric velocity increments are examined, as well as probability density functions of the velocity field and of the helicity density. It is found that the direct cascade of energy to small scales is scale invariant and non-intermittent, whereas the direct cascade of helicity is highly intermittent. Furthermore, the study of structure functions of different orders allows us to identify a recovery of isotropy of strong events at…
A dissipation rate, which grows faster than any power of the wave number in Fourier space, may be scaled to lead a hydrodynamic system {\it actually} or {\it potentially} converge to its Galerkin truncation. Actual convergence we name for the asymptotic truncation at a finite wavenumber $k_G$ above which modes have no dynamics; and, we define potential convergence for the truncation at $k_G$ which, however, grows without bound. Both types of convergence can be obtained with the dissipation rate $μ[cosh(k/k_c)-1]$ who behaves as $k^2$ (newtonian) and $\exp\{k/k_c\}$ for small and large $k/k_c$ …
Using standard signal processing tools, we experimentally report that intermittency of wave turbulence on the surface of a fluid occurs even when two typical large-scale coherent structures (gravity wave breakings and bursts of capillary waves on steep gravity waves) are not taken into account. We also show that intermittency depends on the power injected into the waves. The dependence of the power-law exponent of the gravity-wave spectrum on the forcing amplitude cannot be also ascribed to these coherent structures. Statistics of these both events are studied.
Weak Wave Turbulence is a powerful theory to predict statistical observables of diverse relevant physical phenomena, such as ocean waves, magnetohydrodynamics and nonlinear optics. The theory is based upon an asymptotic closure permitted in the limit of small nonlinearity. Here, we explore the possible deviations from this mean-field framework, in terms of anomalous scaling, focusing on the case of elastic plates. We establish the picture of the possible behaviors at varying the extent of nonlinearity, and we show that the mean-field theory is appropriate when all excited scales remain dominat…
The Lagrangian velocity statistics of dissipative drift-wave turbulence are investigated. For large values of the adiabaticity (or small collisionality), the probability density function of the Lagrangian acceleration shows exponential tails, as opposed to the stretched exponential or algebraic tails, generally observed for the highly intermittent acceleration of Navier-Stokes turbulence. This exponential distribution is shown to be a robust feature independent of the Reynolds number. For small adiabaticity, algebraic tails are observed, suggesting the strong influence of point-vortex-like dyn…
We present a theoretical and numerical study of Fourier space triad phase dynamics in one-dimensional stochastically forced Burgers equation at Reynolds number $\mathrm{Re} \approx 2.7 \times 10^4$. We demonstrate that Fourier triad phases over the inertial range display a collective behaviour characterised by intermittent periods of synchronisation and alignment, reminiscent of Kuramoto model (Kuramoto 1984) and directly related to collisions of shocks in physical space. These periods of synchronisation favour efficient energy fluxes across the inertial range towards small scales, resulting i…
We report numerical investigations of wave turbulence in a vibrating plate. The possibility to implement advanced measurement techniques and long time numerical simulations makes this system extremely valuable for wave turbulence studies. The purely 2D character of dynamics of the elastic plate makes it much simpler to handle compared to much more complex 3D physical systems that are typical of geo- and astrophysical issues (ocean surface or internal waves, magnetized plasmas or strongly rotating and/or stratified flows). When the forcing is small the observed wave turbulence is consistent wit…
From Bifurcations to State-Variable Statistics in Isotropic Turbulence: Internal Structure, Intermittency, and Kolmogorov Scaling via Non-Observable Quasi-PDFs
A novel model of intermittency is presented in which the dynamics of the rates of energy transfer between successive steps in the energy cascade is described by a hierarchy of stochastic differential equations. The probability distribution of velocity increments is calculated explicitly and expressed in terms of generalized hypergeometric functions of the type ${_n}F_0$, which exhibit power-law tails. The model predictions are found to be in good agreement with experiments on a low temperature gaseous helium jet. It is argued that distributions based on the functions ${_n}F_0$ might be relevan…
We consider the intermittent behavior of superfluid turbulence in $^4$He. Due to the similarity in the nonlinear structure of the two-fluid model of superfluidity and the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations one expects the scaling exponents of the structure functions to be the same as in classical turbulence for temperatures close to the superfluid transition $T_λ$ and also for $T\ll T_λ$. This is not the case when mutual friction becomes important. Using shell model simulations, we propose that for an intermediate regime of temperatures, such that the density of normal and superfluid components…
