We perform a detailed analytical study of the Recent Fluid Deformation (RFD) model for the onset of Lagrangian intermittency, within the context of the Martin-Siggia-Rose-Janssen-de Dominicis (MSRJD) path integral formalism. The model is based, as a key point, upon local closures for the pressure Hessian and the viscous dissipation terms in the stochastic dynamical equations for the velocity gradient tensor. We carry out a power counting hierarchical classification of the several perturbative contributions associated to fluctuations around the instanton-evaluated MSRJD action, along the lines of the cumulant expansion. The most relevant Feynman diagrams are then integrated out into the renormalized effective action, for the computation of velocity gradient probability distribution functions (vgPDFs). While the subleading perturbative corrections do not affect the global shape of the vgPDFs in an appreciable qualitative way, it turns out that they have a significant role in the accurate description of their non-Gaussian cores.
Shell models of turbulence have a finite-time blowup in the inviscid limit, i.e., the enstrophy diverges while the single-shell velocities stay finite. The signature of this blowup is represented by self-similar instantonic structures traveling coherently through the inertial range. These solutions might influence the energy transfer and the anomalous scaling properties empirically observed for the forced and viscous models. In this paper we present a study of the instantonic solutions for a set of four shell models of turbulence based on the exact decomposition of the Navier-Stokes equations …
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）
The role of instantons is investigated in the Lagrangian model for the velocity gradient evolution known as the Recent Fluid Deformation approximation. After recasting the model into the path-integral formalism, the probability distribution function is computed along with the most probable path in the weak noise limit through the saddle-point approximation. Evaluation of the instanton solution is implemented numerically by means of the iteratively Chernykh-Stepanov method. In the case of the longitudinal velocity gradient statistics, due to symmetry reasons, the number of degrees of freedom ca…
We discuss the role of particular velocity field configurations -- instantons, for short -- which are supposed to dominate the flow during the occurrence of extreme turbulent circulation events. Instanton equations, devised for the stochastic hydrodynamic setup of homogeneous and isotropic turbulence, are applied to the interpretation of direct numerical simulation results. We are able in this way to model the time evolution of extreme circulation events for a broad range of scales, through the combined use of eddy viscosity phenomenology and exact creeping instantons. While this approach work…
We show that multiscaling properties of developed turbulence in shell models, which lead to anomalous scaling exponents in the inertial range, are determined exclusively by instanton dynamics. Instantons represent correlated extreme events localized in space-time, whose structure is described by self-similar statistics with a single universal scaling exponent. We show that anomalous scaling exponents appear due to the process of instanton creation. A simplified model of instanton creation is suggested, which adequately describes this anomaly.
Instanton calculations are performed in the context of stationary Burgers turbulence to estimate the tails of the probability density function (PDF) of velocity gradients. These results are then compared to those obtained from massive direct numerical simulations (DNS) of the randomly forced Burgers equation. The instanton predictions are shown to agree with the DNS in a wide range of regimes, including those that are far from the limiting cases previously considered in the literature. These results settle the controversy of the relevance of the instanton approach for the prediction of the vel…
The advection and mixing of a scalar quantity by fluid flow is an important problem in engineering and natural sciences. If the fluid is turbulent, the statistics of the passive scalar exhibit complex behavior. This paper is concerned with two Lagrangian scalar turbulence models based on the recent fluid deformation model that can be shown to reproduce the statistics of passive scalar turbulence for a range of Reynolds numbers. For these models, we demonstrate how events of extreme passive scalar gradients can be recovered by computing the instanton, i.e., the saddle-point configuration of the…
In the context of instanton method for stochastic system this paper purposes a modification of the arclength parametrization of the Hamilton's equations allowing for an arbitrary instanton speed. The main results of the paper are: (i) it generalizes the parametrized Hamilton's equations to any speed required. (ii) corrects the parametric action on the occasion that the Hamiltonian is small but finite and how it adjusts to the probability density function (pdf). (iii) Improves instanton approximation to pdf by noise and propagator renormalization. As an application of the above set up we predic…
We present a numerical investigation of two-dimensional decaying turbulence in the Lagrangian framework. Focusing on single particle statistics, we investigate Lagrangian trajectories in a freely evolving turbulent velocity field. The dynamical evolution of the tracer particles is strongly dominated by the emergence and evolution of coherent structures. For a statistical analysis we focus on the Lagrangian acceleration as a central quantity. For more geometrical aspects we investigate the curvature along the trajectories. We find strong signatures for self-similar universal behavior.
Mean-field-based Lagrangian framework is developed for the fluid turbulence theory. The space- time vector flow is naturally introduced from the mean velocity, which provides the Lagrangian picture based on the mean field in totally equivalent manner to that of the instantaneous field. The proposed framework is applied, on one hand, to one-point closure model, yielding an objective expression of the turbulence visco-elastic effect. Application to two-point closure, on the other hand, is also discussed, where natural extension of known Lagrangian correlation is discovered on the basis of extend…
We present a fluid dynamics video which illustrates the Lagrangian aspects of local heat transfer in turbulent Rayleigh-Benard convection. The data are obtained from a direct numerical simulation.
The angle between subsequent particle displacement increments is evaluated as a function of the timelag in isotropic turbulence. It is shown that the evolution of this angle contains two well-defined power-laws, reflecting the multi-scale dynamics of high-Reynolds number turbulence. The proba-bility density function of the directional change is shown to be self-similar and well approximated by an analytically derived model assuming Gaussianity and independence of the velocity and the Lagrangian acceleration.
The Lagrangian and Eulerian transversal velocity structure functions of fully developed fluid turbulence are found basing on the Navier-Stokes equation. The structure functions are shown to obey the scaling relations inside the inertial range. The scaling exponents are calculated analytically without using dimensional considerations. The obtained values are in a very good agreement with recent numerical and experimental data.
In Lagrangian turbulence one is faced with the puzzle that 2D Navier-Stokes flows are nearly as intermittent as in three dimensions although no intermittency is present in the inverse cascade in 2D Eulerian turbulence. In addition, an inertial range is very difficult to detect and it is questionable whether it exists at all. Here, we investigate the transition of Eulerian to Lagrangian probability density functions (PDFs) which leads to a new type of Lagrangian structure function. This possesses an extended inertial range similar to the case of tracer particles in a frozen turbulent velocity f…
We investigate two-dimensional turbulence within the Instanton formalism which determines the most probable field in a stochastic classical field theory starting from the Martin-Siggia-Rose path integral. We perform an approximate analysis of these equations based on a variational ansatz using elliptical vortices. The result are evolution equations for the positions and the shapes of the vortices. We solve these ordinary differential equations numerically. The extremal action for the two-point statistics is determined by the merging of two elliptical vortices. We discuss the relationship of th…
We report on probability-density-functions (PDF) of the mass density in numerical simulations of highly compressible hydrodynamic flows and the corresponding structure formation of Lagrangian particles advected by the flows. Numerical simulations were performed with $512^3$ collocation points and 2 million tracer particles integrated over several dynamical times. We propose a connection between the PDF of the Lagrangian tracer particles and the predicted log-normal distribution of the density fluctuations in isothermal systems.
We report on simulations of two-dimensional turbulence in the inverse energy cascade regime. Focusing on the statistics of Lagrangian tracer particles, scaling behavior of the probability density functions of velocity fluctuations is investigated. The results are compared to the three-dimensional case. In particular an analysis in terms of compensated cumulants reveals the transition from a strong non-Gaussian behavior with large tails to Gaussianity. The reported computation of correlation functions for the acceleration components sheds light on the underlying dynamics of the tracer particles…
The Lagrangian velocity structure functions in the inertial range of fully developed fluid turbulence are derived basing on the Navier-Stokes equations. For time $τ$ much smaller than the correlation time, the structure functions are shown to obey the scaling relations $K_n(τ)\propto τ^{ζ_n}$. The scaling exponents $ζ_n$ are calculated analytically. The obtained values are in amazing agreement with the unique experimental results of the Bodenschatz group \cite{Bod2}. New notion -- the Lagrangian position structure functions $R_n(τ)$ is introduced. All the $R_n$ of the order $n>3$ are shown to …
New aspects of turbulence are uncovered if one considers flow motion from the perspective of a fluid particle (known as the Lagrangian approach) rather than in terms of a velocity field (the Eulerian viewpoint). Using a new experimental technique, based on the scattering of ultrasounds, we have obtained a direct measurement of particle velocities, resolved at all scales, in a fully turbulent flow. It enables us to approach intermittency in turbulence from a dynamical point of view and to analyze the Lagrangian velocity fluctuations in the framework of random walks. We find experimentally that …
The Recent Fluid Deformation Closure (RFDC) model of lagrangian turbulence is recast in path-integral language within the framework of the Martin-Siggia-Rose functional formalism. In order to derive analytical expressions for the velocity-gradient probability distribution functions (vgPDFs), we carry out noise renormalization in the low-frequency regime and find approximate extrema for the Martin-Siggia-Rose effective action. We verify, with the help of Monte Carlo simulations, that the vgPDFs so obtained yield a close description of the single-point statistical features implied by the origina…
For the phenomenological description of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence competing models exist, e.g. Boldyrev [Phys.Rev.Lett. \textbf{96}, 115002, 2006] and Gogoberidze [Phys.Plas. \textbf{14}, 022304, 2007], which predict the same Eulerian inertial-range scaling of the turbulent energy spectrum although they employ fundamentally different basic interaction mechanisms. {A relation is found that links} the Lagrangian frequency spectrum {with} the autocorrelation timescale of the turbulent fluctuations, $τ_\mathrm{ac}$, and the associated cascade timescale, $τ_{\mathrm{cas}}$. Thus, the Lagrangia…
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…
Using the Lagrangian transport of momentum, the Reynolds shear stress can be expressed in terms of basic turbulence parameters. In this view, the Reynolds stress gradient represents the lateral transport of streamwise momentum, balanced by the u2 transport, pressure and shear force terms in the momentum equation. We extend this formalism to other turbulence parameters such as diagonal components of the Reynolds stress, and also to more complex flows (boundary layer flows with adverse pressure gradients and pipe flows with swirl). Data from direct numerical simulations (DNS) are used to validat…
Particles in turbulence frequently encounter extreme accelerations between extended periods of quiescence. The occurrence of extreme events is closely related to the intermittent spatial distribution of intense flow structures such as vorticity filaments. This mixed history of flow conditions leads to very complex particle statistics with a pronounced scale dependence, which presents one of the major challenges on the way to a non-equilibrium statistical mechanics of turbulence. Here, we introduce the notion of persistent Lagrangian acceleration, quantified by the squared particle acceleration…
Based on direct numerical simulations with point-like inertial particles, with Stokes numbers, $\textrm{St}=0, 0.5$, $3$, and $6$, transported by homogeneous and isotropic turbulent flows, we present in this letter for the first time evidence for the existence of Markov property in Lagrangian turbulence. We show that the Markov property is valid for a finite step size larger than a Stokes number-dependent Einstein-Markov coherence time scale. This enables the description of multi-scale statistics of Lagrangian particles by Fokker-Planck equations, which can be embedded in an interdisciplinary …
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 study the effect of different forcing functions and of the local gradient Richardson number Rig on the vertical mixing of Lagrangian tracers in stably stratified turbulence under the Boussinesq approximation, and present a wave and continuous-time random walk model for single- and two- particle vertical dispersion. The model consists of a random superposition of linear waves with their amplitude based on the observed Lagrangian spectrum of vertical velocity, and a random walk process to capture overturning that depends on the statistics of Rig among other Eulerian quantities. The model is i…
The statistical properties of the Lagrangian acceleration vector of passive tracers in statistically-steady rotating turbulence is studied by Particle Tracking Velocimetry. Direct effects of the background rotation are the suppression of high-acceleration events parallel to the (vertical) rotation axis, the enhancement of high-acceleration events for the horizontal acceleration, and the strong amplification of the auto-correlation of the acceleration component perpendicular to both the rotation vector Ω and local velocity vector u. The auto-correlation of the acceleration component in the plan…
Lagrangian studies of the local temperature mixing and heat transport in turbulent Rayleigh-Benard convection are presented, based on three-dimensional direct numerical simulations. Contrary to vertical pair distances, the temporal growth of lateral pair distances agrees with the Richardson law, but yields a smaller Richardson constant due to correlated pair motion in plumes. Our results thus imply that Richardson dispersion is also found in anisotropic turbulence. We find that extremely large vertical accelerations appear less frequently than lateral ones and are not connected with rising or …
Direct estimation of Lagrangian turbulence statistics is essential for the proper modeling of dispersion and transport in highly obstructed canopy flows. However, Lagrangian flow measurements demand very high rates of data acquisition, resulting in bottlenecks that prevented the estimation of Lagrangian statistics in canopy flows hitherto. We report on a new extension to the 3D Particle Tracking Velocimetry (3D-PTV) method, featuring real-time particle segmentation that outputs centroids and sizes of tracer particles and performed on dedicated hardware during high-speed digital video acquisiti…
Lagrangian properties obtained from a Particle Tracking Velocimetry experiment in a turbulent flow at intermediate Reynolds number are presented. Accurate sampling of particle trajectories is essential in order to obtain the Lagrangian structure functions and to measure intermittency at small temporal scales. The finiteness of the measurement volume can bias the results significantly. We present a robust way to overcome this obstacle. Despite no fully developed inertial range we observe strong intermittency at the scale of dissipation. The multifractal model is only partially able to reproduce…
We present a formal connection between Lagrangian and Eulerian velocity increment distributions which is applicable to a wide range of turbulent systems ranging from turbulence in incompressible fluids to magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. For the case of the inverse cascade regime of two-dimensional turbulence we numerically estimate the transition probabilities involved in this connection. In this context we are able to directly identify the processes leading to strongly non-Gaussian statistics for the Lagrangian velocity increments.
We define and characterize multi-time Lagrangian structure functions using data stemming from two swirling flows with mean flow and turbulent fluctuations: A Taylor-Green numerical flow, and a von Kármán laboratory experiment. Data is obtained from numerical integration of tracers in the former case, and from three-dimensional particle tracking velocimetry measurements in the latter. Multi-time statistics are shown to decrease the contamination of large scales in the inertial range scaling. A time scale at which contamination from the mean flow becomes dominant is identified, with this scale s…
Self-consistent closure theory for passive-scalar turbulence has been developed on the basis of the Hessian of the scalar field. As a primitive indicator of spatial structure of the scalar, we employ the Hessian into the core of the theory to properly characterize the time scale intrinsic to the scalar field itself. The resultant closure model is now endowed with several realistic features, i.e. the scale-locality of the interscale interaction, the detailed conservation, and the memory-fading effect. Applying the current theory to the inertial-convective range eventually leads to self-consiste…
The behavior of the second-order Lagrangian structure functions on state-of-the-art numerical data both in two and three dimensions is studied. On the basis of a phenomenological connection between Eulerian space-fluctuations and the Lagrangian time-fluctuations, it is possible to rephrase the Kolmogorov $4/5$-law into a relation predicting the linear (in time) scaling for the second order Lagrangian structure function. When such a function is directly observed on current experimental or numerical data, it does not clearly display a scaling regime. A parameterization of the Lagrangian structur…
We report a detailed study of Eulerian and Lagrangian statistics from high resolution Direct Numerical Simulations of isotropic weakly compressible turbulence. Reynolds number at the Taylor microscale is estimated to be around 600. Eulerian and Lagrangian statistics is evaluated over a huge data set, made by $1856^3$ spatial collocation points and by 16 million particles, followed for about one large-scale eddy turn over time. We present data for Eulerian and Lagrangian Structure functions up to ten order. We analyse the local scaling properties in the inertial range and in the viscous range. …
Lagrangian statistics of passive tracers in rotating turbulence is investigated by Particle Tracking Velocimetry. A confined and steadily-forced turbulent flow is subjected to five different rotation rates. The PDFs of the velocity components clearly reveal the anisotropy induced by background rotation. Although the statistical properties of the horizontal turbulent flow field are approximately isotropic, in agreement with previously reported results by van Bokhoven and coworkers [Phys. Fluids 21, 096601 (2009)], the velocity component parallel to the (vertical) rotation axis gets strongly red…
Stretching in continuum mechanics is naturally described using the Cauchy-Green strain tensors. These tensors quantify the Lagrangian stretching experienced by a material element, and provide a powerful way to study processes in turbulent fluid flows that involve stretching such as vortex stretching and alignment of anisotropic particles. Analyzing data from a simulation of isotropic turbulence, we observe preferential alignment between anisotropic particles and vorticity. We show that this alignment arises because both of these quantities independently tend to align with the strongest Lagrang…
We provide evidence that the small-scale statistics of the acceleration of a test particle in high-Reynolds number Lagrangian turbulence is correctly described by Tsallis statistics with entropic index q=3/2. We present theoretical arguments why Tsallis statistics can naturally arise in Lagrangian turbulence and why at the smallest scales q=3/2 is relevant. A generalized Heisenberg-Yaglom formula is derived from the nonextensive model.
The universality of intermittency in hydrodynamic turbulence is considered based on a recent model for the velocity gradient tensor evolution. Three possible versions of the model are investigated differing in the assumed correlation time-scale and forcing strength. Numerical tests show that the same (universal) anomalous relative scaling exponents are obtained for the three model variants. It is also found that transverse velocity gradients are more intermittent than longitudinal ones, whereas dissipation and enstrophy scale with the same exponents. The results are consistent with the univers…
Geophysical flows are often turbulent and subject to rotation. This rotation modifies the structure of turbulence and is thereby expected to sensibly affect its Lagrangian properties. Here, we investigate the relative dispersion and geometry of pairs, triads and tetrads in homogeneous rotating turbulence, by using direct numerical simulations at different rotation rates. Pair dispersion is shown to be faster in the vertical direction (along the rotation axis) than in the horizontal one. At long times, in Taylor's regime, this is due to the slower decorrelation of the vertical velocity componen…
Lagrangian stochastic models are widely used to predict and analyze turbulent dispersion in complex environments, such as in various terrestrial and marine canopy flows. However, due to a lack of empirical data, it is still not understood how particular features of highly inhomogeneous canopy flows affect the Lagrangian statistics. In this work, we study Lagrangian short time statistics by analyzing empirical Lagrangian trajectories in sub-volumes of space that are small in comparison with the canopy height. For the analysis we used 3D Lagrangian trajectories measured in a dense canopy flow mo…
Lagrangian dispersion in experimental stratified turbulence
Laboratoire des Ecoulements Geophysiques et Industriels (LEGI), Universite Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble-INP（地球物理和工业流动实验室）；Imperial College London（伦敦帝国理工学院）；Laboratoire de Mécanique et ses Interfaces, ENSTA Paris, Institut Polytechnique de Paris（力学及其界面实验室）
We propose a predictive model of the turbulent burning velocity $S_T$ in homogeneous isotropic turbulence (HIT) based on Lagrangian statistics of propagating surfaces. The propagating surfaces with a constant displacement speed are initially arranged on a plane, and they evolve in non-reacting HIT, behaving like the propagation of a planar premixed flame front. The universal constants in the model of $S_T$ characterize the enhancement of area growth of premixed flames by turbulence, and they are determined by Lagrangian statistics of propagating surfaces. The flame area is then modelled by the…
This paper discusses the generalised least-action principle introduced by Brenier (J. Am. Math. Soc, 1989), from the perspective of turbulence modelling. In essence, Brenier's least-action principle extends to a probabilistic setting Arnold's geometric interpretation of ideal fluid mechanics, whereby strong solutions to the Euler equations are deduced from minimising an action over Lagrangian maps. While Arnold's framework relies on the deterministic concept of Lagrangian flow, Brenier's least-action principle describes solutions to the Euler equations in terms of non-deterministic "generalise…
We derive here Lagrangian fluctuation-dissipation relations for advected scalars in wall-bounded flows. The relations equate the dissipation rate for either passive or active scalars to the variance of scalar inputs from the initial values, boundary values, and internal sources, as those are sampled backward in time by stochastic Lagrangian trajectories. New probabilistic concepts are required to represent scalar boundary conditions at the walls: the boundary local-time density at points on the wall where scalar fluxes are imposed and the boundary first hitting-time at points where scalar valu…
Homogeneous and isotropic turbulent fields obtained from two DNS databases (with $\mbox{Re}_λ$ equal to 150 and 418) were seeded with point particles that moved with the local fluid velocity to obtain Lagrangian pressure histories. Motivated by cavitation inception modeling, the statistics of events in which such particles undergo low-pressure fluctuations were computed, parameterized by the amplitude of the fluctuations and by their duration. The main results are the average frequencies of these events and the probabilistic distribution of their duration, which are of predictive value. A conn…
We numerically investigate a two-time Lagrangian velocity correlation function (TTLVCF) for particle pairs in two-dimensional energy inverse-cascade turbulence. We consider self similarity of the correlation function by means of incomplete similarity. In this framework, we propose a self-similar form of the correlation function, whose scaling exponents cannot be determined by only using the dimensional analysis based on the Kolmogorov's phenomenology. As a result, the scaling laws of the correlation function can depend on the initial separation. This initial-separation dependency is frequently…
The statistics of the velocity gradient tensor in turbulent flows are of both theoretical and practical importance. The Lagrangian view provides a privileged perspective for studying the dynamics of turbulence in general, and of the velocity gradient tensor in particular. Stochastic models for the Lagrangian evolution of velocity gradients in isotropic turbulence, with closure models for the pressure Hesssian and viscous Laplacian, have been shown to reproduce important features such as non-Gaussian probability distributions, skewness and vorticity strain-rate alignments. The Recent Fluid Defo…
