We formulate multifractal models for velocity differences and gradients which describe the full range of length scales in turbulent flow, namely: laminar, dissipation, inertial, and stirring ranges. The models subsume existing models of inertial range turbulence. In the localized ranges of length scales in which the turbulence is only partially developed, we propose multifractal scaling laws with scaling exponents modified from their inertial range values. In local regions, even within a fully developed turbulent flow, the turbulence is not isotropic nor scale invariant due to the influence of larger turbulent structures (or their absence). For this reason, turbulence that is not fully developed is an important issue which inertial range study can not address. In the ranges of partially developed turbulence, the flow can be far from universal, so that standard inertial range turbulence scaling models become inapplicable. The model proposed here serves as a replacement.Details of the fitting of the parameters for the $τ_p$ and $ζ_p$ models in the dissipation range are discussed. Some of the behavior of $ζ_p$ for larger $p$ is unexplained. The theories are verified by comparing to high resolution simulation data.
High-order methods and hybrid turbulence models have independently shown promise as means of decreasing the computational cost of scale-resolving simulations. The objective of this work is to develop the combination of these methods and analyze the effects of high-order discretizations on hybrid turbulence models, particularly with respect the optimal model parameters and the relative accuracy benefits compared to approaches such as under-resolved direct numerical simulation (URDNS). We employ the Partially-Averaged Navier-Stokes (PANS) approach using the flux reconstruction scheme on the flow…
The spatial scaling laws of velocity kinetic energy spectrum for compressible turbulence flow and its density-weighted counterpart have been formulated in terms of wavenumber, dissipation rate and Mach number by using dimensional analysis. We have applied the Barenblatt's incomplete similarity theory to both kinetic and density-weighted energy spectrum and showed that, within the initial subrange, both energy spectrums approach the -5/3 power law of the wavenumber, when the Mach number $M$ tends to be naught, unity and infinity, respectively.
We investigate the influence of a uniform magnetic field ${\bf B_0}=B_0 e//$ on energy decay laws in incompressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence. The nonlinear transfer reduction along $B_0$ is included in a model that distinguishes parallel and perpendicular directions, following a phenomenology {\it à la} Kraichnan. We predict a slowing down of the energy decay due to anisotropy in the limit of strong $B_0$, with distinct power laws for energy decay of shear- and pseudo-Alfvén waves. Numerical results from the kinetic equations of Alfvén wave turbulence recover these predictions, and…
Wall turbulence has a sublayer where one-point statistics, e.g., the mean velocity and the variances of some velocity fluctuations, vary logarithmically with the distance from the wall. This logarithmic scaling is found here for two-point statistics or specifically two-point cumulants of those fluctuations by means of experiments in a wind tunnel. As for corresponding statistics of the rate of the energy dissipation, the scaling is found to be not logarithmic. We reproduce these scaling laws with some mathematics and also with a model of energy-containing eddies that are attached to the wall.
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…
A comparison is made between several existing exact laws in incompressible Hall magnetohydrodynamic (IHMHD) turbulence in order to show their equivalence, despite stemming from different mathematical derivations. Using statistical homogeneity, we revisit the law proposed by Hellinger et al. (2018) and show that it can be written, after being corrected by a multiplicative factor, in a more compact form implying only flux terms expressed as increments of the turbulent fields. The Hall contribution of this law is tested and compared to other exact laws derived by Galtier (2008) and Banerjee & Gal…
We present an extension to Kolmogorov's refined similarity hypothesis for universal fully developed turbulence. The extension is applied within Z. She and E. Leveque's multifractal model of inertial range scaling and its generalizations. Our modification rectifies an apparent gap between the implicit continuum of length scales in Obukhov's conception of a turbulent energy cascade, and scaling law models derived from Kolmogorov's refined similarity hypothesis that lack infinite divisibility. The development has relevance to universal fully developed turbulence, a state we describe explicitly in…
Inspection of available data on the decay exponent for the kinetic energy of homogeneous and isotropic turbulence (HIT) shows that it varies by as much as 100\%. Measurements and simulations often show no correspondence with theoretical arguments, which are themselves varied. This situation is unsatisfactory given that HIT is a building block of turbulence theory and modeling. We take recourse to a large base of direct numerical simulations and study decaying HIT for a variety of initial conditions. We show that the Kolmogorov decay exponent and the Birkhoff-Saffman decay are both readily obse…
The cascade of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence is subject to ion-neutral collisional damping and neutral viscous damping in the partially ionized interstellar medium. By examining the damping effects in the warm and partially ionized local interstellar medium, we find that the interstellar turbulence is damped by neutral viscosity at $\sim 261$ au and cannot account for the turbulent magnetic fluctuations detected by Voyager 1 and 2. The MHD turbulence measured by Voyager in the very local interstellar medium (VLISM) should be locally injected in the regime where ions are decoupled from n…
In the study by Sadeghi & Oberlack [JFM 899, A10 (2020)] it is claimed that new scaling laws are derived for the case of passive scalar dynamics under the influence of a constant mean gradient in decaying homogeneous isotropic turbulence. However, these scaling laws are not new and have already been derived and discussed in Bahri (2016). No novel analytical achievements are made by Sadeghi & Oberlack, as the title of their study misleadingly wants to suggest. In fact, the already established self-similar scaling laws obtained by Bahri through simple dimensional analysis are already more genera…
Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence is pervasive in astrophysical systems. Recent high-resolution numerical simulations suggest that the energy spectrum of strong incompressible MHD turbulence is $E(k_{\perp})\propto k_{\perp}^{-3/2}$. So far, there has been no phenomenological theory that simultaneously explains this spectrum and satisfies the exact analytic relations for MHD turbulence due to Politano & Pouquet. Indeed, the Politano-Pouquet relations are often invoked to suggest that the spectrum of MHD turbulence instead has the Kolmogorov scaling -5/3. Using geometrical arguments and nume…
Incompressible and isotropic magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in plasms can be described by an exact relation for the energy flux through the scales. This Yaglom-like scaling law has been recently observed in the solar wind above the solar poles observed by the Ulysses spacecraft, where the turbulence is in an Alfvénic state. An analogous phenomenological scaling law, suitably modified to take into account compressible fluctuations, is observed more frequently in the same dataset. Large scale density fluctuations, despite their low amplitude, play thus a crucial role in the basic scaling propert…
We provide sufficient conditions for mathematically rigorous proofs of the third order universal laws capturing the energy flux to large scales and enstrophy flux to small scales for statistically stationary, forced-dissipated 2d Navier-Stokes equations in the large-box limit. These laws should be regarded as 2d turbulence analogues of the $4/5$ law in 3d turbulence, predicting a constant flux of energy and enstrophy (respectively) through the two inertial ranges in the dual cascade of 2d turbulence. Conditions implying only one of the two cascades are also obtained, as well as compactness cri…
Invariance properties of physical systems govern their behavior: energy conservation in turbulence drives a wide distribution of energy among modes, observed in geophysical or astrophysical flows. In ideal hydrodynamics, the role of helicity conservation (correlation between velocity and its curl, measuring departures from mirror symmetry) remains unclear since it does not alter the energy spectrum. However, with solid body rotation, significant differences emerge between helical and non-helical flows. We first outline several results, like the energy and helicity spectral distribution and the…
The search of ways to generalize the theory of strong MHD turbulence for the case of non-zero cross-helicity (or energy imbalance) has attracted considerable interest recently. In our earlier publications we performed three-dimensional numerical simulations and showed that some of existing models are inconsistent with numerics. In this paper we focused our attention on low-imbalance limit and performed new high-resolution simulations. The results strongly suggest that in the limit of small imbalances we smoothly transition to a standard Goldreich-Sridhar (1995) balanced model. We also claim th…
The letter considers non-isothermal fluid flows and revises simplifications of basic hydrodynamic equations for such flows arriving eventually to a generalization of the Oberbeck-Boussinesq approximation valid for arbitrary equation of state including both non-ideal gases as well as liquids. The proposed approach is based on a suggested general definition of potential temperature. Special attention is put on the energy conservation principle, and it is shown that the proposed approximation exactly preserves the total mechanical energy by approximate equations of motion. The principal importanc…
Following the idea that dissipation in turbulence at high Reynolds number is by events singular in space-time and described by solutions of the inviscid Euler equations, we draw the conclusion that in such flows scaling laws should depend only on quantities appearing in the Euler equations. This excludes viscosity or a turbulent length as scaling parameters and constrains drastically possible analytical pictures of this limit. We focus on the law of drag by Newton for a projectile moving quickly in a fluid at rest. Inspired by the Newton's drag force law (proportional to the square of the spee…
The question is addressed to what extent incompressible magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) can describe random magnetic and velocity fluctuations measured in the solar wind. It is demonstrated that distributions of spectral indices for the velocity, magnetic field, and total energy obtained from high resolution numerical simulations are qualitatively and quantitatively similar to solar wind observations at 1 AU. Both simulations and observations show that in the inertial range the magnetic field spectrum E_b is steeper than the velocity spectrum E_v with E_b >~ E_v and that the residual energy E_R = E…
Since they represent fundamental physical properties in turbulence (conservation laws, wall laws, Kolmogorov energy spectrum, ...), symmetries are used to analyse common turbulence models. A class of symmetry preserving turbulence models is proposed. This class is refined such that the models respect the second law of thermodynamics. Finally, an example of model belonging to the class is numerically tested.
Understanding the role of frictional drag in diffusive transport is an important problem in the field of active turbulence. Using a continuum model that applies well to bacterial suspensions, we investigate the role of Ekmann friction on the transport of passive (Lagrangian) tracers that go with the local flow. We find that the crossover from ballistic to diffusive regime happens at a time scale $τ_c$ that attains a minimum at zero friction, meaning that both injection and dissipation of energy delay the relaxation of tracers. We explain this by proposing that $τ_c \sim 2 \ell^*/u_{\text{rms}}…
The goal of this dissertation is to investigate the PANS model capabilities in providing significant improvement over RANS predictions at slightly higher computational expense and producing LES quality results at significantly lower computational cost. The objectives of this study are: (i) investigate the model fidelity at a fixed level of scale resolution (Generation1-PANS/G1-PANS) for smooth surface separation, (ii) Derive the PANS closure model in regions of resolution variation (Generation2-PANS/G2-PANS), and (iii) Validate G2-PANS model for attached and separated flows. The separated flow…
We analyze the data stemming from a forced incompressible hydrodynamic simulation on a grid of 2048^3 regularly spaced points, with a Taylor Reynolds number of Re~1300. The forcing is given by the Taylor-Green flow, which shares similarities with the flow in several laboratory experiments, and the computation is run for ten turnover times in the turbulent steady state. At this Reynolds number the anisotropic large scale flow pattern, the inertial range, the bottleneck, and the dissipative range are clearly visible, thus providing a good test case for the study of turbulence as it appears in na…
The inverse transfer of magnetic helicity is investigated through direct numerical simulations of large-scale-mechanically-driven turbulent flows in the isothermal ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) framework. The mechanical forcing is either purely solenoidal or purely compressive and the turbulent steady-states considered exhibit root mean square (RMS) Mach numbers 0.1 $\lesssim$ M $\lesssim$ 11. A continuous small-scale electromotive forcing injects magnetic helical fluctuations, which lead to the build-up of ever larger magnetic structures. Spectral scaling exponents are observed which, for …
As we all know, the Fourier transform is continuous in the weak sense of tempered distribution; this ensures the weak stability of Fourier pairs. This article investigates a stronger form of stability of the pair of homogeneous profiles $(|x|^{-α}, c_d |ξ|^{d-α})$ on $\mathbb{R}^d$. It encompasses, for example, the case where the homogeneous profiles exist only on a large but finite range. In this case, we provide precise error estimates in terms of the size of the tails outside the homogeneous range. We also prove a series of refined properties of the Fourier transform on related questions in…
Ionization occurs in the upper atmospheres of hot Jupiters and in the interiors of Gas Giant Planets, leading to magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) effects which couple the momentum and the magnetic field, thereby significantly altering the dynamics. In regions of moderate temperatures the gas is only partially ionized, which also leads to interactions with neutral molecules. To explore the turbulent dynamics of these regions we utilize Partially-Ionized MHD (PIMHD), a two-fluid model -- one neutral and one ionized -- coupled by a collision term proportional to the difference in velocities. Motivated b…
In rapidly rotating turbulence (Rossby number much less than unity), the standard mixing length theory for turbulent convection breaks and Coriolis force enters the force balance such that magnetic field eventually depends on rotation. By simplifying the self-sustained magnetohydrodynamics dynamo equations of electrically conducting fluid motion, with the aid of theory of isotropic non-rotating or anisotropic rotating turbulence driven by thermal convection, we make estimations and derive scaling laws for stellar magnetic fields with slow and fast rotation. Our scaling laws are in good agreeme…
A heuristic model is given for anisotropic magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) turbulence in the presence of a uniform external magnetic field $B_0 {\bf {\hat e}_{\pa}}$. The model is valid for both moderate and strong $B_0$ and is able to describe both the strong and weak wave turbulence regimes as well as the transition between them. The main ingredient of the model is the assumption of constant ratio at all scales between \add{the} linear wave period and \add{the} nonlinear turnover timescale. Contrary to the model of critical balance introduced by Goldreich and Sridhar [P. Goldreich and S. Sridhar,…
The diffusive transport in two-dimensional incompressible turbulent fields is investigated with the aid of high-quality direct numerical simulations. Three classes of turbulence spectra that are able to capture both short and long-range time-space correlations and oscillating features are employed. We report novel scaling laws that depart from the $γ=7/10$ paradigm of percolative exponents and are dependent on the features of turbulence. A simple relation between diffusion in the percolative and frozen regimes is found. The importance of discerning between differential and integral characteris…
Reductionism is a prevalent viewpoint in science according to which all physical phenomena can be understood from fundamental laws of physics. Anderson [Science, 177, 393 (1972)], Laughlin and Pines [PNAS, 97, 28 (2000)], and others have countered this viewpoint and argued in favour hierarchical structure of the universe and laws. In this paper we advance the latter perspective by showing that some of the complex flow properties derived using hydrodynamic equations (macroscopic laws) are very difficult, if not impossible, to describe in microscopic framework---kinetic theory. These properties …
Turbulence is the most common state of astrophysical flows. In typical astrophysical fluids, turbulence is accompanied by strong magnetic fields, which has a large impact on the dynamics of the turbulent cascade. Recently, there has been a significant breakthrough on the theory of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence. For the first time we have a scaling model that is supported by both observations and numerical simulations. We review recent progress in studies of both incompressible and compressible turbulence. We compare Iroshnikov-Kraichnan and Goldreich-Sridhar models, and discuss scalings…
We present a model for the scaling of mixing in weakly rotating stratified flows characterized by their Rossby, Froude and Reynolds numbers Ro, Fr, Re. It is based on quasi-equipartition between kinetic and potential modes, sub-dominant vertical velocity and lessening of the energy transfer to small scales as measured by the ratio rE of kinetic energy dissipation to its dimensional expression. We determine their domains of validity for a numerical study of the unforced Boussinesq equations mostly on grids of 10243 points, with Ro/Fr> 2.5 and with 1600< Re<1.9x104; the Prandtl number is one, in…
Differential models for hydrodynamic, passive-scalar and wave turbulence given by nonlinear first- and second-order evolution equations for the energy spectrum in the $k$-space were analysed. Both types of models predict formation an anomalous transient power-law spectra. The second-order models were analysed in terms of self-similar solutions of the second kind, and a phenomenological formula for the anomalous spectrum exponent was constructed using numerics for a broad range of parameters covering all known physical examples. The first-order models were examined analytically, including findi…
``Exact'' laws for evaluating cascade rates, tracing back to the Kolmogorov ``4/5'' law, have been extended to many systems of interest including magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), and compressible flows of the magnetofluid and ordinary fluid types. It is understood that implementations may be limited by the quantity of available data and by the lack of turbulence symmetry. Assessment of the accuracy and feasibility of such ``third-order'' (or Yaglom) relations is most effectively accomplished by examining the von Karman-Howarth equation in increment form, a framework from which the third-order laws …
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 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…
Motivated by interest in the geometry of high intensity events of turbulent flows, we examine spatial correlation functions of sets where turbulent events are particularly intense. These sets are defined using indicator functions on excursion and iso-value sets. Their geometric scaling properties are analyzed by examining possible power-law decay of their radial correlation function. We apply the analysis to enstrophy, dissipation, and velocity gradient invariants $Q$ and $R$ and their joint spatial distibutions, using data from a direct numerical simulation of isotropic turbulence at ${\rm Re…
New methods of flow visualization near absolute zero have opened the way to directly compare quantum turbulence (in superfluid helium) to classical turbulence (in ordinary fluids such as air or water) and explore analogies and differences. We present results of numerical simulations in which we examine the statistics of the superfluid acceleration in thermal counterflow. We find that, unlike the velocity, the acceleration obeys scaling laws similar to classical turbulence, in agreement with a recent quantum turbulence experiment of La Mantia et al.
Numerical simulations of the G.O. Roberts dynamo are presented. Dynamos both with and without a significant mean field are obtained. Exact bounds are derived for the total energy which conform with the Kolmogorov phenomenology of turbulence. Best fits to numerical data show the same functional dependences as the inequalities obtained from optimum theory.
Generic scaling laws, such as the Kolmogorov's 5/3-law, are milestone achievements of turbulence research in classical fluids. For quantum fluids such as atomic Bose-Einstein condensates, superfluid helium, and superfluid neutron stars, turbulence can also exist in the presence of a chaotic tangle of evolving quantized vortex lines. However, due to the lack of suitable experimental tools to directly probe the vortex-tangle motion, so far little is known about possible scaling laws that characterize the velocity correlations and trajectory statistics of the vortices in quantum-fluid turbulence …
This work extends the framework of the partially-averaged Navier-Stokes (PANS) equations to variable-density flow, \text{i.e.}, multi-material and/or compressible mixing problems with density variations and production of turbulence kinetic energy by both shear and buoyancy mechanisms. The proposed methodology is utilized to derive the PANS BHR-LEVM closure. This includes \textit{a-priori} testing to analyze and develop guidelines toward the efficient selection of the parameters controlling the physical resolution and, consequently, the range of resolved scales of PANS. Two archetypal test-case…
The macroscopic behavior of dense suspensions of neutrally-buoyant spheres in turbulent plane channel flow is examined. We show that particles larger than the smallest turbulence scales cause the suspension to deviate from the continuum limit in which its dynamics is well described by an effective suspension viscosity. This deviation is caused by the formation of a particle layer close to the wall with significant slip velocity. By assuming two distinct transport mechanisms in the near-wall layer and the turbulence in the bulk, we define an effective wall location such that the flow in the bul…
We study sign changes and scaling laws in the Cartesian components of the velocity and vorticity of rotating turbulence, in the helicity, and in the components of vertically-averaged fields. Data for the analysis is provided by high-resolution direct numerical simulations of rotating turbulence with different forcing functions, with up to 1536^3 grid points, with Reynolds numbers between ~1100 and ~5100, and with moderate Rossby numbers between ~0.06 and ~8. When rotation is negligible, all Cartesian components of the velocity show similar scaling, in agreement with the expected isotropy of th…
We propose explicit forms for the steady state distributions governing fully developed turbulence in two and three spatial dimensions. We base our proposals on the crucial importance of the area and volume preserving diffeomorphisms in the space of velocities. We argue that these distributions can lead to the relevant (Kolmogorov and Kraichnan) scaling laws.
The mean state of the atmosphere and ocean is set through a balance between external forcing (winds, radiation, heat and freshwater fluxes) and the emergent turbulence, which transfers energy to dissipative structures. The forcing gives rise to jets in the atmosphere and currents in the ocean, which spontaneously develop turbulent eddies through the baroclinic instability. A critical step in the development of a theory of climate is to properly include the resulting eddy-induced turbulent transport of properties like heat, moisture, and carbon. The baroclinic instability generates flow structu…
The understanding of fluid turbulence has considerably progressed in recent years. The application of the methods of statistical mechanics to the description of the motion of fluid particles, i.e. to the Lagrangian dynamics, has led to a new quantitative theory of intermittency in turbulent transport. The first analytical description of anomalous scaling laws in turbulence has been obtained. The underlying physical mechanism reveals the role of statistical integrals of motion in non-equilibrium systems. For turbulent transport, the statistical conservation laws are hidden in the evolution of g…
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…
1-D scalar conservation laws with convex flux and Markov initial data are now known to yield a completely integrable Hamiltonian system. In this article, we rederive the analogue of Loitsiansky's invariant in hydrodynamic turbulence from the perspective of integrable systems. Other relevant physical notions such as energy dissipation and spectrum are also discussed.
Turbulent flows, ubiquitous in nature and engineering, comprise fluctuations over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. While flows with fluctuations in thermodynamic variables are much more common, much less is known about these flows than their incompressible counterparts in which thermodynamics is decoupled from hydrodynamics. A critical element in the study of the latter has been the concept of universal scaling laws which provides fundamental as well as practical information about the spatio-temporal behavior of these complex systems. Part of this success is due to the dependence o…
We present a new theoretical picture of magnetically dominated, decaying turbulence in the absence of a mean magnetic field. We demonstrate that such turbulence is governed by the reconnection of magnetic structures, and not by ideal dynamics, as has previously been assumed. We obtain predictions for the magnetic-energy decay laws by proposing that turbulence decays on reconnection timescales, while respecting the conservation of certain integral invariants representing topological constraints satisfied by the reconnecting magnetic field. As is well known, the magnetic helicity is such an inva…
