Liquid metals play a central role in new generation liquid metal cooled nuclear reactors, for which numerical investigations require the use of appropriate thermal turbulence models for low Prandtl number fluids. Given the limitations of traditional modelling approaches and the increasing availability of high-fidelity data for this class of fluids, we propose a Machine Learning strategy for the modelling of the turbulent heat flux. A comprehensive algebraic mathematical structure is derived and physical constraints are imposed to ensure attractive properties promoting applicability, robustness and stability. The closure coefficients of the model are predicted by an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) which is trained with DNS data at different Prandtl numbers. The validity of the approach was verified through a priori and a posteriori validation for two and three-dimensional liquid metal flows. The model provides a complete vectorial representation of the turbulent heat flux and the predictions fit the DNS data in a wide range of Prandtl numbers (Pr=0.01-0.71). The comparison with other existing thermal models shows that the methodology is very promising.
Convective turbulence in a Rayleigh Benard system has shown a marked reluctance to exhibit clear scaling in the energy or entropy spectrum. The recent numerical simulation of Pandey, Verma and Mishra has shown significantly better evidence of scaling in the infinite Prandtl number limit. This prompted us to look at this limit analytically. We find that the inevitable presence of sweeping helps give a very good understanding of the results of Pandey et. al. In the presence of rotation, the Rayleigh number dependence of the Nusselt number shows a strong increase in slope in recent experiments an…
We show for the first time that sustained turbulence is possible at low magnetic Prandtl number for Keplerian flows with no mean magnetic flux. Our results indicate that increasing the vertical domain size is equivalent to increasing the dynamical range between the energy injection scale and the dissipative scale. This has important implications for a large variety of differentially rotating systems with low magnetic Prandtl number such as protostellar disks and laboratory experiments.
The fully developed turbulent Boussinesq convection is known to form large-scale rolls, often termed the 'large-scale circulation' (LSC). It is an interesting question how such a large-scale flow is created, in particular in systems when the energy input occurs at small scales, when inverse cascade is required in order to transfer energy into the large-scale modes. Here, the small-scale driving is introduced through stochastic, randomly distributed heat source (say radiational). The mean flow equations are derived by means of simplified renormalization group technique, which can be termed 'wea…
The transition to a new turbulent regime in horizontal convection in the case of low Prandtl numbers is analyzed using the Shishkina, Grossmann & Lohse (SGL) theory. The flow driven by the horizontal gradient along a horizontal surface, perpendicular to the acceleration of gravity is shown to transition to turbulence in the plume and the core. This transition to turbulence sets a sequence of heat transfer and momentum transport scalings which are found to follow the SGL prediction for the scaling factors and the prediction of Hughes, Griffith & Mullarney (HGM) for larger forcing amplitudes. Th…
The small-scale dynamo is a process by which turbulent kinetic energy is converted into magnetic energy, and thus is expected to depend crucially on the nature of turbulence. In this work, we present a model for the small-scale dynamo that takes into account the slope of the turbulent velocity spectrum v(l) ~ l^theta, where l and v(l) are the size of a turbulent fluctuation and the typical velocity on that scale. The time evolution of the fluctuation component of the magnetic field, i.e., the small-scale field, is described by the Kazantsev equation. We solve this linear differential equation …
We explore the effect of the magnetic Prandtl number Pm on energy and dissipation in fully resolved direct numerical simulations of steady-state, mechanically forced homogeneous magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in the range Pm = 1/32 to 32. We compare the spectra and show that if the simulations are not fully resolved, the steepness of the scaling of the kinetic-to-magnetic dissipation ratio with Pm is overestimated. We also present results of decaying turbulence with helical and nonhelical magnetic fields, where we find nonhelical reverse spectral transfer for Pm < 1. The results of this system…
Three-dimensional miscible Rayleigh--Taylor (RT) turbulence at small Atwood number and at Prandtl number one is investigated by means of high resolution direct numerical simulations of the Boussinesq equations. RT turbulence is a paradigmatic time-dependent turbulent system in which the integral scale grows in time following the evolution of the mixing region. In order to fully characterize the statistical properties of the flow, both temporal and spatial behavior of relevant statistical indicators have been analyzed. Scaling of both global quantities ({\it e.g.}, Rayleigh, Nusselt and Reynold…
We extend the scaling relations of stably stratified turbulence from the geophysical regime of unity Prandtl number to the astrophysical regime of extremely small Prandtl number applicable to stably stratified regions of stars and gas giants. A transition to a new turbulent regime is found to occur when the Prandtl number drops below the inverse of the buoyancy Reynolds number, i.e. $PrRb<1$, which signals a shift of the dominant balance in the buoyancy equation. Application of critical balance arguments then derives new predictions for the anisotropic energy spectrum and dominant balance of t…
A phenomenology of isotropic magnetohydrodynamic turbulence subject to both rotation and applied magnetic field is presented. It is assumed that the triple correlations decay-time is the shortest between the eddy turn-over time and the ones associated to the rotating frequency and Alfvén wave period. For $Pm=1$ it leads to four kinds of piecewise spectra, depending on the four parameters, injection rate of energy, magnetic diffusivity, rotation rate and applied field. With a shell model of MHD turbulence (including rotation and applied magnetic field), spectra for $Pm \le 1$ are presented, tog…
Using direct numerical simulations of three-dimensional hydromagnetic turbulence, either with helical or non-helical forcing, we show that the ratio of kinetic-to-magnetic energy dissipation always increases with the magnetic Prandtl number, i.e., the ratio of kinematic viscosity to magnetic diffusivity. This dependence can always be approximated by a power law, but the exponent is not the same in all cases. For non-helical turbulence, the exponent is around 1/3, while for helical turbulence it is between 0.6 and 2/3. In the statistically steady state, the rate of the energy conversion from ki…
We discuss two aspects of turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection (RBC) on the basis of high-resolution direct numerical simulations in a unique setting; a closed cylindrical cell of aspect ratio of one. First, we present a comprehensive comparison of statistical quantities such as energy dissipation rates and boundary layer thickness scales. Data are used from three simulation run series at Prandtl numbers $Pr$ that cover two orders of magnitude. In contrast to most previous studies in RBC the focus of the present work is on convective turbulence at very low Prandtl numbers including $Pr=0.021$ …
Turbulent motions enhance the diffusion of large-scale flows and temperature gradients. Such diffusion is often parameterized by coefficients of turbulent viscosity ($ν_{\rm t}$) and turbulent thermal diffusivity ($χ_{\rm t}$) that are analogous to their microscopic counterparts. We compute the turbulent diffusion coefficients by imposing large-scale velocity and temperature gradients on a turbulent flow and measuring the response of the system. We also confirm our results using experiments where the imposed gradients are allowed to decay. To achieve this, we use weakly compressible three-dime…
Horizontally extended turbulent convection, termed mesoscale convection in natural systems, remains a challenge to investigate in both experiments and simulations. This is particularly so for very low molecular Prandtl numbers as in stellar convection and in Earth's outer core. The present study reports three-dimensional direct numerical simulations of turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection in square boxes of side length $L$ and height $H$ with the aspect ratio $Γ=L/H$ of 25, for Prandtl numbers that span almost 4 orders of magnitude, $10^{-3}\le Pr \le 7$, and Rayleigh numbers $10^5 \le Ra \le …
We prove an estimate of total (viscous plus modelled turbulent) energy dissipation in general eddy viscosity models for shear flows. For general eddy viscosity models, we show that the ratio of the near wall average viscosity to the effective global viscosity is the key parameter. This result is then applied to the 1-equation, URANS model of turbulence for which this ratio depends on the specification of the turbulence length scale. The model, which was derived by Prandtl in 1945, is a component of a 2-equation model derived by Kolmogorov in 1942 and is the core of many unsteady, Reynolds aver…
The paper presents a theory of shear-generated turbulence at asymptotically high Reynolds numbers. It is based on an ensemble of dipole vortex tubes taken as quasi-particles and realized in form of rings, hairpins or filament couples of potentially finite length. In a not necesserily planar cross sectional area through a vortex tangle, taken locally orthogonal through each individual tube, the dipoles are moving with the classical dipole velocity. The vortex radius is directly related with Prandtl's classical mixing length. The quasi-particles perform dipol chaos which reminds of molecular cha…
The turbulent Prandtl number has been calculated in the two-loop approximation of the $\eps$ expansion of the stochastic theory of turbulence. The strikingly small value obtained for the two-loop correction explains the good agreement of the earlier one-loop result with the experiment. This situation is drastically different from other available nontrivial two-loop results, which exhibit corrections of the magnitude of the one-loop term. The reason is traced to the mutual cancellation of additional divergences appearing in two dimensions which have had a major effect on the results of previous…
(abridged) Context: Turbulent diffusion of large-scale flows and magnetic fields play major roles in many astrophysical systems. Aims: Our goal is to compute turbulent viscosity and magnetic diffusivity, relevant for diffusing large-scale flows and magnetic fields, respectively, and their ratio, the turbulent magnetic Prandtl number, ${\rm Pm}_{\rm t}$, for isotropically forced homogeneous turbulence. Methods: We use simulations of forced turbulence in fully periodic cubes composed of isothermal gas with an imposed large-scale sinusoidal shear flow. Turbulent viscosity is computed either from …
The Rayleigh (Ra) and Prandtl (Pr) number scaling of the Nusselt number Nu, the Reynolds number Re, the temperature fluctuations, and the kinetic and thermal dissipation rates is studied for (numerical) homogeneous Rayleigh-Benard turbulence, i.e., Rayleigh-Benard turbulence with periodic boundary conditions in all directions and a volume forcing of the temperature field by a mean gradient. This system serves as model system for the bulk of Rayleigh-Benard flow and therefore as model for the so called ``ultimate regime of thermal convection''. With respect to the Ra dependence of Nu and Re we …
The effect of Prandtl number on the evolution of Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) billows and the amount of mixing they generate is studied through direct numerical simulation (DNS). The results indicate that the time evolution of the rate of mixing through different stages of the life-cycle of KH flow is significantly influenced by the Prandtl number. As the Prandtl number increases, the final amount of mixing increases for Reynolds that are too low to support active three-dimensional motions. This trend is the opposite in sufficiently high Reynolds number KH flows that can overcome viscous effects, and…
Hydrodynamic stability of compressible boundary layers is strongly influenced by Mach number ($M$), Prandtl number ($Pr$) and thermal wall boundary condition. These effects manifest on the flow stability via the flow-thermodynamic interactions. Comprehensive understanding of stability flow physics is of fundamental interest and important for developing predictive tools and closure models for integrated transition-to-turbulence computations. The flow-thermodynamic interactions are examined using linear analysis and direct numerical simulations (DNS) in the following parameter regime: $0.5 \leq …
We analyze the initial, kinematic stage of magnetic field evolution in an isotropic and homogeneous turbulent conducting fluid with a rough velocity field, v(l) ~ l^alpha, alpha<1. We propose that in the limit of small magnetic Prandtl number, i.e. when ohmic resistivity is much larger than viscosity, the smaller the roughness exponent, alpha, the larger the magnetic Reynolds number that is needed to excite magnetic fluctuations. This implies that numerical or experimental investigations of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence with small Prandtl numbers need to achieve extremely high resolution in o…
We investigate sustenance and dependence on magnetic Prandtl number (${\rm Pm}$) for magnetorotational instability (MRI)-driven turbulence in astrophysical Keplerian disks with zero net magnetic flux using standard shearing box simulations. We focus on the turbulence dynamics in Fourier space, capturing specific/noncanonical anisotropy of nonlinear processes due to disk flow shear. This is a new type of nonlinear redistribution of modes over wavevector orientations in Fourier space -- the nonlinear transverse cascade -- which is generic to shear flows and fundamentally different from usual dir…
The present-day Universe is highly magnetized, even though the first magnetic seed fields were most probably extremely weak. To explain the growth of the magnetic field strength over many orders of magnitude fast amplification processes need to operate. The most efficient mechanism known today is the small-scale dynamo, which converts turbulent kinetic energy into magnetic energy leading to an exponential growth of the magnetic field. The efficiency of the dynamo depends on the type of turbulence indicated by the slope of the turbulence spectrum v(l) \propto l^{theta}, where v(l) is the eddy v…
We analyze the reversals of the large scale flow in Rayleigh-Bénard convection both through particle image velocimetry flow visualization and direct numerical simulations (DNS) of the underlying Boussinesq equations in a (quasi) two-dimensional, rectangular geometry of aspect ratio 1. For medium Prandtl number there is a diagonal large scale convection roll and two smaller secondary rolls in the two remaining corners diagonally opposing each other. These corner flow rolls play a crucial role for the large scale wind reversal: They grow in kinetic energy and thus also in size thanks to plume de…
We report the existence of two new limiting turbulent regimes in horizontal convection (HC) using direct numerical simulations at intermediate to low Prandtl numbers. The flow driven by a horizontal gradient along a horizontal surface, perpendicular to the acceleration of gravity is shown to transition to turbulence in the plume and the core, modifying the rate of heat and momentum transport. These transitions set a sequence of scaling laws blending the theoretical arguments from both the Shishkina, Grossmann & Lohse (SGL) theory with the Hughes, Griffiths & Mullarney (HGM) regime. These resul…
Turbulent mixing in the radiative regions of stars is usually either ignored or crudely accounted for in most stellar evolution models. However, there is growing theoretical and observational evidence that such mixing is present and can affect various aspects of a star's life. In this work, we present a first attempt at quantifying mixing by horizontal shear instabilities in stars using Direct Numerical Simulations. The shear is driven by a body force, and rapidly becomes unstable. At saturation, we find that several distinct dynamical regimes exist, depending on the relative importance of str…
Aviation turbulence is modelled as an interaction between an aircraft and a vortex tube. The vortex tube can have an arbitrary orientation/offset with respect to the aircraft. We compare modelling the aircraft (i) as a point and (ii) having a finite area (wing and fuselage). We consider both vertical and horizontal acceleration experienced by the aircraft. The baseline vortex tube has an area which is of the order of the aircraft area.
The magnetorotational instability (MRI) is considered to be one of the most powerful sources of turbulence in hydrodynamically stable quasi-Keplerian flows, such as those governing accretion disk flows. Although the linear stability of these flows with applied external magnetic field has been studied for decades, the influence of the instability on the outward angular momentum transport, necessary for the accretion of the disk, is still not well known. In this work we model Keplerian rotation with Taylor-Couette flow and imposed azimuthal magnetic field using both linear and nonlinear approach…
In this study, the stability dependence of turbulent Prandtl number ($Pr_t$) is quantified via a novel and simple analytical approach. Based on the variance and flux budget equations, a hybrid length scale formulation is first proposed and its functional relationships to well-known length scales are established. Next, the ratios of these length scales are utilized to derive an explicit relationship between $Pr_t$ and gradient Richardson number. In addition, theoretical predictions are made for several key turbulence variables (e.g., dissipation rates, normalized fluxes). The results from our p…
Statistical properties of turbulent Rayleigh-Benard convection at low Prandtl numbers (Pr), which are typical for liquid metals such as mercury, gallium or liquid sodium, are investigated in high-resolution three-dimensional spectral element simulations in a closed cylindrical cell with an aspect ratio of one and are compared to previous turbulent convection simulations in air. We compare the scaling of global momentum and heat transfer. The scaling exponents are found to be in agreement with experiments. Mean profiles of the root-mean-square velocity as well as the thermal and kinetic energy …
Small-scale dynamos play important roles in modern astrophysics, especially on Galactic and extragalactic scales. Owing to dynamo action, purely hydrodynamic Kolmogorov turbulence hardly exists and is often replaced by hydromagnetic turbulence. Understanding the size of dissipative magnetic structures is important in estimating the time scale of Galactic scintillation and other observational and theoretical aspects of interstellar and intergalactic small-scale dynamos. Here we show that, during the kinematic phase of the small-scale dynamo, the cutoff wavenumber of the magnetic energy spectra …
Small-scale dynamos are expected to operate in all astrophysical fluids that are turbulent and electrically conducting, for example the interstellar medium, stellar interiors, and accretion disks, where they may also be affected by or competing with large-scale dynamos. However, the possibility of small-scale dynamos being excited at small and intermediate ratios of viscosity to magnetic diffusivity (the magnetic Prandtl number) has been debated, and the possibility of them depending on the large-scale forcing wavenumber has been raised. Here we show, using four values of the forcing wavenumbe…
We present a thorough numerical study on the MRI using the smoothed particle magnetohydrodynamics method (SPMHD) with the geometric density average force expression (GDSPH). We perform shearing box simulations with different initial setups and a wide range of resolution and dissipation parameters. We show, for the first time, that MRI with sustained turbulence can be simulated successfully with SPH, with results consistent with prior work with grid-based codes. In particular, for the stratified boxes, our simulations reproduce the characteristic butterfly diagram of the MRI dynamo with saturat…
In this paper, we extend Grossmann and Lohse's (GL) model [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 86}, 3316 (2001)] for the predictions of Reynolds number (Re) and Nusselt number (Nu) in turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection (RBC). Towards this objective, we use functional forms for the prefactors of the dissipation rates in the bulk and the boundary layers. The functional forms arise due to inhibition of nonlinear interactions in the presence of walls and buoyancy compared to free turbulence, along with a deviation of viscous boundary layer profile from Prandtl-Blasius theory. We perform 60 numerical runs on a…
We investigate the dynamo problem in the limit of small magnetic Prandtl number ($\Pm$) using a shell model of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. The model is designed to satisfy conservation laws of total energy, cross helicity and magnetic helicity in the limit of inviscid fluid and null magnetic diffusivity. The forcing is chosen to have a constant injection rate of energy and no injection of kinetic helicity nor cross helicity. We find that the value of the critical magnetic Reynolds number ($\Rm$) saturates in the limit of small $\Pm$. Above the dynamo threshold we study the saturated regime…
Magnetic field generation in three-dimensional Rayleigh-Bénard convection of an electrically conducting fluid is studied numerically by fixing the Prandtl number at $P=0.3$ and varying the Rayleigh number (Ra) as a control parameter. A recently reported route to hyperchaos involving quasiperiodic regimes, crises and chaotic intermittent attractors is followed, and the critical magnetic Prandtl number ($P_m^c$) for dynamo action is determined as a function of Ra. A mechanism for the onset of intermittency in the magnetic energy is described, the most beneficial convective regimes for dynamo act…
We present a three--pronged numerical approach to the dynamo problem at low magnetic Prandtl numbers $P_M$. The difficulty of resolving a large range of scales is circumvented by combining Direct Numerical Simulations, a Lagrangian-averaged model, and Large-Eddy Simulations (LES). The flow is generated by the Taylor-Green forcing; it combines a well defined structure at large scales and turbulent fluctuations at small scales. Our main findings are: (i) dynamos are observed from $P_M=1$ down to $P_M=10^{-2}$; (ii) the critical magnetic Reynolds number increases sharply with $P_M^{-1}$ as turbul…
In large eddy simulation of atmospheric boundary layer flows over wind farms, wall-layer models are generally imposed for the surface fluxes without considering the spatial variability of the surface roughness. In this study, we consider the near-surface model in conjunction with square of the velocity gradient tensor to model the adaptive dissipation of turbulence production. The surface roughness is incorporated through Monin-Obhukhov similarity theory for the computational cells immediately adjacent to the Earth's surface. The underlying proposed near-surface model captures the significant …
Modelling of turbine blade-induced turbulence (BIT) is discussed within the framework of three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) actuator disk computations. We first propose a generic (baseline) BIT model, which is applied only to the actuator disk surface, does not include any model coefficients (other than those used in the original RANS turbulence model) and is expected to be valid in the limiting case where BIT is fully isotropic and in energy equilibrium. The baseline model is then combined with correction functions applied to the region behind the disk to account for the…
Noise pollution caused by inflow turbulence is a major problem in many applications, such as propellers and fans. Leading edge noise models, e.g., Amiet's model, are widely applied to predict the noise produced by these applications. This noise prediction model relies on the accuracy of the turbulence spectrum, which is usually assumed to be the von Kármán energy spectrum for isotropic turbulence. However, the von Kármán spectrum does not model accurately the dissipation range of the turbulent energy, resulting in incorrect far-field noise predictions for the high-frequency range. An exponenti…
Modelling the sudden depressurisation of superheated liquids through nozzles is a challenge because the pressure drop causes rapid flash boiling of the liquid. The resulting jet usually demonstrates a wide range of structures, including ligaments and droplets, due to both mechanical and thermodynamic effects. As the simulation comprises increasingly numerous phenomena, the computational cost begins to increase. One way to moderate the additional cost is to use machine learning surrogacy for specific elements of the calculations. The present study presents a machine learning-assisted computatio…
In this paper we advance physical background of the energy- and flux-budget turbulence closure based on the budget equations for the turbulent kinetic and potential energies and turbulent fluxes of momentum and buoyancy, and a new relaxation equation for the turbulent dissipation time-scale. The closure is designed for stratified geophysical flows from neutral to very stable and accounts for the Earth rotation. In accordance to modern experimental evidence, the closure implies maintaining of turbulence by the velocity shear at any gradient Richardson number Ri, and distinguishes between the tw…
We present an MHD shell model suitable for computation of various energy fluxes of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence for very small and very large magnetic Prandtl numbers $\mathrm{Pm}$; such computations are inaccessible to direct numerical simulations. For small $\mathrm{Pm}$, we observe that both kinetic and magnetic energy spectra scale as $k^{-5/3}$ in the inertial range, but the dissipative magnetic energy scales as $k^{-11/3}\exp(-k/k_η)$. Here, the kinetic energy at large length scale feeds the large-scale magnetic field that cascades to small-scale magnetic field, which gets dissipated b…
To understand turbulent convection at very high Rayleigh numbers typical of natural phenomena, computational studies in slender cells are an option if the needed resources have to be optimized within available limits. However, the accompanying horizontal confinement affects some properties of the flow. Here, we explore the characteristics of turbulent fluctuations in the velocity and temperature fields in a cylindrical convection cell of aspect ratio 0.1 by varying the Prandtl number $Pr$ between 0.1 and 200 at a fixed Rayleigh number $Ra = 3 \times 10^{10}$, and find that the fluctuations wea…
This paper presents a machine learning methodology to improve the predictions of traditional RANS turbulence models in channel flows subject to strong variations in their thermophysical properties. The developed formulation contains several improvements over the existing Field Inversion Machine Learning (FIML) frameworks described in the literature, as well as the derivation of a new modelling technique. We first showcase the use of efficient optimization routines to automatize the process of field inversion in the context of CFD, combined with the use of symbolic algebra solvers to generate s…
Most large-scale planetary magnetic fields are thought to be driven by low Rossby number convection of a low magnetic Prandtl number fluid. Here kinematic dynamo action is investigated with an asymptotic, rapidly rotating dynamo model for the plane layer geometry that is intrinsically low magnetic Prandtl number. The thermal Prandtl number and Rayleigh number are varied to illustrate fundamental changes in flow regime, ranging from laminar cellular convection to geostrophic turbulence in which an inverse energy cascade is present. A decrease in the efficiency of the convection to generate a dy…
