We explore some consequences of the ``alpha model,'' also called the ``Lagrangian-averaged'' model, for two-dimensional incompressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence. This model is an extension of the smoothing procedure in fluid dynamics which filters velocity fields locally while leaving their associated vorticities unsmoothed, and has proved useful for high Reynolds number turbulence computations. We consider several known effects (selective decay, dynamic alignment, inverse cascades, and the probability distribution functions of fluctuating turbulent quantities) in magnetofluid turbulence and compare the results of numerical solutions of the primitive MHD equations with their alpha-model counterparts' performance for the same flows, in regimes where available resolution is adequate to explore both. The hope is to justify the use of the alpha model in regimes that lie outside currently available resolution, as will be the case in particular in three-dimensional geometry or for magnetic Prandtl numbers differing significantly from unity. We focus our investigation, using direct numerical simulations with a standard and fully parallelized pseudo-spectral method and periodic boundary conditions in two space dimensions, on the role that such a modeling of the small scales using the Lagrangian-averaged framework plays in the large-scale dynamics of MHD turbulence. Several flows are examined, and for all of them one can conclude that the statistical properties of the large-scale spectra are recovered, whereas small-scale detailed phase information (such as e.g. the location of structures) is lost.
The problem of the occurrence of an energy cascade for Alfvénic turbulence in solar wind plasmas was hystorically addressed by using phenomenological arguments based to the weakness of nonlinear interactions and the anisotropy of the cascade in wave vectors space. Here, this paradox is reviewed through the formal derivation of a Yaglom relation from anisotropic Magnetohydrodynamic equation. The Yaglom relation involves a third-order moment calculated from velocity and magnetic fields and involving both Elsässer vector fields, and is particularly useful to be used as far as spacecraft observati…
We present a dynamical spectral model for Large Eddy Simulation of the incompressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations based on the Eddy Damped Quasi Normal Markovian approximation. This model extends classical spectral Large Eddy Simulations for the Navier-Stokes equations to incorporate general (non Kolmogorovian) spectra as well as eddy noise. We derive the model for MHD and show that introducing a new eddy-damping time for the dynamics of spectral tensors in the absence of equipartition between the velocity and magnetic fields leads to better agreement with direct numerical simulations,…
We present direct numerical simulations and alpha-model simulations of four familiar three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence effects: selective decay, dynamic alignment, inverse cascade of magnetic helicity, and the helical dynamo effect. The MHD alpha-model is shown to capture the long-wavelength spectra in all these problems, allowing for a significant reduction of computer time and memory at the same kinetic and magnetic Reynolds numbers. In the helical dynamo, not only does the alpha-model correctly reproduce the growth rate of magnetic energy during the kinematic regime, bu…
The nonlinear dynamics of a bundle of magnetic flux ropes driven by stationary fluid motions at their endpoints is studied, by performing numerical simulations of the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations. The development of MHD turbulence is shown, where the system reaches a state that is characterized by the ratio between the Alfven time (the time for incompressible MHD waves to travel along the field lines) and the convective time scale of the driving motions. This ratio of time scales determines the energy spectra and the relaxation toward different regimes ranging from weak to strong turbul…
In hydrodynamic turbulence, the kinetic energy injected at large scales cascades to the inertial range, leading to a constant kinetic energy flux. In contrast, in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence, a fraction of kinetic energy is transferred to the magnetic energy. Consequently, for the same kinetic energy injection rate, the kinetic energy flux in MHD turbulence is reduced compared to its hydrodynamic counterpart. This leads to relative weakening of the nonlinear term ($\la | ({\bf u}\cdot \nabla) {\bf u} | \ra$, where ${\bf u}$ is the velocity field) and turbulent drag, but strengthening …
In this review, we describe turbulent drag reduction in a variety of flows using a universal framework of energy flux. In a turbulent flow with dilute polymers and magnetic field, the kinetic energy injected at large scales cascades to the velocity field at intermediate scales, as well as to the polymers and magnetic field at all scales. Consequently, the kinetic energy flux, $ Π_u(k) $, is suppressed in comparison to the pure hydrodynamic turbulence. We argue that the suppression of $Π_u(k)$ is an important factor in the reduction of the inertial force $\langle {\bf u \cdot \nabla u} \rangle$…
We investigate the origins of $k^{-2}$ spectrum in a decaying Taylor-Green magnetohydrodynamic flow with zero large scale magnetic flux that was reported in Lee et al. (2010). A possible candidate for this scaling exponent has been the weak turbulence phenomenology. From our numerical simulations, we observe that current sheets in the magnetic Taylor-Green flow are formed in regions of magnetic discontinuities. Based on this observation and by studying the influence of the current sheets on the energy spectrum, using a filtering technique, we argue that the discontinuities are responsible for …
Relaminarization of wall-bounded turbulent flows by means of external static magnetic fields is a long-known phenomenon in the physics of electrically conducting fluids at low magnetic Reynolds numbers. Despite the large literature on the subject, it is not yet completely clear what combination of the Hartmann ($M$) and the Reynolds number has to be used to predict the laminar-turbulent transition in channel or pipe flows fed by upstream turbulent flows free of magnetic perturbations. Relying upon standard phenomenological approaches related to mixing length and structural concepts, we put for…
We invoke the concepts of magnetic boundary layer and magnetic Rayleigh number and use the magnetic energy dissipation rates in the bulk and the boundary layers to derive some scaling laws expressing how Nusselt number depends on magnetic Rayleigh number, Prandtl number and magnetic Prandtl number for the simple case of turbulent magnetohydrodynamic Rayleigh-Benard convection in the presence of uniform vertical magnetic field.
In the presence of large-scale vortical motions and/or magnetic-field strains, the turbulent cross helicity (velocity--magnetic-field correlation in fluctuations) may contribute to the turbulent electromotive force and the Reynolds stress. These effects of cross helicity are considered to balance the primary effects of turbulence such as the turbulent magnetic diffusivity in magnetic-field evolution and the eddy viscosity in the momentum transport. The cross-helicity effects may suppress the enhanced transports due to turbulence. Physical interpretation of the effects is presented with special…
Magnetohydrodynamic turbulent flows driven by random mechanical and electromagnetic external forces of zero helicities are investigated by means of direct numerical simulations. It is shown that despite the absence of helicities in the forcing, the system is attracted to self-organized helical states that exhibit laminar behaviour despite the large value of the Reynolds numbers examined. We demonstrate that the correlation time of the external forces is controlling the time spent on these states, i.e. for short correlation times the system remains in the turbulent state while as the correlatio…
The well known mean-field model of a turbulence driven dynamo is reviewed in relation to Laboratory experiments in which a turbulent cascade is created by a pair of large rotors. It is argued that in such experiments the alpha-effect, driving a dynamo field, will be much less than the dissipative beta-effect. Consequently a mean field dynamo cannot be sustained. This conclusion is supported by recent measurements of the alpha and beta effects in the Madison Dynamo Experiment.
We perform numerical simulations of decaying hydrodynamic and magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. We classify our time-dependent solutions by their evolutionary tracks in parametric plots between instantaneous scaling exponents. We find distinct classes of solutions evolving along specific trajectories toward points on a line of self-similar solutions. These trajectories are determined by the underlying physics governing individual cases, while the infrared slope of the initial conditions plays only a limited role. In the helical case, even for a scale-invariant initial spectrum (inversely proport…
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 present direct numerical simulations and Lagrangian averaged (also known as alpha-model) simulations of forced and free decaying magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in two dimensions. The statistics of sign cancellations of the current at small scales is studied using both the cancellation exponent and the fractal dimension of the structures. The alpha-model is found to have the same scaling behavior between positive and negative contributions as the direct numerical simulations. The alpha-model is also able to reproduce the time evolution of these quantities in free decaying turbulence. At larg…
We establish a shallow water model for flows of electrically conducting fluids in homogeneous static magnetic fields that are confined between two parallel planes where turbulent Hartmann layers are present. This is achieved by modelling the wall shear stress in these layers using the Prandtl's mixing length model, as did the authors of Albousssière \& Lingwood (Phys. Fluids, 2000). The idea for this new model arose from the failure of previous shallow water models that assumed a laminar Hartmann layer to recover the correct amount of dissipation found in some regimes of the MATUR experiment. …
I consider the problem of weakly nonlinear stability of three-dimensional convective magnetohydrodynamic systems, where there is no alpha-effect or it is insignificant, to perturbations involving large scales. I assume that the convective MHD state (steady or evolutionary), the stability of which I investigate, does not involve large spatio-temporal scales, and it is stable to perturbations involving the same small spatial scales, as the perturbed state. Mean-field equations, which I derive for the perturbation using asymptotic techniques for multiscale systems, are a generalization of the equ…
The topological and dynamical features of small scales are studied in the context of decaying magnetohydrodynamic turbulent flows using direct numerical simulations. Joint probability density functions (PDFs) of the invariants of gradient quantities related to the velocity and the magnetic fields demonstrate that structures and dynamics at the time of maximum dissipation depend on the large scale initial conditions. This is evident in particular from the fact that each flow has a different shape for the joint PDF of the invariants of the velocity gradient in contrast to the universal teardrop …
The present work investigates the acceleration of test particles in balanced and imbalanced Alfvénic turbulence, relevant to the solar-wind problem. These turbulent states, obtained numerically by prescribing the injection rates for the ideal invariants, are evolved dynamically with the particles. While the energy spectrum for balanced and imbalanced states is known, the impact made on particle heating is a matter of debate, with different considerations giving different results. By performing direct numerical simulations, resonant and non-resonant particle accelerations are automatically cons…
We report the experimental observation of the alpha-effect. It consists in the generation of a current parallel to a magnetic field B0 applied to a turbulent swirling flow of liquid sodium. At low magnetic Reynolds number, Rm, we show that the magnitude of the alpha-effect increases like Rm2 and that its sign is determined by the flow helicity. It saturates and then decreases at large Rm, primarily because of the expulsion of the applied field B0 from the bulk of the flow. We show how this expulsion is affected by the flow geometry by varying the relative amplitudes of the azimuthal and axial …
Using direct numerical simulations (DNS), we study laminar and turbulent dynamos in chiral magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) with an extended set of equations that accounts for an additional contribution to the electric current due to the chiral magnetic effect (CME). This quantum phenomenon originates from an asymmetry between left- and right-handed relativistic fermions in the presence of a magnetic field and gives rise to a chiral dynamo. We show that the magnetic field evolution proceeds in three stages: (1) a small-scale chiral dynamo instability; (2) production of chiral magnetically driven tur…
Performing accurate large eddy simulations in compressible, turbulent magnetohydrodynamics is more challenging than in non-magnetized fluids due to the complex interplay between kinetic, magnetic and internal energy at different scales. Here we extend the sub-grid-scale gradient model, so far used in the momentum and induction equations, to account also for the unresolved scales in the energy evolution equation of a compressible ideal MHD fluid with a generic equation of state. We assess the model by considering box simulations of the turbulence triggered across a shear layer by the Kelvin-Hel…
Energy equipartition is a powerful theoretical tool for understanding astrophysical plasmas. It is invoked, for example, to measure magnetic fields in the interstellar medium (ISM), as evidence for small-scale turbulent dynamo action, and, in general, to estimate the energy budget of star-forming molecular clouds. In this study we motivate and explore the role of the volume-averaged root-mean-squared (rms) magnetic coupling term between the turbulent, $δ\mathbf{B}$ and large-scale, $\mathbf{B}_0$ fields, $\left< (δ\mathbf{B}\cdot\mathbf{B}_0)^{2} \right>^{1/2}_{\mathcal{V}}$. By considering th…
Injection of dilute polymer in a turbulent flow suppresses frictional drag. This challenging and technologically important problem remains primarily unresolved due to the complex nature of the flow. An important factor in the drag reduction is the energy transfer from the velocity field to the polymers. In this paper we quantify this process using energy fluxes, as well as show its universality in diverse flows such as magnetohydrodynamics, quasi-static magnetohydrodynamics, and bubbly turbulence. We show that in such flows, the transfer from kinetic energy to elastic energy leads to a reducti…
The excitation and further sustenance of large-scale magnetic fields in rotating astrophysical systems, including planets, stars and galaxies, is generally thought to involve a fluid magnetic dynamo effect driven by helical magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. While this scenario is appealing on general grounds, it however currently remains largely unconstrained, notably because a fundamental understanding of the nonlinear asymptotic behaviour of large-scale fluid magnetism in the astrophysically-relevant but treacherous regime of large magnetic Reynolds number $Rm$ is still lacking. We explore thi…
The nonlinear dynamics of magnetic helicity, $H^M$, which is responsible for large-scale magnetic structure formation in electrically conducting turbulent media is investigated in forced and decaying three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. This is done with the help of high resolution direct numerical simulations and statistical closure theory. The numerically observed spectral scaling of $H^M$ is at variance with earlier work using a statistical closure model [Pouquet et al., J. Fluid Mech. \textbf{77} 321 (1976)]. By revisiting this theory a universal dynamical balance relation is …
Weak turbulence of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves in strongly magnetized plasma is studied when the thermal pressure is less than the magnetic field pressure. In this situation the main nonlinear mechanism is the resonance scattering of fast magneto-acoustic and Alfvenic waves on slow magneto-acoustic waves. As a result, the former waves serve as the high-frequency waves with respect to the latter ones so that the total number of HF waves - an adiabatic invariant - conserves additionally. In the weak turbulence regime this invariant is shown to generate the Kolmogorov type spectrum with a con…
In magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence, the large-scale magnetic field sets a preferred local direction for the small-scale dynamics, altering the statistics of turbulence from the isotropic case. This happens even in the absence of a total magnetic flux, since MHD turbulence forms randomly oriented large-scale domains of strong magnetic field. It is therefore customary to study small-scale magnetic plasma turbulence by assuming a strong background magnetic field relative to the turbulent fluctuations. This is done, for example, in reduced models of plasmas, such as reduced MHD, reduced-dimen…
We derive a new shell model of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence in which the energy transfers are not necessary local. Like the original MHD equations, the model conserves the total energy, magnetic helicity, cross-helicity and volume in phase space (Liouville's theorem) apart from the effects of external forcing, viscous dissipation and magnetic diffusion. In the absence of magnetic field the model exhibits a statistically stationary kinetic energy solution with a Kolmogorov spectrum. The dynamo action from a seed magnetic field by the turbulent flow and the non linear interactions are st…
The magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) description of plasmas with relativistic particles necessarily includes an additional new field, the chiral chemical potential associated with the axial charge (i.e., the number difference between right- and left-handed relativistic fermions). This chiral chemical potential gives rise to a contribution to the electric current density of the plasma (\emph{chiral magnetic effect}). We present a self-consistent treatment of the \emph{chiral MHD equations}, which include the back-reaction of the magnetic field on a chiral chemical potential and its interaction with th…
Magnetohydrodynamic turbulence and magnetic reconnection are ubiquitous in astrophysical environments. In most situations, these processes do not occur in isolation, but interact with each other. This renders a comprehensive theory of these processes highly challenging. Here, we propose a theory of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence driven at large scale that self-consistently accounts for the mutual interplay with magnetic reconnection occurring at smaller scales. Magnetic reconnection produces plasmoids that grow from turbulence-generated noise and eventually disrupt the sheet-like structures in…
Space and astrophysical plasmas are frequently found in the regime of differential rotation, where the presence of a magnetic field can result in the magnetorotational instability, directly responsible for important phenomena such as turbulent angular momentum transport in accretion disks. In the absence of an imposed magnetic field, a nonlinear dynamo is necessary for this transport mechanism to take place. In protoplanetary disks there are regions with high density and very low temperatures, which are two necessary conditions for the Hall effect to operate, affecting the development of the d…
We demonstrate that, for the case of quasi-equipartition between the velocity and the magnetic field, the Lagrangian-averaged magnetohydrodynamics alpha-model (LAMHD) reproduces well both the large-scale and small-scale properties of turbulent flows; in particular, it displays no increased (super-filter) bottleneck effect with its ensuing enhanced energy spectrum at the onset of the sub-filter-scales. This is in contrast to the case of the neutral fluid in which the Lagrangian-averaged Navier-Stokes alpha-model is somewhat limited in its applications because of the formation of spatial regions…
In the article the authors present a numerical method for modelling a laminar-turbulent transition in magnetohydrodynamic flows. The equations in the small magnetic Reynolds numbers approach is considered. Speed, pressure and electrical potential are decomposed to the sum of the state values and the finite amplitude perturbations. A solver based on the Nectar++ framework is described. The authors suggest to use of small-length local disturbances as a transition trigger. They can be imposed by blowing or electrical enforcing. The stability of the Hartmann flow and the flow in the bend are consi…
We formulate a coarse-graining approach to the dynamics of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) fluids at a continuum of length-scales. In this methodology, effective equations are derived for the observable velocity and magnetic fields spatially-averaged at an arbitrary scale of resolution. The microscopic equations for the bare velocity and magnetic fields are renormalized by coarse-graining to yield macroscopic effective equations that contain both a subscale stress and a subscale electromotive force (EMF) generated by nonlinear interaction of eliminated fields and plasma motions. At large coarse-grai…
Turbulence is ubiquitous in plasmas, leading to rich dynamics characterized by irregularity, irreversibility, energy fluctuations across many scales, and energy transfer across many scales. Another fundamental and generic feature of turbulence, although sometimes overlooked, is the inhomogeneous dissipation of energy in space and in time. This is a consequence of intermittency, the scale-dependent inhomogeneity of dynamics caused by fluctuations in the turbulent cascade. Intermittency causes turbulent plasmas to self-organize into coherent dissipative structures, which may govern heating, diff…
In presence of an externally supported, mean magnetic field a turbulent, conducting medium, such as plasma, becomes anisotropic. This mean magnetic field, which is separate from the fluctuating, turbulent part of the magnetic field, has considerable effects on the dynamics of the system. In this paper, we examine the dissipation rates for decaying incompressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence with increasing Reynolds number, and in the presence of a mean magnetic field of varying strength. Proceeding numerically, we find that as the Reynolds number increases, the dissipation rate asympto…
We calculate the mean electromotive force in plane Couette flows of a nonrotating conducting fluid under the influence of a large-scale magnetic field for driven turbulence. A vertical stratification of the turbulence intensity results in an alpha effect owing to the presence of horizontal shear. Here we discuss the possibility of an experimental determination of the components of the alpha tensor using both quasilinear theory and nonlinear numerical simulations. For magnetic Prandtl numbers of the order of unity, we find that in the high-conductivity limit the alpha effect in the direction of…
Two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics (2D MHD), forced at (a) large length scales or (b) small length scales, displays turbulent, but statistically steady, states with widely different statistical properties. We present a systematic, comparative study of these two cases (a) and (b) by using direct numerical simulations (DNSs). We find that, in case (a), there is energy equipartition between the magnetic and velocity fields, whereas, in case (b), such equipartition does not exist. By computing various probability distribution functions (PDFs), we show that case (a) displays extreme events that a…
The transport of angular momentum in the outward direction is the fundamental requirement for accretion to proceed in an accretion disc. This objective can be achieved if the accretion flow is turbulent. Instabilities are one of the sources for the turbulence. We study a differentially rotating compressive flow in the presence of non vanishing radial and azimuthal magnetic field and demonstrate the occurrence of a high growth rate instability. This instability operates in a region where magnetic energy density exceeds the rotational energy density.
Three-dimensional, compressible, magnetohydrodynamic turbulence of an isothermal, self-gravitating fluid is analyzed using two-point statistics in the asymptotic limit of large Reynolds numbers (both kinetic and magnetic). Following an alternative formulation proposed by S. Banerjee and S. Galtier (Phys. Rev. E,93, 033120, 2016) and S. Banerjee and S. Galtier (J. Phys. A, Math. and Theor.,50, 015501, 2017), an exact relation has been derived for the total energy transfer. This approach results in a simpler relation expressed entirely in terms of mixed second-order structure functions. The kine…
The Leray-$α$ model reduces the range of active scales of the Navier-Stokes equations by smoothing the advective transport. Here we assess the potential of the Leray-$α$ model in its standard formulation to simulate wall-bounded flows. Three flow cases are considered: plane channel flow at $\Re_τ=590$, Rayleigh-Bénard convection at $\Ra=10^7$ and $\Pr=1$, and a side-heated vertical channel at $\Ra=5 \times 10^6$ and $\Pr=0.7$. The simulations are compared to results from a well resolved and coarse DNS. It is found that for all three flow cases, the variance in the velocity field increases as t…
The influence of fluctuating conductivity on the coefficients known from the mean-field electrodynamics is considered. If the conductivity fluctuations are assumed as uncorrelated with the turbulent velocity field then only the effective magnetic diffusivity of the fluid is reduced and the decay time of a large-scale magnetic field is increased. If the fluctuations of conductivity and flow are correlated in a certain direction then an additional diamagnetic pumping effect results transporting magnetic field in opposite direction to the resistivity flux vector $\langle η'\vec{u}'\rangle$. Even …
Magnetohydrodynamic turbulence is central to laboratory and astrophysical plasmas, and is invoked for interpreting many observed scalings. Verifying predicted scaling law behaviour requires extreme-resolution direct numerical simulations (DNS), with needed computing resources excluding systematic parameter surveys. We here present an analytic generator of realistically looking turbulent magnetic fields, that computes 3D ${\cal{O}}(1000^3)$ solenoidal vector fields in minutes to hours on desktops. Our model is inspired by recent developments in 3D incompressible fluid turbulence theory, where a…
Characterization of Numerical Dissipation in Simulations of Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence
Center for Applied Physics and Technology, HEDPS and SKLNPT, School of Physics, Peking University（北京大学物理学院，应用物理与技术中心，HEDPS和SKLNPT）；Frontiers Science Center for Nano-optoelectronics, Peking University（北京大学纳米光电前沿科学中心）
We present two models for turbulent flows with periodic boundary conditions and with either rotation, or a magnetic field in the magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) limit. One model, based on Lagrangian averaging, can be viewed as an invariant-preserving filter, whereas the other model, based on spectral closures, generalizes the concepts of eddy viscosity and eddy noise. These models, when used separately or in conjunction, may lead to substantial savings for modeling high Reynolds number flows when checked against high resolution direct numerical simulations (DNS), the examples given here being run o…
Resolving Turbulent Magnetohydrodynamics: A Hybrid Operator-Diffusion Framework
National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign（伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校国家超级计算中心）；Department of Physics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign（伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校物理系）；Data Science and Learning Division, Argonne National Laboratory（阿贡国家实验室数据科学与学习部门）；Department of Computer Science, The University of Chicago（芝加哥大学计算机科学系）；Department of Astronomy, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign（伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校天文学系）；Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia（不列颠哥伦比亚大学物理与天文学系）
We propose an alternative formulation for the exact relations in three-dimensional homogeneous turbulence using two-point statistics. Our finding is illustrated with incompressible hydrodynamic, standard and Hall magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. In this formulation, the cascade rate of an inviscid invariant of turbulence can be expressed simply in terms of mixed second-order structure functions. Besides the usual variables like the velocity ${\bf u}$, vorticity $ω$, magnetic field ${\bf b}$ and the current ${\bf j}$, the vectors ${\bf u } \times {\boldsymbol ω}$, ${\bf u} \times {\bf b}$ and ${…
We propose a phenomenological model for incompressible magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. We argue that nonlinear-wave interaction weakens as the energy cascade proceeds to small scales, however, the anisotropy of fluctuations along the large-scale magnetic field increases, which makes turbulence strong at all scales. To explain the weakening of the interaction, we propose that small-scale fluctuations of the velocity and magnetic fields become increasingly dynamically aligned as their scale decreases, so that turbulent eddies become locally anisotropic in the plane perpendicular to the large-sca…
This article presents a calculation of the mean electromotive force arising from general small-scale magnetohydrodynamical turbulence, within the framework of the second-order correlation approximation. With the goal of improving understanding of the accretion disk dynamo, effects arising through small-scale magnetic fluctuations, velocity gradients, density and turbulence stratification, and rotation, are included. The primary result, which supplements numerical findings, is that an off-diagonal turbulent resistivity due to magnetic fluctuations can produce large-scale dynamo action -- the ma…
The effect of precession in a rotating sphere filled with fluid was studied with direct numerical simulations, both in the incompressible hydrodynamics (HD) and magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) scenarios. In both cases the asymptotic state and its dependence with both rotating and precession frequency was analyzed. For the MHD case no self-sustaining dynamos were found for the prograde precession case, whereas on the other hand a critical retrograde precession frequency was found above which dynamo action is self-sustained. It was also found that these correspond to small-scale dynamos with a develo…
We study a boundary layer problem for the Navier-Stokes-alpha model obtaining a generalization of the Prandtl equations conjectured to represent the averaged flow in a turbulent boundary layer. We solve the equations for the semi-infinite plate, both theoretically and numerically. The latter solutions agree with some experimental data in the turbulent boundary layer.
In this work a weak-turbulence closure is used to determine the structure of the two-time power spectrum of weak magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence from the nonlinear equations describing the dynamics. The two-time energy spectrum is a fundamental quantity in turbulence theory from which most statistical properties of a homogeneous turbulent system can be derived. A closely related quantity, obtained via a spatial Fourier transform, is the two-point two-time correlation function describing the space-time correlations arising from the underlying dynamics of the turbulent fluctuations. Both qu…
