scholarly journals On energetics and inertial-range scaling laws of two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic turbulence

2012 ◽  
Vol 703 ◽  
pp. 238-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke A. K. Blackbourn ◽  
Chuong V. Tran

AbstractWe study two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic turbulence, with an emphasis on its energetics and inertial-range scaling laws. A detailed spectral analysis shows that dynamo triads (those converting kinetic into magnetic energy) are associated with a direct magnetic energy flux while anti-dynamo triads (those converting magnetic into kinetic energy) are associated with an inverse magnetic energy flux. As both dynamo and anti-dynamo interacting triads are integral parts of the direct energy transfer, the anti-dynamo inverse flux partially neutralizes the dynamo direct flux, arguably resulting in relatively weak direct energy transfer and giving rise to dynamo saturation. This result is consistent with a qualitative prediction of energy transfer reduction due to Alfvén wave effects by the Iroshnikov–Kraichnan theory (which was originally formulated for magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in three dimensions). We numerically confirm the correlation between dynamo action and direct magnetic energy flux and investigate the applicability of quantitative aspects of the Iroshnikov–Kraichnan theory to the present case, particularly its predictions of energy equipartition and ${k}^{\ensuremath{-} 3/ 2} $ spectra in the energy inertial range. It is found that for turbulence satisfying the Kraichnan condition of magnetic energy at large scales exceeding total energy in the inertial range, the kinetic energy spectrum, which is significantly shallower than ${k}^{\ensuremath{-} 3/ 2} $, is shallower than its magnetic counterpart. This result suggests no energy equipartition. The total energy spectrum appears to depend on the energy composition of the turbulence but is clearly shallower than ${k}^{\ensuremath{-} 3/ 2} $ for $r\approx 2$, even at moderate resolutions. Here $r\approx 2$ is the magnetic-to-kinetic energy ratio during the stage when the turbulence can be considered fully developed. The implication of the present findings is discussed in conjunction with further numerical results on the dependence of the energy dissipation rate on resolution.

2010 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 597-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Narita ◽  
S. P. Gary

Abstract. We develop a theoretical model of an inertial-range energy spectrum for homogeneous whistler turbulence. The theory is a generalization of the Iroshnikov-Kraichnan concept of the inertial-range magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. In the model the dispersion relation is used to derive scaling laws for whistler waves at highly oblique propagation with respect to the mean magnetic field. The model predicts an energy spectrum for such whistler waves with a spectral index −2.5 in the perpendicular component of the wave vector and thus provides an interpretation about recent discoveries of the second inertial-range of magnetic energy spectra at high frequencies in the solar wind.


1996 ◽  
Vol 306 ◽  
pp. 167-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
John C. Bowman

Inertial-range scaling laws for two- and three-dimensional turbulence are re-examined within a unified framework. A new correction to Kolmogorov's k−5/3 scaling is derived for the energy inertial range. A related modification is found to Kraichnan's logarithmically corrected two-dimensional enstrophy-range law that removes its unexpected divergence at the injection wavenumber. The significance of these corrections is illustrated with steady-state energy spectra from recent high-resolution closure computations. Implications for conventional numerical simulations are discussed. These results underscore the asymptotic nature of inertial-range scaling laws.


1998 ◽  
Vol 366 ◽  
pp. 1-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
VADIM BORUE ◽  
STEVEN A. ORSZAG

Statistical properties of the subgrid-scale stress tensor, the local energy flux and filtered velocity gradients are analysed in numerical simulations of forced three-dimensional homogeneous turbulence. High Reynolds numbers are achieved by using hyperviscous dissipation. It is found that in the inertial range the subgrid-scale stress tensor and the local energy flux allow simple parametrization based on a tensor eddy viscosity. This parametrization underlines the role that negative skewness of filtered velocity gradients plays in the local energy transfer. It is found that the local energy flux only weakly correlates with the locally averaged energy dissipation rate. This fact reflects basic difficulties of large-eddy simulations of turbulence, namely the possibility of predicting the locally averaged energy dissipation rate through inertial-range quantities such as the local energy flux is limited. Statistical properties of subgrid-scale velocity gradients are systematically studied in an attempt to reveal the mechanism of local energy transfer.


1977 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 317-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Fyfe ◽  
Glenn Joyce ◽  
David Montgomery

Two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic turbulence is explored by means of numerical simulation. Previous analytical theory, based on non-dissipative constants of the motion in a truncated Fourier representation, is verified by following the evolution of highly non-equilibrium initial conditions numerically. Dynamo action (conversion of a significant fraction of turbulent kinetic energy into long-wavelength magnetic field energy) is observed. It is conjectured that in the presence of dissipation and external forcing; a dual cascade will be observed for zero-helicity situations. Energy will cascade to higher wavenumbers simultaneously with a cascade of mean square vector potential to lower wavenumbers, leading to an omni-directional magnetic energy spectrum which varies as k-⅓ at lower wavenumbers, simultaneously with a build-up of magnetic excitation at the lowest wavenumber of the system. Equipartition of kinetic and magnetic energies is expected at the highest wavenumbers in the system.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timofey Zinyakov ◽  
Arakel Petrosyan

<p>Numerical studies of two-dimensional β-plane homogeneous magnetohydrodynamic turbulence are presented. The study of the fundamental properties of such turbulence allows understanding the evolution of various astrophysical objects from the Sun and stars to planetary systems, galaxies, and galaxy clusters. Energy spectra and cascade process in two-dimensional β-plane MHD are studied.</p><p>In this work the equations of two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics with the Coriolis force in the β-plane approximation are used for the qualitative analysis and numerical simulation of processes in plasma astrophysics. The equations are solved on a square box of edge size 2π with periodic boundary conditions applying a the pseudospectral method using the 2/3 rule for dealiasing. The results of numerical simulation of two-dimensional β-plane MHD turbulence with a spatial resolution of 1024 × 1024 and 4096 × 4096 with different Rossby parameters β and different Reynolds numbers are presented.</p><p>It is found that only unsteady zonal flows with complex temporal dynamics are formed in two-dimensional β-plane magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. It is shown that flow nonstationarity is due to the appearance of isotropic magnetic islands caused by the Lorentz force in the system. The formation of Iroshnikov–Kraichnan spectrum is shown in the early stages of evolution of two-dimensional β-plane magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. The self-similarity of the decay of Iroshnikov–Kraichnan spectrum is studied. On long time scale violation of self-similarity of the decay and formation of Kolmogorov spectrum is discovered. The inverse cascade of kinetic energy, which is characteristic of the detected Kolmogorov spectrum, provides the formation of zonal flows.</p><p>This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project no. 19-02-00016).</p>


2012 ◽  
Vol 712 ◽  
pp. 92-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiarong Hong ◽  
Joseph Katz ◽  
Charles Meneveau ◽  
Michael P. Schultz

AbstractThis paper focuses on turbulence structure in a fully developed rough-wall channel flow and its role in subgrid-scale (SGS) energy transfer. Our previous work has shown that eddies of scale comparable to the roughness elements are generated near the wall, and are lifted up rapidly by large-scale coherent structures to flood the flow field well above the roughness sublayer. Utilizing high-resolution and time-resolved particle-image-velocimetry datasets obtained in an optically index-matched facility, we decompose the turbulence into large (${\gt }\lambda $), intermediate ($3\text{{\ndash}} 6k$), roughness ($1\text{{\ndash}} 3k$) and small (${\lt }k$) scales, where $k$ and $\lambda (\lambda / k= 6. 8)$ are roughness height and wavelength, respectively. With decreasing distance from the wall, there is a marked increase in the ‘non-local’ SGS energy flux directly from large to small scales and in the fraction of turbulence dissipated by roughness-scale eddies. Conditional averaging is used to show that a small fraction of the flow volume (e.g. 5 %), which contains the most intense SGS energy transfer events, is responsible for a substantial fraction (50 %) of the energy flux from resolved to subgrid scales. In streamwise wall-normal ($x\text{{\ndash}} y$) planes, the averaged flow structure conditioned on high SGS energy flux exhibits a large inclined shear layer containing negative vorticity, bounded by an ejection below and a sweep above. Near the wall the sweep is dominant, while in the outer layer the ejection is stronger. The peaks of SGS flux and kinetic energy within the inclined layer are spatially displaced from the region of high resolved turbulent kinetic energy. Accordingly, some of the highest correlations occur between spatially displaced resolved velocity gradients and SGS stresses. In wall-parallel $x\text{{\ndash}} z$ planes, the conditional flow field exhibits two pairs of counter-rotating vortices that induce a contracting flow at the peak of SGS flux. Instantaneous realizations in the roughness sublayer show the presence of the counter-rotating vortex pairs at the intersection of two vortex trains, each containing multiple $\lambda $-spaced vortices of the same sign. In the outer layer, the SGS flux peaks within isolated vortex trains that retain the roughness signature, and the distinct pattern of two counter-rotating vortex pairs disappears. To explain the planar signatures, we propose a flow consisting of U-shaped quasi-streamwise vortices that develop as spanwise vorticity is stretched in regions of high streamwise velocity between roughness elements. Flow induced by adjacent legs of the U-shaped structures causes powerful ejections, which lift these vortices away from the wall. As a sweep is transported downstream, its interaction with the roughness generates a series of such events, leading to the formation of inclined vortex trains.


2015 ◽  
Vol 786 ◽  
pp. 294-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quan Zhou ◽  
Yong-Xiang Huang ◽  
Zhi-Ming Lu ◽  
Yu-Lu Liu ◽  
Rui Ni

We apply a recently developed filtering approach, i.e. filter-space technique (FST), to study the scale-to-scale transport of kinetic energy, thermal energy, and enstrophy in two-dimensional (2D) Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) turbulence. Although the scaling laws of the energy cascades in 2D RT systems follow the Bolgiano–Obukhov (BO59) scenario due to buoyancy forces, the kinetic energy is still found to be, on average, dynamically transferred to large scales by an inverse cascade, while both the mean thermal energy and the mean enstrophy move towards small scales by forward cascades. In particular, there is a reasonably extended range over which the transfer rate of thermal energy is scale-independent and equals the corresponding thermal dissipation rate at different times. This range functions similarly to the inertial range for the kinetic energy in the homogeneous and isotropic turbulence. Our results further show that at small scales the fluctuations of the three instantaneous local fluxes are highly asymmetrically distributed and there is a strong correlation between any two fluxes. These small-scale features are signatures of the mixing and dissipation of fluids with steep temperature gradients at the fluid interfaces.


2005 ◽  
Vol 35 (9) ◽  
pp. 1650-1666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert B. Scott ◽  
Faming Wang

Abstract Sea surface height measurements from satellites reveal the turbulent properties of the South Pacific Ocean surface geostrophic circulation, both supporting and challenging different aspects of geostrophic turbulence theory. A near-universal shape of the spectral kinetic energy flux is found and provides direct evidence of a source of kinetic energy near to or smaller than the deformation radius, consistent with linear instability theory. The spectral kinetic energy flux also reveals a net inverse cascade (i.e., a cascade to larger spatial scale), consistent with two-dimensional turbulence phenomenology. However, stratified geostrophic turbulence theory predicts an inverse cascade for the barotropic mode only; energy in the large-scale baroclinic modes undergoes a direct cascade toward the first-mode deformation scale. Thus if the surface geostrophic flow is predominately the first baroclinic mode, as expected for oceanic stratification profiles, then the observed inverse cascade contradicts geostrophic turbulence theory. The latter interpretation is argued for. Furthermore, and consistent with this interpretation, the inverse cascade arrest scale does not follow the Rhines arrest scale, as one would expect for the barotropic mode. A tentative revision of theory is proposed that would resolve the conflicts; however, further observations and idealized modeling experiments are needed to confirm, or refute, the revision. It is noted that no inertial range was found for the inverse cascade range of the spectrum, implying inertial range scaling, such as the established K−5/3 slope in the spectral kinetic energy density plot, is not applicable to the surface geostrophic flow.


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