Critical transition to a non-chaotic regime in isotropic turbulence

We study the properties of homogeneous and isotropic turbulence in higher spatial dimensions through the lens of chaos and predictability using numerical simulations. We employ both direct numerical simulations and numerical calculations of the eddy damped quasi-normal Markovian closure approximation. Our closure results show a remarkable transition to a non-chaotic regime above the critical dimension, $d_c$ , which is found to be approximately 5.88. We relate these results to the properties of the energy cascade as a function of spatial dimension in the context of the idea of a critical dimension for turbulence where Kolmogorov's 1941 theory becomes exact.

Convective and turbulent motions in non-precipitating Cu. Part 1: Method of separation of convective and turbulent motions

Atmospheric motions in clouds and cloud surrounding have a wide range of scales, from several kilometers to centimeters. These motions have different impacts on cloud dynamics and microphysics. Larger-scale motions (hereafter referred to as convective motions) are responsible for mass transport over distances comparable with cloud scale, while motions of smaller scales (hereafter referred to as turbulent motions) are stochastic and responsible for mixing and cloud dilution. This distinction substantially simplifies the analysis of dynamic and microphysical processes in clouds. The present research is Part 1 of the study aimed at describing the method for separating the motion scale into a convective component and a turbulent component. An idealized flow is constructed, which is a sum of an initially prescribed field of the convective velocity with updrafts in the cloud core and downdrafts outside the core, and a stochastic turbulent velocity field obeying the turbulent properties, including the -5/3 law and the 2/3 structure function law. A wavelet method is developed allowing separation of the velocity field into the convective and turbulent components, with parameter values being in a good agreement with those prescribed initially. The efficiency of the method is demonstrated by an example of a vertical velocity field of a cumulus cloud simulated using SAM with bin-microphysics and resolution of 10 m. It is shown that vertical velocity in clouds indeed can be represented as a sum of convective velocity (forming zone of cloud updrafts and subsiding shell) and a stochastic velocity obeying laws of homogeneous and isotropic turbulence.

A second-order integral model for buoyant jets with background homogeneous and isotropic turbulence

Buoyant jets or forced plumes are discharged into a turbulent ambient in many natural and engineering applications. The background turbulence generally affects the mixing characteristics of the buoyant jet, and the extent of the influence depends on the characteristics of both the jet discharge and ambient. Previous studies focused on the experimental investigation of the problem (for pure jets or plumes), but the findings were difficult to generalize because suitable scales for normalization of results were not known. A model to predict the buoyant jet mixing in the presence of background turbulence, which is essential in many applications, is also hitherto not available even for a background of homogeneous and isotropic turbulence (HIT). We carried out experimental and theoretical investigations of a buoyant jet discharging into background HIT. Buoyant jets were designed to be in the range of $1<z/l_{M}<5$, where $l_{M}=M_{o}^{3/4}/F_{o}^{1/2}$ is the momentum length scale, with $z/l_{M}<\sim 1$ and $z/l_{M}>\sim 6$ representing the asymptotic cases of pure jets and plumes, respectively. The background turbulence was generated using a random synthetic jet array, which produced a region of approximately isotropic and homogeneous field of turbulence to be used in the experiments. The velocity scale of the jet was initially much higher, and the length scale smaller, than that of the background turbulence, which is typical in most applications. Comprehensive measurements of the buoyant jet mixing characteristics were performed up to the distance where jet breakup occurred. Based on the experimental findings, a critical length scale $l_{c}$ was identified to be an appropriate normalizing scale. The momentum flux of the buoyant jet in background HIT was found to be conserved only if the second-order turbulence statistics of the jet were accounted for. A general integral jet model including the background HIT was then proposed based on the conservation of mass (using the entrainment assumption), total momentum and buoyancy fluxes, and the decay function of the jet mean momentum downstream. Predictions of jet mixing characteristics from the new model were compared with experimental observation, and found to be generally in agreement with each other.

On the time scales and structure of Lagrangian intermittency in homogeneous isotropic turbulence

We present a study of Lagrangian intermittency and its characteristic time scales. Using the concepts of flying and diving residence times above and below a given threshold in the magnitude of turbulence quantities, we infer the time spectra of the Lagrangian temporal fluctuations of dissipation, acceleration and enstrophy by means of a direct numerical simulation in homogeneous and isotropic turbulence. We then relate these time scales, first, to the presence of extreme events in turbulence and, second, to the local flow characteristics. Analyses confirm the existence in turbulent quantities of holes mirroring bursts, both of which are at the core of what constitutes Lagrangian intermittency. It is shown that holes are associated with quiescent laminar regions of the flow. Moreover, Lagrangian holes occur over few Kolmogorov time scales while Lagrangian bursts happen over longer periods scaling with the global decorrelation time scale, hence showing that loss of the history of the turbulence quantities along particle trajectories in turbulence is not continuous. Such a characteristic partially explains why current Lagrangian stochastic models fail at reproducing our results. More generally, the Lagrangian dataset of residence times shown here represents another manner for qualifying the accuracy of models. We also deliver a theoretical approximation of mean residence times, which highlights the importance of the correlation between turbulence quantities and their time derivatives in setting temporal statistics. Finally, whether in a hole or a burst, the straining structure along particle trajectories always evolves self-similarly (in a statistical sense) from shearless two-dimensional to shear bi-axial configurations. We speculate that this latter configuration represents the optimum manner to dissipate locally the available energy.