Robert S. Rogallo

The structure of intense vorticity in isotropic turbulence

The structure of the intense-vorticity regions is studied in numerically simulated homogeneous, isotropic, equilibrium turbulent flow fields at four different Reynolds numbers, in the range Re, = 35-170. In accordance with previous investigators this vorticity is found to be organized in coherent, cylindrical or ribbon-like, vortices (‘worms’). A statistical study suggests that they are simply especially intense features of the background, O(o’), vorticity. Their radii scale with the Kolmogorov microscale and their lengths with the integral scale of the flow. An interesting observation is that the Reynolds number y/v, based on the circulation of the intense vortices, increases monotonically with ReA, raising the question of the stability of the structures in the limit of Re, --z co. Conversely, the average rate of stretching of these vortices increases only slowly with their peak vorticity, suggesting that self-stretching is not important in their evolution. One- and two-dimensional statistics of vorticity and strain are presented; they are non-Gaussian and the behaviour of their tails depends strongly on the Reynolds number. There is no evidence of convergence to a limiting distribution in this range of Re,, even though the energy spectra and the energy dissipation rate show good asymptotic properties in the higher-Reynolds-number cases. Evidence is presented to show that worms are natural features of the flow and that they do not depend on the particular forcing scheme.

Effect of rotation on isotropic turbulence - Computation and modelling

This paper uses numerical simulation to analyse the effects of uniform rotation on homogeneous turbulence. Both large-eddy and full simulations were made. The results indicate that the predominant effect of rotation is to decrease the rate of dissipation of the turbulence and increase the lengthscales, especially those along the axis of rotation. These effects are a consequence of the reduction, due to the generation of inertial waves, of the net energy transfer from large eddies to small ones. Experiments are also influenced by a more complicated interaction between the rotation and the wakes of the turbulence-generating grid which modifies the nominal initial conditions in the experiment. The latter effect is accounted for in simulations by modifying the initial conditions. Finally, a two-equation model is proposed that accounts for the effects of rotation and is able to reproduce the experimental decay of the turbulent kinetic energy.

Local energy transfer and nonlocal interactions in homogeneous, isotropic turbulence

Detailed computations were made of energy transfer among the scales of motion in incompressible turbulent fields at low Reynolds numbers generated by direct numerical simulations. It was observed that although the transfer resulted from triad interactions that were nonlocal in k space, the energy always transferred locally. The energy transfer calculated from the eddy‐damped quasinormal Markovian (EDQNM) theory of turbulence at low Reynolds numbers is in excellent agreement with the results of the numerical simulations. At high Reynolds numbers the EDQNM theory predicts the same transfer mechanism in the inertial range that is observed at low Reynolds numbers, i.e., predominantly local transfer caused by nonlocal triads. The weaker, nonlocal energy transfer is from large to small scales at high Reynolds numbers and from small to large scales at low Reynolds numbers.

Coherent vortex extraction in three-dimensional homogeneous turbulence: Comparison between CVS-wavelet and POD-Fourier decompositions

The coherent vortex simulation (CVS) decomposes each realization of a turbulent flow into two orthogonal components: An organized coherent flow and a random incoherent flow. They both contribute to all scales in the inertial range, but exhibit different statistical behaviors. The CVS decomposition is based on the nonlinear filtering of the vorticity field, projected onto an orthonormal wavelet basis made of compactly supported functions, and the computation of the induced velocity field using Biot–Savart’s relation. We apply it to a three-dimensional homogeneous isotropic turbulent flow with a Taylor microscale Reynolds number Rλ=168, computed by direct numerical simulation at resolution N=2563. Only 2.9%N wavelet modes correspond to the coherent flow made of vortex tubes, which contribute 99% of energy and 79% of enstrophy, and exhibit the same k−5/3 energy spectrum as the total flow. The remaining 97.1%N wavelet modes correspond to a incoherent random flow which is structureless, has an equipartition en...

Intermittency and scaling of pressure at small scales in forced isotropic turbulence

The intermittency of pressure and pressure gradient in stationary isotropic turbulence at low to moderate Reynolds numbers is studied by direct numerical simulation (DNS) and theoretically. The energy spectra scale in Kolmogorov units as required by the universal-equilibrium hypothesis, but the pressure spectra do not. It is found that the variances of the pressure and pressure gradient are larger than those computed using the Gaussian approximation for the fourth-order moments of velocity, and that the variance of the pressure gradient, normalized by Kolmogorov units, increases roughly as [Rscr ] 1/2 λ , where [Rscr ] λ is the Taylor microscale Reynolds number. A theoretical explanation of the Reynolds number dependence is presented which assumes that the small-scale pressure field is driven by coherent small-scale vorticity–strain domains. The variance of the pressure gradient given by the model is the product of the variance of u i , j u j , i , the source term of the Poisson equation for pressure, and the square of an effective length of the small-scale coherent vorticity–strain structures. This length can be expressed in terms of the Taylor and Kolmogorov microscales, and the ratio between them gives the observed Reynolds number dependence. Formal asymptotic matching of the spectral scaling observed at small scales in the DNS with the classical scaling at large scales suggests that at high Reynolds numbers the pressure spectrum in these forced flows consists of three scaling ranges which are joined by two inertial ranges, the classical k −7/3 range and a k −5/3 range at smaller scale. It is not possible, within the classical Kolmogorov theory, to determine the length scale at which the inertial range transition occurs because information beyond the energy dissipation rate is required.

Lagrangian velocity correlations in homogeneous isotropic turbulence

The Lagrangian velocity autocorrelation and the time correlations for individual wave‐number bands are computed by direct numerical simulation (DNS) using the passive vector method (PVM), and the accuracy of the method is studied. It is found that the PVM is accurate when Kmax/kd≥2 where Kmax is the maximum wave number carried in the simulation and kd is the Kolmogorov wave number. The Eulerian and Lagrangian time correlations for various wave‐number bands are compared. At moderate to high wave number the Eulerian time correlation decays faster than the Lagrangian, and the effect of sweep on the former is observed. The time scale of the Eulerian correlation is found to be (kU0)−1 while that of the Lagrangian is [∫0k p2E(p)dp]−1/2. The Lagrangian velocity autocorrelation in a frozen turbulent field is computed using the DIA, ALHDIA, and LRA theories and is compared with DNS measurements. The Markovianized Lagrangian renormalized approximation (MLRA) is compared with the DNS, and good agreement is found for...