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Register a new userEvolution of similarity lengths in anisotropic magnetohydrodynamic turbulence
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Added by
Riddhi Bandyopadhyay
Publication date
2019
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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In an earlier paper (Wan et al. 2012), the authors showed that a similarity solution for anisotropic incompressible 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence, in the presence of a uniform mean magnetic field $vB_0$, exists if the ratio of parallel to perpendicular (with respect to $vB_0$) similarity length scales remains constant in time. This conjecture appears to be a rather stringent constraint on the dynamics of decay of the energy-containing eddies in MHD turbulence. However, we show here, using direct numerical simulations, that this hypothesis is indeed satisfied in incompressible MHD turbulence. After an initial transient period, the ratio of parallel to perpendicular length scales fluctuates around a steady value during the decay of the eddies. We show further that a Taylor--Karman-like similarity decay holds for MHD turbulence in the presence of a mean magnetic field. The effect of different parameters, including Reynolds number, DC field strength, and cross-helicity, on the nature of similarity decay is discussed.
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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 asymptotes to a finite value for each magnetic field strength, confirming the Karman-Howarth hypothesis as applied to MHD. The asymptotic value of the dimensionless dissipation rate is initially suppressed from the zero-mean-field value by the mean magnetic field but then approaches a constant value for higher values of the mean field strength. Additionally, for comparison, we perform a set of two-dimensional (2DMHD) and a set of reduced MHD (RMHD) simulations. We find that the RMHD results lie very close to the values corresponding to the high mean-field limit of the three-dimensional runs while the 2DMHD results admit distinct values far from both the zero mean field cases and the high mean field limit of the three-dimensional cases. These findings provide firm underpinnings for numerous applications in space and astrophysics wherein von Karman decay of turbulence is assumed.
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