The diverse nature of small-scale turbulence


Abstract in English

The self-similar Richardson cascade admits two logically possible scenarios of small-scale turbulence at high Reynolds numbers. In the first scenario, eddies population densities vary as a function of eddies scales. As a result, one or a few eddy types dominate at small scales, and small-scale turbulence lacks diversity. In the second scenario, eddies population densities are scale-invariant across the inertial range, resulting in small-scale diversity. That is, there are as many types of eddies at the small scales as at the large scales. In this letter, we measure eddies population densities in three-dimensional isotropic turbulence and determine the nature of small-scale turbulence. The result shows that eddies population densities are scale-invariant.

Download