No Arabic abstract
Stratified turbulence shows scale- and direction-dependent anisotropy and the coexistence of weak turbulence of internal gravity waves and strong turbulence of eddies. Straightforward application of standard analyses developed in isotropic turbulence sometimes masks important aspects of the anisotropic turbulence. To capture detailed structures of the energy distribution in the wave-number space, it is indispensable to examine the energy distribution with non-integrated spectra by fixing the codimensional wave-number component or in the two-dimensional domain spanned by both the horizontal and vertical wave numbers. Indices which separate the range of the anisotropic weak-wave turbulence in the wave-number space are proposed based on the decomposed energies. In addition, the dominance of the waves in the range is also verified by the small frequency deviation from the linear dispersion relation. In the wave-dominant range, the linear wave periods given by the linear dispersion relation are smaller than approximately one third of the eddy-turnover time. The linear wave periods reflect the anisotropy of the system, while the isotropic Brunt-Vaisala period is used to evaluate the Ozmidov wave number, which is necessarily isotropic. It is found that the time scales in consideration of the anisotropy of the flow field must be appropriately selected to obtain the critical wave number separating the weak-wave turbulence.
Energy flux plays a key role in the analyses of energy-cascading turbulence. In isotropic turbulence, the flux is given by a scalar as a function of the magnitude of the wavenumber. On the other hand, the flux in anisotropic turbulence should be a geometric vector that has a direction as well as the magnitude, and depends not only on the magnitude of the wavenumber but also on its direction. The energy-flux vector in the anisotropic turbulence cannot be uniquely determined in a way used for the isotropic flux. In this work, introducing two ansatzes, net locality and efficiency of the nonlinear energy transfer, we propose a way to determine the energy-flux vector in anisotropic turbulence by using the Moore--Penrose inverse. The energy-flux vector in strongly rotating turbulence is demonstrated based on the energy transfer rate obtained by direct numerical simulations. It is found that the direction of the energy-flux vector is consistent with the prediction of the weak turbulence theory in the wavenumber range dominated by the inertial waves. However, the energy flux along the critical wavenumbers predicted by the critical balance in the buffer range between in the weak turbulence range and the isotropic Kolmogorov turbulence range is not observed in the present simulations. This discrepancy between the critical balance and the present numerical results is discussed and the dissipation is found to play an important role in the energy flux in the buffer range.
In elastic-wave turbulence, strong turbulence appears in small wave numbers while weak turbulence does in large wave numbers. Energy transfers in the coexistence of these turbulent states are numerically investigated in both of the Fourier space and the real space. An analytical expression of a detailed energy balance reveals from which mode to which mode energy is transferred in the triad interaction. Stretching energy excited by external force is transferred nonlocally and intermittently to large wave numbers as the kinetic energy in the strong turbulence. In the weak turbulence, the resonant interactions according to the weak turbulence theory produces cascading net energy transfer to large wave numbers. Because the systems nonlinearity shows strong temporal intermittency, the energy transfers are investigated at active and moderate phases separately. The nonlocal interactions in the Fourier space are characterized by the intermittent bundles of fibrous structures in the real space.
We investigate experimentally stratified turbulence forced by waves. Stratified turbulence is present in oceans and it is expected to be dominated by nonlinear interaction of internal gravity waves as described by the Garrett & Munk spectrum. In order to reach turbulent regimes dominated by stratification we use the Coriolis facility in Grenoble (France) which large size enables us to reach regimes with both low Froude number and large Reynolds number. Stratification is obtained by using vertically linearly varying salt concentration and we force large scale waves in a $6times6times 1$ m$^3$ domain. We perform time-resolved PIV to probe the space-time structure of the velocity field. We observe a wide band spectrum which is made of waves. Discrete modes are observed due to the square shape of the flow container as well as a continuum part which appears consistent with an axisymmetric superposition of random weakly nonlinear waves. Our observations support the interpretation of turbulence of a strongly stratified fluid as wave turbulence of internal waves although our spectrum is quite different from the Garrett & Munk spectrum. Weak turbulence proceeds down to a small cutoff length scale (the buoyancy wavelength) at which a transition to more strongly nonlinear turbulence is expected.
In the paper taking the assumption of the slowness of the change of the parameters of the vertically stratified medium in the horizontal direction and in time, the evolution of the non-harmonic wave packages of the internal gravity waves has been analyzed. The concrete form of the wave packages can be expressed through some model functions and is defined by the local behavior of the dispersive curves of the separate modes near to the corresponding special points. The solution of this problem is possible with the help of the modified variant of the special-time ray method offered by the authors (the method of geometrical optics), the basic difference of which consists that the asymptotic representation of the solution may be found in the form the series of the non-integer degrees of some small parameter. At that the exponent depends on the concrete form of representation of this package. The obvious kind of the representation is determined from the principle of the localness and the asymptotic behavior of the solution in the stationary and the horizontally-homogeneous case. The phases of the wave packages are determined from the corresponding equations of the eikonal, which can be solved numerically on the characteristics (rays). Amplitudes of the wave packages are determined from the laws of conservation of the some invariants along the characteristics (rays).
We report on the observation of surface gravity wave turbulence at scales larger than the forcing ones in a large basin. In addition to the downscale transfer usually reported in gravity wave turbulence, an upscale transfer is observed, interpreted as the inverse cascade of weak turbulence theory. A steady state is achieved when the inverse cascade reaches a scale in between the forcing wavelength and the basin size, but far from the latter. This inverse cascade saturation, which depends on the wave steepness, is probably due to the emergence of nonlinear dissipative structures such as sharp-crested waves.