ABSTRACT
Transition from a split to a forward kinetic energy cascade system is explored in the context of rotating turbulence using direct numerical simulations with a three-dimensional isotropic random force uncorrelated with the velocity field. Our parametric study covers confinement effects in high-aspect-ratio domains and a broad range of rotation rates. The data presented here add substantially to previous works, which, in contrast, focused on smaller and shallower domains. Results indicate that for fixed geometrical dimensions the Rossby number acts as a control parameter, whereas for a fixed Rossby number the product of the domain size along the rotation axis and the forcing wave number governs the amount of energy that cascades inversely. The regime transition criterion hence depends on both control parameters.
ABSTRACT
In this study we present direct numerical simulation results of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) initiated by Ma=1.05,Ma=1.2, and Ma=1.5 shock waves interacting with a perturbed planar interface between air and SF(6). At the lowest shock Mach number the fluids slowly mix due to viscous diffusion, whereas at the highest shock Mach number the mixing zone becomes turbulent. When a minimum critical Taylor microscale Reynolds number is exceeded, an inertial range spectrum emerges, providing further evidence of transition to turbulence. The scales of turbulent motion, i.e., the Kolmogorov length scale, the Taylor microscale, and the integral length, scale are presented. The separation of these scales is found to increase as the Reynolds number is increased. Turbulence statistics, i.e., the probability density functions of the velocity and its longitudinal and transverse derivatives, show a self-similar decay and thus that turbulence evolving from RMI is not fundamentally different from isotropic turbulence, though nominally being only isotropic and homogeneous in the transverse directions.
