Nonuniversality and Finite Dissipation in Decaying Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence.

A model equation for the Reynolds number dependence of the dimensionless dissipation rate in freely decaying homogeneous magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in the absence of a mean magnetic field is derived from the real-space energy balance equation, leading to Cϵ=Cϵ,∞+C/R-+O(1/R-(2)), where R- is a generalized Reynolds number. The constant Cϵ,∞ describes the total energy transfer flux. This flux depends on magnetic and cross helicities, because these affect the nonlinear transfer of energy, suggesting that the value of Cϵ,∞ is not universal. Direct numerical simulations were conducted on up to 2048(3) grid points, showing good agreement between data and the model. The model suggests that the magnitude of cosmological-scale magnetic fields is controlled by the values of the vector field correlations. The ideas introduced here can be used to derive similar model equations for other turbulent systems.

Energy transfer and dissipation in forced isotropic turbulence.

A model for the Reynolds-number dependence of the dimensionless dissipation rate C(ɛ) was derived from the dimensionless Kármán-Howarth equation, resulting in C(ɛ)=C(ɛ,∞)+C/R(L)+O(1/R(L)(2)), where R(L) is the integral scale Reynolds number. The coefficients C and C(ɛ,∞) arise from asymptotic expansions of the dimensionless second- and third-order structure functions. This theoretical work was supplemented by direct numerical simulations (DNSs) of forced isotropic turbulence for integral scale Reynolds numbers up to R(L)=5875 (R(λ)=435), which were used to establish that the decay of dimensionless dissipation with increasing Reynolds number took the form of a power law R(L)(n) with exponent value n=-1.000±0.009 and that this decay of C(ɛ) was actually due to the increase in the Taylor surrogate U(3)/L. The model equation was fitted to data from the DNS, which resulted in the value C=18.9±1.3 and in an asymptotic value for C(ɛ) in the infinite Reynolds-number limit of C(ɛ,∞)=0.468±0.006.

Spectral analysis of structure functions and their scaling exponents in forced isotropic turbulence.

The pseudospectral method, in conjunction with a technique for obtaining scaling exponents ζ_{n} from the structure functions S_{n}(r), is presented as an alternative to the extended self-similarity (ESS) method and the use of generalized structure functions. We propose plotting the ratio |S_{n}(r)/S_{3}(r)| against the separation r in accordance with a standard technique for analyzing experimental data. This method differs from the ESS technique, which plots S_{n}(r) against S_{3}(r), with the assumption S_{3}(r)∼r. Using our method for the particular case of S_{2}(r) we obtain the result that the exponent ζ_{2} decreases as the Taylor-Reynolds number increases, with ζ_{2}→0.679±0.013 as R_{λ}→∞. This supports the idea of finite-viscosity corrections to the K41 prediction for S_{2}, and is the opposite of the result obtained by ESS. The pseudospectral method also permits the forcing to be taken into account exactly through the calculation of the energy input in real space from the work spectrum of the stirring forces.