Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-22dnz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T12:29:25.025Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Isotropic third-order statistics in turbulence with helicity: the 2/15-law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2004

SUSAN KURIEN
Affiliation:
Center for Nonlinear Studies and Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA
MARK A. TAYLOR
Affiliation:
Computer and Computational Sciences Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA Present address: Evolutionary Computing, Sandia National Laboratory, Albuquerque, NM 87185, USA.
TAKESHI MATSUMOTO
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa Oiwakecho Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan

Abstract

The so-called 2/15-law for two-point third-order velocity statistics in isotropic turbulence with helicity is computed for the first time from a direct numerical simulation of the Navier–Stokes equations in a $512^3$ periodic domain. This law is a statement of helicity conservation in the inertial range, analogous to the benchmark Kolmogorov 4/5-law for energy conservation in high-Reynolds-number turbulence. The appropriately normalized parity-breaking statistics, when measured in an arbitrary direction in the flow, disagree with the theoretical value of 2/15 predicted for isotropic turbulence. They are highly anisotropic and variable and remain so over long times. We employ a recently developed technique to average over many directions and so recover the statistically isotropic component of the flow. The angle-averaged statistics achieve the 2/15 factor to within about 7% instantaneously and about 5% on average over time. The inertial- and viscous-range behaviour of the helicity-dependent statistics and consequently the helicity flux, which appear in the 2/15-law, are shown to be more anisotropic and intermittent than the corresponding energy-dependent reflection-symmetric structure functions, and the energy flux, which appear in the 4/5-law. This suggests that the Kolmogorov assumption of local isotropy at high Reynolds numbers needs to be modified for the helicity-dependent statistics investigated here.

Type
Papers
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)