Rigorous upper bounds for transport due to passive advection by inhomogeneous turbulence (Q1102805)

This paper is concerned with a class of rigorous results relating to turbulence-induced transport. In particular, an optimum theory is applied to the advection of a passive scalar field, by a statistically specified random velocity, through a slab with inhomogeneous boundary conditions, in the presence of dissipation, but in the absence of any external sources. It is shown that variational procedures may be employed to provide rigorous upper bounds on the mean flux of the scalar through the slab, for arbitrary generalized Reynolds number and arbitrary Kubo number. Initially, a relatively simple example is examined involving the transport of a passive scalar through a one-dimensional slab with inhomogeneous boundary conditions. In relation to this `reference model', both the exact solution and the bound can be found analytically, and display good agreement. This calculation of the basic bound is generalized to include several dimensions, arbitrary space and time dependence of the advecting field, and general boundary conditions. The Euler equations for the passive scalar field lead to an integral equation (expressed in terms of a Green's function) for the advective flux, from the solution of which the bounding curve relating the total flux through the system to the Reynolds number can be obtained. Next, a more complicated `direct-interaction' approximation for the reference model is derived and solved numerically, allowing the optimum theory to be compared with more conventional closures. The basic formalism is generalized to allow for two-time constraints. Applications in plasma physics are then discussed.