Longitudinal counterflow in turbulent liquid helium: velocity profile of the normal component (Q743543)

The paper explores from a mathematical perspective the velocity profile of the normal component in the usual situation of a flow along a cylinder using a model for liquid He II deduced from extended thermodynamics (ET). It is known that the normal component flow in a cylindrical duct is laminar; its velocity profile is expected to have the usual parabolic form of the Poiseuille flow. At the same time, if it is turbulent, the velocity profile will be much flatter in the central regions. First, the thermodynamic equations of the one-fluid model are presented and their similarities and differences with the two-fluid model are commented. For this aim, a one-fluid model of liquid He II is modified into the framework of ET, taking into account the presence of a turbulent vortex tangle. The constitutive equations, namely the balance equations of mass, momentum, and internal energy and evolution equations for heat flux, bulk, and shear viscous stress are considered in which only linear terms are retained. Then the field equations of helium II in the presence of dissipation are obtained. The detailed comparison of the one-fluid model is carried out with the two-fluid model of Landau and Khalatnikov. It is shown that the one-fluid model appears to better describe the dissipative phenomena of the thermal origin. By considering the counter-flow superfluid turbulence -- an experimental situation characterized by no matter but only heat transport, the authors assume that line density is a known quantity across the tube dependent only on the imposed heat flux and temperature. The obtained linearized equations in presence of dissipation are applied to a longitudinal counter-flow in a long cylinder. The counter-flow is considered in the absence of vortices and under a homogeneous value of the vortex line density. Numerical results show that for sufficiently high values of the vortex length density, the velocity profile becomes gradually very flat in the central region. To verify whether this is a dynamical consequence of the resistance of the vortices or a genuine turbulence of the normal component, the Reynolds numbers derived from the velocity profile obtained are analyzed. The numerical results show that the normal fluid is expected to be in laminar flow because its Reynolds number is much lower than the critical value for viscous fluids. That is, the flat profile obtained is a consequence of the interaction with the vortices, rather than from an intrinsic turbulence of the normal fluid.