Revisiting Bolgiano–Obukhov scaling for moderately stably stratified turbulence

DOI10.1017/JFM.2019.529MaRDI QIDQ5229815zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Shadab Alam, Anirban Guha, M. K. Verma

Publication date 19 August 2019

Published in Journal of Fluid Mechanics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1811.12848

zbMATH Keywords

stratified turbulence

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Hydrology, hydrography, oceanography (86A05) Stratification effects in turbulence (76F45)

Abstract: According to the celebrated Bolgiano--Obukhov citep{Bolgiano_1959,Obukhov_1959} phenomenology for moderately stably stratified turbulence, the energy spectrum in the inertial range shows a dual scaling; the kinetic energy follows (i) $sim{k}^{-11/5}$ for $k<k_B$, and (ii) $sim{k}^{-5/3}$ for $k>k_B$, where $k_B$ is Bolgiano wavenumber. The $k^{-5/3}$ scaling akin to passive scalar turbulence is a direct consequence of the assumption that buoyancy is insignificant for $k>k_B$. We revisit this assumption, and using constancy of kinetic and potential energy fluxes and simple theoretical analysis, we find that $k^{-5/3}$ spectrum is absent. This is because the velocity field at small scales is too weak to establish a constant kinetic energy flux as in passive scalar turbulence. A quantitative condition for the existence of the second regime is also derived in the paper.

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Cites work

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Cited in

(8)

• An analytical theory of the buoyancy-Kolmogorov subrange transition in turbulent flows with stable stratification
• Universal crossover from Kolmogorov to Bolgiano-Obukhov scaling in turbulence in a stably stratified fluid
• Variable energy flux in turbulence
• Bolgiano-Obukhov scaling in two-dimensional isotropic convection
• Connections between the Ozmidov scale and mean velocity profile in stably stratified atmospheric surface layers
• Kolmogorov argument for the scaling of the energy spectrum in a stratified fluid
• Analysis of scale-dependent kinetic and potential energy in sheared, stably stratified turbulence
• Assessing the effects of atmospheric stability on the fine structure of surface layer turbulence using local and global multiscale approaches

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