Properties of velocity circulation in three-dimensional turbulence

Nianzheng Cao, Shiyi Chen, Katepalli R. Sreenivasan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Properties of velocity circulation in three-dimensional turbulence are studied using data from high-resolution direct numerical simulation of Navier-Stokes equations. The probability density function (PDF) of the circulation depends on the area of the closed contour for which circulation is calculated, but not on the shape of the contour. For contours lying within the inertial range, the PDF has a Gaussian core with conspicuous exponential tails, indicating that intermittency plays an important role in circulation statistics. The measured scaling exponents are anomalous and substantially smaller than those implied by Kolmogorov's phenomenology.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)616-619
Number of pages4
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume76
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 1996

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Properties of velocity circulation in three-dimensional turbulence'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this