Dimensional transition in rotating turbulence

In this work we investigate, by means of direct numerical simulations, how rotation affects the bi-dimensionalization of a turbulent flow. We study a thin layer of fluid, forced by a two-dimensional forcing, within the framework of the "split cascade" in which the injected energy flows both to small scales (generating the direct cascade) and to large scale (to form the inverse cascade). It is shown that rotation reinforces the inverse cascade at the expense of the direct one, thus promoting bi-dimensionalization of the flow. This is achieved by a suppression of the enstrophy production at large scales. Nonetheless, we find that, in the range of rotation rates investigated, increasing the the vertical scale causes a reduction of the flux of the inverse cascade. Our results suggest that, even in rotating flows, the inverse cascade may eventually disappear when the vertical scale is sufficiently large with respect to the forcing scale

A new method for isolating turbulent states in transitional stratified plane Couette flow

We present a new adaptive control strategy to isolate and stabilize turbulent states in transitional, stably stratified plane Couette flow in which the gravitational acceleration (non-dimensionalized as the bulk Richardson number$Ri$) is adjusted in time to maintain the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) of the flow. We demonstrate that applying this method at various stages of decaying stratified turbulence halts the decay process and allows a succession of intermediate turbulent states of decreasing energy to be isolated and stabilized. Once the energy of the initial flow becomes small enough, we identify a single minimal turbulent spot, and lower-energy states decay to laminar flow. Interestingly, the turbulent states which emerge from this process have very similar time-averaged$Ri$, but TKE levels different by an order of magnitude. The more energetic states consist of several turbulent spots, each qualitatively similar to the minimal turbulent spot. This suggests that the minimal turbulent spot may well be the lowest-energy turbulent state which forms a basic building block of stratified plane Couette flow. The fact that a minimal spot of turbulence can be stabilized, so that it neither decays nor grows, opens up exciting opportunities for further study of spatiotemporally intermittent stratified turbulence.The EPSRC grant EP/K034529/1 entitled ‘Mathematical Underpinnings of Stratified Turbulence’ is gratefully acknowledged for supporting the research presented here.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Cambridge University Press via https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2016.62

Research data supporting "A new method for isolating turbulent states in transitional stratified plane Couette flow"

This dataset contains HDF5 files with three-dimensional flow fields from several key times in the reported model simulations. The initial condition is provided, and the code is open access, allowing the full time-dependent model simulations to be reproduced. In addition, several 3D fields from the subsequent model evolution are included which were used to make figures in the published manuscript. The HDF5 file format is self-describing with header metadata and is readable in a wide variety of available software packages.EPSRC [EP/K034529/1

Numerical study of the stabilisation of boundary-layer disturbances by finite amplitude streaks

Well-resolved large-eddy simulations of passive control of the laminar-turbulent transition process in flat-plate boundary-layer flows are presented. A specific passive control mechanism is studied, namely the modulation of the laminar boundary-layer profile by a periodic array of steady boundary-layer streaks. This has been shown experimentally to stabilise the exponential growth of Tollmien-Schlichting (TS) waves and delay transition to turbulence. Here we examine the effect of the steady modulations on the amplification of different types of disturbances such as TS-waves, stochastic noise and free-stream turbulence. In our numerical simulations, the streaks are forced at the inflow as optimal solutions to the linear parabolic stability equations (PSE), whereas the additional disturbances are excited via volume forcing active within the computational domain. The simulation results show, in agreement with experimental and theoretical studies, significant damping of unstable two-dimensional TS-waves of various frequencies when introduced into a modulated base flow: The damping characteristics are mainly dependent on the streak amplitude. A new phenomenon is also identified which is characterised by the strong amplification via nonlinear interactions of the second spanwise harmonic of the streak when the streak amplitude is comparable to the TS amplitude. Furthermore, we demonstrate that control by streaks can be effective also in case of stochastic two-dimensional noise. However, as soon as a significant three-dimensionality is dominant, as in e.g. oblique or bypass transition, control by streaks leads often to premature transition. Visualisations of the flow fields are used to highlight the different vortical structures and their interactions that are relevant to the various transition scenarios and the corresponding control by streamwise streak