823 research outputs found
Inhomogeneous turbulence in the vicinity of a large scale coherent vortex
We study the statistics of turbulent velocity fluctuations in the
neighbourhood of a strong large scale vortex at very large Reynolds number. At
each distance from the vortex core, we observe that the velocity spectrum has a
power law ``inertial range'' of scales and that intermittency -- defined as the
variation of the probability density function (PDF) of velocity increments as
the length of the increment is varied -- is also present. We show that the
spectrum scaling exponents and intermittency characteristics vary with the
distance to the vortex. They are also influenced by the large scale dynamics of
the vortex.Comment: submitted to europhys lett, 6 pages, 5 figure
Numerical study of dynamo action at low magnetic Prandtl numbers
We present a three--pronged numerical approach to the dynamo problem at low
magnetic Prandtl numbers . The difficulty of resolving a large range of
scales is circumvented by combining Direct Numerical Simulations, a
Lagrangian-averaged model, and Large-Eddy Simulations (LES). The flow is
generated by the Taylor-Green forcing; it combines a well defined structure at
large scales and turbulent fluctuations at small scales. Our main findings are:
(i) dynamos are observed from down to ; (ii) the critical
magnetic Reynolds number increases sharply with as turbulence sets
in and then saturates; (iii) in the linear growth phase, the most unstable
magnetic modes move to small scales as is decreased and a Kazantsev
spectrum develops; then the dynamo grows at large scales and modifies
the turbulent velocity fluctuations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Dynamo action at low magnetic Prandtl numbers: mean flow vs. fully turbulent motion
We compute numerically the threshold for dynamo action in Taylor-Green
swirling flows. Kinematic calculations, for which the flow field is fixed to
its time averaged profile, are compared to dynamical runs for which both the
Navier-Stokes and the induction equations are jointly solved. The kinematic
instability is found to have two branches, for all explored Reynolds numbers.
The dynamical dynamo threshold follows these branches: at low Reynolds number
it lies within the low branch while at high kinetic Reynolds number it is close
to the high branch.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Magnetic field reversals in an experimental turbulent dynamo
We report the first experimental observation of reversals of a dynamo field
generated in a laboratory experiment based on a turbulent flow of liquid
sodium. The magnetic field randomly switches between two symmetric solutions B
and -B. We observe a hierarchy of time scales similar to the Earth's magnetic
field: the duration of the steady phases is widely distributed, but is always
much longer than the time needed to switch polarity. In addition to reversals
we report excursions. Both coincide with minima of the mechanical power driving
the flow. Small changes in the flow driving parameters also reveal a large
variety of dynamo regimes.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Transport of magnetic field by a turbulent flow of liquid sodium
We study the effect of a turbulent flow of liquid sodium generated in the von
K\'arm\'an geometry, on the localized field of a magnet placed close to the
frontier of the flow. We observe that the field can be transported by the flow
on distances larger than its integral length scale. In the most turbulent
configurations, the mean value of the field advected at large distance
vanishes. However, the rms value of the fluctuations increases linearly with
the magnetic Reynolds number. The advected field is strongly intermittent.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure
Long time correlations in Lagrangian dynamics: a key to intermittency in turbulence
New aspects of turbulence are uncovered if one considers flow motion from the
perspective of a fluid particle (known as the Lagrangian approach) rather than
in terms of a velocity field (the Eulerian viewpoint). Using a new experimental
technique, based on the scattering of ultrasounds, we have obtained a direct
measurement of particle velocities, resolved at all scales, in a fully
turbulent flow. It enables us to approach intermittency in turbulence from a
dynamical point of view and to analyze the Lagrangian velocity fluctuations in
the framework of random walks. We find experimentally that the elementary steps
in the 'walk' have random uncorrelated directions but a magnitude that is
extremely long-range correlated in time. Theoretically, we study a Langevin
equation that incorporates these features and we show that the resulting
dynamics accounts for the observed one- and two-point statistical properties of
the Lagrangian velocity fluctuations. Our approach connects the intermittent
statistical nature of turbulence to the dynamics of the flow.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Induction in a von Karman flow driven by ferromagnetic impellers
We study magnetohydrodynamics in a von K\'arm\'an flow driven by the rotation
of impellers made of material with varying electrical conductivity and magnetic
permeability. Gallium is the working fluid and magnetic Reynolds numbers of
order unity are achieved. We find that specific induction effects arise when
the impeller's electric and magnetic characteristics differ from that of the
fluid. Implications in regards to the VKS dynamo are discussed.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure
Generation of magnetic field by dynamo action in a turbulent flow of liquid sodium
We report the observation of dynamo action in the VKS experiment, i.e., the
generation of magnetic field by a strongly turbulent swirling flow of liquid
sodium. Both mean and fluctuating parts of the field are studied. The dynamo
threshold corresponds to a magnetic Reynolds number Rm \sim 30. A mean magnetic
field of order 40 G is observed 30% above threshold at the flow lateral
boundary. The rms fluctuations are larger than the corresponding mean value for
two of the components. The scaling of the mean square magnetic field is
compared to a prediction previously made for high Reynolds number flows.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
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