Helicity Transfer in Turbulent Models

Helicity transfer in a shell model of turbulence is investigated. We show that a Reynolds-independent helicity flux is present in the model when the large scale forcing breaks inversion symmetry. The equivalent in Shell Models of the ``2/15 law'', obtained from helicity conservation in Navier-Stokes eqs., is derived and tested. The odd part of helicity flux statistic is found to be dominated by a few very intense events. In a particular model, we calculate analytically leading and sub-leading contribution to the scaling of triple velocity correlation.Comment: 4 pages, LaTex, 2 figure

Extreme events in the dispersions of two neighboring particles under the influence of fluid turbulence

We present a numerical study of two-particle dispersion from point-sources in 3D incompressible Homogeneous and Isotropic turbulence, at Reynolds number Re \simeq 300. Tracer particles are emitted in bunches from localized sources smaller than the Kolmogorov scale. We report the first quantitative evidence, supported by an unprecedented statistics, of the deviations of relative dispersion from Richardson's picture. Deviations are due to extreme events of pairs separating much faster than average, and of pairs remaining close for long times. The two classes of events are the fingerprint of complete different physics, the former being dominated by inertial subrange and large-scale fluctuations, while the latter by the dissipation subrange. A comparison of relative separation in surrogate white-in-time velocity field, with correct viscous-, inertial- and integral-scale properties allows us to assess the importance of temporal correlations along tracer trajectories.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

Helicity advection in Turbulent Models

Helicity transfer in a shell model of turbulence is investigated. In particular, we study the scaling behavior of helicity transfer in a dynamical model of turbulence lacking inversion symmetry. We present some phenomenological and numerical support to the idea that Helicity becomes -at scale small enough- a passively-advected quantity.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, contribution to the proceedings of the conference: Disorder and Chaos, in honour of Giovanni Paladin, September 22-24, 1997, Rom

Universality in passively advected hydrodynamic fields: the case of a passive vector with pressure

Universality of statistical properties of passive quantities advected by turbulent velocity fields at changing the passive forcing mechanism is discussed. In particular, we concentrate on the statistical properties of an hydrodynamic system with pressure. We present theoretical arguments and preliminary numerical results which show that the fluxes of passive vector field and of the velocity field have the same scaling behavior. By exploiting such a property, we propose a way to compute the anomalous exponents of three dimensional turbulent velocity fields. Our findings are in agreement within 5% with experimental values of the anomalous exponents.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figure

Joint statistics of acceleration and vorticity in fully developed turbulence

We report results from a high resolution numerical study of fluid particles transported by a fully developed turbulent flow. Single particle trajectories were followed for a time range spanning more than three decades, from less than a tenth of the Kolmogorov time-scale up to one large-eddy turnover time. We present results concerning acceleration statistics and the statistics of trapping by vortex filaments conditioned to the local values of vorticity and enstrophy. We distinguish two different behaviors between the joint statistics of vorticity and centripetal acceleration or vorticity and longitudinal acceleration.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Quasi-particle dephasing time in disordered d-wave superconductors

We evaluate the low-temperature cutoff for quantum interference 1/tf induced in a d-wave superconductor by the diffusion enhanced quasiparticle interactions in the presence of disorder. We carry out our analysis in the framework of the non-linear sigma-model which allows a direct calculation of 1/tf, as the mass of the transverse modes of the theory. Only the triplet amplitude in the particle-hole channel and the Cooper amplitude with is pairing symmetry contribute to 1/tf. We discuss the possible relevance of our results to the present disagreement between thermal transport data in cuprates and the localization theory for d-wave quasiparticles

Universality of anisotropic fluctuations from numerical simulations of turbulent flows

We present new results from a direct numerical simulation of a three dimensional homogeneous Rayleigh-Benard system (HRB), i.e. a convective cell with an imposed linear mean temperature profile along the vertical direction. We measure the SO(3)-decomposition of both velocity structure functions and buoyancy terms. We give a dimensional prediction for the values of the anisotropic scaling exponents in this Rayleigh-Benard systems. Measured scaling does not follow dimensional estimate, while a better agreement can be found with the anisotropic scaling of a different system, the random-Kolmogorov-flow (RKF). Our findings support the conclusion that scaling properties of anisotropic fluctuations are universal, i.e. independent of the forcing mechanism sustaining the turbulent flow.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Lattice Boltzmann simulations of droplet dynamics in time-dependent flows

We study the deformation and dynamics of droplets in time-dependent flows using 3D numerical simulations of two immiscible fluids based on the lattice Boltzmann model (LBM). Analytical models are available in the literature, which assume the droplet shape to be an ellipsoid at all times (P.L. Maffettone, M. Minale, J. Non-Newton. Fluid Mech 78, 227 (1998); M. Minale, Rheol. Acta 47, 667 (2008)). Beyond the practical importance of using a mesoscale simulation to assess ab-initio the robustness and limitations of such theoretical models, our simulations are also key to discuss - in controlled situations - some relevant phenomenology related to the interplay between the flow time scales and the droplet time scales regarding the transparency transition for high enough shear frequencies for an external oscillating flow. This work may be regarded as a step forward to discuss extensions towards a novel DNS approach, describing the mesoscale physics of small droplets subjected to a generic hydrodynamical strain field, possibly mimicking the effect of a realistic turbulent flow on dilute droplet suspensions

Coherence length in superconductors from weak to strong coupling

We study the evolution of the superconducting coherence length $\xi_0$ from weak to strong coupling, both within a s-wave and a d-wave lattice model. We show that the identification of $\xi_0$ with the Cooper-pair size $\xi_{pair}$ in the weak-coupling regime is meaningful only for a fully-gapped (e.g., s-wave) superconductor. Instead in the d-wave superconductor, where $\xi_{pair}$ diverges, we show that $\xi_0$ is properly defined as the characteristic length scale for the correlation function of the modulus of the superconducting order parameter. The strong-coupling regime is quite intriguing, since the interplay between particle-particle and particle-hole channel is no more negligible. In the case of s-wave pairing, which allows for an analytical treatment, we show that $\xi_0$ is of order of the lattice spacing at finite densities. In the diluted regime $\xi_0$ diverges, recovering the behavior of the coherence length of a weakly interacting effective bosonic system. Similar results are expected to hold for d-wave superconductors.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures. Two appendices and new references adde

Shear-Improved Smagorinsky Model for Large-Eddy Simulation of Wall-Bounded Turbulent Flows

A shear-improved Smagorinsky model is introduced based on recent results concerning shear effects in wall-bounded turbulence by Toschi et al. (2000). The Smagorinsky eddy-viscosity is modified subtracting the magnitude of the mean shear from the magnitude of the instantaneous resolved strain-rate tensor. This subgrid-scale model is tested in large-eddy simulations of plane-channel flows at two different Reynolds numbers. First comparisons with the dynamic Smagorinsky model and direct numerical simulations, including mean velocity, turbulent kinetic energy and Reynolds stress profiles, are shown to be extremely satisfactory. The proposed model, in addition of being physically sound, has a low computational cost and possesses a high potentiality of generalization to more complex non-homogeneous turbulent flows.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, added some reference