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Thursday, August 03, 2006
1:00 PM - 1:30 PM
CNLS Conference Room

Seminar

Building on K41 - Looking for New Inertial Ranges in Rotating/Stratified Flows

Micheal Watson
T-CNLS and University of Colorado

Kolmogorov's 1941 theory (K41) on two-point third order correlations in velocity laid the foundation statistical turbulence studies. This theory demonstrated the existence of an "inertial range" of scales that is dominated by a down scale flux of kinetic energy by nonlinear transfer in fully developed turbulent flows. This discovery was followed by development of similar laws for passive scalars and helicity by Yaglom and Chkhetiani respectively. Recent theoretical work has indicated the possibility of a new inertial range for potential enstrophy in rotating/stratified turbulence. In this talk I will outline the derivation of this theory, discuss the possible implications of a new inertial regime in the historical context of K41, and show results of numerical simulations where we have looked for evidence to support this theory. I conclude with a brief discussion of the limitations of numerical simulations for this kind of investigation and how this helps to define future research.

Host: Natali Gulbahce or Praveen Ramaprabhu