Abstract
Free-surface turbulence, albeit constrained onto a two-dimensional space, exhibits features that barely resemble predictions of simplified two-dimensional modeling. We demonstrate that, in a three-dimensional open channel flow, surface turbulence is characterized by upscale energy transfer, which controls the long-term evolution of the larger scales. We are able to associate downscale and upscale energy transfer at the surface with the two-dimensional divergence of velocity. We finally demonstrate that surface compressibility confirms the strongly three-dimensional nature of surface turbulence.
3 More- Received 20 November 2014
- Revised 23 February 2015
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.91.033010
©2015 American Physical Society