Dynamics of Energy Condensation in Two-Dimensional Turbulence

M. Chertkov, C. Connaughton, I. Kolokolov, and V. Lebedev
Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 084501 – Published 21 August 2007

Abstract

We report a numerical study, supplemented by phenomenological explanations, of “energy condensation” in forced 2D turbulence in a biperiodic box. Condensation is a finite size effect which occurs after the standard inverse cascade reaches the size of the system. It leads to the emergence of a coherent vortex dipole. We show that the time growth of the dipole is self-similar, and it contains most of the injected energy, thus resulting in an energy spectrum which is markedly steeper than the standard k5/3 one. Once the coherent component is subtracted, however, the remaining fluctuations have a spectrum close to k1. The fluctuations decay slowly as the coherent part grows.

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  • Received 9 January 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.084501

©2007 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

M. Chertkov1, C. Connaughton1, I. Kolokolov2,1, and V. Lebedev2,1

  • 1Theoretical Division & Center for Nonlinear Studies, LANL, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
  • 2Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, Moscow, Kosygina 2, 119334, Russia

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Issue

Vol. 99, Iss. 8 — 24 August 2007

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