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We report hot-wire measurements performed in two very different, co- and counter-rotating flows, in normal and superfluid helium at 1.6 K, 2 K, and 2.3 K. As recently reported, the power spectrum of the hot-wire signal in superfluid flows exhibits a significant bump at high frequency (Diribarne et al. [1]). We confirm that the bump frequency does not depend significantly on the temperature and further extend the previous analysis of the velocity dependence of the bump, over more than one decade of velocity. The main result is that the bump frequency depends on the turbulence intensity of the flow, and that using the turbulent Reynolds number rather than the velocity as a control parameter collapses results from both co- and counter-rotating flows. The vortex shedding model previously proposed, in its current form, does not account for this observation. This suggests that the physical origin of the bump is related to the small scale turbulence properties of the flow. We finally propose some qualitative physical mechanism by which the smallest structures of the flow, at intervortex distance, could affect the heat flux of the hot-wire., Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures

We introduce a model of interacting singularities of Navier-Stokes, named pin\,cons. They follow a Hamiltonian dynamics, obtained by the condition that the velocity field around these singularities obeys locally Navier-Stokes equations. This model can be seen of a generalization of the vorton model of Novikov, that was derived for the Euler equations. When immersed in a regular field, the pin\,cons are further transported and sheared by the regular field, while applying a stress onto the regular field, that becomes dominant at a scale that is smaller than the Kolmogorov length. We apply this model to compute the motion of a dipole of pin\,cons. When the initial relative orientation of the dipole is inside the interval (0, pi/2), a dipole made of pin\,con of same intensity exhibits a transient collapse stage, following a scaling with dipole radius tending to 0 like (tc - t) power 0.63. For long time, the dynamics of the dipole is however repulsive, with both components running away from each other to infinity., Comment: 24 pages 13 figures

We study a correspondence between the multifractal model of turbulence and the Navier-Stokes equations in $d$ spatial dimensions by comparing their respective dissipation length scales. In Kolmogorov's 1941 theory the key parameter $h$, which is an exponent in the Navier-Stokes invariance scaling, is fixed at $h=1/3$ but is allowed a spectrum of values in multifractal theory. Taking into account all derivatives of the Navier-Stokes equations, it is found that for this correspondence to hold the multifractal spectrum $C(h)$ must be bounded from below such that $C(h) \geq 1-3h$, which is consistent with the four-fifths law. Moreover, $h$ must also be bounded from below such that $h \geq (1-d)/3$. When $d=3$ the allowed range of $h$ is given by $h \geq -2/3$ thereby bounding $h$ away from $h=-1$. The implications of this are discussed., Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure

We present hydrodynamic and magneto-hydrodynamic simulations of a liquid sodium flow using the compressible MHD code PLUTO to investigate the magnetic field regeneration in the Von-Karman-Sodium dynamo experiment. The aim of the study is to analyze the influence of the fluid resistivity and turbulence level on the collimation by helicoidal motions of a remnant magnetic field. We use a simplified cartesian geometry to represent the flow dynamics in the vicinity of one cavity of a multi-blades impeller inspired by those used in the Von-Karman-Sodium (VKS) experiment. We perform numerical simulations with kinetic Reynolds numbers up to 1000 for magnetic Prandtl numbers between 30 and 0.1. Our study shows that perfect ferromagnetic walls favour enhanced collimation of flow and magnetic fields even if the turbulence degree of the model increases. The location of the helicoidal coherent vortex in between the blades changes with the impinging velocity. It becomes closer to the upstream blade and impeller base if the flow incident angle is analogous to the TM73 impeller configuration rotating in the unscooping direction. This result is also obtained at higher kinetic Reynolds numbers when the helicoidal vortex undergoes a precessing motion, leading to a reinforced effect in the vortex evolution and in the magnetic field collimation when using again perfect ferromagnetic boundary conditions. We estimate the efficiency of a hypothetical dynamo loop occurring in the vicinity of the impeller and discuss the relevance of our findings in the context of mean field dynamo theory.

All previous experiments in open turbulent flows (e.g. downstream of grids, jet and atmospheric boundary layer) have produced quantitatively consistent values for the scaling exponents of velocity structure functions. The only measurement in closed turbulent flow (von K\'arm\'an swirling flow) using Taylor-hypothesis, however, produced scaling exponents that are significantly smaller, suggesting that the universality of these exponents are broken with respect to change of large scale geometry of the flow. Here, we report measurements of longitudinal structure functions of velocity in a von K\'arm\'an setup without the use of Taylor-hypothesis. The measurements are made using Stereo Particle Image Velocimetry at 4 different ranges of spatial scales, in order to observe a combined inertial subrange spanning roughly one and a half order of magnitude. We found scaling exponents (up to 9th order) that are consistent with values from open turbulent flows, suggesting that they might be in fact universal., Comment: Under review in J. Fluid Mech

We present hydrodynamic and magneto-hydrodynamic simulations of liquid sodium flow with the PLUTO compressible MHD code to investigate influence of magnetic boundary conditions on the collimation of helicoidal motions. We use a simplified cartesian geometry to represent the flow dynamics in the vicinity of one cavity of a multi-blades impeller inspired by those used in the Von-K\'{a}rm\'{a}n-Sodium (VKS) experiment. We show that the impinging of the large scale flow upon the impeller generates a coherent helicoidal vortex inside the blades, located at a distance from the upstream blade piloted by the incident angle of the flow. This vortex collimates any existing magnetic field lines leading to an enhancement of the radial magnetic field that is stronger for ferromagnetic than for conducting blades. The induced magnetic field modifies locally the velocity fluctuations, resulting in an enhanced helicity. This process possibly explains why dynamo action is more easily triggered in the VKS experiment when using soft iron impellers.

The Von K{\'a}rm{\'a}n Sodium experiment yields a variety of dynamo regimes, when asymmetry is imparted to the flow by rotating impellers at different speed F1 and F2. We show that as the intensity of forcing, measured as F1 + F2, is increased, the transition to a self-sustained magnetic field is always observed via a supercritical bifurcation to a stationary state. For some values of the asymmetry parameter $\\theta$ = (F1--F2)/(F1+F2), time dependent dynamo regimes develop. They are observed either when the forcing is increased for a given value of asymmetry, or when the amount of asymmetry is varied at sufficiently high forcing. Two qualitatively different transitions between oscillatory and stationary regimes are reported, involving or not a strong divergence of the period of oscillations. These transitions can be interpreted using a low dimensional model based on the interactions of two dynamo modes.

We report measurements of the dissipation in the Superfluid Helium high REynold number von Karman flow (SHREK) experiment for different forcing conditions, through a regime of global hysteretic bifurcation. Our macroscopical measurements indicate no noticeable difference between the classical fluid and the superfluid regimes, thereby providing evidence of the same dissipative anomaly and response to asymmetry in fluid and superfluid regime. %In the latter case, A detailed study of the variations of the hysteretic cycle with Reynolds number supports the idea that (i) the stability of the bifurcated states of classical turbulence in this closed flow is partly governed by the dissipative scales and (ii) the normal and the superfluid component at these temperatures (1.6K) are locked down to the dissipative length scale., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures

We discuss the possibility of dual local and non-local cascades in a 3D turbulent Beltrami flow, with inverse energy cascade and direct helicity cascade, by analogy with 2D turbulence. We discuss the corresponding energy spectrum in both local and non-local case. Comparison with a high Reynolds number turbulent von Karman flow is provided and discussed.

We present velocity spectra measured in three cryogenic liquid 4He steady flows: grid and wake flows in a pressurized wind tunnel capable of achieving mean velocities up to 5 m/s at temperatures above and below the superfluid transition, down to 1.7 K, and a "chunk" turbulence flow at 1.55 K, capable of sustaining mean superfluid velocities up to 1.3 m/s. Depending on the flows, the stagnation pressure probes used for anemometry are resolving from one to two decades of the inertial regime of the turbulent cascade. We do not find any evidence that the second order statistics of turbulence below the superfluid transition differ from the ones of classical turbulence, above the transition., Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures

We present angular momentum transport (torque) measurements in two recent experimental studies of the turbulent flow between independently rotating cylinders. In addition to these studies, we reanalyze prior torque measurements to expand the range of control parameters for the experimental Taylor-Couette flows. We find that the torque may be described as a product of functions that depend only on the Reynolds number, which describes the turbulent driving intensity, and the rotation number, which characterizes the effects of global rotation. For a given Reynolds number, the global angular momentum transport for Keplerian-like flow profiles is approximately 14% of the maximum achievable transport rate. We estimate that this level of transport would produce an accretion rate of $\dot{M}/\dot{M_0} \sim 10^{-3}$ in astrophysical disks. We argue that this level of transport from hydrodynamics alone could be significant., Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Astronomy & Astrophysics (2011)

Using time-series of stereoscopic particle image velocimetry data, we study the response of a turbulent von K\'{a}rm\'{a}n swirling flow to a continuous breaking of its forcing symmetry. Experiments are carried over a wide Reynolds number range, from laminar regime at $Re = 10^{2}$ to highly turbulent regime near $Re = 10^{6}$. We show that the flow symmetry can be quantitatively characterized by two scalars, the global angular momentum $I$ and the mixing layer altitude $z_s$, which are shown to be statistically equivalent. Furthermore, we report that the flow response to small forcing dissymetry is linear, with a slope depending on the Reynolds number: this response coefficient increases non monotonically from small to large Reynolds number and presents a divergence at a critical Reynolds number $Re_c = 40\,000 \pm 5\,000$. This divergence coincides with a change in the statistical properties of the instantaneous flow symmetry $I(t)$: its pdf changes from Gaussian to non-Gaussian with multiple maxima, revealing metastable non-symmetrical states. For symmetric forcing, a peak of fluctuations of $I(t)$ is also observed at $Re_c$: these fluctuations correspond to time-intermittencies between metastable states of the flow which, contrary to the very-long-time-averaged mean flow, spontaneously and dynamically break the system symmetry. We show that these observations can be interpreted in terms of divergence of the susceptibility to symmetry breaking, revealing the existence of a phase transition. An analogy with the ferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition in solid-state physics is presented and discussed., Comment: to appear in Journal of Statistical Mechanics

A solvable turbulent model is used to predict both the structure of the boundary layer and the scaling laws in thermal convection. The transport of heat depends on the interplay between the thermal, viscous and integral scales of turbulence, and thus, on both the Prandtl number and the Reynolds numbers. Depending on their values, a wide variety of possible regimes is found, including the classical 2/7 and 1/3 law, and a new $4/13=0.308$ law for the Nusselt power law variation with the Rayleigh number., Comment: RevTex4, 4 pages

The VKS experiment has evidenced dynamo action in a highly turbulent liquid sodium von K\'arm\'an flow [R. Monchaux et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 98}, 044502 (2007)]. However, the existence and the onset of a dynamo happen to depend on the exact experimental configuration. By performing kinematic dynamo simulations on real flows, we study their influence on dynamo action, in particular the sense of rotation and the presence of an annulus in the shear layer plane. The 3 components of the mean velocity fields are measured in a water prototype for different VKS configurations through Stereoscopic Particle Imaging Velocimetry. Experimental data are then processed in order to use them in a periodic cylindrical kinematic code. Even if the kinematic predicted mode appears to be different from the experimental saturated one, the results concerning the existence of a dynamo and the thresholds are in qualitative agreement, showing the importance of the flow characteristics.

We study the scaling properties of heat transfer $Nu$ in turbulent thermal convection at large Prandtl number $Pr$ using a quasi-linear theory. We show that two regimes arise, depending on the Reynolds number $Re$. At low Reynolds number, $Nu Pr^{-1/2}$ and $Re$ are a function of $Ra Pr^{-3/2}$. At large Reynolds number $Nu Pr^{1/3}$ and $Re Pr$ are function only of $Ra Pr^{2/3}$ (within logarithmic corrections). In practice, since $Nu$ is always close to $Ra^{1/3}$, this corresponds to a much weaker dependence of the heat transfer in the Prandtl number at low Reynolds number than at large Reynolds number. This difference may solve an existing controversy between measurements in SF6 (large $Re$) and in alcohol/water (lower $Re$). We link these regimes with a possible global bifurcation in the turbulent mean flow. We further show how a scaling theory could be used to describe these two regimes through a single universal function. This function presents a bimodal character for intermediate range of Reynolds number. We explain this bimodality in term of two dissipation regimes, one in which fluctuation dominate, and one in which mean flow dominates. Altogether, our results provide a six parameters fit of the curve $Nu(Ra,Pr)$ which may be used to describe all measurements at $Pr\ge 0.7$., Comment: RevTex, 8 Figures

We generalize an analogy between rotating and stratified shear flows. This analogy is summarized in Table 1. We use this analogy in the unstable case (centrifugally unstable flow v.s. convection) to compute the torque in Taylor-Couette configuration, as a function of the Reynolds number. At low Reynolds numbers, when most of the dissipation comes from the mean flow, we predict that the non-dimensional torque $G=T/\nu^2L$, where $L$ is the cylinder length, scales with Reynolds number $R$ and gap width $\eta$, $G=1.46 \eta^{3/2} (1-\eta)^{-7/4}R^{3/2}$. At larger Reynolds number, velocity fluctuations become non-negligible in the dissipation. In these regimes, there is no exact power law dependence the torque versus Reynolds. Instead, we obtain logarithmic corrections to the classical ultra-hard (exponent 2) regimes: $$ G=0.50\frac{\eta^{2}}{(1-\eta)^{3/2}}\frac{R^{2}}{\ln[\eta^2(1-\eta)R^ 2/10^4]^{3/2}}.$$ These predictions are found to be in excellent agreement with available experimental data. Predictions for scaling of velocity fluctuations are also provided., Comment: revTex, 6 Figures

This paper provides a prescription for the turbulent viscosity in rotating shear flows for use e.g. in geophysical and astrophysical contexts. This prescription is the result of the detailed analysis of the experimental data obtained in several studies of the transition to turbulence and turbulent transport in Taylor-Couette flow. We first introduce a new set of control parameters, based on dynamical rather than geometrical considerations, so that the analysis applies more naturally to rotating shear flows in general and not only to Taylor-Couette flow. We then investigate the transition thresholds in the supercritical and the subcritical regime in order to extract their general dependencies on the control parameters. The inspection of the mean profiles provides us with some general hints on the mean to laminar shear ratio. Then the examination of the torque data allows us to propose a decomposition of the torque dependence on the control parameters in two terms, one completely given by measurements in the case where the outer cylinder is at rest, the other one being a universal function provided here from experimental fits. As a result, we obtain a general expression for the turbulent viscosity and compare it to existing prescription in the literature. Finally, throughout all the paper we discuss the influence of additional effects such as stratification or magnetic fields., Comment: RevTex, 21 pages, 20 figures

We experimentally study the susceptibility to symmetry breaking of a closed turbulent von K\'{a}rm\'{a}n swirling flow from $Re = 150$ to $Re \simeq 10^{6}$. We report a divergence of this susceptibility at an intermediate Reynolds number $Re = Re_\chi \simeq 90\,000$ which gives experimental evidence that such a highly space and time fluctuating system can undergo a "phase transition". This transition is furthermore associated with a peak in the amplitude of fluctuations of the instantaneous flow symmetry corresponding to intermittencies between spontaneously symmetry breaking metastable states., Comment: accepted for publication in Physical review Letters

We study the minimization of potential enstrophy at fixed circulation and energy in an oceanic basin with arbitrary topography. For illustration, we consider a rectangular basin and a linear topography h=by which represents either a real bottom topography or the beta-effect appropriate to oceanic situations. Our minimum enstrophy principle is motivated by different arguments of statistical mechanics reviewed in the article. It leads to steady states of the quasigeostrophic (QG) equations characterized by a linear relationship between potential vorticity q and stream function psi. For low values of the energy, we recover Fofonoff flows [J. Mar. Res. 13, 254 (1954)] that display a strong westward jet. For large values of the energy, we obtain geometry induced phase transitions between monopoles and dipoles similar to those found by Chavanis and Sommeria [J. Fluid Mech. 314, 267 (1996)] in the absence of topography. In the presence of topography, we recover and confirm the results obtained by Venaille and Bouchet [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 104501 (2009)] using a different formalism. In addition, we introduce relaxation equations towards minimum potential enstrophy states and perform numerical simulations to illustrate the phase transitions in a rectangular oceanic basin with linear topography (or beta-effect)., Comment: 26 pages, 28 figures

A simplified thermodynamic approach of the incompressible 2D Euler equation is considered based on the conservation of energy, circulation and microscopic enstrophy. Statistical equilibrium states are obtained by maximizing the Miller-Robert-Sommeria (MRS) entropy under these sole constraints. The vorticity fluctuations are Gaussian while the mean flow is characterized by a linear $\bar{\omega}-\psi$ relationship. Furthermore, the maximization of entropy at fixed energy, circulation and microscopic enstrophy is equivalent to the minimization of macroscopic enstrophy at fixed energy and circulation. This provides a justification of the minimum enstrophy principle from statistical mechanics when only the microscopic enstrophy is conserved among the infinite class of Casimir constraints. A new class of relaxation equations towards the statistical equilibrium state is derived. These equations can provide an effective description of the dynamics towards equilibrium or serve as numerical algorithms to determine maximum entropy or minimum enstrophy states. We use these relaxation equations to study geometry induced phase transitions in rectangular domains. In particular, we illustrate with the relaxation equations the transition between monopoles and dipoles predicted by Chavanis and Sommeria [J. Fluid. Mech. 314, 267 (1996)]. We take into account stable as well as metastable states and show that metastable states are robust and have negative specific heats. This is the first evidence of negative specific heats in that context. We also argue that saddle points of entropy can be long-lived and play a role in the dynamics because the system may not spontaneously generate the perturbations that destabilize them., Comment: 26 pages, 10 figures

Using a Maximum Entropy Production Principle (MEPP), we derive a new type of relaxation equations for two-dimensional turbulent flows in the case where a prior vorticity distribution is prescribed instead of the Casimir constraints [Ellis, Haven, Turkington, Nonlin., 15, 239 (2002)]. The particular case of a Gaussian prior is specifically treated in connection to minimum enstrophy states and Fofonoff flows. These relaxation equations are compared with other relaxation equations proposed by Robert and Sommeria [Phys. Rev. Lett. 69, 2776 (1992)] and Chavanis [Physica D, 237, 1998 (2008)]. They can provide a small-scale parametrization of 2D turbulence or serve as numerical algorithms to compute maximum entropy states with appropriate constraints. We perform numerical simulations of these relaxation equations in order to illustrate geometry induced phase transitions in geophysical flows., Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures

We confront a recent visco-plastic description of dense granular flows [P. Jop et al, Nature, {\bf 441} (2006) 727] with multi-directional inhomogeneous steady flows observed in non-smooth contact dynamics simulations of 2D half-filled rotating drums. Special attention is paid to check separately the two underlying fundamental statements into which the considered theory can be recast, namely (i) a single relation between the invariants of stress and strain rate tensors and (ii) the alignment between these tensors. Interestingly, the first prediction is fairly well verified over more than four decades of small strain rate, from the surface rapid flow to the quasi-static creep phase, where it is usually believed to fail because of jamming. On the other hand, the alignment between stress and strain rate tensors is shown to fail over the whole flow, what yields an apparent violation of the visco-plastic rheology when applied without care. In the quasi-static phase, the particularly large misalignment is conjectured to be related to transient dilatancy effects.

We study the flow response to an externally imposed homogeneous magnetic field in a turbulent swirling flow of liquid sodium -- the VKS2 experiment in which magnetic Reynolds numbers Rm up to 50 are reached. Induction effects are larger than in the former VKS1 experiment. At Rm larger than about 25, the local amplitude of induced field components supersedes that of the applied field, and exhibits non-Gaussian fluctuations. Slow dynamical instationarities and low-frequency bimodal dynamics are observed in the induction, presumably tracing back to large scale fluctuations in the hydrodynamic flow.

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 figures

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 figures

We adapt the statistical mechanics of the shallow-water equations to the case where the flow is forced at small scales. We assume that the statistics of forcing is encoded in a prior potential vorticity distribution which replaces the specification of the Casimir constraints in the case of freely evolving flows. This determines a generalized entropy functional which is maximized by the coarse-grained PV field at statistical equilibrium. Relaxation equations towards equilibrium are derived which conserve the robust constraints (energy, mass and circulation) and increase the generalized entropy.

We experimentally study the properties of mean and most probable velocity fields in a turbulent von K\'arm\'an flow. These fields are found to be described by two families of functions, as predicted by a recent statistical mechanics study of 3D axisymmetric flows. We show that these functions depend on the viscosity and on the forcing. Furthermore, when the Reynolds number is increased, we exhibit a tendency for Beltramization of the flow, i.e. a velocity-vorticity alignment. This result provides a first experimental evidence of nonlinearity depletion in non-homogeneous non-isotropic turbulent flow., Comment: latex prl-stationary-051215arxiv.tex, 9 files, 6 figures, 4 pages (http://www-drecam.cea.fr/spec/articles/S06/008/)

We discuss the possibility that astrophysical accretion disks are dynamically unstable to non-axisymmetric disturbances with characteristic scales much smaller than the vertical scale height. The instability is studied using three methods: one based on the energy integral, which allows the determination of a sufficient condition of stability, one using a WKB approach, which allows the determination of the necessary and sufficient condition for instability and a last one by numerical solution. This linear instability occurs in any inviscid stably stratified differential rotating fluid for rigid, stress-free or periodic boundary conditions, provided the angular velocity $\Omega$ decreases outwards with radius $r$. At not too small stratification, its growth rate is a fraction of $\Omega$. The influence of viscous dissipation and thermal diffusivity on the instability is studied numerically, with emphasis on the case when $d \ln \Omega / d \ln r =-3/2$ (Keplerian case). Strong stratification and large diffusivity are found to have a stabilizing effect. The corresponding critical stratification and Reynolds number for the onset of the instability in a typical disk are derived. We propose that the spontaneous generation of these linear modes is the source of turbulence in disks, especially in weakly ionized disks., Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures, to appear in A&A

We investigate the analogy between circumstellar disks and the Taylor-Couette flow. Using the Reynolds similarity principle, the analogy results in a number of parameter-free predictions about stability of the disks, and their turbulent transport properties, provided the disk structure is available. We discuss how the latter can be deduced from interferometric observations of circumstellar material. We use the resulting disk structure to compute the molecular transport coefficients, including the effect of ionization by the central object. The resulting control parameter indicates that the disk is well into the turbulent regime. The analogy is also used to compute the effective accretion rate, as a function of the disk characteristic parameters (orbiting velocity, temperature and density). These values are in very good agreement with experimental, parameter-free predictions derived from the analogy. The turbulent viscosity is also computed and found to correspond to an $\alpha$-parameter $2\times 10^{-4}<\alpha<2\times 10^{-2}$. Predictions regarding fluctuations are also checked: luminosity fluctuations in disks do obey the same universal distribution as energy fluctuations observed in a laboratory turbulent flow. Radial velocity dispersion in the outer part of the disk is predicted to be of the order of 0.1 km/s, in agreement with available observations. All these issues provide a proof of the turbulent character of the circumstellar disks, as well as a parameter-free theoretical estimate of effective accretion rates., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 13 pages

We present a model describing evolution of the small-scale Navier-Stokes turbulence due to its stochastic distortions by much larger turbulent scales. This study is motivated by numerical findings (laval, 2001) that such interactions of separated scales play important role in turbulence intermittency. We introduce description of turbulence in terms of the moments of the k-space quantities using a method previously developed for the kinematic dynamo problem (Nazarenko, 2003). Working with the $k$-space moments allows to introduce new useful measures of intermittency such as the mean polarization and the spectral flatness. Our study of the 2D turbulence shows that the energy cascade is scale invariant and Gaussian whereas the enstrophy cascade is intermittent. In 3D, we show that the statistics of turbulence wavepackets deviates from gaussianity toward dominance of the plane polarizations. Such turbulence is formed by ellipsoids in the $k$-space centered at its origin and having one large, one neutral and one small axes with the velocity field pointing parallel to the smallest axis., Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures

In this paper, we show that astrophysical accretion disks are dynamically unstable to non-axisymmetric disturbances. This instability is present in any stably stratified anticyclonically sheared flow as soon as the angular velocity decreases outwards. In the large Froude number limit, the maximal growth rate is proportional to the angular rotation velocity, and is independent of the stratification. In the low Froude number limit, it decreases like the inverse of the Froude number, thereby vanishing for unstratified, centrigugally stable flows. The instability is not sensitive to disk boundaries. We discuss the possible significance of our result, and its implications on the turbulent state achieved by the disks. We conclude that this linear instability is one of the best candidates for the source of turbulence in geometrically thin disks, and that magnetic fields can be safely ignored when studying their turbulent state. The relevance of the instability for thick disks or nearly neutrally stratified disks remains to be explored., Comment: submitted to Astronomy & Astrophysics, on Oct 02, 2001

We present numerical simulation of 2D turbulent flow using a new model for the subgrid scales which are computed using a dynamic equation linking the subgrid scales with the resolved velocity. This equation is not postulated, but derived from the constitutive equations under the assumption that the non-linear interactions of subgrid scales between themselves are equivalent to a turbulent viscosity.The performances of our model are compared with Direct Numerical Simulations of decaying and forced turbulence. For a same resolution, numerical simulations using our model allow for a significant reduction of the computational time (of the order of 100 in the case we consider), and allow the achievement of significantly larger Reynolds number than the direct method., Comment: 35 pages, 9 figures

Numerical simulations are used to determine the influence of the non-local and local interactions on the intermittency corrections in the scaling properties of 3D turbulence. We show that neglect of local interactions leads to an enhanced small-scale energy spectrum and to a significantly larger number of very intense vortices (tornadoes) and stronger intermittency. On the other hand, neglect of the non-local interactions results in even stronger small-scale spectrum but significantly weaker intermittency. Based on these observations, a new model of turbulence is proposed, in which non-local (RDT-like) interactions couple large and small scale via a multiplicative process with additive noise and the local interactions are modeled by a turbulent viscosity. This model is used to derive a simple toy version of the Langevin equations for small-scale velocity increments. A Gaussian approximation for the large scale fields yields the Fokker-Planck equation for the probability distribution function of the velocity increments. Steady state solutions of this equation allows to qualitatively explain the anomalous corrections and the skewness generation along scale., Comment: 40 pages, 29 figures

We use an analytic toy model of turbulent convection to show that most of the scaling regimes are spoiled by logarithmic corrections, in a way consistent with the most accurate experimental measurements available nowadays. This sets a need for the search of new measurable quantities which are less prone to dimensional theories., Comment: Revtex, 24 pages, 7 figures