Kolmogorov scaling and intermittency in Rayleigh-Taylor turbulence

TL;DR

This paper uses high-resolution simulations to analyze Rayleigh-Taylor turbulence, focusing on its scaling behavior and intermittency to understand its relation to universal Navier-Stokes turbulence.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of RT turbulence scaling laws and intermittency effects, clarifying theoretical controversies and exploring universality aspects.

Findings

RT turbulence exhibits specific scaling behaviors.

Intermittency significantly affects mean field predictions.

Results support or challenge universality hypotheses.

Abstract

The Rayleigh--Taylor (RT) turbulence is investigated by means of high resolution numerical simulations. The main question addressed here is on whether RT phenomenology can be considered as a manifestation of universality of Navier--Stokes equations with respect to forcing mechanisms. At a theoretical level the situation is far from being firmly established and, indeed, contrasting predictions have been formulated. Our first aim here is to clarify the above controversy through a deep analysis of scaling behavior of relevant statistical observables. The effects of intermittency on the mean field scaling predictions is also discussed.