Pre-unstable set of multiple transient three-dimensional perturbation waves and the associated turbulent state in a shear flow

TL;DR

This paper investigates the spectral characteristics of small 3D perturbations in shear flows before turbulence onset, revealing universal inertial range exponents that are independent of nonlinear interactions.

Contribution

It determines the inertial range exponents for 3D perturbations in shear flows and compares them with turbulent states, highlighting their universality and differences.

Findings

Longitudinal perturbations decay with an exponent of -3.

Purely 3D perturbations decay with an exponent of -5/3.

Combined perturbations show a transition from -5/3 to -3 decay across wavenumber ranges.

Abstract

In order to understand whether, and to what extent, spectral representation can effectively highlight the nonlinear interaction among different scales, it is necessary to consider the state that precedes the onset of instabilities and turbulence in flows. In this condition, a system is still stable, but is however subject to a swarming of arbitrary 3D small perturbations. These can arrive any instant, and then undergo a transient evolution which is ruled out by the initial-value problem associated to the Navier-Stokes linearized formulation. The set of 3D small perturbations constitutes a system of multiple spatial and temporal scales which are subject to all the processes included in the perturbative Navier-Stokes equations: linearized convective transport, linearized vortical stretching and tilting, and the molecular diffusion. Leaving aside nonlinear interaction among the different scales, these features are tantamount to the features of the turbulent state. We determine the exponent of the inertial range of arbitrary longitudinal and transversal perturbations acting on a typical shear flow, i.e. the bluff-body wake. Then, we compare the present results with the exponent of the corresponding developed turbulent state (notoriously equal to -5/3). For longitudinal perturbations, we observe a decay rate of -3 in the inertial range, typically met in two-dimensional turbulence. For purely 3D perturbations, instead, the energy decreases with a factor of -5/3. If we consider a combination of longitudinal and transversal perturbative waves, the energy spectrum seems to have a decay of -3 for larger wavenumbers ([50, 100]), while for smaller wavenumbers ([3,50]) the decay is of the order -5/3. We can conclude that the value of the exponent of the inertial range has a much higher level of universality, which is not necessarily associated to the nonlinear interaction.