Wave turbulence on the surface of a fluid in a high-gravity environment

TL;DR

This study investigates wave turbulence on a fluid surface under high gravity using centrifuge experiments, confirming theoretical predictions about the transition frequency and spectrum independence from gravity level.

Contribution

It demonstrates experimentally that the gravity-capillary wave spectrum remains consistent across different gravity levels and highlights finite size effects impacting turbulence timescales.

Findings

Transition frequency increases with gravity as predicted.

Wave spectrum is independent of gravity and wave steepness.

Finite size effects influence nonlinear and dissipation timescales.

Abstract

We report on the observation of gravity-capillary wave turbulence on the surface of a fluid in a high-gravity environment. By using a large-diameter centrifuge, the effective gravity acceleration is tuned up to 20 times the Earth gravity. The transition frequency between the gravity and capillary regimes is thus increased up to one decade as predicted theoretically. A frequency power-law wave spectrum is observed in each regime and is found to be independent of the gravity level and of the wave steepness. While the timescale separation required by weak turbulence is well verified experimentally regardless of the gravity level, the nonlinear and dissipation timescales are found to be independent of the scale, as a result of the finite size effects of the system (large-scale container modes) that are not taken currently into account theoretically.