Role of vortical structures for enstrophy and scalar transport in flows with and without stable stratification

TL;DR

This study explores how vortical structures influence enstrophy and scalar transport at the turbulent/non-turbulent interface, revealing the roles of vortex stretching, viscous diffusion, and the impact of stable stratification.

Contribution

It provides new insights into enstrophy dynamics, highlighting the significance of viscous dissipation within vortical structures and the role of OECSs in scalar advection and redistribution.

Findings

Vortex stretching produces enstrophy within OECS boundaries.

Viscous diffusion transfers enstrophy across vortex boundaries.

OECSs significantly enhance scalar transport and profile magnitudes at the TNTI.

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the enstrophy dynamics in relation to objective Eulerian coherent structures (OECSs) and their impact on the enstrophy and scalar transport near the turbulent/non-turbulent interface (TNTI) in flows with and without stable stratification. We confirm that vortex-stretching produces enstrophy inside the boundaries of the OECSs, while viscous diffusion transfers the enstrophy across the boundaries of the structures. Although often overlooked in the literature, viscous dissipation of enstrophy within the boundaries of vortical structures is significant. Conversely, for the weakly stratified flows also investigated here, the effect of the baroclinic torque is negligible. We provide evidence that the OECSs advect the passive/active scalar and redistribute it via molecular diffusion. Finally, we use conditional analysis to show that the typical profiles of the enstrophy and scalar transport equation terms across the TNTI are compatible with the presence of OECSs positioned at the edge between the turbulent sublayer and the turbulent core region. We show that when these profiles are further conditioned to the presence of OECSs, their magnitude is considerably higher.