Direct measurements of the energy of intense vorticity filaments in turbulence

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2003 Feb;67(2 Pt 2):027301. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.67.027301. Epub 2003 Feb 18.

Abstract

The global instantaneous power injected in a turbulent shear flow is investigated. A conditional averaging technique reveals the complete energetic transfer scenario of the intense vorticity filaments, which were visualized by Douady, Couder, and Brachet [Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 983 (1991)]. It is found that during their existence filaments store a significant part of the turbulent kinetic energy. This energy is dissipated during the destruction phase of filaments. The total energy transferred to small scales due to filaments is quantified on the basis of a global flow visualization.