skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Numerical simulation of the geometrical-optics reduction of CE2 and comparisons to quasilinear dynamics

Journal Article · · Physics of Plasmas
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5018142· OSTI ID:1466924

Zonal flows have been observed to appear spontaneously from turbulence in a number of physical settings. A complete theory for their behavior is still lacking. Recently, a number of studies have investigated the dynamics of zonal flows using quasilinear (QL) theories and the statistical framework of a second-order cumulant expansion (CE2). A geometrical-optics (GO) reduction of CE2, derived under an assumption of separation of scales between the fluctuations and the zonal flow, is studied here numerically. The reduced model, CE2-GO, has a similar phase-space mathematical structure to the traditional wave-kinetic equation, but that wave-kinetic equation has been shown to fail to preserve enstrophy conservation and to exhibit an ultraviolet catastrophe. CE2-GO, in contrast, preserves nonlinear conservation of both energy and enstrophy. We show here how to retain these conservation properties in a pseudospectral simulation of CE2-GO. We then present nonlinear simulations of CE2-GO and compare with direct simulations of quasilinear (QL) dynamics. Furthermore, we find that CE2-GO retains some similarities to QL.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1466924
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1427890
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-742576; 897424
Journal Information:
Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 5; ISSN 1070-664X
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 5 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (51)

Statistical Simulation of the Magnetorotational Dynamo journal February 2015
Generation of Mean Flows and Jets on a Beta Plane and over Topography journal July 1993
Emergence and Equilibration of Jets in Beta-Plane Turbulence: Applications of Stochastic Structural Stability Theory journal May 2014
The structure of zonal jets in geostrophic turbulence journal September 2012
The stability of planetary waves on an infinite beta‐plane journal January 1974
Multiple Jets as PV Staircases: The Phillips Effect and the Resilience of Eddy-Transport Barriers journal March 2008
Zonal-flow dynamics from a phase-space perspective journal December 2016
Zonal flow as pattern formation journal October 2013
Interactions of disparate scales in drift-wave turbulence journal December 2000
On secondary and tertiary instability in electromagnetic plasma microturbulence journal October 2013
Pattern formation outside of equilibrium journal July 1993
Dynamics of zonal flows: failure of wave-kinetic theory, and new geometrical optics approximations journal November 2016
Structure and Spacing of Jets in Barotropic Turbulence journal October 2007
Gyrokinetic secondary instability theory for electron and ion temperature gradient driven turbulence journal November 2007
Coherent Structure Phenomena in Drift Wave–Zonal Flow Turbulence journal January 2000
Kinetic Theory of Jet Dynamics in the Stochastic Barotropic and 2D Navier-Stokes Equations journal September 2013
Generation of zonal flows through symmetry breaking of statistical homogeneity journal March 2014
Fundamental statistical descriptions of plasma turbulence in magnetic fields journal April 2002
S3T Stability of the Homogeneous State of Barotropic Beta-Plane Turbulence journal May 2015
Nonlinear interaction of small‐scale Rossby waves with an intense large‐scale zonal flow journal March 1994
Jovian atmospheric dynamics: an update after Galileo and Cassini journal July 2005
Multi-scale gyrokinetic simulations: Comparison with experiment and implications for predicting turbulence and transport journal April 2016
A review of zonal flow experiments journal December 2008
Multi-scale gyrokinetic simulation of tokamak plasmas: enhanced heat loss due to cross-scale coupling of plasma turbulence journal December 2015
Generation and Stability of Zonal Flows in Ion-Temperature-Gradient Mode Turbulence journal December 2000
Turbulent Transport Reduction by Zonal Flows: Massively Parallel Simulations journal September 1998
Barotropic Instability of Rossby Wave Motion journal March 1972
Magnetic self-organization in Hall-dominated magnetorotational turbulence journal July 2013
On the Mechanism Underlying the Spontaneous Emergence of Barotropic Zonal Jets journal July 2013
On non-local energy transfer via zonal flow in the Dimits shift journal October 2017
Statistics of an Unstable Barotropic Jet from a Cumulant Expansion journal June 2008
Zonal flows in plasma—a review journal April 2005
On the Elimination of Aliasing in Finite-Difference Schemes by Filtering High-Wavenumber Components journal September 1971
Zonal flow generation by parametric instability in magnetized plasmas and geostrophic fluids journal May 2000
Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics via Direct Statistical Simulation journal January 2011
Generalized Quasilinear Approximation: Application to Zonal Jets journal May 2016
Zonal Flows and Long-Lived Axisymmetric Pressure Bumps in Magnetorotational Turbulence journal May 2009
Zonostrophic Instability journal May 2012
Stationary Zonal Flows during the Formation of the Edge Transport Barrier in the JET Tokamak journal February 2016
Pattern Formation and Dynamics in Nonequilibrium Systems book January 2009
Statistical State Dynamics of Jet–Wave Coexistence in Barotropic Beta-Plane Turbulence journal May 2016
Waves and turbulence on a beta-plane journal June 1975
Statistics of an Unstable Barotropic Jet from a Cumulant Expansion text January 2007
Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics via Direct Statistical Simulation text January 2010
Emergence and equilibration of jets in beta-plane turbulence: applications of Stochastic Structural Stability Theory text January 2012
Zonal Flow as Pattern Formation text January 2013
Magnetic self-organisation in Hall-dominated magnetorotational turbulence text January 2013
S3T stability of the homogeneous state of barotropic beta-plane turbulence text January 2014
Statistical state dynamics of jet/wave coexistence in barotropic beta-plane turbulence text January 2015
Dynamics of Zonal Flows: Failure of Wave-Kinetic Theory, and New Geometrical Optics Approximations text January 2016
On Nonlocal Energy Transfer via Zonal Flow in the Dimits Shift text January 2017

Cited By (3)


Figures / Tables (5)


Similar Records

Wave kinetic equation for inhomogeneous drift-wave turbulence beyond the quasilinear approximation
Journal Article · Tue Jan 08 00:00:00 EST 2019 · Journal of Plasma Physics · OSTI ID:1466924

Zonal Flows and Turbulence in Fluids and Plasmas
Thesis/Dissertation · Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · OSTI ID:1466924

On the structure of the drifton phase space and its relation to the Rayleigh–Kuo criterion of the zonal-flow stability
Journal Article · Mon Jul 23 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Physics of Plasmas · OSTI ID:1466924