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Title: Baropycnal Work: A Mechanism for Energy Transfer across Scales

Abstract

The role of baroclinicity, which arises from the misalignment of pressure and density gradients, is well-known in the vorticity equation, yet its role in the kinetic energy budget has never been obvious. Here, we show that baroclinicity appears naturally in the kinetic energy budget after carrying out the appropriate scale decomposition. Strain generation by pressure and density gradients, both barotropic and baroclinic, also results from our analysis. These two processes underlie the recently identified mechanism of “baropycnal work”, which can transfer energy across scales in variable density flows. As such, baropycnal work is markedly distinct from pressure-dilatation into which the former is implicitly lumped in Large Eddy Simulations. We provide numerical evidence from 10243 direct numerical simulations of compressible turbulence. The data shows excellent pointwise agreement between baropycnal work and the nonlinear model we derive, supporting our interpretation of how it operates.

Authors:
; ORCiD logo
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States). Lab. for Laser Energetics; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
OSTI Identifier:
1514738
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1531342; OSTI ID: 1658632
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0014318; SC0019329; NA0003856; AC02-05CH11231; 80NSSC18K0772
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Published Article
Journal Name:
Fluids
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Fluids Journal Volume: 4 Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 2311-5521
Publisher:
MDPI
Country of Publication:
Switzerland
Language:
English
Subject:
42 ENGINEERING; multiscale; energy transfer; cascade; turbulence; variable density flow; baroclinic vortex generation

Citation Formats

Lees, Aarne, and Aluie, Hussein. Baropycnal Work: A Mechanism for Energy Transfer across Scales. Switzerland: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.3390/fluids4020092.
Lees, Aarne, & Aluie, Hussein. Baropycnal Work: A Mechanism for Energy Transfer across Scales. Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.3390/fluids4020092
Lees, Aarne, and Aluie, Hussein. 2019. "Baropycnal Work: A Mechanism for Energy Transfer across Scales". Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.3390/fluids4020092.
@article{osti_1514738,
title = {Baropycnal Work: A Mechanism for Energy Transfer across Scales},
author = {Lees, Aarne and Aluie, Hussein},
abstractNote = {The role of baroclinicity, which arises from the misalignment of pressure and density gradients, is well-known in the vorticity equation, yet its role in the kinetic energy budget has never been obvious. Here, we show that baroclinicity appears naturally in the kinetic energy budget after carrying out the appropriate scale decomposition. Strain generation by pressure and density gradients, both barotropic and baroclinic, also results from our analysis. These two processes underlie the recently identified mechanism of “baropycnal work”, which can transfer energy across scales in variable density flows. As such, baropycnal work is markedly distinct from pressure-dilatation into which the former is implicitly lumped in Large Eddy Simulations. We provide numerical evidence from 10243 direct numerical simulations of compressible turbulence. The data shows excellent pointwise agreement between baropycnal work and the nonlinear model we derive, supporting our interpretation of how it operates.},
doi = {10.3390/fluids4020092},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1514738}, journal = {Fluids},
issn = {2311-5521},
number = 2,
volume = 4,
place = {Switzerland},
year = {Sat May 18 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Sat May 18 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record at https://doi.org/10.3390/fluids4020092

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