Resistive drift-wave turbulence

Journal Article · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1995 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.871116· OSTI ID:164962

Camargo, S J; Biskamp, D; Scott, B D ^[1]

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1. Max-Planck-Institut fuer Plasmaphysik 85748 Garching bei Muenchen (Germany)

Two-dimensional resistive drift-wave turbulence is studied by high-resolution numerical simulations in the limit of small viscosity. Density and potential fluctuations are cross-coupled by resistive dissipation, proportional to the adiabaticity parameter, C, which determines the character of the system: adiabatic (C{much_gt}1) or hydrodynamic (C{much_lt}1). Various cases are computed for 0.1{le}C{le}5. Energy spectra exhibit a maximum at some wave number {ital k}{sub 0}(C) and an inertial range behavior for {ital k}{gt}{ital k}{sub 0}. The transfer of energy and vorticity is directly computed and confirms the persistence of local cascade dynamics in all regimes: the familiar dual cascade for the {bold E}{times}{bold B} flow eddies, and the direct cascade to small scales for the density as it is advected by the eddies. Inertial range spectral power laws agree surprisingly well with simple scaling predictions. No prominent large-scale long-lived coherent structures are observed, an absence that is consistent with the statistical properties, which are found to be perfectly Gaussian for {ital k}{approx_lt}{ital k}{sub 0}, but exhibit the non-Gaussian behavior, typical for small-scale intermittency, in the inertial range. {copyright} {ital 1995} {ital American} {ital Institute} {ital of} {ital Physics}.

• OSTI ID: 164962
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 2; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
CASCADE THEORY
COLLISIONAL PLASMA
ENERGY SPECTRA
ENERGY TRANSFER
GAUSSIAN PROCESSES
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
PLASMA SIMULATION
TRANSPORT THEORY
TURBULENCE
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
VISCOSITY