Twisting vortex lines regularize Navier-Stokes turbulence

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Buaria, Dhawal, Lawson, John M., Wilczek, Michael
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Buaria, Dhawal
Lawson, John M.
Wilczek, Michael
author_facet Buaria, Dhawal
Lawson, John M.
Wilczek, Michael
contents Fluid flows are intrinsically characterized via the topology and dynamics of underlying vortex lines. Turbulence in common fluids like water and air, mathematically described by the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations (INSE), engenders spontaneous self-stretching and twisting of vortex lines, generating a complex hierarchy of structures. While the INSE are routinely used to describe turbulence, their regularity remains unproven; the implicit assumption being that the self-stretching is ultimately regularized by viscosity, preventing any singularities. Here, we uncover an inviscid regularizing mechanism stemming from self-stretching itself, by analyzing the flow topology as perceived by an observer aligned with the vorticity vector undergoing amplification. While, initially, vorticity amplification occurs via increasing twisting of vortex lines, a regularizing anti-twist spontaneously emerges to prevent unbounded growth. By isolating a vortex, we additionally demonstrate the genericity of this self-regularizing anti-twist. Our work, directly linking dynamics of vortices to turbulence statistics, reveals how the Navier-Stokes dynamics avoids the development of singularities even without the aid of viscosity.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_13125
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Twisting vortex lines regularize Navier-Stokes turbulence
Buaria, Dhawal
Lawson, John M.
Wilczek, Michael
Fluid Dynamics
Soft Condensed Matter
Mathematical Physics
Computational Physics
Fluid flows are intrinsically characterized via the topology and dynamics of underlying vortex lines. Turbulence in common fluids like water and air, mathematically described by the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations (INSE), engenders spontaneous self-stretching and twisting of vortex lines, generating a complex hierarchy of structures. While the INSE are routinely used to describe turbulence, their regularity remains unproven; the implicit assumption being that the self-stretching is ultimately regularized by viscosity, preventing any singularities. Here, we uncover an inviscid regularizing mechanism stemming from self-stretching itself, by analyzing the flow topology as perceived by an observer aligned with the vorticity vector undergoing amplification. While, initially, vorticity amplification occurs via increasing twisting of vortex lines, a regularizing anti-twist spontaneously emerges to prevent unbounded growth. By isolating a vortex, we additionally demonstrate the genericity of this self-regularizing anti-twist. Our work, directly linking dynamics of vortices to turbulence statistics, reveals how the Navier-Stokes dynamics avoids the development of singularities even without the aid of viscosity.
title Twisting vortex lines regularize Navier-Stokes turbulence
topic Fluid Dynamics
Soft Condensed Matter
Mathematical Physics
Computational Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.13125