Distribution of scales in turbulence
The physical structure of convoluted surfaces and fluid interfaces in turbulence is quantified by a distribution of geometric scales. A scale measure suitable for multidimensional surfaces and a one-to-one correspondence between the scale distribution and the coverage dimension are used to analyze the scale dependence of the interfacial geometry. Application to concentration interfaces in a turbulent mixing flow indicates that the statistical laws exhibited at the small scales can be quantified and modeled. Based on the scale distribution, dimensionless measures of folding and wrinkling of the fluid interfaces are introduced which are useful to quantify the contributions of the large-scale and small-scale turbulent flow structure to the interfacial geometry.
Catrakis
HJ
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, USA.