Is the scaling of supersonic turbulence universal?
The statistical properties of turbulence are considered to be universal at sufficiently small length scales, i.e., independent of boundary conditions and large-scale forces acting on the fluid. Analyzing data from numerical simulations of supersonic turbulent flow driven by external forcing, we demonstrate that this is not generally true for the two-point velocity statistics of compressible turbulence. However, a reformulation of the refined similarity hypothesis in terms of the mass-weighted velocity rho1/3v yields scaling laws that are almost insensitive to the forcing. The results imply that the most intermittent dissipative structures are shocks closely following the scaling of Burgers turbulence.
Schmidt
Wolfram
W
Lehrstuhl für Astronomie, Institut für Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany. schmidt@astro.uni-wuerzburg.de
Federrath
Christoph
C
Klessen
Ralf
R