Abstract
Turbulence is characterized by the non-linear cascades of energy and other
inviscid invariants across a huge range of scales, from where they are injected
to where they are dissipated. Recently, new experimental, numerical and
theoretical works have revealed that many turbulent configurations deviate from
the ideal 3D/2D isotropic cases characterized by the presence of a strictly
direct/inverse energy cascade, respectively. We review recent works from a
unified point of view and we present a classification of all known transfer
mechanisms. Beside the classical cases of direct and inverse cascades, the
different scenarios include: split cascades to small and large scales
simultaneously, multiple/dual cascades of different quantities, bi-directional
cascades where direct and inverse transfers of the same invariant coexist in
the same scale-range and finally equilibrium states where no cascades are
present, including the case when a condensate is formed. We classify all
transitions as the control parameters are changed and we analyse when and why
different configurations are observed. Our discussion is based on a set of
paradigmatic applications: helical turbulence, rotating and/or stratified
flows, MHD and passive/active scalars where the transfer properties are altered
as one changes the embedding dimensions, the thickness of the domain or other
relevant control parameters, as the Reynolds, Rossby, Froude, Peclet, or Alfven
numbers. We discuss the presence of anomalous scaling laws in connection with
the intermittent nature of the energy dissipation in configuration space. An
overview is also provided concerning cascades in other applications such as
bounded flows, quantum, relativistic and compressible turbulence, and active
matter, together with implications for turbulent modelling. Finally, we present
a series of open problems and challenges that future work needs to address.
Description
Cascades and transitions in turbulent flows
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