Recent Developments in Theories of Inhomogeneous and Anisotropic Turbulence

Abstract

Understanding inhomogeneous and anisotropic fluid flows requires mathematical and computational tools that are tailored to such flows and distinct from methods used to understand the canonical problem of homogeneous and isotropic turbulence. We review some recent developments in the theory of inhomogeneous and anisotropic turbulence, placing special emphasis on several kinds of quasi-linear approximations and their corresponding statistical formulations. Aspects of quasi-linear theory that have received insufficient attention in the literature are discussed, and open questions are framed.