Theoretical and Computational Study of Rotating Isotropic Turbulence

Abstract

The various flow regimes that occur in rotating isotropic turbulence and their associated turbulence structure are studied. Direct numerical simulations are conducted for moderate and rapid rotation rates and comparisons are made with the predictions of generalized Eddy Damped Quasi-Normal Markovian (EDQNM) approximations. It is shown that at high rotation rates the nonlinear transfer terms remain small and that the development of the spectrum is through pure viscous decay. This shows that the effect of rapid rotation on the turbulence kinetic energy is through the shutting off of the production term in the dissipation rate equation. At moderate and relatively rapid rates, the rotation causes a discernible anisotropy to develop in the integral length scale with a mild trend toward a two-dimensionalization of the flow. As the flow decays, the Rossby number decreases, leading again to the shutting off of the nonlinear transfer terms. For extremely rapid rotation rates, the anisotropies in the integral length scales are small and direct numerical simulation results are in good agreement with rapid distortion theory.