Intermittency and universality in fully developed inviscid and weakly compressible turbulent flows

Abstract

We perform high-resolution numerical simulations of homogenous and isotropic compressible turbulence, with an average 3D Mach number close to 0.3. We study the statistical properties of intermittency for velocity, density, and entropy. For the velocity field, which is the only quantity that can be compared to the isotropic incompressible case, we find no statistical differences in its behavior in the inertial range due either to the slight compressibility or to the different dissipative mechanism. For the density field, we find evidence of "frontlike" structures, although no shocks are produced by the simulation. © 2008 The American Physical Society.