Multiscales and cascading in isotropic turbulence

Abstract

The explicit mapping method is used to analyze the nonlinear dynamical behavior for cascade in isotropic turbulence. This deductive scale analysis is shown to provide the first visual evidence of the celebrated Richardson-Kolmogorv cascade, and reveals in particular its multiscale character based on the statistical solutions of Navier-Stokes equations. The results also indicate that the energy cascading process has remarkable similarities with the deterministic construction rules of the logistic map. Cascade of period-doubling bifurcations have been seen in this isotropic turbulent system that exhibit chaotic behavior. The "cascade" appears as an infinite sequence of period-doubling bifurcations. © 2011 Science China Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.