On the existence and scaling of structure functions in turbulence according to the data

Abstract

We sample a velocity field that has an inertial spectrum and a skewness that matches experimental data. In particular, we compute a self-consistent correction to the Kolmogorov exponent and find that for our model it is zero. We find that the higher-order structure functions diverge for orders larger than a certain threshold, as theorized in some recent work. The significance of the results for the statistical theory of homogeneous turbulence is reviewed. © 2006 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA.