Effects of Discrete Energy and Helicity Conservation in Numerical Simulations of Helical Turbulence

Abstract

Helicity is the scalar product between velocity and vorticity and, just like energy, its integral is an inviscid invariant of the three-dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. However, space- and time-discretization methods typically corrupt this property, leading to violation of the inviscid conservation principles. This work investigates the discrete helicity conservation properties of spectral and finite-differencing methods, in relation to the form employed for the convective term. Effects due to Runge-Kutta time-advancement schemes are also taken into consideration in the analysis. The theoretical results are proved against inviscid numerical simulations, while a scale-dependent analysis of energy, helicity and their non-linear transfers is performed to further characterize the discretization errors of the different forms in forced helical turbulence simulations.