Complex systems and Biological physics seminar [before December 2013]

The Persistence Problem in Two-Dimensional Fluid Turbulence

by Dhrubaditya Mitra

Europe/Stockholm
Description
We numerically study the persistence (probability distribution of lifetime) of vortical and extensional points in incompressible Navier--Stokes equation in two dimensions. The topological Okubo-Weiss parameter is used to differentiate between vortical and extensional points. In Eulerian frame the persistence probability distribution function (PDF) shows exponential tail, but the probability distribution of lifetime of Lagrangian particles in vortical region shows power law tail with an universal exponent $\theta=3.1\pm0.2$.