Statistics of the perceived velocity gradient tensor in a rotating turbulent flow

Abstract

The dynamics and structure of rotating homogeneous turbulence is investigated through the statistical properties of the ‘perceived’ velocity gradient tensor, defined by interpolation from the locations and velocities of a set of four particles. The results of direct numerical simulations of forced homogeneous rotating turbulence at different Rossby numbers are presented. We thus provide a multi-scale analysis of the dynamics of rotating turbulence and some of its important features. We present scaling laws for second- and third-order moments of the perceived velocity gradient tensor. We relate the distribution of the enstrophy and strain variance, and of their production terms, to the topology of the flow, thanks to conditional probability density functions. These quantities demonstrate the role played by the Zeman scale in the elementary processes of rotating turbulence, when compared to the scale at which the perceived velocity gradient tensor is measured.