English

Combined role of molecular diffusion, mean streaming and helicity in the eddy diffusivity of short-correlated random flows

Fluid Dynamics 2016-10-24 v1 Chaotic Dynamics

Abstract

We analytically investigate the effective-diffusivity tensor of a tracer particle in a fluid flow endowed with a short correlation time. By means of functional calculus and a multiscale expansion, we write down the main contributions to the eddy diffusivity due to each single physical effect and to their interplays. Namely, besides molecular diffusivity and a constant uniform mean streaming, we take into account the possibility for the (incompressible, Gaussian, stationary, homogeneous, isotropic) turbulent fluctuations to break parity invariance. With respect to the classical turbulence-driven diffusivity amplification for delta-correlated flows, we find that the presence of a short temporal correlation induces a diminution even when coupled with such effects, with two principal exceptions. Notably, the diffusivity is --- perturbatively --- enlarged not only by the helical contribution itself, but also by the interference between molecular diffusion and mean flow.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1606.04812,
  title  = {Combined role of molecular diffusion, mean streaming and helicity in the eddy diffusivity of short-correlated random flows},
  author = {Marco Martins Afonso and Andrea Mazzino and Sílvio Gama},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1606.04812},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

14 pages, submitted to J.Stat.Mech