English

Statistical mechanics of 2D turbulence with a prior vorticity distribution

Fluid Dynamics 2009-11-13 v1

Abstract

We adapt the formalism of the statistical theory of 2D turbulence in the case where the Casimir constraints are replaced by the specification of a prior vorticity distribution. A phenomenological relaxation equation is obtained for the evolution of the coarse-grained vorticity. This equation monotonically increases a generalized entropic functional (determined by the prior) while conserving circulation and energy. It can be used as a thermodynamical parametrization of forced 2D turbulence, or as a numerical algorithm to construct (i) arbitrary statistical equilibrium states in the sense of Ellis-Haven-Turkington (ii) particular statistical equilibrium states in the sense of Miller-Robert-Sommeria (iii) arbitrary stationary solutions of the 2D Euler equation that are formally nonlinearly dynamically stable according to the Ellis-Haven-Turkington stability criterion refining the Arnold theorems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0904.2145,
  title  = {Statistical mechanics of 2D turbulence with a prior vorticity distribution},
  author = {Pierre-Henri Chavanis},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0904.2145},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

Proceedings of the international conference "Euler Equations: 250 Years" (Aussois, France 18-23 June 2007). Edited by G. Eyink, U. Frisch, R. Moreau and A. Sobolevski