English

Path lengths in turbulence

Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability 2015-05-30 v1 Fluid Dynamics

Abstract

By tracking tracer particles at high speeds and for long times, we study the geometric statistics of Lagrangian trajectories in an intensely turbulent laboratory flow. In particular, we consider the distinction between the displacement of particles from their initial positions and the total distance they travel. The difference of these two quantities shows power-law scaling in the inertial range. By comparing them with simulations of a chaotic but non-turbulent flow and a Lagrangian Stochastic model, we suggest that our results are a signature of turbulence.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1108.2824,
  title  = {Path lengths in turbulence},
  author = {Nicholas T. Ouellette and Eberhard Bodenschatz and Haitao Xu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1108.2824},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

accepted for publication in Journal of Statistical Physics

R2 v1 2026-06-21T18:50:12.650Z