Vortex dynamics and Lagrangian statistics in a model for active turbulence
Abstract
Cellular suspensions such as dense bacterial flows exhibit a turbulence-like phase under certain conditions. We study this phenomenon of "active turbulence" statistically by using numerical tools. Following Wensink et al. [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 109, 14308 (2012)], we model active turbulence by means of a generalized Navier-Stokes equation. Two-point velocity statistics of active turbulence, both in the Eulerian and the Lagrangian frame, is explored. We characterize the scale-dependent features of two-point statistics in this system. Furthermore, we extend this statistical study with measurements of vortex dynamics in this system. Our observations suggest that the large-scale statistics of active turbulence is close to Gaussian with sub-Gaussian tails.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1710.01956,
title = {Vortex dynamics and Lagrangian statistics in a model for active turbulence},
author = {Martin James and Michael Wilczek},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1710.01956},
year = {2018}
}
Comments
Supplemental videos available at https://youtu.be/syPuvMFeDW8 and https://youtu.be/C-dkRJPBAZ8