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Forcing-dependent dynamics and emergence of helicity in rotating turbulence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2016

Vassilios Dallas  and
Steven M. Tobias
Vassilios Dallas*
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Steven M. Tobias
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
*
†Email address for correspondence: v.dallas@leeds.ac.uk
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Abstract

The effects of large-scale mechanical forcing on the dynamics of rotating turbulent flows are studied by means of direct numerical simulations, systematically varying the nature of the mechanical force in time. We find that the statistically stationary solutions of these flows depend on the nature of the forcing mechanism. Rapidly enough rotating flows with a forcing that has a persistent direction relative to the axis of rotation bifurcate from a non-helical state to a helical state despite the fact that the forcing is non-helical. We demonstrate that the nature of the mechanical force in time and the emergence of helicity have direct implications for the cascade dynamics of these flows, determining the anisotropy in the flow, the energy condensation at large scales and the power-law energy spectra that are consistent with previous findings and phenomenologies under strong and weak turbulence.

JFM classification

Turbulent Flows: Rotating turbulence Turbulent Flows: Turbulent Flows

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Papers
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Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 798 , 10 July 2016 , pp. 682 - 695
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© 2016 Cambridge University Press 

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