Eddy diffusivity operator in homogeneous isotropic turbulence

We use the recently developed macroscopic forcing method [A. Mani and D. Park, Phys. Rev. Fluids 6, 054607 (2021).] to compute the scale-dependent eddy diffusivity characterizing ensemble-averaged scalar and momentum transport in incompressible homogeneous isotropic turbulence. For scales larger than the energy containing eddies, eddy diffusivity is found to be constant and consistent with the Boussinesq approximation. However, for small scales eddy diffusivity is found to vanish inversely proportional to the wave number. Behavior at all scales is reasonably captured by a nonlocal eddy diffusivity operator modeled as D/root I - l(2)del(2), where D is the eddy diffusivity in the Boussinesq limit, and l is a constant on the order of the large-eddy length. These results present a direct measurement of eddy diffusivity in turbulence with implications in turbulence modeling.

Automated summary

In this study, the scale-dependent eddy diffusivity characterizing scalar and momentum transport in incompressible homogeneous isotropic turbulence is computed using the recently developed macroscopic forcing method. The results show that the eddy diffusivity is constant for scales larger than the energy containing eddies, but vanishes inversely proportional to the wave number for small scales. These findings can be reasonably captured by a nonlocal eddy diffusivity operator.