TY - JOUR
T1 - Self-consistent chaotic transport in fluids and plasmas
AU - Del-Castillo-Negrete, Diego
PY - 2000/3
Y1 - 2000/3
N2 - Self-consistent chaotic transport is the transport of a field ℱ by a velocity field v according to an advection-diffusion equation in which there is a dynamical constrain between the two fields, i.e., script O sign(ℱ,v) = 0 where scipt O sign is an integral or differential operator, and the Lagrangian trajectories of fluid particles exhibit sensitive dependence on initial conditions. In this paper we study self-consistent chaotic transport in two-dimensional incompressible shear flows. In this problem ℱ is the vorticity ζ, the corresponding advection-diffusion equation is the vorticity equation, and the self-consistent constrain is the vorticity-velocity coupling ẑ · Δ × v=ζ. To study this problem we consider three self-consistent models of intermediate complexity between the simple but limited kinematic chaotic advection models and the approach based on the direct numerical simulation of the Navier-Stokes equation. The first two models, the vorticity defect model and the single wave model, are constructed by successive simplifications of the vorticity-velocity coupling. The third model is an area preserving self-consistent map obtained from a space-time discretization of the single wave model. From the dynamical systems perspective these models are useful because they provide relatively simple self-consistent Hamiltonians (streamfunctions) for the Lagrangian advection problem. Numerical simulations show that the models capture the basic phenomenology of shear flow instability, vortex formation and relaxation typically observed in direct numerical simulations of the Navier-Stokes equation. Self-consistent chaotic transport in electron plasmas in the context of kinetic theory is also discussed. In this case ℱ is the electron distribution function in phase space, the corresponding advection equation is the Vlasov equation and the self-consistent constrain is the Poisson equation. This problem is closely related to the vorticity problem. In particular, the vorticity defect model is analogous to the Vlasov-Poisson model and the single wave model and the self-consistent map apply equally to both plasmas and fluids. Also, the single wave model is analogous to models used in the study of globally coupled oscillator systems.
AB - Self-consistent chaotic transport is the transport of a field ℱ by a velocity field v according to an advection-diffusion equation in which there is a dynamical constrain between the two fields, i.e., script O sign(ℱ,v) = 0 where scipt O sign is an integral or differential operator, and the Lagrangian trajectories of fluid particles exhibit sensitive dependence on initial conditions. In this paper we study self-consistent chaotic transport in two-dimensional incompressible shear flows. In this problem ℱ is the vorticity ζ, the corresponding advection-diffusion equation is the vorticity equation, and the self-consistent constrain is the vorticity-velocity coupling ẑ · Δ × v=ζ. To study this problem we consider three self-consistent models of intermediate complexity between the simple but limited kinematic chaotic advection models and the approach based on the direct numerical simulation of the Navier-Stokes equation. The first two models, the vorticity defect model and the single wave model, are constructed by successive simplifications of the vorticity-velocity coupling. The third model is an area preserving self-consistent map obtained from a space-time discretization of the single wave model. From the dynamical systems perspective these models are useful because they provide relatively simple self-consistent Hamiltonians (streamfunctions) for the Lagrangian advection problem. Numerical simulations show that the models capture the basic phenomenology of shear flow instability, vortex formation and relaxation typically observed in direct numerical simulations of the Navier-Stokes equation. Self-consistent chaotic transport in electron plasmas in the context of kinetic theory is also discussed. In this case ℱ is the electron distribution function in phase space, the corresponding advection equation is the Vlasov equation and the self-consistent constrain is the Poisson equation. This problem is closely related to the vorticity problem. In particular, the vorticity defect model is analogous to the Vlasov-Poisson model and the single wave model and the self-consistent map apply equally to both plasmas and fluids. Also, the single wave model is analogous to models used in the study of globally coupled oscillator systems.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0034147672&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1063/1.166477
DO - 10.1063/1.166477
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0034147672
SN - 1054-1500
VL - 10
SP - 75
EP - 88
JO - Chaos
JF - Chaos
IS - 1
ER -