Power fluctuations in turbulence

Phys Rev Lett. 2019 Mar 29;122(12):124504. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.124504.

Abstract

To generate or maintain a turbulent flow, one needs to introduce kinetic energy. This energy injection necessarily fluctuates and these power fluctuations act on all turbulent excited length scales. If the power is injected using forces proportional to the velocity, such as those common in shear flows, or with a force acting at the largest scales only, the spectrum of these fluctuations is shown to have a universal inertial range, proportional to the energy spectrum.