Geometry and Scaling Laws of Excursion and Iso-sets of Enstrophy and Dissipation in Isotropic Turbulence

Abstract: Motivated by interest in the geometry of high intensity events of turbulent flows, we examine spatial correlation functions of sets where turbulent events are particularly intense. These sets are defined using indicator functions on excursion and iso-value sets. Their geometric scaling properties are analyzed by examining possible power-law decay of their radial correlation function. We apply the analysis to enstrophy, dissipation, and velocity gradient invariants $Q$ and $R$ and their joint spatial distibutions, using data from a direct numerical simulation of isotropic turbulence at ${\rm Re}_\lambda \approx 430$. While no fractal scaling is found in the inertial range using box-counting in the finite Reynolds number flow considered here, power-law scaling in the inertial range is found in the radial correlation functions. Thus a geometric characterization in terms of these sets' correlation dimension is possible. Strong dependence on the enstrophy and dissipation threshold is found, consistent with multifractal behavior. Nevertheless the lack of scaling of the box-counting analysis precludes direct quantitative comparisons with earlier work based on the multifractal formalism. Surprising trends, such as a lower correlation dimension for strong dissipation events compared to strong enstrophy events, are observed and interpreted in terms of spatial coherence of vortices in the flow. We show that sets defined by joint conditions on strain and enstrophy, and on $Q$ and $R$, also display power law scaling of correlation functions, providing further characterization of the complex spatial structure of these intersection sets.