Energetics and vortex structures near small-scale shear layers in turbulence
T. Watanabe, K. Nagata Energetics and vortex structures near small-scale shear layers in turbulence Physics of Fluids, 34 095114 2022 This article may be found at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0099959 . The PDF is also available here . This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. Abstract Vortices and kinetic energy distributions around small-scale shear layers are investigated with direct numerical simulations of isotropic turbulence. The shear layers are examined with the triple decomposition of a velocity gradient tensor. The shear layers subject to a biaxial strain appear near vortices with rotation, which induce energetic flow that contributes to the shear. A similar configuration of rotating motions near the shear layers is observed in a multi-scale random velocity field, which is free from the dynamics of turbulence. Therefore, the mechanism that sustains shearing motion is embedded as a kinemat