Energy and enstrophy spectra and fluxes for the inertial-dissipation range of two-dimensional turbulence

Abstract

In this paper, using Pao's conjecture [Y.-H. Pao, Phys. Fluids 8, 1063 (1965)], we derive expressions for the spectra and fluxes of kinetic energy and enstrophy for two-dimensional (2D) forced turbulence that extend beyond the inertial range. In these expressions, the fluxes and the spectra contain additional factors of the exponential form. To validate these model predictions, we perform numerical simulations of 2D turbulence with external force applied at wavenumber band ( k f , k f + 1 ) in the intermediate range. The numerical results match with the model predictions, except for the energy and enstrophy fluxes for k < k f , where the fluxes exhibit significant fluctuations. We show that these fluctuations arise due to the unsteady nature of the flow at small wavenumbers. For k < k f , the shell-to-shell energy transfers computed using numerical data show forward energy transfers among the neighboring shells, but backward energy transfers among other shells.