arXiv subjects

Bérengère Dubrulle

Publications and source records attributed to Bérengère Dubrulle.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Finding a reconnection in a vortex-haystack

Counter-rotating vortex reconnection is a topology-transforming event that leads to strong vorticity amplification and is often associated with the most irregular regions of the velocity field. Detecting such events directly in turbulent flows is a major challenge due to the ambiguity inherent in the definition of a vortex and the rapid proliferation of intense small scale vortices. We develop a novel methodology by combining two tools. The first is a local in scale, space and time regularity indicator that isolates spatio-temporal regions of interest. The second is a reconnection indicator that exploits a well-known property of vortex reconnection namely, that the enstrophy (volume integral of the square of vorticity) flows from the symmetry to the collision plane. To examine the flow of enstrophy in the correct reference frame, a new method inspired by orientational order parameters in liquid crystals is developed. We then show a proof of concept for our reconnection indicator by comparing it with diagnostic methods available in the literature. The method is validated on experimental datasets from a turbulent von Kármán flow at two different resolutions, one of which allows us to probe the flow below the Kolmogorov scale, $η$. Our findings suggest that counter-rotating vortex reconnection could be a potential mechanism for the creation of motions at scales below $η$.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2026

Using analogues to investigate error growth and predictability in turbulence

In this study, we revisit Lorenz's pioneering concept of analogues to investigate error growth and predictability in fully developed turbulence using experimental data. By applying the method to a 1D turbulent velocity time series, we successfully identify the three error growth regimes intuited by Lorenz and later formalized by turbulence theory: the chaotic exponential regime, the algebraic regime of spontaneous stochasticity, and the saturation regime. Our analysis reveals that the Lyapunov exponent and the exponent of the algebraic regime depend on the initial error. We interpret this dependence as a statistical bias induced by the intermittency of turbulence, where rare events, characterized by lower Lyapunov exponents and more singular velocity increments, are preferentially sampled when considering larger initial errors. These findings not only validate Lorenz's qualitative intuition but also provide new quantitative insights into the predictability of turbulent flows, paving the way for potential applications in the prediction of extreme events.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2026

A toy model of turbulent shear flow using vortons

We introduce a novel toy model for shear flows, exploiting the spatial intermittency and the scale separation between large-scale flows and small-scale structures. The model is highly sparse, focusing exclusively on the most intense structures, which are represented by vortons: dynamically regularized quasi-singularities that experience rapid distortion from the large-scale shear. The vortons, in turn, influence the large-scale flow through the sub-grid stress tensor. Despite its simplicity, the model displays an interesting transition between two distinct regimes: (i) a laminar regime, where dissipation is entirely attributed to the large-scale flow, and the vortons dynamics is essentially diffusive, and (ii) a turbulent regime, in which most of the dissipation arises from the vortons. These regimes correspond to different scalings of dissipation and the Grashof number as functions of the Reynolds number, with power-law relationships that resemble those observed in classical turbulence.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2025

Numerical investigations around the Gallavotti-Cohen Fluctuation Theorem on Log-lattices

Using the recent concept of fluids projected onto Log-Lattices, we investigate the validity of the Gallavotti-Cohen Fluctuation Theorem (GCFT) in the context of fluid mechanics. The dynamics of viscous flows are inherently irreversible, which violates a fundamental assumption of the fluctuation theorem. To address this issue, Gallavotti introduced a new model, the Reversible Navier-Stokes Equation (RNS), which recovers the time-reversal symmetry of the Navier-Stokes (NS) equations while retaining the core characteristics of the latter. We show that for fluids on Log-Lattices, the GCFT holds for the RNS system. Furthermore, we show that this result can be extended, under certain assumptions, to the traditional, irreversible Navier-Stokes equations. Additionally, we show that the phase space contraction rate satisfies a large deviation relation which rate function can be estimated.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2025

Behind the mirror: the hidden dissipative singular solutions of ideal reversible fluids on log-lattices

Empirical observations show that turbulence exhibits a broad range of scaling exponents, characterizing how the velocity gradients diverge in the inviscid limit. These exponents are thought to be linked to singular solutions of the Euler equations. In this work, we propose a dynamic approach to construct concept of these solutions directly from the fluid equations, using a reversible framework and introducing the efficiency $\cal{E}$, a non-dimensional number that quantifies the amount of energy stored within the flow due to an applied force. To circumvent the computational burden of tracking singularities at finer and finer scale, we test this approach on fluids on log-lattices, which allow for high effective resolutions at a moderate cost, while preserving the same symmetries and global conservation laws as ordinary fluids. We observe a phase transition at a given efficiency, separating regular, viscous solutions (hydrodynamic phase), from singular, inviscid solutions (singular phase). The singular solutions experience self-similar blow-ups with exponents corresponding to non-dissipative solutions. By applying a stochastic regularization, we are able to go past the blow-up, and show that the resulting solutions converge to power-law solutions with exponents characterizing dissipative solutions. Overall, the range of scaling exponents observed for log-lattice solutions is comparable to those of ordinary fluids.

nlin.CD↗

arXiv2025

Efficiency of turbulence

We consider the efficiency of turbulence, a dimensionless parameter that characterises the fraction of the input energy stored into a turbulent flow field. We first show that the inverse of the efficiency provides an upper bound for the dimensionless energy injection in a turbulent flow. We analyse the efficiency of turbulence for different flows using numerical and experimental data. Our analysis suggests that efficiency is bounded from above, and, in some cases, saturates following a power law reminiscent of phase transitions and bifurcations. We show that for the von K{á}rm{á}n flow the efficiency saturation is insensitive to the details of the forcing impellers. In the case of Rayleigh-B{é}nard convection, we show that within the Grossman and Lohse model, the efficiency saturates in the inviscid limit, while the dimensionless kinetic energy injection/dissipation goes to zero. In the case of pipe flow, we show that saturation of the efficiency cannot be excluded, but would be incompatible with the Prandtl law of the drag friction coefficient. Furthermore, if the power law behaviour holds for the efficiency saturation, it can explain the kinetic energy and the energy dissipation defect laws proposed for the shear flows. Efficiency saturation is an interesting empirical property of turbulence that may help in evaluating the ''closeness'' of experimental and numerical data to the true turbulent regime, wherein the kinetic energy saturates to its inviscid limit.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2025

Viscous and Inviscid Reconnection of Vortex Rings on Logarithmic Lattices

To address the possible occurrence of a Finite-Time Singularity (FTS) during the oblique reconnection of two vortex rings, Moffatt-Kimura (MK) (J. Fluid Mech., 2019a; J. Fluid Mech., 2019b) developed a simplified model based on the Biot-Savart law and claimed that the vorticity amplification $ω_{\text{max}}/ω_0$ becomes very large for vortex Reynolds number $Re_Γ \geq 4000$. However, with Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS), Yao and Hussain (J. Fluid Mech., 2020) were able to show that the vorticity amplification is in fact much smaller and increases slowly with $Re_Γ$. The suppression of vorticity was linked to two key factors - deformation of the vortex core during approach and formation of hairpin-like bridge structures. In this work, a recently developed numerical technique called log-lattice (Campolina and Mailybaev, Nonlinearity, 2021), where interacting Fourier modes are logarithmically sampled, is applied to the same oblique vortex ring interaction problem. It is shown that this technique is not only capable of capturing the two key physical processes overlooked by the MK model but also other quantitative and qualitative attributes generally seen with DNS, at a fraction of the computational cost. Furthermore, the sparsity of the Fourier modes allows us to probe very large $Re_Γ = 10^8$ until which the peak of the maximum norm of vorticity, while increasing with $Re_Γ$, remains finite, and a blowup is observed only for the inviscid case.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2025

Spontaneous stochasticity in a 3d Weierstrass-ABC flow

Chaotic systems are characterised by exponential separation between close-by trajectories, which in particular leads to deterministic unpredictability over an infinite time-window. It is now believed, that such butterfly effect is not fully relevant to account for the type of randomness observed in turbulence. For example, tracers in homogeneous isotropic flows are observed to separate algebraically, following a universal cubic growth, independent from the initial separation. This regime, known as Richardon's regime, suggests that at the level of trajectories, and unlike in chaos theory, randomness may in fact emerge in finite-time. This phenomenon called 'spontaneous stochasticity' originates from the singular nature of the underlying dynamics, and provides a candidate framework for turbulent randomness and transport. While spontaneous stochasticity has been mathematically formalised in simplified turbulence models, a precise and systematic tool for quantifying the various facets of this phenomenon is to this day missing. In particular, it is still unclear whether chaos is important for that behaviour to appear. In this paper we introduce a 3d rough flow that can be tuned to present Lagrangian chaos. The flow is inspired by the Weierstrass function and is entitled 'the WABC model'. After analysing its properties, we define what is spontaneous stochasticity in this context. The provided formal definition is then adapted to better suit for numerical analysis. We present the results from Monte-Carlo simulations of Lagrangian particles in this flow. Within the numerical precision, we quantitatively observe the appearance of spontaneous stochasticity in this model. We investigate the influence of noise type and find that the observed spontaneous stochasticity does not depend on the chosen stochastic regularisations.

nlin.CD↗

arXiv2024

A statistical physics and dynamical systems perspective on geophysical extreme events

Statistical physics and dynamical systems theory are key tools to study high-impact geophysical events such as temperature extremes, cyclones, thunderstorms, geomagnetic storms and many more. Despite the intrinsic differences between these events, they all originate as temporary deviations from the typical trajectories of a geophysical system, resulting in well-organised, coherent structures at characteristic spatial and temporal scales. While statistical extreme value analysis techniques are capable to provide return times and probabilities of occurrence of certain geophysical events, they are not apt to account for their underlying physics. Their focus is to compute the probability of occurrence of events that are large or small with respect to some specific observable (e.g. temperature, precipitation, solar wind), rather than to relate rare or extreme phenomena to the underlying anomalous geophysical regimes. This paper outlines this knowledge gap, presenting some related challenges, new formalisms and briefly commenting on how stochastic approaches tailored to the study of extreme geophysical events can help to advance their understanding.

physics.ao-ph↗

arXiv2021

On Lagrangian Intermittency from 4-D Particle Tracking Velocimetry measurements of a turbulent von Kármán flow

We investigate the ability of 4D Particle Tracking Velocimetry measurements at high particle density to explore intermittency and irreversibility in a turbulent swirling flow at various Reynolds numbers. For this, we devise suitable tools to remove the experimental noise, and compute the statistics of both Lagrangian velocity increments and wavelet coefficients of the Lagrangian power (the time derivative of the kinetic energy along a trajectory). We show that the signature of noise is strongest on short trajectories, and results in deviations from the regularity condition at small time scales. Considering only long trajectories to get rid of such effect, we obtain scaling regimes that are compatible with a reduced intermittency, meaning that long trajectories are also associated with areas of larger regularity. The scaling laws, both in time and Reynolds number, can be described by the multifractal model, with a log-normal spectrum and an intermittency parameter that is three times smaller than in the Eulerian case, where all the areas of the flow are taken into account.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2019

Phase transition in time-reversible Navier-Stokes equations

We present a comprehensive study of the statistical features of a three-dimensional time-reversible Navier-Stokes (RNS) system, wherein the standard viscosity $ν$ is replaced by a fluctuating thermostat that dynamically compensates for fluctuations in the total energy. We analyze the statistical features of the RNS steady states in terms of a non-negative dimensionless control parameter $\mathcal{R}_r$, which quantifies the balance between the fluctuations of kinetic energy at the forcing length scale $\ell_{\rm f}$ and the total energy $E_0$. We find that the system exhibits a transition from a high-enstrophy phase at small $\mathcal{R}_r$, where truncation effects tend to produce partially thermalized states, to a hydrodynamical phase with low enstrophy at large $\mathcal{R}_r$. Using insights from a diffusion model of turbulence (Leith model), we argue that the transition is in fact akin to a continuous phase transition, where $\mathcal{R}_r$ indeed behaves as a thermodynamic control parameter, e.g., a temperature, the enstrophy plays the role of an order parameter, while the symmetry breaking parameter $h$ is (one over) the truncation scale $k_{\rm max}$. We find that the signatures of the phase transition close to the critical point $\mathcal{R}_r^\star$ can essentially be deduced from a heuristic mean-field Landau free energy. This point of view allows us to reinterpret the relevant asymptotics in which the dynamical ensemble equivalence conjectured by Gallavotti, Phys.Lett.A, 223, 1996 could hold true. Our numerics indicate that the low-order statistics of the 3D RNS are indeed qualitatively similar to those observed in direct numerical simulations of the standard Navier-Stokes (NS) equations with viscosity chosen so as to match the average value of the reversible viscosity.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2016

Euler-like modelling of dense granular flows: application to a rotating drum

General conservation equations are derived for 2D dense granular flows from the Euler equation within the Boussinesq approximation. In steady flows, the 2D fields of granular temperature, vorticity and stream function are shown to be encoded in two scalar functions only. We checked such prediction on steady surface flows in a rotating drum simulated through the Non-Smooth Contact Dynamics method. This result is non trivial because granular flows are dissipative and therefore not necessarily compatible with Euler equation. Finally, we briefly discuss some possible ways to predict theoretically these two functions using statistical mechanics.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

New criteria to detect singularities in experimental incompressible flows

We introduce two new singularity detection criteria based on the work of Duchon-Robert (DR) [J. Duchon and R. Robert, Nonlinearity, 13, 249 (2000)], and Eyink [G.L. Eyink, Phys. Rev. E, 74 (2006)] which allow for the local detection of singularities with scaling exponent $h\leqslant1/2$ in experimental flows, using PIV measurements. We show that in order to detect such singularities, one does not need to have access to the whole velocity field inside a volume but can instead look for them from stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (SPIV) data on a plane. We discuss the link with the Beale-Kato-Majda (BKM) [J.T. Beale, T. Kato, A. Majda, Commun. Math. Phys., 94, 61 (1984)] criterion, based on the blowup of vorticity, which applies to singularities of Navier-Stokes equations. We illustrate our discussion using tomographic PIV data obtained inside a high Reynolds number flow generated inside the boundary layer of a wind tunnel. In such a case, BKM and DR criteria are well correlated with each other.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2015

Global vs local energy dissipation: the energy cycle of the turbulent von Kármán flow

In this paper, we investigate the relations between global and local energy transfers in a turbulent von Kármán flow. The goal is to understand how and where energy is dissipated in such a flow and to reconstruct the energy cycle in an experimental device where local as well as global quantities can be measured. We use PIV measurements and we model the Reynolds stress tensor to take subgrid scales into account. This procedure involves a free parameter that is calibrated using angular momentum balance. We then estimate the local and global mean injected and dissipated power for several types of impellers, for various Reynolds numbers and for various flow topologies. These PIV estimates are then compared with direct injected power estimates provided by torque measurements at the impellers. The agreement between PIV estimates and direct measurements depends on the flow topology. In symmetric situations, we are able to capture up to 90% of the actual global energy dissipation rate. However, our results become increasingly inaccurate as the shear layer responsible for most of the dissipation approaches one of the impellers, and cannot be resolved by our PIV set-up. Finally, we show that a very good agreement between PIV estimates and direct measurements is obtained using a new method based on the work of Duchon and Robert which generalizes the Kármán-Howarth equation to nonisotropic, nonhomogeneous flows. This method provides parameter-free estimates of the energy dissipation rate as long as the smallest resolved scale lies in the inertial range. These results are used to evidence a well-defined stationary energy cycle within the flow in which most of the energy is injected at the top and bottom impellers, and dissipated within the shear layer. The influence of the mean flow geometry and the Reynolds number on this energy cycle is studied for a wide range of parameters.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2015

Wave turbulence description of interacting particles: Klein-Gordon model with a Mexican-hat potential

In field theory, particles are waves or excitations that propagate on the fundamental state. In experiments or cosmological models one typically wants to compute the out-of-equilibrium evolution of a given initial distribution of such waves. Wave Turbulence deals with out-of-equilibrium ensembles of weakly nonlinear waves, and is therefore well-suited to address this problem. As an example, we consider the complex Klein-Gordon equation with a Mexican-hat potential. This simple equation displays two kinds of excitations around the fundamental state: massive particles and massless Goldstone bosons. The former are waves with a nonzero frequency for vanishing wavenumber, whereas the latter obey an acoustic dispersion relation. Using wave turbulence theory, we derive wave kinetic equations that govern the coupled evolution of the spectra of massive and massless waves. We first consider the thermodynamic solutions to these equations and study the wave condensation transition, which is the classical equivalent of Bose-Einstein condensation. We then focus on nonlocal interactions in wavenumber space: we study the decay of an ensemble massive particles into massless ones. Under rather general conditions, these massless particles accumulate at low wavenumber. We study the dynamics of waves coexisting with such a strong condensate, and we compute rigorously a nonlocal Kolmogorov-Zakharov solution, where particles are transferred non-locally to the condensate, while energy cascades towards large wave numbers through local interactions. This nonlocal cascading state constitute the intermediate asymptotics between the initial distribution of waves and the thermodynamic state reached in the long-time limit.

nlin.CD↗

arXiv2015

A statistical mechanics framework for the large-scale structure of turbulent von K{á}rm{á}n flows

In the present paper, recent experimental results on large scale coherent steady states observed in experimental von K{á}rm{á}n flows are revisited from a statistical mechanics perspective. The latter is rooted on two levels of description. We first argue that the coherent steady states may be described as the equilibrium states of well-chosen lattice models, that can be used to define global properties of von K{á}rm{á}n flows, such as their temperatures. The equilibrium description is then enlarged, in order to reinterpret a series of results about the stability of those steady states, their susceptibility to symmetry breaking, in the light of a deep analogy with the statistical theory of Ferromagnetism. We call this analogy "Ferro-Turbulence"

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2014

Influence of Reynolds number and forcing type in a turbulent von Kármán flow

We present a detailed study of of a global bifurcation occuring in a turbulent von Kármán swirling flow. In this system, the statistically steady states progressively display hysteretic behaviour when the Reynolds number is increased above the transition to turbulence. We examine in detail this hysteresis using asymmetric forcing conditions --- rotating the impellers at different speeds. For very high Reynolds numbers, we study the sensitivity of the hysteresis cycle --- using complementary Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and global mechanical measurements --- to the forcing nature, imposing either the torque or the speed of the impellers. New mean states, displaying multiple quasi-steady states and negative differential responses, are experimentally observed in torque control. A simple analogy with electrical circuits is performed to understand the link between multi-stability and negative responses. The system is compared to other, similar "bulk" systems, to understand some relevant ingredients of negative differential responses, and studied in the framework of thermodynamics of long-range interacting systems. The experimental results are eventually compared to the related problem of Rayleigh-Bénard turbulence.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2014

Robust estimate of dynamo thresholds in the von Kármán sodium experiment using the Extreme Value Theory

We apply a new threshold detection method based on the extreme value theory to the von Kármán sodium (VKS) experiment data. The VKS experiment is a successful attempt to get a dynamo magnetic field in a laboratory liquid-metal experiment. We first show that the dynamo threshold is associated to a change of the probability density function of the extreme values of the magnetic field. This method does not require the measurement of response functions from applied external perturbations, and thus provides a simple threshold estimate. We apply our method to different configurations in the VKS experiment showing that it yields a robust indication of the dynamo threshold as well as evidence of hysteretic behaviors. Moreover, for the experimental configurations in which a dynamo transition is not observed, the method provides a way to extrapolate an interval of possible threshold values.

physics.flu-dyn↗