arXiv subjects

Gabriel Katul

Publications and source records attributed to Gabriel Katul.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

On the large-scale vertical velocity intermittency of turbulent wall flows

Large-scale intermittency in the vertical velocity (LSI) has received significant attention in studies of coherent structures and their detection using data-driven approaches. However, a theory that predicts the origin of LSI from the Navier-Stokes equations or some approximated version of them at very high Reynolds numbers is yet to be achieved. This letter proposes such a theory for a neutrally stratified wall-bounded turbulent flow based on a dominant balance between inertial and pressure forces. Using multiple flume and wind tunnel experiments, it is shown that the flatness factor ($FF_w$) measuring LSI collapses to a universal trend for all flow configurations within the inertial sublayer (ISL) before reaching a common minimum value above the ISL. A theory that predicts $FF_w$ using second-order statistics and explicitly accommodates large-scale energy anisotropy is tested against a wide range of Reynolds numbers from laboratory to field settings with varied surface roughness conditions. The theory also demonstrates why $FF_w$ cannot be described using down-gradient closure approximations routinely employed in large-scale meteorological and climate models.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2024

The vertical velocity skewness in the atmospheric boundary layer without buoyancy and Coriolis effects

One of the main statistical features of near-neutral atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) turbulence is the positive vertical velocity skewness $Sk_w$ above the roughness sublayer or the buffer region in smooth-walls. The $Sk_w$ variations are receiving renewed interest in many climate-related parameterizations of the ABL given their significance to cloud formation and to testing sub-grid schemes for Large Eddy Simulations (LES). The vertical variations of $Sk_w$ are explored here using high Reynolds number wind tunnel and flume experiments collected above smooth, rough, and permeable-walls in the absence of buoyancy and Coriolis effects. These laboratory experiments form a necessary starting point to probe the canonical structure of $Sk_w$ as they deal with a key limiting case (i.e. near-neutral conditions) that has received much less attention compared to its convective counterpart in atmospheric turbulence studies. Diagnostic models based on cumulant expansions, realizability constraints, and the now-popular constant mass flux approach routinely employed in the convective boundary layer as well as prognostic models based on third-order budgets are used to explain variations in $Sk_w$ for the idealized laboratory conditions. The failure of flux-gradient relations to model $Sk_w$ from the gradients of the vertical velocity variance $\sigma_w^2$ are explained and corrections based on models of energy transport offered. Novel links between the diagnostic and prognostic models are also featured, especially for the inertial term in the third order budget of the vertical velocity fluctuation. The co-spectral properties of $w'/\sigma_w$ versus $w'^2/\sigma_w^2$ are also presented for the first time to assess the dominant scales governing $Sk_w$ in the inner and outer layers, where $w'$ is the fluctuating vertical velocity and $\sigma_w$ is the vertical velocity standard deviation.

physics.ao-ph↗

arXiv2024

The vertical-velocity skewness in the inertial sublayer of turbulent wall flows

We provide empirical evidence that within the inertial sub layer of adiabatic turbulent flows over smooth walls, the skewness of the vertical velocity component $Sk_w$ displays universal behaviour, being constant and constrained within the range $Sk_w \approx 0.1-0.16$, regardless of flow configuration and Reynolds number. A theoretical model is proposed to explain the observed behaviour, including the observed range of variations of $Sk_w$. The model clarifies why $Sk_w$ cannot be predicted from down-gradient closure approximations routinely employed in meteorological and climate models whereby $Sk_w$ impacts cloud formation and dispersion processes. The model also offers an alternative and implementable approach.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Roughness-induced critical phenomenon analogy for turbulent friction factor explained by a co-spectral budget model

Drawing on an analogy to critical phenomena, it was shown that the Nikuradse turbulent friction factor ($f_t$) measurements in pipes of radius $R$ and wall roughness $r$ can be collapsed onto a one-dimensional curve expressed as a conveyance law $f_t Re^{1/4}=g_o(\chi)$, where $Re$ is a bulk Reynolds number, $\chi =Re^{3/4}\left({r}/{R}\right)$. The implicit function $g_o(.)$ was conjectured based on matching two asymptotic limits of $f_t$. However, the connection between $g_o(.)$ and the phenomenon it proclaims to represent - turbulent eddies - remains lacking. Using models for the wall-normal velocity spectrum and return-to-isotropy for pressure-strain effects to close a co-spectral density budget, a derivation of $g_o(.)$ is offered. The proposed method explicitly derives the solution of the conveyance law and provides a physical interpretation of $\chi$ as a dimensionless length scale reflecting the competition between viscous sublayer thickness and characteristic height of roughness elements. The application of the proposed method to other published measurements spanning roughness and Reynolds numbers beyond the original Nikuradse range is further discussed.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

The Role of Geographic Spreaders in Infectious Pattern Formation and Front Propagation Speeds

The pattern formation and spatial spread of infectious populations are investigated using a kernel-based Susceptible-Infectious-Recovered (SIR) model applicable across a wide range of basic reproduction numbers $R_o$. The focus is on the role of geographic spreaders defined here as a portion of the infected population ($\phi$) experiencing high mobility between identical communities. The spatial organization of the infected population and invasive front speeds ($c_{max}$) are determined when the infections are randomly initiated in space within multiple communities. For small but finite $\phi$, scaling analysis in 1-dimension and simulation results in 2-dimensions suggest that $c_{max}\sim (1-\phi) \gamma (R_o-1) \sigma$, where $\gamma$ is the inverse of the infectious duration, and $\sigma^2$ is the variance of the spatial kernel describing mobility of long-distance spreaders across communities. Hence, $c_{max}$ is not significantly affected by the small $\phi$ though reductions in $\phi$ act as retardation factors to the attainment of $c_{max}$. The $\sigma$ determines the spatial organization of infections across communities. When $\sigma >5dr$ (long-distance mobility, where $dr$ is the minimum spatial extent defining adjacent communities), the infectious population will experience a transient but spatially coherent pattern with a wavelength that can be derived from the spreading kernel properties.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2021

A co-spectral budget model links turbulent eddies to suspended sediment concentration in channel flows

The vertical distribution of suspended sediment concentration (SSC) remains a subject of active research given its relevance to a plethora of problems in hydraulics, hydrology, ecology, and water quality control. Much of the classical theories developed over the course of 90 years represent the effects of turbulence on suspended sediments (SS) using an effective mixing length or eddy diffusivity without explicitly accounting for the energetics of turbulent eddies across scales. To address this gap, the turbulent flux of sediments is derived using a co-spectral budget (CSB) model that can be imminently used in SS and other fine particle transport models. The CSB closes the pressure-redistribution effect using a spectral linear Rotta scheme modified to include isotropoziation of production and interactions between turbulent eddies and sediment grains through a modified scale-dependent de-correlation time. The result is a formulation similar in complexity to the widely used Rouse's equation but with all characteristic scales, Reynolds number, and Schmidt number effects derived from well-established spectral shapes of the vertical velocity and accepted constants from turbulence models. Finally, the proposed CSB model can recover Prandtl's and Rouse's equations under restricted conditions.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2020

Anisotropy and multifractal analysis of turbulent velocity and temperature in the roughness sublayer of a forested canopy

Anisotropy and multifractality in velocity and temperature time series sampled at multiple heights in the roughness sublayer (RSL) over a boreal mixed-coniferous forest are reported. In particular, a turbulent-stress invariant analysis along with a scalewise version of it are conducted to elucidate the nature of relaxation of large-scale anisotropy to quasi-isotropic states at small scales. As the return to isotropy is linked to nonlinear interactions and correlations between different fluctuating velocity components across scales, we study the velocity and temperature time series by using multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis and multiscale multifractal analysis to assess the effects of thermal stratification and surface roughness on turbulence in the RSL. The findings are compared so as to quantify the anisotropy and multifractality ubiquitous to RSL turbulent flow. As we go up in the RSL, (a) the length scale at which return to isotropy commences increases because of the weakening of the surface effects and (b) the largest scales become increasingly anisotropic. The anisotropy in multifractal exponents for the velocity fluctuations is diminished when we use the extended-self-similarity procedure to extract the multifractal-exponent ratios.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2020

Fluctuation-theorem and extended thermodynamics of turbulence

Turbulent flows are out-of-equilibrium because the energy supply at large scales and its dissipation by viscosity at small scales create a net transfer of energy among all scales. Here, the energy cascade is approximated by a combined contribution of a forward drift and diffusion that recover accepted phenomenological theories of turbulence. The fluctuation theorem (FT) is then shown to describe the scale-wise statistics of forward and backward energy transfer and their connection to irreversibility and entropy production. The ensuing turbulence entropy may be used to formulate an extended turbulence thermodynamics.

physics.flu-dyn↗