Fully resolved array of simulations investigating the influence of the magnetic Prandtl number on magnetohydrodynamic turbulence

Mairi E. McKay; Arjun Berera; Richard D. J. G. Ho

doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.99.013101

Fully resolved array of simulations investigating the influence of the magnetic Prandtl number on magnetohydrodynamic turbulence

Mairi E. McKay, Arjun Berera, Richard D. J. G. Ho

School of Physics and Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract / Description of output

We explore the effect of the magnetic Prandtl number Pm on energy and dissipation in fully resolved direct numerical simulations of steady-state, mechanically forced homogeneous magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in the range Pm = 1/32 to 32. We compare the spectra and show that if the simulations are not fully resolved, the steepness of the scaling of the kinetic-to-magnetic dissipation ratio with Pm is overestimated. We also present results of decaying turbulence with helical and nonhelical magnetic fields, where we find nonhelical reverse spectral transfer for Pm <1. The results of this systematic analysis have applications including stars, planetary dynamos, and accretion disks.

Original language	English
Number of pages	6
Journal	Physical Review E
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.99.013101
Publication status	Published - 4 Jan 2019

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

physics.flu-dyn
astro-ph.CO
physics.plasm-ph

Access to Document

10.1103/PhysRevE.99.013101

1806.10202Accepted author manuscript, 275 KB

Particle Theory at the Higgs Centre
Ball, R., Berera, A., Boyle, P., Callison-Burch, C., Del Debbio, L., Gardi, E., Kennedy, A., O'Connell, D., Zwicky, R., Berera, A., Boyle, P., Buckley, A., Del Debbio, L., Gardi, E., Horsley, R., Kennedy, A., Kenway, R., O'Connell, D., Smillie, J. & Zwicky, R.
STFC
1/10/14 → 30/09/18
Project: Research

Cite this

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title = "Fully resolved array of simulations investigating the influence of the magnetic Prandtl number on magnetohydrodynamic turbulence",

abstract = " We explore the effect of the magnetic Prandtl number Pm on energy and dissipation in fully resolved direct numerical simulations of steady-state, mechanically forced homogeneous magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in the range Pm = 1/32 to 32. We compare the spectra and show that if the simulations are not fully resolved, the steepness of the scaling of the kinetic-to-magnetic dissipation ratio with Pm is overestimated. We also present results of decaying turbulence with helical and nonhelical magnetic fields, where we find nonhelical reverse spectral transfer for Pm <1. The results of this systematic analysis have applications including stars, planetary dynamos, and accretion disks. ",

keywords = "physics.flu-dyn, astro-ph.CO, physics.plasm-ph",

author = "McKay, {Mairi E.} and Arjun Berera and Ho, {Richard D. J. G.}",

note = "6 pages, 6 figures",

year = "2019",

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doi = "10.1103/PhysRevE.99.013101",

language = "English",

journal = "Physical Review E",

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AU - McKay, Mairi E.

AU - Berera, Arjun

AU - Ho, Richard D. J. G.

N1 - 6 pages, 6 figures

PY - 2019/1/4

Y1 - 2019/1/4

N2 - We explore the effect of the magnetic Prandtl number Pm on energy and dissipation in fully resolved direct numerical simulations of steady-state, mechanically forced homogeneous magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in the range Pm = 1/32 to 32. We compare the spectra and show that if the simulations are not fully resolved, the steepness of the scaling of the kinetic-to-magnetic dissipation ratio with Pm is overestimated. We also present results of decaying turbulence with helical and nonhelical magnetic fields, where we find nonhelical reverse spectral transfer for Pm <1. The results of this systematic analysis have applications including stars, planetary dynamos, and accretion disks.

AB - We explore the effect of the magnetic Prandtl number Pm on energy and dissipation in fully resolved direct numerical simulations of steady-state, mechanically forced homogeneous magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in the range Pm = 1/32 to 32. We compare the spectra and show that if the simulations are not fully resolved, the steepness of the scaling of the kinetic-to-magnetic dissipation ratio with Pm is overestimated. We also present results of decaying turbulence with helical and nonhelical magnetic fields, where we find nonhelical reverse spectral transfer for Pm <1. The results of this systematic analysis have applications including stars, planetary dynamos, and accretion disks.

KW - physics.flu-dyn

KW - astro-ph.CO

KW - physics.plasm-ph

U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevE.99.013101

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevE.99.013101

M3 - Article

SN - 2470-0045

JO - Physical Review E

JF - Physical Review E

ER -

Fully resolved array of simulations investigating the influence of the magnetic Prandtl number on magnetohydrodynamic turbulence

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Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

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Particle Theory at the Higgs Centre

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