The spectra of turbulence in a compressible fluid; eddy turbulence and random noise

Abstract

The state of a real fluid is completely specified by its velocity, density, pressure and temperature fields. When the fluid is in turbulent flow, all these quantities fluctuate in a disordered manner. The method of space Fourier spectra is used to show that these field variables separate into two physically distinct groups, one corresponding to fluctuating acoustical waves, or random noise, and the other to fluctuating vorticity, or eddy turbulence. The corresponding decomposition of the spectral and correlation tensors in a homogeneous field of turbulence is given. The noise Fourier components are shown to be coupled to the eddy Fourier components only through the non-linear inertia terms in the dynamical equations of the fluid; whereas the former propagate as acoustical waves, the wave character of the latter is due entirely to the mean motion of the fluid. The measurement of the noise component, its attenuation through absorption by walls and its effects on the eddy component are discussed. Finally, the dynamical equations for the eddy component of the velocity spectral tensor in a homogeneous field of turbulence are compared with the corresponding equations for an incompressible fluid.