Stationary and nonstationary energy cascades in homogeneous ferrofluid turbulence

Abstract

The nonlinear transfer rate of the total energy (transfer rate of kinetic energy $+$ transfer rate due to the work done by the magnetization) for an incompressible turbulent ferrofluid system is studied under the assumption of statistical homogeneity. Using the formalism of the two-point correlators, an exact relation connecting the second-order statistical moments to the average energy injection rate is derived for the scale-to-scale transfer of the total energy. We validate the universality of the exact relation through direct numerical simulations for stationary and nonstationary cascade regimes. For a weak external magnetic field, both kinetic and the total energy cascade with nearly the same cascade rate. A stationary cascade regime is achieved, and hence a good agreement between the exact energy transfer rate and the average energy injection is found. Due to the rapid alignment of the ferrofluid particles in the presence of strong external fields, the turbulence dynamics becomes nonstationary. Interestingly, there too, both kinetic and the total energy exhibit inertial range cascades but with different cascade rates which can be explained using the nonstationary form of our derived exact relation.