Some issues of turbulence statistics

Abstract

The issue of dropping the random forcef _i and the arbitrariness of choosing the basic variable in the variational approach to turbulence closure problem, pointed out recently by the Russian scientists Bazdenkov and Kukharkin, are discussed. According to the mean-square estimation method, the random forcef _i should be dropped in the error expression of the LFP (Langevin-Fokker-Planck) model. However,f _i is not neglected, its effect has been taken into account by the variational approach. In order to optimize the perturbation solution of the Liouville equation, the LFP model requires that the basic variable is as near to Gaussian as possible. Hence, the velocity, instead of the vorticity, should be chosen as the basic variable in the three-dimensional turbulence. Although the LFP model and the zero-order Gaussian term of PDF (probability density function) imply whiteness assumption (zero correlation time off _i ), the higher-order non-Gaussian terms of PDF correspond to the nonwhiteness of turbulence dynamics, the variational approach does calculate the nonwhiteness effect properly.