On the helical behavior of turbulence in the ship wake

Abstract

Turbulent ship wake conservation at a long distance is one of unsolved problems at present. It is well known that wakes have a rotational structure and slowly expand with distance. Nevertheless, experimental data on their structure and properties are not sufficient. On the other hand, these experimental data show that the divergence of wakes does not change according to the law 1/5, as predicted by the theory. In our work we study the effect of helicity on the parameters of a turbulent ship wake. Taking into account the helical nature of the wake, we can clarify the difference between turbulence inside and outside of the wake on the one hand, and slow its expansion with time.