Shell model of superfluid turbulence

Abstract

Superfluid helium consists of two inter-penetrating fluids, a viscous normal fluid and an inviscid superfluid, coupled by a mutual friction. We develop a two-fluid shell model to study superfluid turbulence. We investigate the energy spectra and the balance of fluxes between the two fluids as a function of temperature in continuously forced turbulence, and, in the absence of forcing, the decay of turbulence. We furthermore investigate deviations from the $k^{-5/3}$ spectrum caused by the mutual friction force. We compare our results with experiments and existing calculations. We find that, at sufficiently low temperatures a build-up of energy develops at high wavenumbers suggesting the need for a further dissipative effect, such as the Kelvin wave cascade and phonon emission.