Numerical simulation of the wave turbulence on the surface of a ferrofluid in a horizontal magnetic field
Abstract
The turbulence of capillary waves on the surface of a ferrofluid with a high permeability in a horizontal magnetic field is considered in the framework of a one-dimensional weakly nonlinear model. In the limit of a strong magnetic field, the surface waves under study can propagate without distortions along or against the direction of external field, i.e., similar to Alfv\'en waves in a perfectly conducting fluid. The interaction of counter-propagating nonlinear waves leads to the development of wave turbulence on the surface of the liquid. The computational data show that the spectrum of turbulence is divided into two parts: a low-frequency dispersionless region, where the magnetic forces dominate and a high-frequency dispersive one, in which the influence of capillary forces becomes significant. In the first region, the spectrum of the surface elevation has the same exponent in k and ω domains and its value is close to -3.5, what is in a good agreement with the estimation obtained from the dimensional analysis of the weak turbulence spectra. At the high frequencies, the computed spatial spectrum of the surface waves is close to k-5/2 which corresponds to ω-5/3 in terms of the frequency. This spectrum does not coincide with the Zakharov-Filonenko spectrum obtained for pure capillary waves. A possible explanation of this fact is in the influence of coherent structures (like shock waves) usually arising in media with weak dispersion.