Correlations of fluctuations of two-dimensional flow forced by a random force on top of a shear flow

Abstract

We examine fluctuations of vorticity excited by an external random force in two-dimensional fluid in the presence of a strong external shear flow. The problem is motivated by the analysis of big coherent vortices appearing as a consequence of the inverse energy cascade in a finite box at large Reynolds numbers. We develop the perturbation theory for calculating nonlinear corrections to correlation functions of the flow fluctuations assuming that the external force is short correlated in time. We analyze corrections to the pair correlation function of vorticity and some moments. The analysis enables one to establish validity of the perturbation theory for laboratory experiments and numerical simulations.