Statistical properties of compressible isothermal turbulence from sub- to supersonic conditions

Abstract

This paper investigates the statistical properties of isothermal turbulence in both the subsonic and supersonic regimes. The focus is on the influence of the Mach number ($Ma$) and the Reynolds number ($Re$) on both the space-local and scale-dependent fluctuations of relevant gas variables, the density, velocity, their derivatives, and the kinetic energy. We carry out hydrodynamical simulations with explicit viscosity and therefore controlled $Re$. We confirm previous work that the probability density functions (PDFs) of the gas density are approximately log-normal and depend on $Ma$. In contrast, derivatives of the density and velocity field are sensitive to $Re$, with the probability of extreme events growing with $Re$. The PDFs of the density gradient and velocity divergence (dilatation) exhibit increasingly heavy tails with growing $Ma$, signalling enhanced internal intermittency. At sufficiently high $Ma$, the statistics of dilatation are observed to saturate at a level determined solely by $Re$, suggesting that turbulent dilatation becomes limited by viscous effects. We also examine the scale-by-scale distribution of kinetic energy through a compressible form of the K\'arm\'an-Howarth-Monin (KHM) equation. In the intermediate range of scales, a marked difference is found between subsonic and supersonic turbulence: while Kolmogorov-like scaling applies in the sub- and transonic regimes, supersonic turbulence aligns more closely with Burgers turbulence predictions. The analysis of individual terms in the KHM equation highlights the role of the pressure-velocity coupling as an additional mechanism for converting kinetic energy from large to small scales. Moreover, the contributions of the KHM terms exhibit non-monotonic behaviour with increasing $Ma$, with dilatational effects becoming more pronounced and acting to oppose the cascade of kinetic energy.