On Spectral Laws of 2D--Turbulence in Shell Models

Abstract

We consider a class of shell models of 2D-turbulence. They conserve inertially the analogues of energy and enstrophy, two quadratic forms in the shell amplitudes. Inertially conserving two quadratic integrals leads to two spectral ranges. We study in detail the one characterized by a forward cascade of enstrophy and spectrum close to Kraichnan's $k^{-3}$--law. In an inertial range over more than 15 octaves, the spectrum falls off as $k^{-3.05\pm 0.01}$, with the same slope in all models. We identify a ``spurious'' intermittency effect, in that the energy spectrum over a rather wide interval adjoing the viscous cut-off, is well approximated by a power-law with fall-off significantly steeper than $k^{-3}$.