Fractal dimension crossovers in turbulent passive scalar signals

Abstract

The fractal dimension $\delta_g^{(1)}$ of turbulent passive scalar signals is calculated from the fluid dynamical equation. $\delta_g^{(1)}$ depends on the scale. For small Prandtl (or Schmidt) number $Pr<10^{-2}$ one gets two ranges, $\delta_g^{(1)}=1$ for small scale r and $\delta_g^{(1)}$=5/3 for large r, both as expected. But for large $Pr> 1$ one gets a third, intermediate range in which the signal is extremely wrinkled and has $\delta_g^{(1)}=2$. In that range the passive scalar structure function $D_\theta(r)$ has a plateau. We calculate the $Pr$-dependence of the crossovers. Comparison with a numerical reduced wave vector set calculation gives good agreement with our predictions.