Hydrodynamic fluctuations in the Kolmogorov flow: Nonlinear regime

Abstract

In a previous paper [I. Bena, M. Malek Mansour, and F. Baras, ``Hydrodynamic fluctuations in the Kolmogorov flow: Linear regime", Phys. Rev. E 59, 5503 - 5510 (1999)] the statistical properties of the linearized Kolmogorov flow have been studied, using the formalism of fluctuating hydrodynamics. In this paper the nonlinear regime is considered, with emphasis on the statistical properties of the flow near the first instability. The normal form amplitude equation is derived for the case of an incompressible fluid and the velocity field is constructed explicitly above (but closed to) the instability. The relative simplicity of this flow allows one to analyze the compressible case as well. Using a perturbative technique, it is shown that close to the instability threshold the stochastic dynamics of the system is governed by two coupled non linear Langevin equations in the Fourier space. The solution of these equations can becast into the exponential of a Landau Ginzburg functional, which proves to be identical to the one obtained for the case of the incompressible fluid. The theoretical predictions are confirmed by numerical simulations of the nonlinear fluctuating hydrodynamic equations.