Published November 16, 2005 | Version v1
Journal article

How is turbulent energy dissipated in a superfluid?

Creators

  • 1. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT (United Kingdom)

Description

At a sufficiently large Reynolds number the flow of a classical fluid becomes turbulent. Typically, turbulent energy is injected into large-scale eddies, from which it flows through the action of the non-linear term in the Navier-Stokes equation into smaller and smaller eddies until the scale of the motion is small enough that the energy can be dissipated by viscosity. In a superfluid (liquid 4He or liquid 3He), which has no viscosity, this source of dissipation is absent, so that perhaps the flow of turbulent energy persists down to atomic scales; furthermore, the absence of viscosity seems to imply that the Reynolds number is infinite. However, turbulent motion in a superfluid is restricted by quantum effects, associated with the quantization of angular momentum, and it will be shown how these effects change this picture and lead to an effectively finite Reynolds number, with dissipation that mimics the effect of viscosity and arises from the radiation of sound by special types of quantized motion

Availability note (English)

Available online at http://stacks.iop.org/0953-8984/17/S3231/cm5_45_006.pdf or at the Web site for the Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter (ISSN 1361-648X) http://www.iop.org/

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter
Journal Volume
17
Journal Issue
45
Journal Page Range
p. S3231-S3238
ISSN
0953-8984
CODEN
JCOMEL

Conference

Title
European Physical Society 6. liquid matter conference
Dates
2-6 Jul 2005
Place
Utrecht (Netherlands)

INIS

Country of Publication
United Kingdom
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
37059377
Subject category
S75: CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY;
Resource subtype / Literary indicator
Conference
Descriptors DEI
ANGULAR MOMENTUM; LIQUIDS; NAVIER-STOKES EQUATIONS; NONLINEAR PROBLEMS; QUANTIZATION; REYNOLDS NUMBER; SOUND WAVES; SUPERFLUIDITY; VISCOSITY
Descriptors DEC
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS; DIMENSIONLESS NUMBERS; EQUATIONS; FLUIDS; PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS