Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 87 1 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Write the longitudinal velocity correlation as , where is one-component variance. For isotropic turbulence, incompressibility gives the transverse correlation and henceExponential decay of the full second-order velocity correlation tensor makes the last boundary value zero, so . For invariance of we additionally need , as part (ii) shows. This follows if the premise of rapid decay of all two-point correlations includes the two-position triple correlation and persists during evolution; exponential second-order decay at one initial time alone does not establish it. Under this far-field assumption,Integration by parts also gives . Assume a nonzero invariant, a self-preserving large-scale correlation shape , high Reynolds number, freely decaying turbulence and a constant dimensionless dissipation coefficient. Then and the energy budget gives , with fixed positive shape constants. Eliminating gives, for ,Thus the Kolmogorov decay law, with a virtual origin , isNeither the invariant alone nor dimensional analysis without the stated large-scale and energy-budget assumptions fixes this decay law.
Now let . Integrate the supplied identity over both position variables. For a genuinely confined incompressible flow with on the boundary, each divergence produces a zero surface term, because its flux contains the normal velocity at the corresponding point. Averaging the remaining identity givesIn a large approximately homogeneous region with short-range correlations, replacing the pair-overlap volume by suggests . The Landau angular-momentum argument for turbulent decay interprets as angular-momentum-fluctuation density. For an isolated torque-free turbulent cloud, conservation of angular momentum then motivates constant .
The weaknesses concern precisely the passage to an infinite homogeneous field. A fixed large subvolume is not an isolated cloud: it exchanges momentum and angular momentum by advection and fluid pressure forces. Impermeable walls eliminate the stated velocity-flux terms but need not eliminate viscous or fluid pressure torques. Moreover nonlocal fluid pressure can generate long-range correlations, invalidating the assumed decay, and boundary terms with large lever arms require control before taking a volume limit. Thus the exact integrated identity is sound under its boundary conditions, but the inferred conservation law requires additional hypotheses.