Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 87 3 iv Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The motivation for Kolmogorov refined similarity hypothesis is internal intermittency: instantaneous energy dissipation is spatially uneven, so scaling every velocity increment by the global mean dissipation can mix regions of very different activity. Define the coarse-grained energy dissipation over a region of size byIts mean is in homogeneous turbulence. The refined hypothesis asserts that, at high local Reynolds number and within the inertial range, the normalized incrementhas universal conditional statistics independent of and of . In particular, for finite moments. Taking a conditional expectation and then averaging givesHere is the paper's . Signed odd moments need not have positive coefficients; the third-order forward-cascade coefficient is negative. The signed first moment is zero in homogeneous flow, so one does not assign it a nonzero scaling law. Absolute moments are often used when discussing general positive-order scaling exponents.
The refined hypothesis alone does not specify the distribution of . Kolmogorov's 1962 estimate supplements it with a lognormal intermittency model. Let be Gaussian with variance . The condition fixes its mean at . The Gaussian exponential moment then gives, with ,Combining with the refined moment formula yields, for the nonzero moments described by that model,The intermittency parameter must be supplied by dissipation statistics; it is not determined by dimensional analysis. The formula preserves . Its extrapolation to arbitrarily high orders is not justified: the quadratic correction eventually predicts pathological exponents and is one limitation of the lognormal model, distinct from the refined hypothesis itself.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 87 3 v Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Separate a smooth large-scale velocity from a remaining smaller-scale component . If the large-scale variation length is much greater than , their longitudinal increment has the formFor a positive integer , the leading expansion of its structure function isThus even a velocity component at scales much larger than enters through its gradients and through mixed moments with the finer field. It is not generally legitimate to discard those mixed moments: large-scale strain can organize and modulate the finer motions. For example, at fourth order the expansion containsin addition to the small-scale fourth moment and the generally present odd mixed terms. Even if the components were independent and symmetric, the displayed mixed second-moment term would survive. This explicitly exhibits large-scale contributions to structure functions beyond second order.
The implication for K62 refined similarity is that an observed structure function need not measure a purely scale-local velocity fluctuation. Dividing it by may still leave dependence on outer-scale gradients, correlations or finite-range cutoffs. The universal conditional coefficients and the identification of a measured exponent with the lognormal intermittency model therefore require additional locality and scale-separation tests. Finite-range mixed contributions can imitate or obscure anomalous scaling. This is an objection to treating the 1962 dimensional argument as an unconditional law for measured increments; it is not, by itself, a proof that an asymptotic refined similarity regime cannot exist.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 73 2 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let and define a coarse-grained energy dissipation at scale , for example by a ball average,This is the random variable denoted . The refined similarity hypothesis uses the local supply of energy available to motions of size , rather than replacing it everywhere by a global mean. In its inertial range form,At high local Reynolds number, has a universal conditional distribution independent of , forcing details and within the inertial range. This givesFor signed odd orders the coefficients carry the appropriate sign; absolute moments use their own coefficients. Universality is retained in the normalized conditional velocity statistics, while the distribution of can retain integral-scale information. This distinction resolves the particular averaging objection: its nonuniversal viscous dissipation moments are now explicitly present.
The quoted second viscous dissipation moment does not by itself determine every longitudinal structure function exponent. The extra lognormal intermittency model assumes is Gaussian. Write its variance as . Normalization of the mean requires , soThe second-moment estimate gives . Hence, with ,In particular , and .
The most problematic step is the extrapolation of a lognormal viscous dissipation law to rare events and all moment orders. It is not entailed by a measured second moment. Its quadratic exponents eventually decrease with and become negative for . If the velocity has finite uniformly bounded moments, the bound prohibits such divergence as . Thus the model cannot be an unrestricted high-order inertial range law. This is a criticism of the lognormal closure, rather than an algebraic contradiction in refined similarity itself.