Reynolds-stress energy production in a shearing sheet

For shear ${\mathbf{u}}_0=-2Ax{\mathbf{e}}_y$, the spatially averaged perturbation kinetic energy obeys $dE/dt=2A\rho ⟨u_x^{\prime }{u}_y^{\prime }⟩-\rho \nu ⟨|\nabla {\mathbf{u}}^{\prime }{|}^2⟩$. Pressure and the Coriolis force do no net work. Thus positive radial-azimuthal velocity correlation extracts mean-flow energy. A leading two-dimensional shearing wave has $\mathrm{Re}(v_x{v}_y^{\ast })=-k_x{k}_y|Z{|}^2/k^4>0$.

// Target: astrophysics.bigb