Relaxation of a 2D MHD flow across a magnetic field (2D hydrodynamic flow) in a bounded region

Abstract

The problem on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow of a solitary vortex across a magnetic field in a volume confined by rigid walls is solved numerically for large Reynolds numbers (including magnetic Reynolds numbers) and small Alfven-Mach numbers M _A . In this case, the MHD problem is reduced to that of two-dimensional hydrodynamic turbulence. It is shown that sound is not generated by a turbulent medium for small values of M _A ; consequently, this kinetic energy dissipation channel is closed in this case. Calculations show that, in contrast to 3D turbulence, kinetic energy dissipation for 2D turbulence occurs, as expected, over time periods on the order of L ²/v(L is the characteristic size of the system and v is the kinematic viscosity). In our calculations with numerical viscosity v∼vΔx (Δx is the unit cell size), this corresponds to time values on the order of ∼(L/Δx)(L/v). In the kinetic energy spectra for a turbulent flow in a bounded region in the inertial interval (lying between the energy-carrying and viscosity regions), the values of E(k) decrease with increasing wave numbers k at a higher rate than in proportion to k ⁻³. The volume distribution of vorticity becomes narrower with time (the characteristic values of curlv decrease) and is blurred; for large time periods, the distribution approximately retains its shape as well as asymmetry with respect to positive and negative values, which is associated with the asymmetry of the initial conditions.