Compressible turbulent mixing: Effects of compressibility

We studied by numerical simulations the effects of compressibility on passive scalar transport in stationary compressible turbulence. The turbulent Mach number varied from zero to unity. The difference in driven forcing was the magnitude ratio of compressive to solenoidal modes. In the inertial range, the scalar spectrum followed the k(-5/3) scaling and suffered negligible influence from the compressibility. The growth of the Mach number showed (1) a first reduction and second enhancement in the transfer of scalar flux; (2) an increase in the skewness and flatness of the scalar derivative and a decrease in the mixed skewness and flatness of the velocity-scalar derivatives; (3) a first stronger and second weaker intermittency of scalar relative to that of velocity; and (4) an increase in the intermittency parameter which measures the intermittency of scalar in the dissipative range. Furthermore, the growth of the compressive mode of forcing indicated (1) a decrease in the intermittency parameter and (2) less efficiency in enhancing scalar mixing. The visualization of scalar dissipation showed that, in the solenoidal-forced flow, the field was filled with the small-scale, highly convoluted structures, while in the compressive-forced flow, the field was exhibited as the regions dominated by the large-scale motions of rarefaction and compression.