Elastic wave turbulence and intermittency.

Abstract

We investigate the onset of intermittency for vibrating elastic plate turbulence in the framework of the weak wave turbulence theory using a numerical approach. The spectrum of the displacement field and the structure functions of the fluctuations are computed for different forcing amplitudes. At low forcing, the spectrum predicted by the theory is observed, while the fluctuations are consistent with Gaussian statistics. When the forcing is increased, the spectrum varies at large scales, corresponding to the oscillations of nonlinear structures made of ridges delimited by d cones. In this regime, the fluctuations exhibit small-scale intermittency that can be fitted via a multifractal model. The analysis of the nonlinear frequency shows that the intermittency is linked to the breakdown of the weak turbulence at large scales only.