Role of the forcing dimensionality in thin-layer turbulent energy cascades

Abstract: We investigate the transition from forward to inverse energy cascade in turbulent flows in thin layers, varying the functional form of the forcing and the thickness of the layer. We show that, as the forcing function becomes more three-dimensional, the inverse cascade is suppressed and the critical height hc, where the transition occurs, is decreased. We study the dependence of this critical height on a parameter r which measures the dimensionality of the forcing and thus construct a phase space diagram in the parameter space r-h. We discuss the effect of Reynolds number and domain size.