The statistics of Lagrangian particles in turbulent flows is considered in the framework of a simple vortex model. Here, the turbulent velocity field is represented by a temporal sequence of Burgers vortices of different circulation, strain, and orientation. Based on suitable assumptions about the vortices’ statistical properties, the statistics of the velocity increments is derived. In particular, the origin and nature of small-scale intermittency in this model is investigated both numerically and analytically. We critically compare our results to experimental studies.

• Received 3 July 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.77.056301