Three-Dimensional Fluid Motion in Faraday Waves: Creation of Vorticity and Generation of Two-Dimensional Turbulence

We study the generation of 2D turbulence in Faraday waves by investigating the creation of spatially periodic vortices in this system. Measurements that couple a diffusing light imaging technique and particle tracking algorithms allow the simultaneous observation of the three-dimensional fluid motion and of the temporal changes in the wave-field topography. Quasistanding waves are found to coexist with a spatially extended fluid transport. More specifically, the destruction of regular patterns of oscillons coincides with the emergence of a complex fluid motion whose statistics are similar to that of two-dimensional turbulence. We reveal that a lattice of oscillons generates vorticity at the oscillon scale in the horizontal flow. The interaction of these vortices explains how 2D turbulence is fueled by almost standing waves. Remarkably, the curvature of Lagrangian trajectories reveals a "footprint" of the forcing-scale vortices in fully developed turbulence. Two-dimensional Navier-Stokes turbulence should be considered a source of disorder in Faraday waves. These findings also provide a new paradigm for vorticity creation in 2D flows.