Fluid Stretching as a Levy Process
  We study the relation between flow structure and fluid deformation in steady two-dimensional random flows. Beyond the linear (shear flow) and exponential (chaotic flow) elongation paradigms, we find a broad spectrum of stretching behaviors, ranging from sub- to superlinear, which are dominated by intermittent shear events. We analyze these behaviors from first principles, which uncovers stretching as a result of the non-linear coupling between Lagrangian shear deformation and velocity fluctuations along streamlines. We derive explicit expressions for Lagrangian deformation and demonstrate that stretching obeys a coupled continous time random walk, which for broad distributions of flow velocities describes a L\'evy walk for elongation. The derived model provides a direct link between the flow and deformation statistics, and a natural way to quantify the impact of intermittent shear events on the stretching behavior, which can have strong anomalous diffusive character. 
Marco Dentz, Daniel R. Lester, Tanguy Le Borgne, Felipe P. J. de   Barros
physics.flu-dyn