The multiscaling properties of the mixed Obukhov-Novikov shell model of turbulence are investigated numerically and compared with those of the complex GOY model, mostly studied in the recent years. Two types of generic singular fluctuations are identified : first, self-similar solutions propagating from large to small scales and building up intermittency, second, complex time singularities inhibiting the cascade and promoting chaos. A simple and robust method is proposed to track these objects. It is shown that the scaling exponent of self-similar solutions selected by the dynamics is compatible with large order statistics whenever it departs enough from the Kolmogorov value.Complex time singularities on the other hand get trapped on the last shells, when the proportion of Novikov interactions exceeds a critical value which is argued to mark the boundary between chaotic and regular dynamics in the limit of infinite Reynolds number.

It has been shown recently that the intermittency of the Gledzer-Ohkitani-Yamada (GOY) shell model of turbulence has to be related to singular structures whose dynamics in the inertial range includes interactions with a background of fluctuations. In this paper we propose a statistical theory of these objects by modeling the incoherent background as a Gaussian white-noise forcing of small strength Gamma. A general scheme is developed for constructing instantons in spatially discrete dynamical systems and the Cramer function governing the probability distribution of effective singularities of exponent z is computed up to first order in a semiclassical expansion in powers of Gamma. The resulting predictions are compared with the statistics of coherent structures deduced from full simulations of the GOY model at very high Reynolds numbers.

Intermittency in the Gledzer-Okhitani-Yamada (GOY) model of turbulence is explained in terms of collisions of coherent soliton-like structures with a random background issuing from the desintegration of their predecessors. This two-fluid picture is substantiated by the elucidation of local dynamical mechanisms leading to anomalous growth of coherent structures, their detection in true signals involving forcing and dissipation, and an investigation of their statistics.