  We numerically study the multi-scale properties of a 2d active gel to address
the energy transfer mechanism. We find that activity is able to excite
long-ranged distortions of the nematic pattern giving rise to spontaneous
laminar flows and to a chaotic regime by further increasing the rate of active
energy injection. By means of a scale-to-scale spectral analysis we find that
the gel is basically driven by the local balancing between active injection and
viscous dissipation, without any signal of non-linear hydrodynamical transfer
and turbulent cascades. Furthermore, elasticity may qualitatively play an
important role by transferring energy from small to larger scales through
nemato-hydrodynamic interactions.
