  We experimentally explore solutions to a model Hamiltonian dynamical system
derived in Colliander et al., 2012, to study frequency cascades in the cubic
defocusing nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation on the torus. Our results include a
statistical analysis of the evolution of data with localized amplitudes and
random phases, which supports the conjecture that energy cascades are a generic
phenomenon. We also identify stationary solutions, periodic solutions in an
associated problem and find experimental evidence of hyperbolic behavior. Many
of our results rely upon reframing the dynamical system using a hydrodynamic
formulation.
