Research
Exact Coherent Structures in Low Reynolds Number Turbulence
Recent theoretical advances suggest ways to find unstable exact Navier Stokes solutions that capture many features of coherent structures, which have long been observed in turbulent flow. It remains unknown whether these solutions, termed Exact Coherent States, can describe observations of turbulent flow in laboratory experiments. Our experimental and numerical investigations search for unstable solutions in quasi-2D flows driven by electromagnetic forces. In the experiments, time series of velocity fields are obtained from images of the visualized flow. In the simulations, long time series of velocity fields are calculated for flows with forcing similar to that in the experiments. Recurrence plots constructed from velocity field data provide evidence for the existence of unstable periodic orbits.
© 2013 Schatz Pattern Formation and Control Lab | Last updated: 12-10-2013