FLOW Highlight: Recurring intense bursts of turbulence in rotating channel flow simulations

Carrying out extensive simulations and observing for the first time intense recurrent bursts of turbulence in rotating channel flow. Rotating channel flow is therefore suggested as a prototype for future studies.

Large-scale instabilities occurring in the presence of small-scale turbulent fluctuations are frequently observed in geophysical or astrophysical contexts, but are difficult to reproduce in the laboratory. Thanks to the support of PRACE through a Tier-0 project and SNIC, we could carry out extensive simulations and observed for the first time intense recurrent bursts of turbulence in rotating channel flow. A simple model can predict some of the fundamental physics. Rotating channel flow is therefore suggested as a prototype for future studies of low-dimensional dynamics embedded in strongly turbulent environments.

References

G. Brethouwer, P. Schlatter, Y. Duguet, D.S. Henningson, A.V. Johansson (2014) “Recurrent bursts via linear processes in turbulent environments.” Phys. Rev. Lett., in press.