Is turbulence difficult to understand?
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Is turbulence difficult to understand?
Turbulence is everywhere, yet it is one of the most difficult concepts for physicists to understand.
What makes turbulence a difficult problem to study?
A note for the physicists and engineers out there An example of why turbulence is said to be an unsolved problem is that we can’t generally predict the speed at which an orderly, non-turbulent (“laminar”) flow will make the transition to a turbulent flow.
To study the nonlinear physics of incompressible turbulent flow, the unaveraged Navier–Stokes equations are solved numerically. Thus, randomness or turbulence can apparently arise as a consequence of the structure of the Navier–Stokes equations.
Why is Navier-Stokes important?
The Navier–Stokes equations are useful because they describe the physics of many phenomena of scientific and engineering interest. They may be used to model the weather, ocean currents, water flow in a pipe and air flow around a wing.
How do you calculate turbulence?
Turbulence appears when the Reynolds number is about 2300. Reynolds number = (density * D * flow speed) / viscosity. Details of the calculation: Reynolds number = (1.25 kg/m3)*(0.1 m)*(35 m/s)/(1.83*10-5 N s/m2) = 2.39*105.
What is fluid turbulence?
turbulent flow, type of fluid (gas or liquid) flow in which the fluid undergoes irregular fluctuations, or mixing, in contrast to laminar flow, in which the fluid moves in smooth paths or layers. In turbulent flow the speed of the fluid at a point is continuously undergoing changes in both magnitude and direction.
Can we predict turbulent flow?
Scientists predict future behavior of turbulent fluid flow using regularities reminiscent of an inverted pendulum. Though chaos theory says it’s basically impossible to compute exactly how that might happen, scientists are making advances in getting math around the swirly phenomenon behind it called turbulence.