First proof of 70-year-old turbulence theory
23 May 2024
|By David Haworth
- Seminal, seventy-year-old theory of turbulence experimentally verified for first time
- Applications range from Jupiter’s Great Red Spot to electron movement in superconductors
Two Australian studies published this week offer the first proof of a 70-year-old theory of turbulence.
“The studies confirm a seminal theory of the formation of large-scale vortices from turbulence in 2D fluid flow, where the large vortices emerge from an apparent chaos of smaller vortices,” says author Prof Matt Davis, FLEET’s lead on the University of Queensland paper.
Fluids restricted to flow in two-dimensions can be observed in systems ranging from electrons in semiconductors, to the surface of soap bubbles, to atmospheric phenomena such as cyclones.