Turbulence in fluids

by Marcel Lesieur

Turbulence in Fluids is an attempt to reconcile the theory of turbulence, too often presented in a formal, isolated mathematical context, with the general theory of fluid dynamics. It reviews, in a unifying manner, the main characteristics and general theorems of rotational fluids (liquids or gases), with applications to aerodynamics and geophysical fluid dynamics. Emphasis is placed both on unpredictability, mixing, and coherent vortices or structures. Transition to turbulence in wall or free-shear flows is considered both on the basis of linear-instability theory and of experiments or numerical simulations. Thermal convection is also studied. This third edition presents in a synthetic manner coherent vortices existing both in free or wall-bounded shear flows and in isotropic turbulence. A new mechanics of elementary vortices is built, involving spirals, dipoles, pairings, dislocations, longitudinal hairpins, streaks... It is seen how turbulence topology reacts to the action of stable