The turbulence problem : A survey

Abstract

This paper is a survey of the present state of understanding, prediction and control of turbulent flows, intended to be intelligible also to workers not directly involved in research in turbulence.`Complex' turbulent flows, as affected by such factors as rotation, additional rates of strain, compressibility,etc., are not covered by the survey, but an attempt has been made to include all aspects of simpler flows in an incompressible fluid. Inevitably, the survey is strongly influenced by the work done by the author himself and his colleagues.
A major conclusion of the survey is that there are still wide gaps between the experimental discoveries being made on the   structure of turbulent flows, the mathematical tools necessary for describing such structure, the numerical models invented for predicting turbulent shear flow behaviour, and the devices being tried for turbulence management. A great deal of work is necessary in all areas before these gaps can be bridged.