The mixing transition in turbulent flows

Abstract

Data on turbulent mixing and other turbulent-flow phenomena suggest that a (mixing) transition, originally documented to occur in shear layers, also occurs in jets, as well as in other flows and may be regarded as a universal phenomenon of turbulence. The resulting fully-developed turbulent flow requires an outer-scale Reynolds number of Re = Uδ/v [gsim ] 1–2 × 104, or a Taylor Reynolds number of ReT = u′ λT/v [gsim ] 100–140, to be sustained. A proposal based on the relative magnitude of dimensional spatial scales is offered to explain this behaviour.