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Turbulence can be sustained and controlled using coherent vortex rings

Repeated firing of vortex rings into a water tank is shown to create an isolated blob of confined turbulence — perfect for studying the nature of turbulence and its interface with quiescence. Moreover, using coherent vortex rings to feed the turbulence allows the controlled injection of conserved quantities such as helicity.

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Fig. 1: Repeated collision of eight vortex rings forms an isolated blob of turbulence.

References

  1. Davidson, P. A. Turbulence: An Introduction for Scientists and Engineers (Oxford Univ. Press, 2015). This book describes the central concepts of turbulence, such as energy cascade and similarity hypotheses.

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This is a summary of: Matsuzawa, T., Mitchell, N. P., Perrard, S. & Irvine, W. T. M. Creation of an isolated turbulent blob fed by vortex rings. Nat. Phys. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-02052-0 (2023).

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Turbulence can be sustained and controlled using coherent vortex rings. Nat. Phys. 19, 1088–1089 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-02054-y

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