Geometry of turbulence in wall-bounded shear flows:
a stroll through 61,506 dimensions
H. Poincaré: What renders these periodic points so precious to us
is that they are the only breach through which we might try
to penetrate into a stronghold hitherto reputed unassailable.
In the world of everyday, moderately turbulent fluids flowing across planes and down pipes, a velvet revolution is taking place. Experiments are as detailed as simulations, there is a zoo of exact numerical solutions that one dared not dream about a decade ago, and portraits of turbulent fluid's state space geometry are unexpectedly elegant.
We take you on a tour of this newly breached, hitherto inaccessible territory. Mastery of fluid mechanics is no prerequisite, and perhaps a hindrance: the tutorial is aimed at anyone who had ever wondered how we know a cloud when we see one, if no cloud is ever seen twice? And how do we turn that into mathematics?
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