Turbulence as a research area investigates the physics, modeling, and prediction of highly irregular, vortical fluid motion characterized by strong nonlinearity, multiscale interactions, and enhanced mixing and dissipation. It encompasses theoretical analysis of the Navier–Stokes equations, development of turbulence closures and reduced-order models, and statistical descriptions such as energy spectra and intermittency. The field spans direct numerical simulations, large-eddy and Reynolds-averaged approaches, and experimental diagnostics to study transition to turbulence, coherent structures, and cascade processes in gases and liquids, with applications ranging from aerodynamics and geophysical and astrophysical flows to engineering systems, combustion, and environmental fluid mechanics.
Engineers have long battled a problem that can cause loud, damaging oscillations inside gas turbines and aircraft engines: combustion instability. These unwanted pressure fluctuations create vibrations so intense that they ...
General Physics
Jan 31, 2026
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Producing fusion energy requires heating plasma to more than one hundred million degrees and confining it stably with strong magnetic fields. However, plasma naturally develops fluctuations known as turbulence, and they carry ...
Plasma Physics
Dec 10, 2025
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While atmospheric turbulence is a familiar culprit of rough flights, the chaotic movement of turbulent flows remains an unsolved problem in physics. To gain insight into the system, a team of researchers used explainable ...
General Physics
Nov 20, 2025
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From stirring milk in your coffee to fearsome typhoon gales, rotating turbulent flows are everywhere. Yet, these spinning currents are as scientifically complex as they are banal. Describing, modeling, and predicting turbulent ...
General Physics
Nov 5, 2025
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Around the world, research is advancing to efficiently confine fusion plasma and harness its immense energy for power generation. However, it is known that turbulence occurring at various scales within the plasma causes the ...
Plasma Physics
Oct 22, 2025
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Plasma is a state of matter that emerges when a gas is heated to sufficiently high temperatures, prompting some electrons to become free from atoms. This state of matter has been the focus of many astrophysical studies, as ...
Tiny solid particles—like pollutants, cloud droplets and medicine powders—form highly concentrated clusters in turbulent environments like smokestacks, clouds and pharmaceutical mixers.
General Physics
Sep 18, 2025
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Turbulence is everywhere, yet much about the nature of turbulence remains unknown. During the last decade, physicists have discovered how fluids in a pipe or similar geometry transition from a smooth, laminar state to a turbulent ...
General Physics
Sep 11, 2025
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In turbulent fluids, mixing of the components happens easily. However, in more viscous fluids such as those enclosed within cellular compartments, the intermixing of particles and molecules is much more challenging. As time ...
General Physics
Sep 1, 2025
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The atmosphere will become more turbulent in future decades as climate change makes the air less stable.
Earth Sciences
Aug 27, 2025
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