Velocity fluctuations of a column of water streaming down a wire: the possibility of one-dimensional turbulence

Abstract:

The results of measurements of the velocity fluctuations of a thin column of water streaming down a wire show that the dynamics of this process is turbulent at high injection flux and is characterized by a Kolmogorov like spectrum for the energy density. This density E(k), proportional to the power spectrum of the longitudinal velocity, scales as with reminiscent of Kolmogorov turbulence in three-dimensions. It is suggested that this system can be modeled as a quasi one-dimensional compressible system where the compressibility stems from the instability of the column to thickness fluctuations.