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On the Many Faces of Transition

  • Conference paper
Viscous Drag Reduction

Abstract

For a given shear-layer geometry the high-Reynolds-numbers turbulent flows possess strong, stable in-the-large, nearly universal features associated with the large number of degrees of freedom in the flows. These features include a range of scales of dominant energetic motion, a range of operating intensity levels, and average three-dimensional phase relations which, together, somehow insure the maintenance of a self-regenerative process. In seeking a rational approach to the bewildering variety of transitional behavior (Ref. 1), the author conjectures that many instability paths to turbulence are admissible and that their effectiveness hinges on whether the given mechanism supplies the proper scales, intensity level, and 3D phase relations needed for self-regeneration.

Conceptual lessons are drawn from a recently completed critical survey of the literature on transition to turbulence, and a number of unifying conjectures are advanced for subsonic speeds. In particular, the roles of linear amplification, nonlinear limiting, and secondary instability inducted by unsteady nonlinear effects are discussed. These mechanisms are illustrated for a number of transitional flows, including those in presence of roughness and streamwise vorticity. A clarification is advanced for the question of fast versus slow transition raised at the recent Institute on Transition. (Ref. 2) Finally, an overall model of the linear and nonlinear processes leading to transition is proposed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Illinois Institute of Technology, USA

    Mark V. Morkovin

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  1. Mark V. Morkovin
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. LTV Research Center, Dallas, Texas, USA

    C. Sinclair Wells

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© 1969 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Morkovin, M.V. (1969). On the Many Faces of Transition. In: Wells, C.S. (eds) Viscous Drag Reduction. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-5579-1_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-5579-1_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-5581-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-5579-1

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