TY - JOUR AB - Directed percolation (DP) has recently emerged as a possible solution to the century old puzzle surrounding the transition to turbulence. Multiple model studies reported DP exponents, however, experimental evidence is limited since the largest possible observation times are orders of magnitude shorter than the flows’ characteristic timescales. An exception is cylindrical Couette flow where the limit is not temporal, but rather the realizable system size. We present experiments in a Couette setup of unprecedented azimuthal and axial aspect ratios. Approaching the critical point to within less than 0.1% we determine five critical exponents, all of which are in excellent agreement with the 2+1D DP universality class. The complex dynamics encountered at the onset of turbulence can hence be fully rationalized within the framework of statistical mechanics. AU - Klotz, Lukasz AU - Lemoult, Grégoire M AU - Avila, Kerstin AU - Hof, Björn ID - 10654 IS - 1 JF - Physical Review Letters SN - 0031-9007 TI - Phase transition to turbulence in spatially extended shear flows VL - 128 ER - TY - JOUR AB - We present an experimental setup that creates a shear flow with zero mean advection velocity achieved by counterbalancing the nonzero streamwise pressure gradient by moving boundaries, which generates plane Couette-Poiseuille flow. We obtain experimental results in the transitional regime for this flow. Using flow visualization, we characterize the subcritical transition to turbulence in Couette-Poiseuille flow and show the existence of turbulent spots generated by a permanent perturbation. Due to the zero mean advection velocity of the base profile, these turbulent structures are nearly stationary. We distinguish two regions of the turbulent spot: the active turbulent core, which is characterized by waviness of the streaks similar to traveling waves, and the surrounding region, which includes in addition the weak undisturbed streaks and oblique waves at the laminar-turbulent interface. We also study the dependence of the size of these two regions on Reynolds number. Finally, we show that the traveling waves move in the downstream (Poiseuille) direction. AU - Klotz, Lukasz AU - Lemoult, Grégoire M AU - Frontczak, Idalia AU - Tuckerman, Laurette AU - Wesfreid, José ID - 513 IS - 4 JF - Physical Review Fluids TI - Couette-Poiseuille flow experiment with zero mean advection velocity: Subcritical transition to turbulence VL - 2 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Turbulence is one of the most frequently encountered non-equilibrium phenomena in nature, yet characterizing the transition that gives rise to turbulence in basic shear flows has remained an elusive task. Although, in recent studies, critical points marking the onset of sustained turbulence have been determined for several such flows, the physical nature of the transition could not be fully explained. In extensive experimental and computational studies we show for the example of Couette flow that the onset of turbulence is a second-order phase transition and falls into the directed percolation universality class. Consequently, the complex laminar–turbulent patterns distinctive for the onset of turbulence in shear flows result from short-range interactions of turbulent domains and are characterized by universal critical exponents. More generally, our study demonstrates that even high-dimensional systems far from equilibrium such as turbulence exhibit universality at onset and that here the collective dynamics obeys simple rules. AU - Lemoult, Grégoire M AU - Shi, Liang AU - Avila, Kerstin AU - Jalikop, Shreyas V AU - Avila, Marc AU - Hof, Björn ID - 1494 IS - 3 JF - Nature Physics TI - Directed percolation phase transition to sustained turbulence in Couette flow VL - 12 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Over a century of research into the origin of turbulence in wall-bounded shear flows has resulted in a puzzling picture in which turbulence appears in a variety of different states competing with laminar background flow. At moderate flow speeds, turbulence is confined to localized patches; it is only at higher speeds that the entire flow becomes turbulent. The origin of the different states encountered during this transition, the front dynamics of the turbulent regions and the transformation to full turbulence have yet to be explained. By combining experiments, theory and computer simulations, here we uncover a bifurcation scenario that explains the transformation to fully turbulent pipe flow and describe the front dynamics of the different states encountered in the process. Key to resolving this problem is the interpretation of the flow as a bistable system with nonlinear propagation (advection) of turbulent fronts. These findings bridge the gap between our understanding of the onset of turbulence and fully turbulent flows. AU - Barkley, Dwight AU - Song, Baofang AU - Vasudevan, Mukund AU - Lemoult, Grégoire M AU - Avila, Marc AU - Hof, Björn ID - 1664 IS - 7574 JF - Nature TI - The rise of fully turbulent flow VL - 526 ER - TY - JOUR AU - Lemoult, Grégoire M AU - Maier, Philipp AU - Hof, Björn ID - 1679 IS - 9 JF - Physics of Fluids TI - Taylor's Forest VL - 27 ER -