The Turbulence Problem

On the road toward a history of turbulence, this book focuses on what the actors in this research field have identified as the "turbulence problem". Turbulent flow rose to prominence as one of the most persistent challenges in science. At different times and in different social and disciplinary settings, the nature of this problem has changed in response to changing research agendas.

This book does not seek to provide a comprehensive account, but instead an exemplary exposition on the environments in which problems become the subjects of research agendas, with particular emphasis on the first half of the 20th century.

Autorentext

Michael Eckert studied physics at the Technical University of Munich and received his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from the University of Bayreuth in 1979. He has dedicated his career to the history of physics. Since 1981, Dr. Eckert has been engaged in several projects on the history of modern physics at the Deutsches Museum, Munich. He has authored and co-authored books and articles on such diverse topics as the history of solid-state physics, plasma physics, and fluid dynamics. Since 2012, he has been a member of the Editorial Board of the European Physical Journal H: Historical Perspectives on Contemporary Physics (EPJH).

Inhalt

1. Hydrodynamics versus hydraulics

1.1 When and how turbulence became a problem

1.2 Felix Klein's efforts to bridge the gulf between hydraulics and hydrodynamics

1.3 The turbulence problem in the early Sommerfeld School

1.4 Hydraulics and turbulence

1.5 Turbulence in the wake of spheres and struts

2. The turbulence problem in the 1920s

2.1 The turbulence problem in ZAMM

2.2 A new international forum for applied mechanics

2.3 The great problem of developed turbulence

2.4 Tollmien's solution of the stability problem

2.5 The quest for a universal law of turbulence

3. The rise of statistical theories of turbulence

3.1 Atmospheric turbulence

3.2 Wind tunnel turbulence

3.3 Taylor's and K´arm´an's statistical theories

3.4 A symposium on turbulence

3.5 Burgulence

4. Turbulence in WW II

4.1 Kolmogorov's statistical theory

4.2 Laminar wings

4.3 Turbulence problems in miscellaneous war applications

4.4 Fundamental wartime research on turbulence

5. Expectations and hopes: 19461961

5.1 A remarkable series of coincidences

5.2 The turbulence problem ca. 1950

5.3 Turbulence as a challenge for American physics

5.4 The rst textbooks on turbulence

5.5 Marseille 1961

6. Computational approaches

6.1 John von Neumann and the Electronic Computer Project

6.2 Early numerical solutions of the stability problem

6.3 The origins of Large-Eddy Simulation 6.4 The closure problem

6.5 Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS)

7. Chaos and turbulence

7.1 Strange attractors

7.2 Precision experiments

7.3 Fractals

7.4 Coherent structures

7.5 Whither turbulence

8. Turbulence as a challenge for the historian