The Statistical Theory of Turbulent Motion

Extract

The study of the turbulent motion of fluids is of great importance in aerodynamics and engineering, besides being a fundamental problem of hydrodynamics. Several attempts have been made to develop an adequate theory of turbulent motion, but, except for a few good empirical formulae, little advance has been made. L. Prandtl has given a clear and concise account of his own theory and that of Th. von Kármán in a recent paper (1), which contains full references to the literature of the subject. H. Bateman has also contributed an excellent account of the present state of the theory in the Report on Hydrodynamics of the National Research Council of America. In neither of these accounts, however, has reference been made to the theory put forward by J. M. Burgers of Delft, in a series of papers (2) published in 1929, and further developed in 1933. In these papers Burgers has attempted to apply the methods of classical statistical mechanics to the theory of turbulent fluid motion. In this article a simplified account of his methods will be given.