Deterministic Turbulence

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"Turbulence is the most important unsolved problem of classical physics" (Richard Feynman) due to its high non-linearity and chaotic behaviour. Therefore, it has been widely accepted that turbulence is not repeatable even with identical initial and boundary conditions (i.e. the butterfly effects). Recently, however, a Russian research group led by Prof Kachanov (Visiting Researcher of this proposal) observed a certain set of repeatable flows in a very late stage of laminar-to-turbulent transition, which can be considered as turbulence as far as its statistics are concerned. These are called deterministic turbulence. Unlike "ordinary" turbulence, the deterministic turbulence allows us to predict the exact time and location of turbulence events that take place in the flow. One can also go back the flow history to see the cause of turbulence events. This provides an exciting opportunity for turbulence research that has not been possible before. Here we propose to utilise the deterministic turbulence to better understand the turbulent boundary-layer structures with a view to develop an innovative strategy for turbulence control and optimise existing flow control techniques.