Abstract
In laboratory studies and numerical simulations, we observe clear signatures of unstable time-periodic solutions in a moderately turbulent quasi-two-dimensional flow. We validate the dynamical relevance of such solutions by demonstrating that turbulent flows in both experiment and numerics transiently display time-periodic dynamics when they shadow unstable periodic orbits (UPOs). We show that UPOs we computed are also statistically significant, with turbulent flows spending a sizable fraction of the total time near these solutions. As a result, the average rates of energy input and dissipation for the turbulent flow and frequently visited UPOs differ only by a few percent.
- Received 31 December 2019
- Revised 19 May 2020
- Accepted 5 July 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.064501
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