The Present State of the Turbulence Problem
Abstract In this survey the author first describes certain types of turbulent flow, following which he deals successively with the production of turbulent motion; the instability of the laminar motion; fully developed turbulence; momentum interchange and mixing lengths; and relations between the shearing stress at the wall and the mean velocity distributions. Finally he takes up the calculation of skin friction for simple cases of fully developed turbulence, especially for that of the flat plate. Although the methods outlined have often led to practically useful results, it is the author’s belief that they should be considered only as advances toward the real goal of the turbulence theory. The derivation of turbulence phenomena from the hydrodynamical equations will, in his opinion, be possible only by the application of statistical methods.