Experimental scaling law for the sub-critical transition to turbulence in plane Poiseuille flow

We present an experimental study of transition to turbulence in a plane Poiseuille flow. Using a well-controlled perturbation, we analyse the flow using extensive Particule Image Velocimetry and flow visualisation (using Laser Induced Fluorescence) measurements and use the deformation of the mean velocity profile as a criterion to characterize the state of the flow. From a large parametric study, four different states are defined depending on the values of the Reynolds number and the amplitude of the perturbation. We discuss the role of coherent structures, like hairpin vortices, in the transition. We find that the minimal amplitude of the perturbation triggering transition scales like Re^-1.

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