Resource Letter TF-1: Turbulence in fluids

This Resource Letter provides a guide to the literature on fully developed turbulence in fluids. It is restricted to mechanically driven turbulence in an incompressible fluid described by the Navier–Stokes equations of hydrodynamics, and places greatest emphasis on fundamental physical questions. Journal articles and books are cited for the following topics: the Navier–Stokes equations, qualitative aspects of turbulence, the 1941 Kolmogorov theory, intermittency and small scale structure, time correlations and pressure; with brief mention of two-dimensional turbulence, passive scalars in turbulence, and the turbulent boundary layer. Turbulent fluid flows are ubiquitous in the atmosphere, the oceans, and the stars. They also occur in a wide variety of engineering applications. Most studies of turbulence have an applied objective, whether this application be to engineering, to geophysics, to astrophysics, or to weather predicition. But there is a basic problem in physics underlying all of these applications. This Resource Letter provides a guide to the literature relevant to this problem.