The scientific problem of deriving mathematical equations to describe the statistics of turbulent flows has a long history. The earliest attempts are the classical turbulence closures described here. Their simplicity makes them attractive, but their shortcomings inspired the development of far more complex mathematical descriptions, which are generally rejected as too difficult for practical applications. This book explores the possibility of finding a middle ground between these extremes, by suggesting computationally tractable yet physically realistic models of turbulence.
Dr Timothy Clark received a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Mexico, and has been associated with the Theoretical Division, and the computational physics divisions of Los Alamos National Laboratory since 1988. He has served as a member of the Scientific Committee for the International Workshop on the Physics of Compressible Mixing, and has published over 30 papers in peer-reviewed journals including Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Journal of the Optical Society of America, and Journal of Turbulence, among others.