---
_id: '461'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: Turbulence is the major cause of friction losses in transport processes and
    it is responsible for a drastic drag increase in flows over bounding surfaces.
    While much effort is invested into developing ways to control and reduce turbulence
    intensities, so far no methods exist to altogether eliminate turbulence if velocities
    are sufficiently large. We demonstrate for pipe flow that appropriate distortions
    to the velocity profile lead to a complete collapse of turbulence and subsequently
    friction losses are reduced by as much as 90%. Counterintuitively, the return
    to laminar motion is accomplished by initially increasing turbulence intensities
    or by transiently amplifying wall shear. Since neither the Reynolds number nor
    the shear stresses decrease (the latter often increase), these measures are not
    indicative of turbulence collapse. Instead, an amplification mechanism                      measuring
    the interaction between eddies and the mean shear is found to set a threshold
    below which turbulence is suppressed beyond recovery.
acknowledgement: We acknowledge the European Research Council under the European Union’s
  Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013)/ERC Grant Agreement 306589, the European
  Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation
  programme (grant agreement no. 737549) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Project
  No. FOR 1182) for financial support. We thank our technician P. Maier for providing
  highly valuable ideas and greatly supporting us in all technical aspects. We thank
  M. Schaner for technical drawings, construction and design. We thank M. Schwegel
  for a Matlab code to post-process experimental data.
article_processing_charge: No
arxiv: 1
author:
- first_name: Jakob
  full_name: Kühnen, Jakob
  id: 3A47AE32-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Kühnen
  orcid: 0000-0003-4312-0179
- first_name: Baofang
  full_name: Song, Baofang
  last_name: Song
- first_name: Davide
  full_name: Scarselli, Davide
  id: 40315C30-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Scarselli
  orcid: 0000-0001-5227-4271
- first_name: Nazmi B
  full_name: Budanur, Nazmi B
  id: 3EA1010E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Budanur
  orcid: 0000-0003-0423-5010
- first_name: Michael
  full_name: Riedl, Michael
  id: 3BE60946-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Riedl
  orcid: 0000-0003-4844-6311
- first_name: Ashley
  full_name: Willis, Ashley
  last_name: Willis
- first_name: Marc
  full_name: Avila, Marc
  last_name: Avila
- first_name: Björn
  full_name: Hof, Björn
  id: 3A374330-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Hof
  orcid: 0000-0003-2057-2754
citation:
  ama: Kühnen J, Song B, Scarselli D, et al. Destabilizing turbulence in pipe flow.
    <i>Nature Physics</i>. 2018;14:386-390. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-017-0018-3">10.1038/s41567-017-0018-3</a>
  apa: Kühnen, J., Song, B., Scarselli, D., Budanur, N. B., Riedl, M., Willis, A.,
    … Hof, B. (2018). Destabilizing turbulence in pipe flow. <i>Nature Physics</i>.
    Nature Publishing Group. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-017-0018-3">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-017-0018-3</a>
  chicago: Kühnen, Jakob, Baofang Song, Davide Scarselli, Nazmi B Budanur, Michael
    Riedl, Ashley Willis, Marc Avila, and Björn Hof. “Destabilizing Turbulence in
    Pipe Flow.” <i>Nature Physics</i>. Nature Publishing Group, 2018. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-017-0018-3">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-017-0018-3</a>.
  ieee: J. Kühnen <i>et al.</i>, “Destabilizing turbulence in pipe flow,” <i>Nature
    Physics</i>, vol. 14. Nature Publishing Group, pp. 386–390, 2018.
  ista: Kühnen J, Song B, Scarselli D, Budanur NB, Riedl M, Willis A, Avila M, Hof
    B. 2018. Destabilizing turbulence in pipe flow. Nature Physics. 14, 386–390.
  mla: Kühnen, Jakob, et al. “Destabilizing Turbulence in Pipe Flow.” <i>Nature Physics</i>,
    vol. 14, Nature Publishing Group, 2018, pp. 386–90, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-017-0018-3">10.1038/s41567-017-0018-3</a>.
  short: J. Kühnen, B. Song, D. Scarselli, N.B. Budanur, M. Riedl, A. Willis, M. Avila,
    B. Hof, Nature Physics 14 (2018) 386–390.
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2018-12-11T11:46:36Z
date_published: 2018-01-08T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-09-08T22:30:26Z
day: '08'
department:
- _id: BjHo
doi: 10.1038/s41567-017-0018-3
ec_funded: 1
external_id:
  arxiv:
  - '1711.06543'
  isi:
  - '000429434100020'
intvolume: '        14'
isi: 1
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
  url: https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.06543
month: '01'
oa: 1
oa_version: Preprint
page: 386-390
project:
- _id: 25152F3A-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
  call_identifier: FP7
  grant_number: '306589'
  name: Decoding the complexity of turbulence at its origin
- _id: 25104D44-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
  call_identifier: H2020
  grant_number: '737549'
  name: Eliminating turbulence in oil pipelines
publication: Nature Physics
publication_status: published
publisher: Nature Publishing Group
publist_id: '7360'
quality_controlled: '1'
related_material:
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    relation: dissertation_contains
    status: public
  - id: '14530'
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    status: public
  - id: '7258'
    relation: dissertation_contains
    status: public
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Destabilizing turbulence in pipe flow
type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 14
year: '2018'
...