Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 7, 2026

Visually Based Characterization of the Incipient Particle Motion in Regular Substrates: From Laminar to Turbulent Conditions
Published on: February 22, 2018
Observation of turbulent-driven shear flow in a cylindrical laboratory plasma device
1Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, 92093-0417, USA.
Abstract:
An azimuthally symmetric radially sheared plasma fluid flow is observed to spontaneously form in a cylindrical magnetized helicon plasma device with no external sources of momentum input. A turbulent momentum conservation analysis shows that this shear flow is sustained by the Reynolds stress generated by collisional drift turbulence in the device. The results provide direct experimental support for the basic theoretical picture of drift-wave-shear-flow interactions.
Related Concept Videos
Steady, Laminar Flow in Circular Tubes
Turbulent Flow
Steady, Laminar Flow Between Parallel Plates
Laminar and Turbulent Flow
Couette Flow

